CHAPTER VI.

THE CELTIC YEAR.

_Bliadhna_, a year, has been derived by writers on Celtic antiquities from _Bel-ain_, “the ring or circle of Baal,” but the derivation is at variance with etymological analogies, as well as inadmissible from there being no satisfactory evidence that Baalim worship ever extended to the Celtic tribes. It can only be regarded as part of that punning affectation with which Gaelic scholarship is disfigured. The initial _bl_ occurs in many words which have in common the idea of _separation_, and _bliadhna_ is likely connected with such words as _bloigh_, a fragment; _ball_, a spot, a limb, and denotes merely a division, or separate portion, of time.

The notations of the Celtic year belong to the Christian period, old style. If there are any traces of Pagan times they are only such as are to be gathered from a few names and ceremonies.

The four seasons are known as _earrach_, spring, _samhradh_, summer, _fogharadh_, harvest, and _geamhradh_, winter. The final syllable in each of these names is _ràidh_, a quarter or season of the year, a space of three months; and the student of Gaelic will note that the long and heavy vowel, of which it consists, is, contrary to the common rule affecting long vowels, shortened and made an apparently indifferent terminal syllable. It is still deemed, in many parts of the Highlands, unlucky to be proclaimed in one quarter of the year and married in the next, and the circumstance is called being “astride on the seasons” (_gobhlach mu’n ràidh_). It is an old saying, that the appearance of a season comes a month before its actual arrival; _mìos roi gach ràidh choltas_, _i.e._ a month before each season, is seen its appearance. The character of the seasons is described in an old riddle,

“Four came over, Without boat or ship, One yellow and white, One brown, abounding in twigs, One to handle the flail And one to strip the trees.”[50]

There can be no doubt the origin of the names given to them belongs to a period anterior to Christianity.

_Earrach_, spring, is derived from _ear_, the head, the front, the east. In naming the four quarters of the heavens, the face, as in the case of the Hebrew names, is supposed to be toward the east. The right hand (_deas_) is the name given to the south, and the adjective _tuaitheal_, from _tuath_, the north, means “wrong, to the left, against the sun.” Hence also, _toirt fo’n ear_, lit. to take a thing from the east, means to observe; _earalas_, foresight, _i.e._ the having a thing in view; _earar_, the day after to-morrow, _i.e._ the day in front of it. The Latin _bos_, and the Greek ἔας or ἦς would indicate that the ancient Celtic name of the season was _fearrach_, and if so it may be connected with _fear_, vir, a man, the first _par excellence_, _for_, before, _furasda_, easy, etc. _Eàrr_ means the tail, and the long syllable shows it to be only another form of _iar_, west, behind, after, the opposite of _ear_. Frequently these names for east and west are known as _sear_ and _siar_, as _e.g._ _cha-n fhearr an gille shiar na’n gille shear_, “the lad from the west is no better than the lad from the east,” that is, it is but six of the one and half a dozen of the other.

_Samhradh_, summer, according to old glossaries, is from obs. _samh_, the sun, and means the sun season or quarter. This corresponds with the English name, which is evidently a softened form of _sun-mer_. _Samh_ is now used to denote “the suffocating smell produced by excessive heat.”[51] In Tiree, it is the name given to the hazy heavy appearance of the Western ocean, and few expressions are more common than _samh chuain t-siar_, the oppressive feeling of which the uneasy sea on the west side of the island is productive. In the North Hebrides _samh_ means the ocean itself. A common description over the whole Highlands of an intolerable stench is _mharbhadh e na samhanaich_, _i.e._ it would kill the savage people living in caves near the ocean, as giants were fabled to do.

_Fogharadh_, autumn, is likely connected with _fogh_, said to mean ease, hospitality, and _foghainn_, to suffice, with the same root idea of _abundance_.

_Geamhradh_, winter; Lat. _hiems_, Gr. χεῖμα. No doubt _geamh_ is of the same origin as the Greek and Latin words, but it does not find its explanation in the Greek χεω, to pour. From its being found in _gèamhlag_, a crow-bar, _gèimheal_, a chain, _geamhtach_, short, stiff, and thick, there seems to have been a Gaelic root implying to bind, to be stiff, which gives a suitable derivation for the name of the season of frost and ice.

