Giveaway. Westray Wifey & Skara Brae Bag

Radical Doll Making - Neolithic figurines from Orkney

This summer I visited Orkney - which was glorious, I’d waited many years to visit. Of all the places it was Skara Brae and the Bay of Skaill that caught my imagination.

I had planned on running this giveaway when I got back, but I put the little Woman of Westray (Westray Wifey) and the tote bag in a special place, and then promptly forgot where that place was.

They both reappeared the other day just as I hit 100 posts here on Substack and so I thought it a fitting time to offer a giveaway as a thank-you for joining me here.

It’s unknown whether this little figurine is male or female, but she’s been given the name of the Westray Wifey. I’m not a great fan of Wifey or Venus - so I’ll call her the Woman of Westray (which is an island in Orkney).

Much less known is the figurine of Buddo, who was found at Skara Brae, who I met at the Museum of Stromness. Budo dates to 2,900 – 2,400 BCE and is made from whalebone.

Buddo is an Orcadian word that is a term of endearment, meaning friend, and isn’t gender-specific. Buddo measures 9.5cm (3.7 inches) high and 7.5cm (3 inches) wide and has carved holes to indicate eyes, a mouth, and a navel. There are also holes carved through the sides of the head and body, possibly used to hang it as a pendant. The figurine was discovered in the 1860s.

Skara Brae

I’m glad we are in the dark of the year, I’ll savor the days to Winter Solstice when the new sun is born. That light grows every so slowly and here in the north it will be along winter before we feel the change of the seasons. This year has been a tough one and even though we don’t know what next year will bring, there’s a lot I want to leave behind with the old year.

Leave a comment if you’d like to be in the draw - I’ll do one draw for the figurine and another for the tote bag.

If you signed up anywhere for the ‘Gather the Keeners’ retreat - it’s been rescheduled for Saturday the 12th Jan, I’ll share the Zoom link a week before the event.

I’ll announce the winners next week before I head into surgery.