"Waulking" Songs | Clan Henderson

What an amazing piece of history

Milling or “ waulking “ songs in Scotland abound as it was part of our cultural heritage to sing music while we prepared the tartans and tweeds. A English historian traveling in Scotland one time remarked that there was no need to record Scottish history because it was already known, sung, and taught by the women of Scotland

Sung in the Scots Gaelic language it’s like a time machine to days gone past.

After being removed from the loom the fabric had to be washed and rinsed in a process known as Waulking. Likewise the songs are also known as Waulking Songs. It was cold so because the fabric was walked around the table

Performed mostly by women who handled almost every aspect of the cloth from the sheep to the shawl , the sang the songs of their histories and lives

Some songs recorded deeds of heroes and others of lovers or boys they favors . Folk customs, spells , and habits , many based on ancient poems and melodies which survived through the centuries were also a heavy part of these songs

. These were the oral history of a people, passed from mother to daughters , through lyric and melody , for countess generations

Fans of this page have seen me post these videos before in the past and talk about the treatment of the fabric and how it was prepared for market, but nothing this old .

Filmed in 1941 and digitally remastered and colorized this is a glimpse into days gone by. Although the filming was done 80 years ago the practices here easily demonstrate 800 years.

I have to thank our great friend Roger Smith for sending me this video . He is an awesome human being and an awesome friend of our farm

And I hope all of the fabric artists, spinners, weavers, and lovers of music will see this post.

78Georgia Gai Henderson and 77 others

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