_Mios_, a month, is supposed to be connected with _mias_, a round platter, from the moon’s round orb completing its circle within the month. Greek μήν, Eol. μεις, a month; Lat. _mensis_; Sanscr. _mâsas_, a month, _mâs_, the moon. These show that undoubtedly the origin of the word is connected with the moon. The names in the Greek, Latin, and Teutonic languages show that there was originally an _n_ in the word, and the Gaelic, as well as Sanscrit, bears testimony to the same fact, by the long vowel. It is a common thing in Hebrew for _n_ at the end of a syllable and in the middle of a word to be assimilated to an immediately succeeding consonant, and it is more likely it so disappeared in some languages than that it was assumed by others. Another Gaelic name for the moon, _ré_, is also used to denote a portion of time; _ri mo ré_, during my lifetime.

Computation of time, however, by months and days of the month, as at present, was entirely unknown to the Highlander of former days; and even yet, the native population do not say “on such a day of such a month,” but so many days before or after the beginning of summer or other season, or before and after certain well-known term days and festivals, as St Bride’s day, St Patrick’s day, Whitsunday (_caingis_), Hallowtide (_Samhuinn_), etc. The time is always reckoned by the old style, and this difference of notation is at first confusing to a stranger. For instance, when told that the ling fishing on the West Coast lasts from the middle of spring till five weeks of summer, it will take a little thought on his part to realise that this means from the beginning of April to about the 18th of June. Names for the months are to be found in dictionaries, but they are obviously manufactured from the Latin names, and confined to modern printed Gaelic.

A connected account of the festivals and days by which the year was marked, must begin with the festivities by which its advent was celebrated.

NOLLAIG.

The seven days from Christmas to the New Year were called _Nollaig_, and in the good easy-going olden times no work was done during them, but men gave themselves up to friendly festivities and expressions of goodwill. Hence the sayings, “The man whom Christmas does not make cheerful, Easter will leave sad and tearful,”[52] and “There is no Christmas without flesh.”[53] Christmas day was called “the day of big Nollaig” (_Latha Nollaig mhór_), and the night before it “the night of Cakes” (_oidhche nam bannagan_); while New-Year day was known as “the day of little Nollaig” (_Latha Nollaig bhig_), and the night before it “the night of blows” (_oidhche nan Calluinnean_).

The name _Nollaig_ is from the Latin _natalis_, as is made certain by the Welsh word being _Nadolig_; and therefore corresponds to the English Christmas. Various explanations are given of the name of the night before it. Some say _bannag_ means “a feast of women,” from _bean_, a wife, a feast of rejoicing, such as is customary when a child is born, being prepared by women this evening in memory of the birth of Christ. Others say the _bannag_ is the cake presented by them to every one who entered the house that night. If the word means a cake, it is only applied to Christmas cakes or those used on this day. When there was a person of means, he took every one he met that week, especially the poor, to his house, and gave him his _bannag_, a large round cake (_bonnach mòr cruinn_).

New-Year’s night, or Hogmanay, was variously known as “the night of the candle” (_oidhche Choinnle_) and “the night of the blows or pelting” (_oidhche nan Calluinnean, a Challuinn_). The former name may have been derived from some religious ceremonies being performed by candle-light, as is suggested to be the origin of the English name Candlemas (2nd February), or from a candle being kept lighted till the New Year came in. The other name is said to be from the showers of rattling blows given to a dry cow’s hide used in the ceremonies of the evening, _colluinn_ being also used to denote a thundering blow, or what is called in the Lowlands “a loundering lick” (_stràic mhòr_). Thus, _thug e aon cholluinn air_ (he gave him one resounding blow); _bi tu air do dheagh cholluinneachadh_ (you will be severely beaten). The word, however, as was long ago pointed out by Lhuyd (_Archæologia Britannica_, 1707) is from _Calendae_, the first day of every month, this being the beginning of the whole year, and the night being in the Highlands reckoned as preceding the day.

