I am native american and our blankets/shawls were repurposed for multiple things as well. My blanket/shawl was given to me by an elder and i use it for ceremony dances only. Great to learn about other cultures! Very pretty textiles!
Yes,I second that ! In fact any part of life in that time period is very slim on what women contributed. Like all those beautiful plaids just appeared and the men went off on adventures!I appreciate your interest in the survival aspects cause I enjoy that part too but really, a little credit where credit is due!😊😊
Ditto! I love all the standard information, but I seriously want to make one of these (perhaps not weave, but at least wear) for work. Our office gets so cold when the men control the AC in the summer time that I think it would be fitting. Hopefully it's not sacrilege to wear it over jeans!
As a spinner and weaver I know that the weaving of her earasaid might not have taken long but the sheering, spinning, dyeing, of the wool and then the setting up and threading the warp on the loom would have taken a very long time. Thus the reason they were so expensive. All of the earasaids you’re showing here are gorgeous! I’m quite jealous… must go and start the spinning of one for myself! 😊 Also… I wonder if every household would have had access to a spinning wheel and a loom. Perhaps they would have only had access to spindles and knitting needles. Surely a woven earasaid would have been a very precious thing indeed!
There is a Catherine Cookson book based movie available on RUclips about a traveling Weaver. Each village had but one large loom. Villages would prepare their wool for months, working hard to create just the right shades of color for their yarn, going through their patterns, and waiting for their turn for a visit from😮mmmm* "The Weaver. " I can't remember the name, unfortunately, of the movie, and I am trying to remember who was in it. They all went on to stellar careers, which is fitting for a Star. The FL was Janet McTeer, and the MP will come to me soon, I'm sure. His name was Clive Owen. OMG!! I really just remembered that! Oh, the name of the movie is " Precious Bane." I can't remember the name of whoever played our hero. Wait, I have it, John Bowe!! Yikes!! Unexpected trip through the infamous Wayback Machine !!!
@@Phlowermom Precious Bane was written by Mary Webb and was about a Shropshire farm in the lake country back at the time of the Napoleonic wars so is 1800s not 1700s. Every farm would have a loom and the weaver would move from one farm to another. Never viewed your film but the book is worth a read for the historic social detail although Mary Webb was writing in the 1920s. My Grandmother knew her because she had a stall on Shrewsbury market where she sold the produce from her Much Wenlock smallholding. One big mistake she made was using South East Shropshire dialect when writing about North West Shropshire Lake country. Her books were satirised by Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm
A very informative video... thank you both... as an American (from North Carolina) of predominantly Scottish descent (my McLean & McRae ancestors came to the then colony in the mid 1770's), I'm very interested in all things Scottish... 🇺🇸🤝🏴
@@StGene22494You can still hear the accent or sound of Gaelic when you go up into the rural mountain areas. It’s lovely. And many words and phrases are still used. It’s something I love about the country of NC.
Aww I wanna say I commend you for knowing your genealogy!! Sometimes hard for some of us to know that far back so that is really cool. I’m of Irish descent but still wanted to learn what a female kilt is. That’s really awesome though; was the knowledge passed down through family members, or did you look into archives?
My mother's family (Knox) came to Rowan Co in the 1700s from Renfrewshire. My father's family came in the early 1700s from Inishowen ( O'Docartaigh) to Augusta Co, VA eventually becoming Cherokee through generations of intermarriage. I applaud you for knowing your roots.
I love Marion!!!! Go smell the countryside is some of the best advice I've ever heard on a RUclips, she's grand. Loved the whole video, thanks so much for making it.
Maybe a video on a day in the life of a Highland family would be enlightening to see.. how were children schooled? How did they prepare food? What chores did children do? Did the men helo out at home? How did they treat sickness -‘and what were the sicknesses they faced? How long did they live? What animals did they raise? What was their diet? These are just some questions that came into our minds as we watched this.. we can think of tons more.. This is a subject we have great interest in.. as we have Scottish ancestors.. This channel is just what we are looking for.. as we are new.. you may have covered these already.. we have seen but a few videos so far and are much impressed.. We like your style.. how you tell about the topic and then jump right into it.. We look forward to learning as much as we can of the lives of those who gave us life.. Thank you so much💜💙😊
Children didn’t go to school in the Highlands in 1700s They worked right along their parents & gparents sides, learning their trades & arts, while helping to supervise & entertain wee ones often
@@YeshuaKingMessiah Thsnk you so much.. this is exactly what we we want yo know.. we take too much for granted ., such as education., and assume too much.. So then.. the parents probably could not read or write.. and stories were passed down by word of mouth? Hard to believe how little we know about those who came before us.. must have been a hard life for the wee ones as well.. Thank you so much.. your info means much to us🌹💙😊🌹
@@Jen999 That is true, many people were not literate, or at least not fully. This is why there are so many different spellings of names, my own for example can be spelt McLeod, MacLeod, McCloud, McLoud, MacLeoid etc, because really it depended on whoever was taking the census, there was no set way of spelling things. I have heard that on occasion, school masters would journey up to the shielings when the women and children would migrate to them for summer to allow the livestock to graze, but this may be more of a 19th century thing, I would imagine in the 18th and 17th centuries there was little schooling unless you were of the highland gentry, e.g. a close relative of the clan chief, in which case some men did go to University in the cities before returning. Day to day life would have consisted of daily chores like tending to cattle, which were kept in pastures without fences, the borders understood as common knowledge, and tending to crops which were often managed communally in what is known as a 'runrig'. This is where the land would be divided up into long strips, with the best stretches of land being rotated, so each family would get a turn on the nicest farm land. The land would be owned by the clan chief, and the tenants of the land would pay rent usually via cattle, to Tacksmen, who would be the clan chief's close friends or family. The chief was expected to protect the people on his land as payment for their taxes, and men of fighting age would be expected to fight for their clan if needed. They could be called upon by way of the 'fiery cross', which is where people would run a relay race carrying a burning cross, like the Olympic torch, to make everyone aware they should get ready for a fight. There would normally be a pre-agreed meeting place where the fighting men of the township would then muster with whatever weapons they had, usually very little, for example it has been shown in records that those well off enough to own a musket or a broadsword, would usually also have a dirk and targe (fighting dagger and shield), however the majority had only a dirk or farming tools, potentially a Lochaber axe, and nothing more. There was a culture of poetry and telling stories, and many Gaelic place names speak of a story (there are many hills and valleys with names like 'valley of the deer hunt). - Apologies if this is a long ramble, just some daily details you might find interesting!
