On Skylark Island, when you come of age you are given a bolt of broadcloth prepared by your family and waulked by those who are important to you and the community. For the rest of your life, you are then judged by how you cut your cloth.
The cloth
When an islander comes of age, their family prepares a large bolt of ceremonial broadcloth for them. It is woven with a new pattern that is unique to that person, using colours that reflect their heritage, their chosen path, and other aspects. This bolt of cloth must be big enough to be used for notable items for the whole of a person's life.
The waulking of this cloth is a ceremony, a celebration accompanied by feasting and dance.
The guests
The waulking is a ceremony to which all of the islanders are broadly invited, though it is seen as polite to attend only if you have a direct connection to the person who is being celebrated.
The places at the waulking table are more strictly reserved. The person whose cloth will be waulked has the right to invite anyone to sit - and also to deny anyone a place at the table - though this is rare, since common decency makes most wait until they are invited.
Despite this genuine freedom of choice, there are expectations of a seat at the table for those with a specific standing in the family, and in the community.
When deciding whom to invite to their gathering, the recipient of the cloth must consider the community's expectations of who has the right to a seat at the table.
The chair at the head of the table is The Seat in which sits the Chief (although there is no specific chair used - any chair in that position becomes The Seat to allow the Chief to choose one according to their own comfort levels).
The song
Where everyday cloth waulking is accompanied by story songs, or songs about local gossip, a coming-of-age waulking song is very different. Those who sit at the table sing blessings into the cloth for the recipient, to guide them on their way through life. For this reason, the choice of who sits at the table is also made with regard to the blessings which might be sung into the cloth.
The song takes the traditional verse/chorus form. Typically, the most senior member of the person's family will begin by establishing the chorus. This is only a line or two long: words everyone sings together to reinforce the blessing just given, binding it into the cloth.
That same family member will then sing their personal blessing into the cloth. This also goes some way to setting the tone for the song as a whole. The song then travels clockwise around the table, with everyone singing their blessing solo, followed by the group chorus.
The melody of the chorus is most often the same every time, but the melody for each blessing is unique to the person giving the blessing. The notes have no particular significance, and tunes are often improvised: blessings are sung once, and never again.
It takes the time it takes
It can take some time for the cloth to be adequately waulked, and there are often more people who wish to sing a blessing than there are places at the table. So there can be rotations of participants, with a few remaining in place for each rotation: the person whose cloth is being waulked, the head of their family, and the Chief.
It is usual for the first blessing to be repeated by the head of the family at the end, and it is they who decide when the cloth is done. In theory, that final blessing can be changed the second time around, if it needs to counter any misfortune that might have been sung into the cloth. This hasn't happened in living memory, although there are tales from long ago of a curse being sung into a cloth, and the misfortune which followed the recipient for the rest of their life.
The blessings
The blessings themselves are a hybrid of a christening gift and the granting of a wish. They can be about anything: health, safety, family, friends, work, role within the community, and creativity are amongst the most common subjects. A blessing can be general and broad, or very specific.
The islanders do not see these sung blessings as symbolic, but rather, as words that will actually imbue the cloth, and whatever is fashioned from it, forever. They believe that
The Ancients infuse the fibres with the blessings as soon as they are expressed.
It isn't so much the exact words that matter: the sentiment of it is the key. Once that sentiment has been expressed, you cannot take it back. In the heat of a moment, if you express a curse, you cannot undo that and it lives in their cloth for the rest of their life.
Blessings are never spoken out loud before they are sung into the cloth. It is seen as bad luck even to discuss the subject of the blessing you intend to sing: the islanders believe that sentiments spoken aloud for the first time are the most powerful ones and, once expressed, they are taken by the old ones and gone.
If this happens before the waulking, a new sentiment must be chosen. Simply wording the same one differently will not fool the old ones, so everyone takes great care not to discuss with others the blessing they are preparing to give.
Blessings are also never written down: there is a strong belief that writing down the blessings captures them on the paper instead of in the cloth.
The wording
The words matter hugely, and are therefore never cleverly structured lyrics, since the meaning and clarity of the blessing is so crucial that one must choose the right words, not the clever ones. Rhymes are mostly irrelevant (though the occasional one can bring a smile, especially if it was unplanned).
It is seen as crucial to have considered how you will word your blessing... and to be succinct. Nobody wants to be sitting there all day listening to everyone go on and on, and besides, the person whose cloth is being waulked wants to be able to remember at least the clear essence of everyone's blessing.
Cutting your cloth
For the rest of their lives, a person who has come of age is then judged by how they cut their cloth. It might be used for cloaks and clothing, upholstery, bags: it is a versatile, hardy, and mostly water-resistant fabric.
The only expectation is that you will make worthwhile cuts with the whole of your cloth. There is no such thing as an unused off-cut, of any kind. Scraps that are too small to be fashioned into something are carefully saved, and used to stuff small toys cut from the same cloth. Nothing is discarded.
Some people are renowned for cutting almost all of their cloth for their many children. Others have exclusively used theirs for upholstery. What you do with it is your choice, and it will say much about you to the community.
Gifting someone an item made from your cloth cuts them into your cloth: hence the expression 'They are cut from the same cloth'. This is a significant act: if you cut someone into your cloth who is not from the island, they are then considered to be part of the island's community.
It is seen as bad luck to inherit someone else’s leftover cloth: you cannot cut someone else's cloth. So every last piece, every scrap of cloth should be put to good use by the end of your life – but you must ideally make it last your whole life long.
Patterns and colours
Ceremonial broadcloth has a look akin to Scottish tartans. Each islander has their own unique pattern, created from colours that are significant to them. This process is done in consultation with the person who will weave their broadcloth.
The flora on the island can produce the following range of colours, which can be mixed, and lightened or darkened in shade through blending of fibres.
There are several online gadgets for designing your own tartan.
Click here to play around with patterns on Scotweb.
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