Can Someone Describe Waulking?
Stephen and Melissa Jones
I've seen pictures and heard songs about waulking wool, but don't
understand what it is. We try to give a history of songs when we perform
and it would help to know what it is when we sing a waulking song.
Melissa J
Craig Cockburn
Ann an sgriobhainn <330350...@earthlink.net>, sgriobh Stephen and
Melissa Jones <jones...@earthlink.net>
I posted this a few weeks ago when I was teaching this song in
Edinburgh. There's also some information at http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/
scotfaq.html on waulking and waulking songs. You may also find
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~craig/gaelsong.html of interest. This article
was praised as "very good" by the world's leading lecturer on Scots
Gaelic song.
Héman dubh (also "he mandu"); Lewis waulking song
1. Héman dubh "hay man doo"
's truagh nach tigeadh it's a pity that this doesn't come
Héman dubh
Siud gam iarraidh to fetch me
Héman dubh
Gille 's litir a messenger and a letter
Hì ri oro
Each is diallaid a horse and a saddle
Héman dubh hi ri oro "...hee ree o row
hó ró o hù ó ho row o hoo oh"
The chorus is vocables which have no meaning and are simply there to
provide rhythm. Virtually every waulking song has meaningless vocables
for the chorus.
2. 's mise dh'fhalbhadh I would go
null air saile across the sea
le mo leannan with my love
's cha bhiodh dàil ann without delay
3. nam bitheadh agam If I had
sgiath a' ghlaisein the sparrow's wing
iteag an eòin the bird's power of flight
spòg na lachainn the wild duck's foot
4. shnàmhainn na caoil I would swim the narrows
air an tarsuinn across them
an cuan Ileach the Sound of Islay
's an cuan Arcach and the sound of Orkney
5. rachainn a steach I would get inside
chon a' chaisteal into the castle
's bheirinn a mach and I would get out
as mo leannan of there my sweetheart
6. 's chan fhoighnichinn I wouldn't ask
có bu leis i whose she was
's e mo Dhomhnaill my Donald
fhuair an togail was well reared
7. cha b'ann le burn not on water
gorm a' lodain green pond water
ach le bainne but with the milk
nam ban donna of brown-haired women
Collected from:
Christine Primrose (Christine is from Lewis)
Eilean Fraoich (Lewis Gaelic songs and melodies, published by Acair,
Stornoway)
The School of Scottish Studies ("Music From the Western Isles") tape.
Recorded 1955
Known recordings
Runrig: "Skye" single, 1984 (Deleted)
Keltoi: "Drunk with Autumn" 1994 (Hand Pict Records; Seattle)
Bannal: "Waulking Songs" 1996 (Greentrax)
The "she" in verse 6 is almost certainly not a reference to the castle
(castles, and most other Gaelic words with an a, o or u as the last
vowel are masculine). Rapidly changing themes and apparently out of
context words occur fairly frequently in waulking songs.
Waulking and Waulking songs, further notes
Waulking is a process for fulling Harris tweed (making it more
airtight). The word 'waulking' is a Scots word from the 14th century
meaning the same as "full" in English. The waulking process not only
fulls the tweed but also shrinks it slightly. Perhaps the term
"waulking" was coined by a non-Gaelic speaker who saw a waulking done by
the feet and modified the word "walking". Waulkings were done by both
hand and foot, but more usually by hand. The Gaelic name for waulking
songs is "Orain Luaidh", luaidh translates to "full".
There are many individuals and groups who have recorded a waulking song
or two on an album of Gaelic music, but there are three albums of
exclusively waulking songs which may be of interest:
1) Orain Luaidh - Waulking songs
Published 1986 by the Harris Tweed Association. This tape has a 29 page
A5 book with it which has lyrics for every song, a translation and some
notes. There is a 5 page introduction which gives more information and
additional reference material. Most of the contributions are from the
Western Isles although one is from Cape Breton
2) Waulking songs from Barra
This is published in the "Scottish tradition" series., Greentrax records
http://webzone1.co.uk/www/scotsweb/greentrx.htm
3) Bannal: Waulking songs. Bannal comprises many well known female
Gaelic singers.
also published by Greentrax.