@@MasonMcLeodFilms Way more than interesting.. fascinating.. that is what brought us to this channel initially.. the strong call within us to learn more about a homeland we have never seen.. and what our ancestors lives were like.. Your words are magical and mesmerizing indeed.. like reading a story we have no wish to put down the book containing it.. One video we watched told of the homes they dwelt in.. that they had no windows.. At best perhaps a tiny one.. should have pined away living like that.. we must have light.. a window always open to nature.. The hard work and all we could tolerate.. but shut away in the dark.. our hearts break for those who lived then..💔 Your writing skills are evident in your comment.. we noted not the length of it.. only sorrow when the story ended.. Thank you for an enlightening reply that has literally brightened our day💜💙😊
I have been to Newtonmore on a holiday and visited this museum. It is absolutely fantastic to see. I remember this woman being there. We also visited Culloden Moor which is another fantastic historical sight. And yes it is free.
No, you aren't the only one. It's cool af. The versatility, the style, the craftsmanship, it's a coat, it's a robe, it's sunscreen, it's family symbolism, it's cultural, it's fashion, it's from the land.... it's incredible
Ach.. how we love Marian! Would love to see more videos featuring her.. and more about the era she speaks of.. We love her so because she is quite like our dear Granny.. especially her beautiful accent.. and how she tells us to forage and smell the land.. but for our Granny.. we would have missed so much of what truly matters in life.. As for the earasaid.. I slept under one all during my childhood.. it had been my Granny’s.. and was given to me at my birth by her.. so warm and comforting it was.. and helped me to sleep having it upon me.. all bundled safely into it.. Thank you Tom for this beautiful video.. our families hailed from Aberdeen and Glasgow.. to return some day we would cherish… Slan mo charaid 💜💙🌹
Love all the knowledge this woman has and shares this information so openly. My great grandfather was born in Scotland then moved to the western U.S. in his late teen years. Married a woman from Canada, my great grandmother, had 3 kids in Denver Colorado before my great grandmother pased away. My grandmother was only 11 when her mom died so not the best situation. I have a picture of my great grandfather in his Kilt, spats, fur covered bag, you know all the Bells and whistles. It was taken in casper wyoming where he raised his kids. Then they moved to phoenix az in the 1920. I have always been fascinated with that picture an what happened to his kilt. Nobody knows or will take responsibility. Someday I will be in Scotland to research my great grandfather, whom i never met, John Dodds. My grandmother told me so much that i know i have to go 1 day before i die. I'm 57 so i better get to saving up for it. Thanks for the info you share here as well.
Wow, I just love Marian and this video brought such joy to my heart. How our ancestors lived and loved in the beautiful, but harsh environment of the Highlands should be a real inspiration for us today, especially in terms of living a richer and more simple life.
It was less harsh than most places aside from water and a shorter growing season. The grasslands used to be forest and wetland and the ocean currents kept the island warm relative to its latitude and cloud coverage reduced the danger of the sun. 'Simpler times' did not exist; they were subject to politics and bureaucracy then as much as now (it was but more immediately local) and rather than lots of paperwork dealt with dozens of skills in agriculture, animal husbandry, food preservation, and preparation, tool creation, and preservation, warfare, and many other things.
@@NevisYsbryd I help manage a rural estate in Scotland that has both Lowland and Highland parts and from my experience, the conditions for rural living are harsher in the Highlands than the Lowlands, but both pretty tough back in the days before central heating! When I said a more simple life, I meant more like the benefits of hard, physical work, especially outdoors, such as gardening and foraging. I agree that the Highlanders were often subject to perilous times and swept-up in dangerous politics, such as which way your clan would declare in the ‘45 Rebellion!
@@stonemarten1400 Oh, sure, it was likely rougher than the Lowlands. I was speaking at a global scale, though. Those sorts of things are not really simpler or necessarily benefits, though. It is very different to do that as a hobby or historical preservation with the safety and alternatives of the modern context and to live fully in that context with no other alternatives as your actual livelihood, be dependent on others in the total community, and be taxed very heavily. That sort of constant hard physical labor is also rough on the body in the long run. There are lots of reasons why what we now call white collar work was generally considered preferable.
Just returned from the Highlands back to Nova Scotia. The first Gaels to settle here brought all these traditions with them so great to see them demonstrated so well by Marion. Thanks so much!
Just to add a wee note: The word is taken from the Gaelic earrasaid and the pronunciation in Gaelic sounds like "yarruhsitch" with the stress on the first syllable.
i was thinking the same. i figured it would rhyme with "caraid" the word for friend. "aid" sounds like "itch", not a long A, like in english. thank you for commenting
i was wondering - i'd learnt that 'id' or 'slender-vowel d*' was pronounced /dj/ or /tch/, so i'd been pronouncing "arasaid" as /a'rasaj/, /a'rasij/, or /a'rasitch/, given i'd never heard an actual gaelic speaker say it. But then he used /d/ at the end, and i got confused.
