Kulning is an ancient Nordic tradition of calling home the herds. It is a Swedish word, for the herding calls that women would use to call sheep, goats and cows down from the high pastures where they grazed during the warmer months of the year.
Have you heard the saying, “sing till the cow comes home”? Well this is a literal method common among Scandinavian cultures. Once winter had passed, it was common that women and children brought the farm animals to a fäbod, a chalet in the forest, while the men maintained the work on the farmsteads. A Swedish “fäbod”, is also known as a summer village where people traditionally have brought their cattle out for pasture during the warm part of the year.
Song Of The Herder
The word kulning comes from the Swedish “kuh-lock” (calling the cows). The technique is a kind of shout in a very high vocal register and the sound is at once very powerful and very beautiful. Kulning can travel over long distances.
Shepherdesses used kulning to direct their herds, communicate with one another, call for a lost animal, or signal for help. Kulning was taught orally, with young women learning from elders and developing their own style.
It’s not a yell, holler, bellow, whoot, shout, scream, nor even a yodel. Kulning is remarkably unique, that sounds more like a song.
Swedes who grew up in the country still remember their mothers and grandmothers calling to the animals like this and find the nostalgic and powerful sounds piercing the countryside.The resonance of it’s sharp and crystal clear sound carries for miles into the deep woods and mountains.
The women also used kulning as warning signals to tell each other if danger arose.
A Natural Response
Different animals had different types of luring melodies and the animals learned to recognize them, forming a musical language of their own. Kulning has also been applied among the wild animals of the forest, such as a this deer in the woods.
The sound of a herder’s voice is engraved in the memory of the herd members. Yet, as demonstrated in the video below, it has been proven that the unique song of the kulning call will attract even a herd that is not one’s own.
Kulning is not a dead tradition — it is about a living relationship with nature. The original herding women knew the spots with the best echoes. In the magical landscapes of Sweden’s birch forests and mossy mountains, you will hear how the calls bring these ancient landscapes to life as they echo and sing back to you. This intimate, creative way of relating to the Earth is so valuable, yet difficult to find in our industrialized, digitized modern world.
Goats beckon to a kulning, but not the voice of their herder, but someone else.
A woodland deer is lured by the kulning call. In the video below a swan and her swanling respond from a distance to the kulning.
In the video above a a woodland deer is lured by the kulning call.
The video below demonstrates how even from a distance, a swan and her swanling respond to a kulning.
In case you’re wondering. There is a marked difference between a holler and a melodic kulning. Check it out.
In case you’re wondering. There is a marked difference between a holler and the melodic call of kulning. Check it out.
I am convinced the animals and all of nature are longing for a song. Let’s grace the fields, mountains and woods, with the goaty herder melodies once again.
I am convinced the animals and all of nature are longing for a song. Let’s grace the fields, mountains and woods, with the goaty herder melodies once again.
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About Daisy
Daisy is an accomplished photographer, website and business branding designer. When not designing, her days are spent herding the family dairy goats through woodlands and prairies of the Midwest, where she lives. Oh, also making and drinking kefir! An avid goaty, her latest pursuit is engaged in the research and restoration of pastoral goat husbandry, via blogging, and online coaching, through the website www.goatyourland.com and the growing international Goat Your Land Facebook group. Her studies of ancient cultures and natural husbandry inspired the rediscovery and restoration of classical pastoral husbandry as their primary mode of herd management.
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