Traditional waulking songs helped make the hard work of fulling cloth into a festive gathering. Here is a gorgeous performance of a traditional Scottish waulking song, performed by singer Margaret Stewart on the BBC series The Highland Sessions. And here's another, sad but beautiful, performed by Karen Matheson. If this doesn't stir your heart-strings, nothing will.
Now, as an antidote, we'll go from the sublime to the silly. In honor of the seasons of the textile year, I have begun composing a little ditty about the many joys of weaving. Here's the first verse:
The Year in Weaving
(Sung to the tune of Deck the Halls)
Celebrate we Nature's bounty,
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Fiber fests in state and county,
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Pet the beasts and see the vendors,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Going on a fiber bender,
Fa la la la la,
[Sopranos, a crescendo in the descant, please.]
la la LA LAAAAH
If you think of another verse, add it to the comments or perhaps post a video of you and your friends singing it on our new video gallery. If we can get the whole weaving year in song, maybe we can even get together an Interweave chorus to sing it on camera. Talk about silly!