The Scotsman: The 'intriguing and unsettling' Scottish island tradition of skekling
As winter came, the skeklers moved from house to house, dancing around the fire and banging wooden staves on the floor in a celebration of the supernatural.
The tradition of skekling was observed in Shetland for hundreds of years, with its roots in the Norse history of the islands.
Skeklers dressed in a straw skirt – called a gloy – a short, straw cloak and tall pointed straw hat, with the costumes woven together using family crops.
Read full article here