“Tailor” is a dance that came to Ruhnu from Latvia, played and sung by the Ruhnu Swedes. Today, it is a popular folk dance in both Latvia and Estonia. The first verse is the Ruhnu people’s imitation of the Latvian language, transcribed from an archival recording of Ruhnu fiddler Peeter Rooslaid (born 1891 in Ruhnu). The second verse is in the Ruhnu Swedish dialect, known as Runska, and was collected from Ellen Jäger (born 1939 in Ruhnu).

Spoken word in the video by Fredrik Ekman 1847. Autumn stands out for its powerful storms, whose music is a terrible roar, augmented by the rustling of the forest and lonely trees, and the sound caused by the fury of the fighting waves as they dash violently towards the beach but break down powerlessly against the hard bed of stones.

The video is dedicated to Ellen Jäger , who, along with other Ruhnu islanders, fled the island with her family in 1944 at the age of four and has spent every summer on her home island since Estonia regained its independence.

Runö Island traditional clothes in all its glory.
Dancers: Leanne Barbo, Ermo Hüüdma. Archival excerpts taken from ethnographic film “Ruhno” by Theodor Saar (1931).