A waulking song for the winter season
I'm 99% certain I already posted this song, and I was going to just reblog it. But Tumblr search fails again. So I'm making a new post. Maybe it will bring the older post out of hiding.
From the Wikipedia article:
Waulking songs (Scottish Gaelic: Γrain Luaidh) are Scottish folk songs, traditionally sung in the Gaelic language by women while fulling (waulking) cloth. This practice involved a group of women, who traditionally prepared cloth, rhythmically beating newly woven tweed or tartan cloth against a table or similar surface to lightly felt it and shrink it to better repel water. Simple, beat-driven songs were used to accompany the work.
This song has been translated to English. It makes me cry happy tears every time I listen to it, thinking about all the generations of humans (going back to at least the old stone age) who have spun fibers and made cloth to keep us all warm and safe -- everything from winter coats to ships' sails.
Lyrics:
White the sheep that gave the wool, Green the pastures where they fed. Blue and scarlet side by side -- Bless the warp and bless the thread.
May the charm of lasting life Be upon your flocks in full. From the hill where they rest May they rise both whole and well.
Bless the man who wears this cloth. May he wounded never be. From the bitter cold and frost, May this cloth protection be.
Bless the children warmed within. Three times three our love enfold. Peace and plenty may they find. May they grow both wise and bold.
Now is waulked the web we've spun. Winter's storms may rage in vain. Bless the work by which we've won Comfort from the wind and rain.
White the sheep that gave the wool, Green the pastures where they fed. Blue and scarlet side by side -- Bless the warp and bless the thread.