CALLUINN.

Towards evening men began to gather and boys ran about shouting and laughing, playing shinty, and rolling “pigs of snow” (_mucan sneachda_), _i.e._ large snowballs. The hide of the mart or winter cow (_seiche a mhairt gheamhraidh_) was wrapped round the head of one of the men, and he made off, followed by the rest, belabouring the hide, which made a noise like a drum, with switches. The disorderly procession went three times _deiseal_, according to the course of the sun (_i.e._ keeping the house on the right hand) round each house in the village, striking the walls and shouting on coming to a door:

“The _calluinn_ of the yellow bag of hide, Strike the skin (upon the wall) An old wife in the graveyard, An old wife in the corner, Another old wife beside the fire, A pointed stick in her two eyes, A pointed stick in her stomach, Let me in, open this.”[54]

Before this request was complied with, each of the revellers had to repeat a rhyme, called _Rann Calluinn_ (_i.e._ a Christmas rhyme), though, as might be expected when the door opened for one, several pushed their way in, till it was ultimately left open for all. On entering each of the party was offered refreshments, oatmeal bread, cheese, flesh, and a dram of whisky. Their leader gave to the goodman of the house that indispensable adjunct of the evening’s mummeries, the _Caisein-uchd_, the breast-stripe of a sheep wrapped round the point of a shinty stick. This was then singed in the fire (_teallach_), put three times with the right-hand turn (_deiseal_) round the family, and held to the noses of all. Not a drop of drink was given till this ceremony was performed. The _Caisein-uchd_ was also made of the breast-stripe or tail of a deer, sheep, or goat, and as many as choose had one with them.

The house was hung with holly to keep out the fairies, and a boy, whipped with a branch of it, may be assured he will live a year for every drop of blood he loses. This scratching and assurance were bestowed by boys on one another, and was considered a good joke.

Cheese was an important part of the refreshments, and was known as the Christmas cheese (_Càise Calluinn_). A slice, cut off at this feast, or a piece of the rind (_cùl na mulchaig_), if preserved and with a hole made through it, has strange virtues. It was called _laomachan_, and a person losing his way during the ensuing year, in a mist or otherwise, has only to look through the hole and he will see his way clearly. By scrambling to the top of the house, and looking through it down the _fàr-lus_ (the hole in the roof that served in olden times for chimney and window), a person can ascertain the name of his or her future husband or wife. It will prove to be the same as that of the first person seen, or heard named. A piece of _laomachan_ is also valuable for putting under one’s pillow to sleep over.

In this style the villagers, men and boys, went from house to house, preceded in many cases by a piper, and drowning the animosities of the past year in hilarity and merriment.

CHRISTMAS RHYMES (_Rann Calluinn_).

In general the rhymes used, when seeking admittance, varied but little in different districts. Sometimes an ingenious person made a rhyme suitable to the place and people, and containing allusions to incidents and character that increased the prevailing fun. The following is one of the most common of the class:

“I have come here first To renew the Hogmanay; I need not tell about it, It was kept in my grandfather’s time. The Calluinn Breast-stripe is in my pocket, A goodly mist comes from it; The goodman will get it first, And shove its nose into the fire upon the hearth. It will go sunwise round the children, And particularly the wife will get it; ’Tis his own wife best deserves it, Hand to distribute the Christmas cakes. Rise down, young wife, And young wife who hast earned praise; Rise (and come) down, as you were wont, And bring down our _Calluinn_ to us. The cheese, that has the smooth face, And butter eye has not blinked; But if you have not that beside you, Bread and flesh will suffice. There is water in my shoes, And my fingers are cut, There is in beside the fire, What will cure my complaint, And if you have room to move, Rise and bring down the glass.”

The following New-Year’s rhyme must have tried the breath of the speaker and the patience of his listeners considerably. It consists probably of several separate rhymes tagged together, and the allusions it contains to the “big clerk of the street,” etc., make it highly probable the ceremonies of the evening were remains of the Festival of Fools, and had their origin in the streets of Rome. The rhyme is given as it came to hand.

