One of the most amazing items in our new exhibition Halloween: Glitter and Gravedust is a skekler costume. Come to the Museum when we re-open on March 25th to see it in the flesh! What is a skekler? “Skekling is an old Shetland folk tradition. A Skekler is the name for a type of disguised person dressed in a distinctive straw costume; it is a variant of the term ‘guiser’. Skeklers would go round the houses at Halloween, New Year, and turn up at weddings in small groups performing fiddle music in return for food and drink.” Text and photographs courtesy of Gemma Ovens. Many thanks to Ewen Balfour for making the costume and to Elaine Lindsay and Gillian Nott for arranging the loan to the Museum. This evocative and beautiful picture of a skekler costume was brought to the Museum's attention by Gillian Nott. https://theartstack.com/artist/katherine-soutar/hallamas-mareel