If Marian has anything else she like to share, and I suspect she might, I would very mush like to hear it because having her feminine outlook is absolutely priceless to me as an old reenactor. Thank you for sharing such valuable knowledge!
What I love about this and the great kilt is how we can see a clear tradition passed down from much earlier Celtic times with what we know called the Brat/Cloak.
That was great. I’m in Australia so had a bit of trouble understanding her sometimes :). This way of wearing cloth is great for sub-tropical Queensland too, with a singlet and simple shorts worn under. Pure cotton cloth is cool, easy care and can be used to as shade, a towel, a sheet to sleep with etc. Great to see this winter version :).
I love seeing these. I did the research and my Dad was a full Scott. His family came over in the clearances and settled in South Carolina. Mom’s mother was full German and her father was full English. They settled in the north. I was able to visit Scotland and stay in a castle that used to belong to my Dad’s family. I would go back and never come “home”. I loved Scotland!!
So glad to see another video in this series! I had no clue the women wore theirs lengthwise. It makes a lot of sense, though, since they had so much busy work around the home and 5 meters of fabric would have just gotten in the way (and a better portion of their work could have been done indoors or at least near shelter when compared with men). Excellent advice as well! Put down your device and get outside 🥰 It's nearly dinner time and I've been out all day, just to sit down and see this video at the top of my feed (I'd been keeping an eye out for it since you posted the promo the other day).
I have an Irish ancestor and I just dug up my Native American potatoes. I will put the fall beans and winter squash in that bed next. Keeping it real, outdoors in the Ozarks.
Thank you for, among other things, finally teaching me how to pronounce this word. In the future, I also wouldn't mind hearing about the "maud": the smaller plaid that the Lowlanders (including my own ancestors) also wore.
Very awesome! Very informative as well. Always look forward to watching your videos Tom. Very thankful for the information and knowledge you share in your videos. Looking forward to the next one soon 😜.
Tho it is true that hand loom are limited buy the arm span of the weaver, it’s not a hard limit. There is a technic for weaving double width cloth on a heddle loom. It creates a piece that comes of the loom folded in half longways.
Very interesting. Thank you for that. I had heard that poorer women only wore the Earasaid. What I'd also heard was that puritanical preachers complained about poor women wearing just that to church - because there was too much flesh exposed. Question: the men were banned from wearing the Feileadh Mor following the Jacobite defeat, did a similar ban not apply to the women?
The women and children weren't prohibited. And to be honest, most of the men weren't either. Check out period portraiture. Plenty of men wearing tartan.
Beautiful. I hadn't seen you in awhile, thanks to YT. I was hoping you might have a couple on women's kit, and there they are. Must say, I like what you've done with your channel.
I made a dnd character that’s a centaur ranger. She wears a plaid like a kilt or an earasaid depending on how she wants to wear it. And she can grab stuff from around her waist and not have to bend down too much. 😊
I would love so much to visit there! I weave, and I love making historical items to wear. It would take me more than a day to weave that shawl though, let alone the full version. I would have liked to see the 18th century loom if they have one there.
The lengthwise way the erasaid is worn also makes sense for when you have to hoof around with a bairn on your back and want to kept them protected from weather or sun AND still have your hands free to do work.
So interesting my fathers great grandfathers many times over, left Renfrew in 1600 bound for ireland on a wooden sailing ship, once berthed he met my great grandmother married her, then they sailed to Liverpool then settled there and all my paternal family lived there right upto date, his name was Thomas Crawford same name as my dad then my brother then his grandson all with the same name x He signed his name on the ships log, the rest of the crew put down x. Watching you both had me wondering if he dressed like yoursef. Love Scotland, mams family where from Ireland too.
That would be an awesome trip, to visit and adopt the historical lifestyle as a recreation and not be dependent too much on the experimental archeology. I doubt I could nail the accent though, but I could do a great western frontier American. ;)
@@mountaingirlzstuff4314 also there are many nutritious greens.. such as dandelion and plantain to name a few.. which are quite tasty and easily found.. must get them in areas where people do not spray though.. we eat a lot of wild garlic and mint will go wild also.. with mushrooms caution is advised for those who are not used to what the safe ones look like.. best of all are the wild berries😊💜💙
Ca fait beaucoup pense rau sefseri des femmes tunisiennes autredois, et peut-être encore aujourd'hui dans les campagnes, sauf que là cest une pièce de tissu en laine plus ou moins épais, mais la façon de le draper et de le porter y fait beaucoup penser...en Tunsie, c'était surtout pour se protéger du soleil et de la poussière, mais les femmes avaient aussi cette ceinture très utile pour pendre dess petits sacs, afin de garder les mains libres...et oui, vos paysages sont très beaux...j''ai visité deux fois l'Ecosse, et j'ai a-do-ré !!!
A fine lady there. In the American colonies the linen wool warp and weft was called linsey woolsey. Used mostly for shirts. It also kept them from shrinking which the US army revisited in the early 20th century. They would wash the troops wool shirts in almost boiling water to kill the lice which caused them to shrink so they returned to adding this time cotton instead of wool.
This goes really nicely with a post-apocalyptic culture I thought up, based on how a major coastal tourism-based society might adapt using whatever they have left over from the fall of society - namely trinkets and beach gear in the shops around them. They've taken to wearing cloths similar to beach towels as their main, often only clothing item, and it is also multi-functional. (Hotter costal regions mostly go fully nude with this garment loosely draped around them however they like, as sun protection and a tool for carrying things.) I have them mostly wrapping and tying these garments at the corners, but I hadn't considered using a belt! I also haven't thought very much about how different ways of wearing this garment communicate one's status in the community; I wanted that aspect to be more focused on self-expression, since these cultures have no other fashion to do so with, and also of practicality. If you're carrying things, you'd probably tie it around your waist as an apron; if you have a baby, you'd probably tie it as a sling; if you're on a stroll, you'd probably wear it as a shawl to cover from the sun; etc, etc.
