Tam O' Shanter (Priddey)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s set, cross RH, cast 1 place and turn LH to face 1st corners
9-16 1s dance RSh reel of 4 with 1st corners and end with a LH turn to face out to opposite sides between 2s+3s
17-24 1s dance Fig of 8 round 2nd+1st corners (LSh to 2nd corner to start) and turn LH to face 4th corner
25-32 1s dance reel of 4 with 4th corners and pass LSh to end Lady between 2s and Man between 3s
33-40 1s dance reel of 3 across giving LSh to 1st corner and end in 2nd place own sides
41-48 2s+1s+3s circle 6H round and back

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

Tam O' Shanter (Priddey) - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Instruction Videos

Dance Information

The title of this dance, Tam O' Shanter, comes from the Tam O' Shanter - Poem written by Robert Burns in 1790, while living in Dumfries, Scotland.

First published in 1791, it is one of Burns' longer poems, and employs a mixture of Scots and English.

The poem describes the habits of Tam, a farmer who often gets drunk with his friends in a public house in the Scottish town of Ayr, and his thoughtless ways, specifically towards his wife, who is waiting at home for him, angry. At the conclusion of one such late-night revel after a market day, Tam rides home on his horse Meg while a storm is brewing. On the way he sees the local haunted church (Alloway Kirk) lit up, with witches and warlocks dancing and the devil playing the bagpipes.

Tam is still drunk, still upon his horse, just on the edge of the light, watching, amazed to see the place bedecked with many gruesome things such as gibbet irons and knives that had been used to commit murders and other macabre artifacts. The witches are dancing as the music intensifies, and, upon seeing one particularly wanton witch in a short dress he loses his reason and shouts,'Weel done, cutty-sark!' (cutty-sark - "short shirt"). Immediately, the lights go out, the music and dancing stops and many of the creatures lunge after Tam, with the witches leading. Tam spurs Meg to turn and flee and drives the horse on towards the River Doon as the creatures dare not cross a running stream. The creatures give chase and the witches come so close to catching Tam and Meg that they pull Meg's tail off just as she reaches the Brig O' Doon.

A tam o' shanter is also the name of the most common Scottish bonnet worn by men. The name derives from Tam o' Shanter, the eponymous hero of the 1790 Robert Burns poem.

The tam o' shanter is a flat bonnet, originally made of wool hand-knitted in one piece, stretched on a wooden disc to give the distinctive flat shape, and subsequently felted. The earliest forms of these caps, known as a blue bonnet from their typical colour, were made by bonnet-makers in Scotland.

Tam O' Shanter Poem - Information Video

Tam O' Shanter As Worn By The Royal Highland Fusiliers Battalion Of The Royal Regiment Of Scotland

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