“Bless this cheerful dwelling, With a musical voice, That it be like a royal palace, Without being wasteful. Bless each man Who surrounds this gathering, From the one grown grey with seniority To the one of infant’s age. Bless our gentle men, And our young children, All who chance at this time To come to Donald’s. Men! this begins my tale And I must tell it. Ho! each black, black generous one! Hò-go! each generous one! Divide this portion My servant harrowed! More produce! Then it was that Margaret said, ‘O dear! more produce!’ Then said Mary, ‘My dearest dear! Martin is behind the door, Listening to us!’ ‘That is his excuse,’ said she. Hu fudar! hei fedar! Up with you, you cajoler! Fierce icinesses rose On Donald, He levelled at Margaret Fair abuse! He gave a tap to the harp, And the strings sounded. He quickly drew a _crambat_ And tried to tune it. ‘You have done a mischief,’ said the clerk, ‘That I don’t regret! Utter ruin has come upon you, With your broken stick!’ ‘You have a healing vessel,’ Said the harper. ‘When you are tried with it a second time, ’Twill make the stick whole; So your share be yours of the healing cup. O dearest sir! May that stick of many virtues Be full of produce!’ I went on candle night to hold New Year revel, In the house of fat puddings, I asked admittance at the door, Coaxingly with fair words; The big clerk of the street spoke A senseless word, ‘If my gold crook were in my hand, I would not let your head whole from the door.’ I took the north turn to the door, That was a north turn of mischief to me; I struck the big toe of my foot In the face of a stone, The pin fell, the pan fell, The harrows in the door fell, They made a cling clang clattering! Rise down, young wife, And honest dame, that hast carried praise, Be womanly as thou wert wont, And bring our Christmas gifts to us. The smoothed-faced cheese, And entrails prepared with juice; But if these are not convenient, Bread and cheese will suffice. It was not greed with open mouth That brought me to the town, But a hamper On my servant’s back! A white servant catch me, Fatness burns me! Open and let me in! ‘True for him,’ said the goodman, ‘let him in.’”

The following rhyme was appointed for all who had nothing else to say:

“I do not dislike cheese, And have no aversion to butter; But a little drop from the cask My throttle is in quest of.”

NEW-YEAR NIGHT.

It was a practice not to be neglected to keep the fire alive in the house all night. No one was to come near it but a friend, and, as an additional security against its going out, candles were kept burning. Hence, the other name given to the night, _Oidhche Choinnle_, _i.e._ candle night. There was a rhyme (which the writer has not been able to recover) to be said when feeding the fire. By this means evil was kept away from the house for the subsequent year. If the fire went out no kindling could be got next day from any of the neighbours. The first day of the year was a quarter-day, on which it was unlucky to give fire out of the house. It gave the means to witches and evilly-disposed people to do irreparable mischief to the cattle and their produce. The dying out of the fire was, therefore, a serious inconvenience in days when lucifer matches were unknown. The women made use of the occasion to bake bread for next day.

Old men, provident of the future, watched with interest the wind the old year left (_ghaoth dh’fhàgas a Choluinn_). That would prove the prevailing wind during the ensuing year, and indicated its chief characteristics, as the rhyme says:

“South wind—heat and produce, North wind—cold and tempest, West wind—fish and milk, East wind—fruit on trees.”[55]

NEW-YEAR’S DAY

(_Latha na Bliadhn’ ùr_); also called the Day of Little Christmas (_Latha nollaige bige_).

On getting up in the morning the head of the family treated all the household to a dram. After that a spoonful of half-boiled sowens (_cabhruich leth-bhruich_), the poorest food imaginable, was given for luck. Sometimes the sowens were whole boiled, and in some places the well-to-do farmer’s wife left a little over night at the house of every poor man on the farm. The custom of having this dish of sowens was known in the central Highlands, and in Lorn, but does not seem to have extended to Mull, Morven, or the Western Islands. The salutations of the season were duly given by the household to one another, and to every person they met: “A good New Year to you” (_Bliadhna mhath ùr dhuit_), “The same to you, and many of them” (_Mar sin duit fhein is mòran diu_). The boys rushed away out, to play at their everlasting game of shinty, and a more sumptuous breakfast than ordinary was prepared.