Wow, only a day to weave but I bet weeks to spin the wool. Would she have dyed the skeins after spinning or before? Did the lovely lanolin interfere with the wool taking the dye?
More than spinning. Cleaning, carding, spinning, dyeing, then weaving at a basic explanation of the process. And yes, it was quite a process, to the point that England (one of the major producers and exporters of wool in Europe) often outsourced large chunks of the process to German workshops.
@@NevisYsbryd great information. I’m actually a spinner myself but I don’t dye or weave very much. I never would have imagined the weaving would have been a days work. Textiles are so fascinating. I recently read that if you want to make a Viking warrior cry, you should steal his sail. It will be a year before he can replace it.
@@winterwoodcottage3657 Ah. It depends greatly on the nature of the weave. Simple rectangular weaves like plaid or parallel stripes do not require a particularly complicated setup, so it may be that her design here was faster than a lot of other period designs. Stuff would also vary by textile (eg, linen, hemp, and nettle have to 'ret' or controlled rotting before harvesting the fibers). Weaving is fairly late in the process, though, yes, and pretty much the last stage for these particular garments (as opposed to, say, a fulled woolen doublet, which had to be cut and tailored and then fulled). Greater efficiency at textile production was actually one of the primary economic improvements of the early Industrial Revolution; clothing used to constitute a much larger proportion of people's net wealth. That said, take the Viking sale with context. Plant-based fibers tend to be less easy to produce the further north one goes (less heat and sunlight) in contrast to animal (Albion being a particularly good location for wool sheep) and sails were made of plant fibers in a time and place less economically flourishing than Europe through most of history. I imagine the sail would have been especially costly/difficult to replace then and there compared to somewhere like the Mediterranean.
@@NevisYsbryd haha I love it. Your knowledge of textiles is so illuminating. I only spin wool and I do it professionally. Usually from peoples pet fur. I’ve spun dog, cat , bunny, horse, alpaca, spider webs if someone so wishes but the history is amazing to me. Would you recommend some resources. I’ve just read “the fabric of civilization “. And it was eye opening. But I would love to know your go to.
@@Jen999 YES I use 2 of them as weighted blankets - Its like posting myself into bed on a night LOL. I have to squidge down under them then I am pressed flat all night :-D
@@piccalillipit9211 as a wee child I was placed under one by my Mum.. at my Granny’s advice.. as I was a timid child and feared the dark etc.. this made me feel comforted and warm.. like being held close all night.. definitely worked for me and heartily recommend it for anyone suffering from insomnia or fears as I had.. 🙃🤕😊
Very interesting video. Another person has commented on maybe not everyone had access to loom etc to make these items. If that is so, then what were these folk wearing and how was it constructed? Great videos. Love your channel.
I am native american and our blankets/shawls were repurposed for multiple things as well. My blanket/shawl was given to me by an elder and i use it for ceremony dances only. Great to learn about other cultures! Very pretty textiles!
lmao "Put youtube down, go out and start foraging, open your eyes and come visit us" LOVE HER
Thank you so much for highlighting the women’s wear.🐝❤️🤗
Yes,I second that ! In fact any part of life in that time period is very slim on what women contributed. Like all those beautiful plaids just appeared and the men went off on adventures!I appreciate your interest in the survival aspects cause I enjoy that part too but really, a little credit where credit is due!😊😊
Marion Smart is a treasure 🤗 she wove that lady plaid n a day!? Remarkable 💛
Ditto! I love all the standard information, but I seriously want to make one of these (perhaps not weave, but at least wear) for work. Our office gets so cold when the men control the AC in the summer time that I think it would be fitting. Hopefully it's not sacrilege to wear it over jeans!
@@jessicaleighdargaclark4536I would need sweaters, socks, sneakers, it’s ridiculous how cold ppl keep the AC
As a spinner and weaver I know that the weaving of her earasaid might not have taken long but the sheering, spinning, dyeing, of the wool and then the setting up and threading the warp on the loom would have taken a very long time. Thus the reason they were so expensive. All of the earasaids you’re showing here are gorgeous! I’m quite jealous… must go and start the spinning of one for myself! 😊 Also… I wonder if every household would have had access to a spinning wheel and a loom. Perhaps they would have only had access to spindles and knitting needles. Surely a woven earasaid would have been a very precious thing indeed!
There is a Catherine Cookson book based movie available on RUclips about a traveling Weaver.
Each village had but one large loom. Villages would prepare their wool for months, working hard to create just the right shades of color for their yarn, going through their patterns, and waiting for their turn for a visit from😮mmmm* "The Weaver. "
I can't remember the name, unfortunately, of the movie, and I am trying to remember who was in it. They all went on to stellar careers, which is fitting for a Star.
The FL was Janet McTeer, and the MP will come to me soon, I'm sure. His name was Clive Owen. OMG!! I really just remembered that! Oh, the name of the movie is " Precious Bane." I can't remember the name of whoever played our hero. Wait, I have it, John Bowe!! Yikes!! Unexpected trip through the infamous Wayback Machine !!!
@@Phlowermom I love this comment! Thanks!😁
@@Phlowermom Precious Bane was written by Mary Webb and was about a Shropshire farm in the lake country back at the time of the Napoleonic wars so is 1800s not 1700s. Every farm would have a loom and the weaver would move from one farm to another. Never viewed your film but the book is worth a read for the historic social detail although Mary Webb was writing in the 1920s. My Grandmother knew her because she had a stall on Shrewsbury market where she sold the produce from her Much Wenlock smallholding. One big mistake she made was using South East Shropshire dialect when writing about North West Shropshire Lake country. Her books were satirised by Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm
@cadileigh9948 I stand corrected. Thank you! Now, I need to update my internal database to reflect the correct information.
