Honest Truth

A fascinating interview:

For a spectacularly creepy yet historically accurate Scottish Halloween costume, look to Shetland’s skeklers. Writer and filmmaker Roseanne Watt tells Laura Smith the Honest Truth about the fascinating ancient island folk tradition and recent attempts to revive it

How did you first find out about the skeklers tradition on Shetland?

I’m a writer and filmmaker who was born and raised in the village of Sandwick, Shetland. I first came across them in a book of Shetland folklore by local writer, James R Nicolson. I was immediately drawn to the strangeness of them and how creepy they looked. There is also a recreated costume of one in the Shetland Museum. It’s one of my favourite exhibits.

What is skekling?

Skekling is an older form of guising, native to Shetland. They were also called “grøleks” in Unst, the northernmost island in the archipelago. Very little is actually known about the origins of the practice, but it seems to be a curious meeting point of Celtic and Norse costume traditions.

Skekling usually began around Winter Sunday, the first Sunday after Winter Day on October 14, the day that marked the beginning of winter in the isles. It would continue until January 24, now marked by the Up Helly Aa fire festival.

Skeklers would go “hoosamylla” (house to house), led by a leader known as the “scuddler” and perform skits and musical numbers in return for “a coarn o meal, a penny o money, ir a piece o flesh” (a handful of grain, penny of money, or piece of meat).