Nothing was allowed to be put out of the house this day, neither the ashes of the fire nor the sweepings of the house, nor dirty water, nor anything else, however useless, or however much in the way. It was a very serious matter to give fire out of the house to a neighbour whose hearth had become cold, as the doing so, as already said, gave power to the evil-minded to take away the produce from the cattle. Indeed it was ominous that death would occur in the household within the year. Hospinian tells that at Rome, on New-Year’s Day, no one would allow a neighbour to take fire out of his house, or anything composed of iron (Ellis’s _Brand’s Antiquities_, i. 13).

It was unlucky for a woman to be the first to enter the house, or if the person were empty-handed. A young man entering with an armful of corn was an excellent sign of the year’s prosperity; but a decrepit old woman asking kindling for her fire was a most deplorable omen. The same belief that some people are lucky as first-foots led to the “curious custom” in the Isle of Man known as the _Quaaltagh_ (Ellis’s _Brand_, i. 538). That word differs only in spelling from the Gaelic _còmhalaich_, or _còmhaltaich_, a person, the meeting of whom is ominous of good or bad fortune. To ensure a good omen, a party of young men went in every parish in Man from house to house on New-Year’s Day singing luck to the inmates. It was deemed an omen of good to see the sun this day.

Towards mid-day the men gathered in some suitable place, the largest and most level field in the neighbourhood, for the great Shinty Match (_Iomain mhòr_). A match was formed between adjoining districts and villages, or, if the village itself was populous, by two leaders, appointed for the purpose, choosing one alternately from those present till the whole gathering was gone through. It was decided who was to choose first by the one leader holding his shinty stick (_caman_) vertically, or up and down, and throwing it to the other, who caught somewhere about the middle. The two then grasped the stick alternately, the hand of the one being close above that of the other, and the one who grasped the end, so that he could swing the stick three times round his head, had the first choice. Sometimes, to decide the point quickly, one asked the other which he would have, “foot or palm” (_chas no bhas_), meaning which end of the shinty stick he made choice of, the “foot” being that by which the stick is held, the “palm,” that with which the ball is struck. On a choice being made the club was thrown into the air, and the matter was decided by the point of it that pointed southwardly more summarily than by the “heads and tails” of a copper coin.

In the game a wooden ball (_ball_) was used in the daytime, when men could guard themselves against being struck by it; but when the game was played at night, in the dusk or by moonlight, a ball of hair or thread called _crìod_ was used. The object of the game was to drive this ball “hail” (_thaghal_), that is between and beyond certain marks at the two ends of the field. Of course the two parties had opposite “hails.” The play commenced by setting the ball in a suitable place, and giving the first blow, called _Buille Bhàraich_, to the chief, proprietor, priest, minister or other principal person present. A player stood opposite to him, and if the ball was missed at the first blow, as sometimes happened from excessive deliberation, want of skill and practice, etc., whipped it away in the other direction, and, without further ceremony, every person ran after it as he chose, and hit it as he got opportunity. Two or three of the best players on each side were kept behind their party, “behind hail” (_air chùl taghail_), as in the game of football, to act as a guard when their adversaries too nearly sent the ball “home.” Sometimes the company was so fairly matched that nightfall put an end to the sport without either party winning “a hail.” Every player got as much exercise as he felt inclined for. Some did little more than walk about the field, others could hardly drag themselves home at night with fatigue. Much can be said in behalf of the game as the best of out-door sports, combining healthy, and, when the player chooses, strong exercise with freedom from horse-play.

A piper played before and after the game. The women, dressed in their best, stood looking on. At the end the chief, or laird, gave a dinner, or, failing him, a number were entertained in the house of a mutual friend. In the evening a ball was given, open to all.