I love that miniseries!!
@@airyellit8153 yes. I used to spin and weave. I wonder if we could get the weaving pattern of individual clan tartans so we can make our own?
"Put it down, go out". Brilliant advice, great video!
As a Tartan and Plaid designer and weaver, this was beautifully done. Thank you for posting it.
A very informative video... thank you both... as an American (from North Carolina) of predominantly Scottish descent (my McLean & McRae ancestors came to the then colony in the mid 1770's), I'm very interested in all things Scottish... 🇺🇸🤝🏴
I remember reading somewhere that in parts of NC Gaelic was spoken until after the Civil War!
@@StGene22494You can still hear the accent or sound of Gaelic when you go up into the rural mountain areas. It’s lovely. And many words and phrases are still used. It’s something I love about the country of NC.
Aww I wanna say I commend you for knowing your genealogy!! Sometimes hard for some of us to know that far back so that is really cool. I’m of Irish descent but still wanted to learn what a female kilt is. That’s really awesome though; was the knowledge passed down through family members, or did you look into archives?
My mother's family (Knox) came to Rowan Co in the 1700s from Renfrewshire. My father's family came in the early 1700s from Inishowen ( O'Docartaigh) to Augusta Co, VA eventually becoming Cherokee through generations of intermarriage.
I applaud you for knowing your roots.
Hello, fellow North Carolinian of Scottish descent!
I love Marion!!!! Go smell the countryside is some of the best advice I've ever heard on a RUclips, she's grand.
Loved the whole video, thanks so much for making it.
Maybe a video on a day in the life of a Highland family would be enlightening to see.. how were children schooled? How did they prepare food? What chores did children do? Did the men helo out at home? How did they treat sickness -‘and what were the sicknesses they faced? How long did they live? What animals did they raise? What was their diet?
These are just some questions that came into our minds as we watched this.. we can think of tons more..
This is a subject we have great interest in.. as we have Scottish ancestors..
This channel is just what we are looking for.. as we are new.. you may have covered these already.. we have seen but a few videos so far and are much impressed..
We like your style.. how you tell about the topic and then jump right into it..
We look forward to learning as much as we can of the lives of those who gave us life..
Thank you so much💜💙😊
Children didn’t go to school in the Highlands in 1700s
They worked right along their parents & gparents sides, learning their trades & arts, while helping to supervise & entertain wee ones often
@@YeshuaKingMessiah Thsnk you so much.. this is exactly what we we want yo know.. we take too much for granted ., such as education., and assume too much..
So then.. the parents probably could not read or write.. and stories were passed down by word of mouth?
Hard to believe how little we know about those who came before us.. must have been a hard life for the wee ones as well..
Thank you so much.. your info means much to us🌹💙😊🌹
@@Jen999 That is true, many people were not literate, or at least not fully. This is why there are so many different spellings of names, my own for example can be spelt McLeod, MacLeod, McCloud, McLoud, MacLeoid etc, because really it depended on whoever was taking the census, there was no set way of spelling things. I have heard that on occasion, school masters would journey up to the shielings when the women and children would migrate to them for summer to allow the livestock to graze, but this may be more of a 19th century thing, I would imagine in the 18th and 17th centuries there was little schooling unless you were of the highland gentry, e.g. a close relative of the clan chief, in which case some men did go to University in the cities before returning. Day to day life would have consisted of daily chores like tending to cattle, which were kept in pastures without fences, the borders understood as common knowledge, and tending to crops which were often managed communally in what is known as a 'runrig'. This is where the land would be divided up into long strips, with the best stretches of land being rotated, so each family would get a turn on the nicest farm land. The land would be owned by the clan chief, and the tenants of the land would pay rent usually via cattle, to Tacksmen, who would be the clan chief's close friends or family. The chief was expected to protect the people on his land as payment for their taxes, and men of fighting age would be expected to fight for their clan if needed. They could be called upon by way of the 'fiery cross', which is where people would run a relay race carrying a burning cross, like the Olympic torch, to make everyone aware they should get ready for a fight. There would normally be a pre-agreed meeting place where the fighting men of the township would then muster with whatever weapons they had, usually very little, for example it has been shown in records that those well off enough to own a musket or a broadsword, would usually also have a dirk and targe (fighting dagger and shield), however the majority had only a dirk or farming tools, potentially a Lochaber axe, and nothing more. There was a culture of poetry and telling stories, and many Gaelic place names speak of a story (there are many hills and valleys with names like 'valley of the deer hunt). - Apologies if this is a long ramble, just some daily details you might find interesting!
@@MasonMcLeodFilms Way more than interesting.. fascinating.. that is what brought us to this channel initially.. the strong call within us to learn more about a homeland we have never seen.. and what our ancestors lives were like..
Your words are magical and mesmerizing indeed.. like reading a story we have no wish to put down the book containing it..
One video we watched told of the homes they dwelt in.. that they had no windows.. At best perhaps a tiny one.. should have pined away living like that.. we must have light.. a window always open to nature..
The hard work and all we could tolerate.. but shut away in the dark.. our hearts break for those who lived then..💔
Your writing skills are evident in your comment.. we noted not the length of it.. only sorrow when the story ended..
Thank you for an enlightening reply that has literally brightened our day💜💙😊
Must be great to find someone as knowledgeable about your era, bringing the other half of the story.
Great vid 👏👏👏
I have been to Newtonmore on a holiday and visited this museum. It is absolutely fantastic to see. I remember this woman being there. We also visited Culloden Moor which is another fantastic historical sight. And yes it is free.
Am i the only one who thinks it looks cool af?
