The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #55479 Message #866323
Posted By: open mike
13-Jan-03 - 08:37 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: (waulking) tweed making music
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (waulking) tweed making music
Hi, I am "Open Mike"'s friend--Eric Whollem--with the theory that links waulking with the mermaids, or selkies.
[The term "whelk" has nothing at all to do with this correlation, which is drawn from comparative folklore of various nations].
First off, in the Greek world the Weavers was a designation of the Fates, or the three Moerae, which were the three aspects of Aphrodite.
Although she is a separate Goddess from Aphrodite, Athena is said to have taken a porpoise form in her marriage to Poseidon (as Amphitrite). The oracle of Athena was Arachne, the weaver (albeit a spider). So both Athena and Aphrodite, as sea Goddesses, have connections to the weavers.
Seals are said in Greek lore to be the offspring of the Nereids, the oceanic nymphs who were the children of the Oceanids Nereus and Doris. The Nereids are said to be the "Goats of the Sea." But elsewhere in the Greek milieu--Crete to be exact--the foam of the sea is said to be made from Wool. Is this wool the wool of the Nereids, the seals, or sea nymphs? And in Crete the Moon is said to be the spindle of the Weavers--the spindle of the Mermaids--the Fates.
Sea Rams are found in mythology in various parts of the world. Agni, the Sea God, in India is said to have as his consort a Ram. And in Scandinavia Heimdall the White Ram is husband of Ran the Sea Goddess. Thus Rams and wool mythically have been aspects of the sea for centuries. But originally the impetus to associate mystic waters with Rams and wool may have begun in ancient Persia where Yama was the SHEPERD of the dead by the waters of the river of the dead--later to be transformed into Ymir in Scandinavia--and to Yomi in Japan. Marija Gimbutas also notes many ancient Ram clay effigies from ancient Europe with aquatic symbols. Eaganna, the Babylonian Goat-Ram-Fish, is one of the major gods of ancient Mesopotamia. Thus the roots of the mermaid associations of waulking music run deep.
Why do mermaids weave? There may be an ancient connection to fishing nets: the Net of Ran may be a sister of the Veil of Isis and the Net of Indra. My view is that the Eleusinian mysteries dealt specifially with the mystery of the veil of the mermaids. But there is not time to go into that here. One of the lost works of Orpheus, the founder of the Egyptian rites at Delphi is said to be "The Veil."
The mermaid in Russian folklore is Rusalka or Rusalki--which I see as etymologically akin to the Celtic term Selkie, especially as the Rusalkis are said to be Weavers of Silk in their underwater domain. (Shioda is Gaelic for silk.)So basically it seems logical to connect waulking--wool working--with the mermaids, as historically the weavers of the sea have an especial connection to wool. Also the text of many of the waulking songs deals with aquatic themes: boats, reincarnation via seal form, "the silk of Galway" etc. My interest in gathering the
texts of waulking music is to glean such oceanic metaphors for comparative analysis. Not all waulking music contains aquatic metaphors, for the role of the Fates is interwoven in all manifestation, terrestrial as well as otherworldly. It's the basic inspiration that is archaic--linked to the Mediterranean mythos, etc.
In Ireland bards whose message is prophetic are called "Vates"--is this not another connection to the Mediterranean milieu where the Fates are the three mermaid sisters? Chanting is preeminently the function of the Fates, whose inspired words might guide human destiny.
In this sense the bardic milieu of the Celts, in it's everyday songs of work, where wool is concerned--the waulking songs--may well be linked to the voice of the Mermaids.
Thanks for the many inquiries into the link between the wool working music of the Celts and the Selkies.
(I have written a book --out of print--entitled "The Mystery of the Mermaids; Goddesses and Gods of the Sea;" and some of my selkie
poetry can be found on the poetry page of my Website: Whollem's Earth Art.")