@pfooti · 2026-07-03 · travel

More July 1st: The Skekling

Let me tell you about Skeklers. First: the Scots had this tradition of Guising, usually during Samhain time - parents would disguise their children as other things and people, so to confuse the local spirits. The kids would then go around and cause mischief. This eventually evolves into Trick or Treat (although we don’t carve turnips anymore, sadly).

Step one of working oat straw is separating it into bundles (thirty two in this case)

After all the hullabaloo at St. Ninian’s, we went to a community center where we met our instructors for the week. Today, we are making Skekler hats. You can see some examples in the left of the photo - they are tall, conic straw hats that, traditionally you would pull down over your eyes when wearing.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are no trees on Shetland. The peat that covers most of the island also makes it difficult to grow just about anything - there’s very little arable land. These aets (Shetland Black Oats) are the traditional material for baskets, but are not really an agricultural byproduct, so there’s actually not a lot grown. I feel the need to do a Good Job with this straw. More on the State of Straw in a forthcoming post - I’ve got Thoughts.

So, Skekling. This is something of an offshoot from Guising - similar principles as well. People dress up in a way designed to maybe confuse the spirits, or each other. Traditionally, if a person in a Skekler suit showed up at your door, you needed to invite them in (to do otherwise is to invite bad luck), as you never know - they could be your neighbor or maybe they are a mischievous spirit that you would do well to not offend. There’s reciprocity here though - the Skekler you invite in should be entertaining. They often bring music (fiddle and guitar) or stories, or jokes. One guy telling us about Skekling, every time he talked about how Skeklers entertain, he dropped his voice really low and tried to disguise it, reflexively.

When I was designing my hat, I was trying to figure out how to replicate the braids in the example hats. Eve (one of our instructors, a chair maker, among other things) told me that the point of the Skekler hat is to channel the wild spirit of the Skekler, so there’s no particular specific way to do it right, just do it how you like. So I did. (eveeunson.com)

After we made the hats, we got treated to some local music - two fiddles and a guitar, led by Maurice Henderson (of Fiddler’s Bid), the guy who told us stories of Skekling. He further regaled us with tales of babies taken by eagles and dancing with the Trows, between songs.

Watch on YouTube ↗

Overall, I have to say: I’m in love with the idea of Skeklers. Despite the roots in Guising, apparently the tradition allows for it to happen at any time. You can don the suit and go around to neighbors and go in to their homes and play the fiddle and make everyone dance. This kind of random jester behavior aligns with the kind of person I want to be. It’s quite likely that, if I lived here, I’d be all “ug, it’s Jeff from up the way, Skekling again. Quick, turn out the lights and pretend we’re not here”. Still, it’s good to aspire to mischief.

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