Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Widdershins (Martlew)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

WIDDERSHINS (J8x32) 3C (4C set) Ken Martlew Berkhamsted Golden Jubilee

1- 8 1s turn LH, cast 1 place and turn RH to face 2nd corners
9-16 1s turn 2nd corners LH, turn partner RH, turn 1st corners LH and partner RH to end facing 2nd corners
17-24 1s dance reels of 3 on opposite sides giving RSh to 2nd corners and end crossing LH to own sides
25-32 2s+1s+3s circle 6H to right and back

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


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

Widdershins (Martlew) - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Also see the dance Widdershins (Ferguson) by Jean Ferguson.

The term "widdershins" was especially common in lowland Scots and means to go counter-clockwise, to go anticlockwise or in a direction opposite to the usual. It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense".

The Oxford English Dictionary's entry cites the earliest uses of the word from 1513.



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Text from this original Widdershins article on Wikipedia.

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