New-Year’s Day, like the first of every quarter of the year (_h-uile latha ceann ràidhe_), was a great _saining_ day, _i.e._ a day for taking precautions for keeping away evil from the cattle and houses. Certain ceremonies were carefully observed by the superstitious; juniper was burnt in the byre, the animals were marked with tar, the houses were decked with mountain ash, and the door-posts and walls, and even the cattle, were sprinkled with wine.

By New-Year’s Day the nights have begun to shorten considerably. It is a Gaelic saying that there is “an hour of greater length to the day of little Christmas” (_uair ri latha Nollaige bige_), and this is explained to be “the hour of the fuel lad” (_uair a ghille chonnaidh_). The word uair means “a time” as well as an hour; and the meaning perhaps is, that owing to the lengthening of the day the person bringing in firewood has to go one trip less frequently for fuel to make a light.

Christmas Day (_La Nollaige mòire_) was said to lengthen _fad coisichean coilich_, a cock’s stride or walk, and the expression was explained to mean that the bird had time to walk to a neighbour’s dunghill, crow three times, and come back again.

The same sayings are current in the Highlands as in the south. “A green Yule makes a fat kirkyard” has its literal counterpart in _’S i Nollaig uaine ni an cladh miagh_ (_i.e._ _reamhar_) and in _’S blianach Nollaig gun sneachda_ (_i.e._ Lean is Yule without snow).

There is no reason to suppose that any Pagan rites connected with the period of the winter solstice were incorporated with the Yule or _Nollaig_ ceremonies. The various names connected with the season are of Christian origin; the superstitions, as that of refusing fire and allowing nothing out of the house, can be traced to Rome; the custom of a man dressing himself in a cow’s hide, as suggested by Brand (i. 8), with every probability, is a vestige of the Festival of Fools, long held in Paris on New-Year’s Day, and of which it was part that men clothed themselves in cow-hide (_vestiuntur pellibus pecudum_). The holding of a singed piece of skin to the noses of the wassailers is more likely to have originated in the frolics of the same festival than in any Pagan observance. The meaning of the custom is obscure, but its character is too whimsical to be associated with any Pagan rite.

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.

(_Da latha dheug na Nollaig._)

These were the twelve days commencing from the Nativity or Big _Nollaig_, and were deemed to represent, in respect of weather, the twelve months of the year. Some say the days should be calculated from New-Year’s Day. “Whatever weather there is on the twelve days beginning with the last of December, the same will agree with the weather in the corresponding month” (Pennant). In Ireland the twelve days were held to stand for the twelve Apostles, and “on Twelve Eve in Christmas they used to set up as high as they can a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles all round, and in the centre one larger, all lighted. This in memory of our Saviour and his Apostles, lights of the world” (Brand, i. 25). The same, no doubt, was the origin of the Highland notation. They are also looked upon as the twelve days between old and new style. There is evidence in the saying, that “an hour and a half is added to Candle Day” (_uair gu leth ri Latha Coinnle_), that some such custom was known of old in Scotland as in Ireland; and though Candle Night (_Oidhche Choinnle_) is now a name given to Christmas night, there is a probability it originally denoted Twelve Eve, or the Feast of the Epiphany.

WINTER SEASON.

The period during which the above festivities occurred, and sometime before and after _Nollaig_, was popularly known as “The Black cuttings of Christmas” (_Gearra dubha na Nollaig_), from its liability to tempestuous weather. The sky is then lowering and dark, the “level” sun gives little warmth, and high winds prevail.

The _Dùlachd_ of winter extended over the six weeks preceding the middle of spring (_gu meadhon an Earraich_). Some (_e.g._ _Highland Society’s Dict._, _sub voce_) call it _Dùbhlachd_, and translate it simply “wintry weather.” Others call it _Dùdlachd_, and denote by it “the depth of winter.” The word is a contraction of _duaithealachd_, from _duaitheil_, extremely coarse and rough, an epithet applied to stormy weather. Thus, _nach duaitheil an t-sìd?_ is it not desperately coarse weather? _Ceann reamhar an duaithealais_, “the thick end of coarseness,” denotes extremely rough usage.

