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Find a Rainbow Day

"One wet, early evening in the sheep-shearing season
I saw that occasional, rare thing-
A broken shaft of a rainbow with its trembling light
Beyond the downpour of the rain."






~ Hugh MacDiarmid, The Watergaw, 1925

This tartan was designed to evoke the image of a double rainbow breaking through a "dreich" grey sky after a thunderstorm. The word dreich—a favorite among Scots, according to a government poll—beautifully captures the essence of a Scottish sky at its gloomiest: dreary, bleak, grey, and thoroughly devoid of sunshine.

While the single and double rainbows tend to steal the spotlight, there's a lesser-known phenomenon called a "watergaw"—an "almost rainbow." Unlike the full arc, a watergaw appears as a single, broken fragment of color, often seen just as a downpour ends. The word hails from the Scottish Borders and is perhaps best remembered through Hugh MacDiarmid’s poignant poem, where the narrator, tending to ewes shivering in the cold after a storm, spots the trembling light of the watergaw "ayont the on-ding" and reflects on the loss of his father.

This tartan carries with it a quiet hope, much like the promise in the sky it represents—that after the greyest of storms, color will return. May blue skies be in all our futures. 🖤 🤍 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️ 🌧️🌈

"If you like the weather in Scotland, wait half an hour and it will change."


~ Traditional


Ae weet forenicht i’ the yow-trummle

I saw yon antrin thing,

A watergaw wi’ its chitterin’ licht

Ayont the on-ding;

An’ I thocht o’ the last wild look ye gied

Afore ye deed!

 

There was nae reek i’ the laverock’s hoose

That nicht -- an’ nane i’ mine;

But I hae thocht o’ that foolish licht

Ever sin’ syne;

An’ I think that mebbe at last I ken

What your look meant then.

Hugh MacDiarmid: The Watergaw, from Sangschaw, 1925

 

This poem is composed in what Hugh MacDiarmid called "Synthetic Scots". His standard-English approximation:


One wet, early evening in the sheep-shearing season
I saw that occasional, rare thing --
Broken shaft of a rainbow with its trembling light
Beyond the downpour of the rain
And I thought of the last, wild look you gave
Before you died.


The skylark’s nest was dark and desolate,
My heart was too
But I have thought of that foolish light
Ever since then
And I think that perhaps at last I know
What your look meant then.


***

 

The proverb "March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers", first recorded in 1886,and the shorter, trochaic version "April showers bring May flowers" (originally "Sweet April showers/Do spring May flowers", part of a poem recorded in 1610 are common expressions in English speaking countries.

 

The phrase is referenced in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales: "Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote".


By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan represents a double rainbow in a grey sky after a thunderstorm.


For a list of uniquely Scottish words and expressions for the weather, click the double rainbow over Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.

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2022

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