No, you aren't the only one. It's cool af. The versatility, the style, the craftsmanship, it's a coat, it's a robe, it's sunscreen, it's family symbolism, it's cultural, it's fashion, it's from the land.... it's incredible
I want one.
Marion is brilliant. More collaborations please
Thank you so much! I have my late husband’s great kilt that he got for Renaissance faires… looks like I could repurpose it for myself 😃
Ach.. how we love Marian! Would love to see more videos featuring her.. and more about the era she speaks of..
We love her so because she is quite like our dear Granny.. especially her beautiful accent.. and how she tells us to forage and smell the land.. but for our Granny.. we would have missed so much of what truly matters in life..
As for the earasaid.. I slept under one all during my childhood.. it had been my Granny’s.. and was given to me at my birth by her.. so warm and comforting it was.. and helped me to sleep having it upon me.. all bundled safely into it..
Thank you Tom for this beautiful video.. our families hailed from Aberdeen and Glasgow.. to return some day we would cherish…
Slan mo charaid 💜💙🌹
Love all the knowledge this woman has and shares this information so openly.
My great grandfather was born in Scotland then moved to the western U.S. in his late teen years. Married a woman from Canada, my great grandmother, had 3 kids in Denver Colorado before my great grandmother pased away. My grandmother was only 11 when her mom died so not the best situation.
I have a picture of my great grandfather in his Kilt, spats, fur covered bag, you know all the Bells and whistles. It was taken in casper wyoming where he raised his kids. Then they moved to phoenix az in the 1920.
I have always been fascinated with that picture an what happened to his kilt. Nobody knows or will take responsibility.
Someday I will be in Scotland to research my great grandfather, whom i never met, John Dodds. My grandmother told me so much that i know i have to go 1 day before i die. I'm 57 so i better get to saving up for it.
Thanks for the info you share here as well.
Wow, I just love Marian and this video brought such joy to my heart. How our ancestors lived and loved in the beautiful, but harsh environment of the Highlands should be a real inspiration for us today, especially in terms of living a richer and more simple life.
It was less harsh than most places aside from water and a shorter growing season. The grasslands used to be forest and wetland and the ocean currents kept the island warm relative to its latitude and cloud coverage reduced the danger of the sun. 'Simpler times' did not exist; they were subject to politics and bureaucracy then as much as now (it was but more immediately local) and rather than lots of paperwork dealt with dozens of skills in agriculture, animal husbandry, food preservation, and preparation, tool creation, and preservation, warfare, and many other things.
@@NevisYsbryd I help manage a rural estate in Scotland that has both Lowland and Highland parts and from my experience, the conditions for rural living are harsher in the Highlands than the Lowlands, but both pretty tough back in the days before central heating! When I said a more simple life, I meant more like the benefits of hard, physical work, especially outdoors, such as gardening and foraging. I agree that the Highlanders were often subject to perilous times and swept-up in dangerous politics, such as which way your clan would declare in the ‘45 Rebellion!
@@stonemarten1400 Oh, sure, it was likely rougher than the Lowlands. I was speaking at a global scale, though.
Those sorts of things are not really simpler or necessarily benefits, though. It is very different to do that as a hobby or historical preservation with the safety and alternatives of the modern context and to live fully in that context with no other alternatives as your actual livelihood, be dependent on others in the total community, and be taxed very heavily. That sort of constant hard physical labor is also rough on the body in the long run. There are lots of reasons why what we now call white collar work was generally considered preferable.
Just returned from the Highlands back to Nova Scotia. The first Gaels to settle here brought all these traditions with them so great to see them demonstrated so well by Marion. Thanks so much!
Really enjoy listening to Marion, great for her to share her knowledge, fascinating, thanks Tom 👍
I love a new Fandabi dozi video
What a legend!!! Marion is a total gem…get out there and forage..smell Scotland. ❤ I want her on my team when the shtf
thanks both for such an interesting and informative video!
Just to add a wee note: The word is taken from the Gaelic earrasaid and the pronunciation in Gaelic sounds like "yarruhsitch" with the stress on the first syllable.
I've heard about that and wondered why they didn't use the Gaelic pronunciation at the folk museum.
@@EmeraldVideosNL No idea. They could at least have mentioned it.
i was thinking the same. i figured it would rhyme with "caraid" the word for friend. "aid" sounds like "itch", not a long A, like in english. thank you for commenting
The first thing I noticed about the video was that it reminded me of Ealasaid ( Elisatch) ,the Gaidhlig form of my mother's name Elisabeth
i was wondering - i'd learnt that 'id' or 'slender-vowel d*' was pronounced /dj/ or /tch/, so i'd been pronouncing "arasaid" as /a'rasaj/, /a'rasij/, or /a'rasitch/, given i'd never heard an actual gaelic speaker say it. But then he used /d/ at the end, and i got confused.
If Marian has anything else she like to share, and I suspect she might, I would very mush like to hear it because having her feminine outlook is absolutely priceless to me as an old reenactor. Thank you for sharing such valuable knowledge!
What I love about this and the great kilt is how we can see a clear tradition passed down from much earlier Celtic times with what we know called the Brat/Cloak.
GREAT VIDEO! Great guest
Do a video on the wool dying process. Thanks, Tom
I could listen to you two talk for hours
Thankyou
That 11 min. was so interesting and went by very quickly!
That was great. I’m in Australia so had a bit of trouble understanding her sometimes :). This way of wearing cloth is great for sub-tropical Queensland too, with a singlet and simple shorts worn under. Pure cotton cloth is cool, easy care and can be used to as shade, a towel, a sheet to sleep with etc. Great to see this winter version :).
Love Marion and her advice. Hope you have her back again.