Handsel Monday (_Di-luain an t-sainnseil_) was the first Monday after New-Year’s Day, and was the principal day in the whole year for _deachainn_, _i.e._ for making trials and forecasts of the future. It derives its name from _sainnseal_, Scot. handsel, a present or gift in his hand given this day to every visitor to a house. _Sainnseal sona_ is “a happy or fortunate present.” In some districts cock-fighting was practised in the schools, and children brought a gratuity (in money) to the schoolmaster. In other districts this was not the case till Shrovetide (_Di-màirt Inid_).

In Skye the day is called _Di-luain Traosda_; and it is from it the 12 days, corresponding in weather to the 12 months of the year, are computed.

FEBRUARY (_Faoilleach_).

The name _Faoilleach_ is said to mean “Wolf-month,” from _faol_, wild, whence also _faol-chu_, a wolf, lit. a wild dog. It embraces the last 14 days of winter and the first 14 days of spring, the former being called the winter Faoilleach (_am Faoilleach geamhraidh_), the latter the spring (_am Faoilleach Earraich_). It is also known as “the Dead Month” (_a’ marbh mhiòs_). Winter is still ruling the inverted year, and all nature seems to be dead. The trees have long lost their foliage, the grass gives no sign as yet of returning growth, and fields and fallows are bare. When over all there is a coating of snow the name of “Dead Month” appears peculiarly appropriate. The time, being reckoned by old style, corresponds almost exactly to the present month of February, and the saying that “every month in the year curses a fair February.” is amply corroborated by the Gaelic sayings regarding it. Old men liked it to commence with a heavy storm and end with a calm, or (to use their own words) “to come in with the head of a serpent and go out with a peacock’s tail” (_tighinn a stigh le ceann na nathrach, ’s dol amach le earball peucaig_). There are to be three days of calm during it, according to the saying, “Three days of August in February, and three days of February in August” (_trì la Faoilleach san Iuchar, ’s trì la Iuchar san Fhaoilleach_). Both the February calm and the August storm, however, have become proverbial for their uncertainty and short duration. “February calm and August wind” (_Fia’ Faoilleach is gaoth Iuchar_) are the most fickle things in the world. In the north it was said mist in February means snow next day (_Ceò san Fhaoilleach, sneachda maireach_). Old people said, “Better the land be plundered than a calm morning in February.”[56] The most unreasonable of expectations is to expect black “brambles in February” (_smeuran dubha san Fhaoilleach_).

It is unfortunate if the heat of this season is such, as old men say they have seen it, that the cattle run with the heat; but it is a healthy sign of the season if men go about with their hands wrinkled with the cold till they resemble an animal’s hoof, and kept in their pockets (anciently belts) for warmth.

“Wild month, wild month, hoof in belt Much rejoicing should be held; Cows and sheep running in heat, Weeping and wailing then are meet.”[57]

It was said to be as unnatural to hear thunder at this time as to hear a calf lowing in its mother’s womb (_laogh a geumraich am broinn a mhàthiar_).

_Earrach beag nam Faochag._

“The little Spring of Whelks” is the period from Christmas (_Nollaig_) to St Bride’s day, or beginning of February. That species of shellfish is then at its best, and the soup made from it, called _siabh_ or _brochan fhaochag_, was deemed as good as flesh.

ST. BRIDE’S DAY.

St. Bridget’s, or St. Bride’s day (_Feill Brìde_, _Brithid_) is the first day of spring, consequently the middle of the _Faoilleach_, the 1st of February, O.S., but the 13th New Style. It is frequently confounded with Candlemas, but that day is the 2nd February, whereas St. Bride’s Day is the 1st—this mistake is made by Martin (_West. Isl._, 1716, p. 119). He says that on the 2nd of February “the mistress and servants of each family take a sheaf of oats, and dress it up in woman’s apparel, put it in a large basket, and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call Briid’s Bed; and then the mistress and servants cry three times, Briid is come, Briid is welcome” (Brand, i. 56). The custom is long extinct in the parts of the Highlands with which the writer is acquainted and the only particulars connected with it he has heard are, that on St. Bride’s Day a bed of birch twigs (_leaba bharraich_) was made by the women, and that they then cried at the door, “Bride, Bride, come in, your bed is ready” (_Brìde, Brìde, thig astigh, tha do leaba dean-te_).