When tweed is made, it needs to be fulled to increase its ability to
keep out the wind. Waulking is a process of repeatedly beating the cloth
to full it and prepare it for use. Waulking songs are a musical form
unknown elsewhere in Western Europe. Even Irish Gaelic has no
equivalent, Irish Gaelic has very few work songs of any kind. Waulking
songs are rhythmic and were composed to keep the beat when the cloth was
being waulked. This task was only done by women in Scotland, however in
Nova Scotia where it is known as milling then it is generally a male
task. Often waulking songs were adapted from other songs. Frequently
they tell of local gossip, the material is not usually "highbrow". The
tweed was generally soaked in human urine. The women were usually seated
around a table and the tweed would be placed on the table, or perhaps a
door which had been taken off its hinges. There might be one woman at
each end and maybe 4-5 down each side. One person would sing out the
verse and then everyone would join in the chorus. It was deemed to be
back luck to sing the same song twice during a waulking. Occasionally
verses would be made up and added during the waulking process. This
explains the rapidly changing themes in waulking songs as verses may be
introduced from another song. The meaningless choruses may provide an
opportunity to think of a new verse to add. The verses and choruses
(sometimes there are up to 4 choruses) are very short, sometimes only a
few syllables. There are a few waulking songs in the book "Folksongs and
folklore of South Uist"
(Margaret Fay Shaw, Aberdeen University Press ISBN 0 08 032471 1).
During the waulking, the cloth would be pulled towards you, then passed
slightly to your left before pushing it back. This way, the cloth turned
round the table in a clockwise manner as it was being waulked. The Gaels
are superstitious and believe anti-clockwise to be unlucky. It was
important to turn the cloth to ensure the cloth was evenly processed.
Waulking as a process is now no longer necessary as machines do it now.
However, there are societies which preserve the waulking tradition for
historical/tourist reasons. One of the oldest Gaelic songs in existence
(perhaps 13th C?) is Seathan, this is a waulking song and appears in
Carmina Gadelica. This song is several pages long and would easily take
over an hour to sing. The waulking process overall could last about 2-3
hours and there would likely be a ceilidh afterwards, with the men being
invited back in. I think it was usual in waulkings to start with slower
songs and then to speed up towards the end - the speed of waulking songs
can vary a lot. "Seathan" and "Gur h-e mo ghille dubh donn" are quite
slow whereas "He mo leannan" is usually sung a bit faster and "Tha
Mulad", "He Mandu" etc are faster still. One of the fastest is "Beann a'
Cheathaich" which has been recorded by Christine Primrose and recently
The Poozies on "Danceoozies". This tune was adapted by Marjory Kennedy
Fraser and became "Kishmul's Galley"
Today, many bands/singers e.g. Capercaillie, Sileas, Poozies, Mary Jane
Lamont, Runrig, Christine Primrose, Cathy Anne MacPhee, Flora MacNeill,
Eilidh MacKenzie, etc sing waulking songs - they are proving very
popular and the strong rhythms make them quite transportable to other
cultures. It was a waulking song sung by Capercaillie "Coisich a ruin"
(also sometimes known as "Fluich an oidhche") which became the first
ever Scots Gaelic tune to enter the UK top 40 (in 1991?). It is about
400 years old. See also Tocher 50. Published by
The School of Scottish Studies, 27 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD
http://www.ed.ac.uk/edinfo/cgi/deptinfo.cgi?173
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"), Du\n E/ideann, Alba. (Edinburgh, Scotland)
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~craig/
E-mail: cr...@scot.demon.co.uk (preferred) or cr...@acm.org
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Gha\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.
smga...@aol.com
>I've seen pictures and heard songs about waulking wool, but don't
>understand what it is. We try to give a history of songs when we perform
> and it would help to know what it is when we sing a waulking song.
To soften tweed wool fibers, the Scots made a mixture, including urine, soaking it & taking it out & pounding "or waulking" it (probably smashing it on rocks for purposes of softening). A boring task w/songs to chase away boredom?
--Gallagher
Bob Cameron
In article <19970216170...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
smga...@aol.com wrote:
Generally speaking, "waulking" the woven cloth consisted of a group of
people around a table pounding on the cloth, in time to the music. At the
end of a song, the clothe would be passed down the table to expose a new
section to be waulked. waulking not onlty softened the cloth, but
tightened the weac vem, making it more weather- resistant, I believe.
--
The opinions and feeble attempts at humor herein are not in any way endorsed or acknowledged by my employer , etc etc,
Slan leibh, Bob
Stephen and Melissa Jones
I just wanted to thank all of you who sent this information. I recieved
many wonderful posts with views on different areas including the work
as well as the music. Again Thankyou.
Melissa J