I love seeing these. I did the research and my Dad was a full Scott. His family came over in the clearances and settled in South Carolina. Mom’s mother was full German and her father was full English. They settled in the north. I was able to visit Scotland and stay in a castle that used to belong to my Dad’s family. I would go back and never come “home”. I loved Scotland!!
Very interesting. I've wondered about the Highland clothes of the period, and now I have a better understanding. Thank you!
So glad to see another video in this series! I had no clue the women wore theirs lengthwise. It makes a lot of sense, though, since they had so much busy work around the home and 5 meters of fabric would have just gotten in the way (and a better portion of their work could have been done indoors or at least near shelter when compared with men). Excellent advice as well! Put down your device and get outside 🥰 It's nearly dinner time and I've been out all day, just to sit down and see this video at the top of my feed (I'd been keeping an eye out for it since you posted the promo the other day).
I have an Irish ancestor and I just dug up my Native American potatoes. I will put the fall beans and winter squash in that bed next. Keeping it real, outdoors in the Ozarks.
Interesting. Thanks!
She's a gem!❤
Awesome. Very talented lady. Great blog new sub❤❤❤❤❤
Love her advice at the end, explicit way to say "touch grass."
What an awesome place, I'd love to meet Marian and get my own Earasaid
Thank you for, among other things, finally teaching me how to pronounce this word.
In the future, I also wouldn't mind hearing about the "maud": the smaller plaid that the Lowlanders (including my own ancestors) also wore.
What a well demonstrated, accurate video.A hard life a happy full filling life
Thank you for the teachings and lessons. 😊
Those are beautiful color yarns.
Thank you. 🙏🏼
Thanks for giving the women's clothing.
Marion is a real treasure. One of your more informative videos.
Very awesome! Very informative as well. Always look forward to watching your videos Tom. Very thankful for the information and knowledge you share in your videos. Looking forward to the next one soon 😜.
Tapadh leat mo charaid! Glè mhath.
Oh I love this. I’m from Nova Scotia. This so informative
I love this real beautiful woman. Thank you for diving into this interesting subject
Very interesting and informative! Thank you so much!
Cold-weather sari. 😉❤️
Tho it is true that hand loom are limited buy the arm span of the weaver, it’s not a hard limit. There is a technic for weaving double width cloth on a heddle loom. It creates a piece that comes of the loom folded in half longways.
👍🏻 from Australia 🇦🇺
What an interesting video. I am part of Scottish descent so enjoyed learning something new. Love from Cape Town.
Awesome thanks. Brilliant content. Spot on.
Very interesting. Beautiful fabrics. Thank you.
Thanks I enjoy your visits here.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🌹
Very interesting. Thank you for that.
I had heard that poorer women only wore the Earasaid. What I'd also heard was that puritanical preachers complained about poor women wearing just that to church - because there was too much flesh exposed.
Question: the men were banned from wearing the Feileadh Mor following the Jacobite defeat, did a similar ban not apply to the women?
The women and children weren't prohibited. And to be honest, most of the men weren't either. Check out period portraiture. Plenty of men wearing tartan.
Beautiful. I hadn't seen you in awhile, thanks to YT. I was hoping you might have a couple on women's kit, and there they are. Must say, I like what you've done with your channel.
Wonderful video!
Wonderful to learn with you!❤
OMG, it is so hard work.
Great info. Thanks
Thank you, Marion, and to Fandabi Dozi!
Making that beautiful shawl just in a day! Wow 😮❤
Anyone know the poem recited when a mother gave the hair kerchief to her daughter on the day after her wedding day?
I googled but couldn't find it. I'd love to know it.
Sad. She gave a reason she wasn't going to or didn't want to recite it, but she was mumbling, and he was laughing over her, so couldn't hear it.
@@tarbhnathracShe said she couldn't remember.
I've been missing Scotland lately and this woman made me miss it even more. Auntie Agnes sounded very like her.
Wonderful work! Thank you for sharing with us.
Briliant advice, great vidio👍🏻
Great job! Thank yo più both and thanks to sheep. Slán
Very interesting video. I really enjoyed it. Excellent advice
I made a dnd character that’s a centaur ranger. She wears a plaid like a kilt or an earasaid depending on how she wants to wear it. And she can grab stuff from around her waist and not have to bend down too much. 😊
I would love so much to visit there! I weave, and I love making historical items to wear. It would take me more than a day to weave that shawl though, let alone the full version. I would have liked to see the 18th century loom if they have one there.
The lengthwise way the erasaid is worn also makes sense for when you have to hoof around with a bairn on your back and want to kept them protected from weather or sun AND still have your hands free to do work.
So interesting my fathers great grandfathers many times over, left Renfrew in 1600 bound for ireland on a wooden sailing ship, once berthed he met my great grandmother married her, then they sailed to Liverpool then settled there and all my paternal family lived there right upto date, his name was Thomas Crawford same name as my dad then my brother then his grandson all with the same name x He signed his name on the ships log, the rest of the crew put down x. Watching you both had me wondering if he dressed like yoursef. Love Scotland, mams family where from Ireland too.
would be interesting to see the dyeing technique,
i camp with wool blankets ... now i'm wondering about other ways to use them,
Very interesting!
Super interesting
Does she make any to sell? She seems the most lovely lady. 🥰
That would be an awesome trip, to visit and adopt the historical lifestyle as a recreation and not be dependent too much on the experimental archeology. I doubt I could nail the accent though, but I could do a great western frontier American. ;)
We are foraging for mushrooms herbs and berries 😁
@@mountaingirlzstuff4314 also there are many nutritious greens.. such as dandelion and plantain to name a few.. which are quite tasty and easily found.. must get them in areas where people do not spray though.. we eat a lot of wild garlic and mint will go wild also.. with mushrooms caution is advised for those who are not used to what the safe ones look like.. best of all are the wild berries😊💜💙
Lovely! I've got to make something as close to that as possible!
