Davægdyp Gaelz

The davægdyp gaelz ( trans. dance of movement) is a tradition of the Vloibare people. Each night before a tribe moves, the perform the dance in order to depart from their current ground and to ask for a good new place to settle. In total, six dancers take part in the ritual, which lasts a total of thirty minutes per section.
At the start, the dancers focus on using their bare feet to draw various patterns into the dirt. These symbols spell out praises and words of gratitude in a now unused writing style that was once widely practiced within the Vloibare community. Each dancer draws their own symbols and all together they create a larger one.
Once this is complete, the second portion of the dance begins immediately. The dancers use their hands and feet to go over one another's symbols and change them to prayers for luck and good land, asking the earth to help them find a new home that is as good as the current one. They do this instead of asking for a 'better' place so as not to insult the land that has been good to them.
The final part of the dance is not done until they reach their destination. During this section, the symbols represent both thanks and prayers for the future. They also state promises not to destroy their new home as they believe they are only borrowing the space until they move to the next location.

Related Ethnicities

• Vloibare