We call those blankets in England. A really nice recreation of a settlement.
Love that ! 😍
FINALLY THANK YOU!
Oh since I saw your videos on great kilts, I was asking what the equivalent for women is for that period, thanks
Nice one!👍✌️
great info to pass down
She could read the ingredients off a box and I would be very pleased to hear it
Ca fait beaucoup pense rau sefseri des femmes tunisiennes autredois, et peut-être encore aujourd'hui dans les campagnes, sauf que là cest une pièce de tissu en laine plus ou moins épais, mais la façon de le draper et de le porter y fait beaucoup penser...en Tunsie, c'était surtout pour se protéger du soleil et de la poussière, mais les femmes avaient aussi cette ceinture très utile pour pendre dess petits sacs, afin de garder les mains libres...et oui, vos paysages sont très beaux...j''ai visité deux fois l'Ecosse, et j'ai a-do-ré !!!
Great minds think alike.
A fine lady there. In the American colonies the linen wool warp and weft was called linsey woolsey. Used mostly for shirts. It also kept them from shrinking which the US army revisited in the early 20th century. They would wash the troops wool shirts in almost boiling water to kill the lice which caused them to shrink so they returned to adding this time cotton instead of wool.
This goes really nicely with a post-apocalyptic culture I thought up, based on how a major coastal tourism-based society might adapt using whatever they have left over from the fall of society - namely trinkets and beach gear in the shops around them. They've taken to wearing cloths similar to beach towels as their main, often only clothing item, and it is also multi-functional. (Hotter costal regions mostly go fully nude with this garment loosely draped around them however they like, as sun protection and a tool for carrying things.) I have them mostly wrapping and tying these garments at the corners, but I hadn't considered using a belt! I also haven't thought very much about how different ways of wearing this garment communicate one's status in the community; I wanted that aspect to be more focused on self-expression, since these cultures have no other fashion to do so with, and also of practicality. If you're carrying things, you'd probably tie it around your waist as an apron; if you have a baby, you'd probably tie it as a sling; if you're on a stroll, you'd probably wear it as a shawl to cover from the sun; etc, etc.
babe wake up fandabi dozi just posted
The weaving is just fabulous. Life had to be practical and hard wearing. And people should definitely go outside
Like these. Sleeves are such a pain and don't keep you near as warm as a shawl or big piece of fabric.
Wow, only a day to weave but I bet weeks to spin the wool. Would she have dyed the skeins after spinning or before? Did the lovely lanolin interfere with the wool taking the dye?
More than spinning. Cleaning, carding, spinning, dyeing, then weaving at a basic explanation of the process. And yes, it was quite a process, to the point that England (one of the major producers and exporters of wool in Europe) often outsourced large chunks of the process to German workshops.
@@NevisYsbryd great information. I’m actually a spinner myself but I don’t dye or weave very much. I never would have imagined the weaving would have been a days work. Textiles are so fascinating. I recently read that if you want to make a Viking warrior cry, you should steal his sail. It will be a year before he can replace it.
@@winterwoodcottage3657 Ah. It depends greatly on the nature of the weave. Simple rectangular weaves like plaid or parallel stripes do not require a particularly complicated setup, so it may be that her design here was faster than a lot of other period designs. Stuff would also vary by textile (eg, linen, hemp, and nettle have to 'ret' or controlled rotting before harvesting the fibers). Weaving is fairly late in the process, though, yes, and pretty much the last stage for these particular garments (as opposed to, say, a fulled woolen doublet, which had to be cut and tailored and then fulled). Greater efficiency at textile production was actually one of the primary economic improvements of the early Industrial Revolution; clothing used to constitute a much larger proportion of people's net wealth.
That said, take the Viking sale with context. Plant-based fibers tend to be less easy to produce the further north one goes (less heat and sunlight) in contrast to animal (Albion being a particularly good location for wool sheep) and sails were made of plant fibers in a time and place less economically flourishing than Europe through most of history. I imagine the sail would have been especially costly/difficult to replace then and there compared to somewhere like the Mediterranean.
@@NevisYsbryd haha I love it. Your knowledge of textiles is so illuminating. I only spin wool and I do it professionally. Usually from peoples pet fur. I’ve spun dog, cat , bunny, horse, alpaca, spider webs if someone so wishes but the history is amazing to me. Would you recommend some resources. I’ve just read “the fabric of civilization “. And it was eye opening. But I would love to know your go to.
Do you have a platform? I will follow.
*MY BLANKETS ARE HAND VOVEN* they are 20" wide strips sewn together four of them - incredibly worm they are 1/2" thick and weigh a ton
@@piccalillipit9211 Aye they do.. just like the weighted blankets people seek out to help them sleep.. work even better.. and warmer as well 💜💙🌹
@@Jen999 YES I use 2 of them as weighted blankets - Its like posting myself into bed on a night LOL. I have to squidge down under them then I am pressed flat all night :-D
@@piccalillipit9211 as a wee child I was placed under one by my Mum.. at my Granny’s advice.. as I was a timid child and feared the dark etc.. this made me feel comforted and warm.. like being held close all night.. definitely worked for me and heartily recommend it for anyone suffering from insomnia or fears as I had.. 🙃🤕😊
@@piccalillipit9211 Sounds snugly and so warm!!💜💙😊
Very interesting video. Another person has commented on maybe not everyone had access to loom etc to make these items. If that is so, then what were these folk wearing and how was it constructed? Great videos. Love your channel.
No need to be without a loom. Look at Salley Pointer's videos on how to make one
She is great. What sort of loom did they used?
The pleasures of working with wool - the spinning and weaving must have been among the most pleasant tasks of women in those times.