As in the case of many Gaelic festivals, ceremonies, and other antiquities, the origin of St. Bride’s Day is to be traced directly to Ireland. St. Bridget, we are told, was the first nun in Ireland, and founded her first cell where the city of Kildare now stands, in 585. She was a native of Ulster, and, after building monasteries and performing miracles, became Patroness of Ireland. In 1185 her body was found in the same vault with those of St. Patrick and St. Columba. A well near her church in Fleet Street, London, gave its name, Bridewell, to a palace given by Edward VI. to the city, for a workhouse and a house of correction. The honoured name of St. Bride, who during many ages was celebrated for her sanctity and piety, has thus by accident become associated with the criminal population.

It is a sign of the approaching spring that on this day the raven begins to build, and larks sing with a clearer voice. It has been explained in another part of this work, that there was a belief, the serpent had to come out of its hole seven days previous. The rhyme regarding the raven ran:

“A nest on St. Bridget’s day, An egg at Shrovetide, And a bird at Easter; If the raven have not these, Then it dies.”[58]

The corrections of the observations which it embodies is confirmed by White (_Nat. Hist. of Selborne_), who gives Feb. 14-17 as the period at which the raven builds.

In Tiree this was the day on which cock-fighting was practised, and gratuities were given to the schoolmaster. In the evening it was customary to have a ball.

The period from _Nollaig_ to _Feill Brìde_, was reckoned at one month and three days.

SPRING.

The _Faoilleach_ introduces a series of names, peculiarly Celtic, and (so far as the writer is aware), having no equivalents in any other language. The divisions of time denoted by them extend to the beginning of summer, each name, in accordance with the genius of the Gaelic language, as shown in names of places, nicknames, etc., is descriptive. Almanacs have long superseded the ancient notations, and it is not now an easy matter to arrange them in their proper order, or to reconcile the accounts retained by tradition with Almanac notation. The length of time ascribed to each seems to have varied in different districts.

_Feadag_, THE WHISTLE,

succeeds immediately to the Wolf-month (_Faoilleach_), though some place it before _Cailleach_, and about St. Patrick’s day. In M’Leod and Dewar’s Dictionary it is said to be the third week in February, which reckoned by O.S. is from 1st to 8th March, N.S. It is thus made to succeed the _Faoilleach_, and the same seems the opinion of Hugh M’Lachlan, of Aberdeen, a most learned and accomplished man. In a poem on spring, he says:

“Season in which comes the flaying Wolf-month, Cold hail-stones, a storm of bullets, _Feadag_, _Sguabag_, the _Gearran’s_ gloom And shrivelling _Cailleach_, sharp bristled.”

It extends to three days, and its boisterous character is shewn in the rhyme:

“Feadag, Feadag, mother of the cold Faoilleach, It kills sheep and lambs, It kills the big kine one by one, And horses at the same time.”[59]

_Gobag_, THE SHARP-BILLED ONE,

lasts for a week, others say three, four, and nine days.

_Sguabag_, THE SWEEPER,

seems the same as the three days called “The Eddy winds of the Storm Month” (_Ioma-sguaba na Faoilleach_). The appearance of spring is now to be seen, but the bad weather is not yet past. The worst weather comes back occasionally, and there are fewer gusts of wind, uncertain in their coming and duration, that well deserve the name of “Eddy winds from February.”

_Gearran_, A GELDING, OR PERHAPS _Gearan_, COMPLAINT.

It is quite possible the latter may have been the original name, as there is always associated with it a period called _Caoile_, Leanness. It extends over a month, and in Skye is made to succeed to the _Faoilleach_. There was a rule known to old men, that “the first Tuesday of March (O.S.) is the last Tuesday of Gearran” (_a chiad Di-mairt de’n mhàrt an Di-mairt mu dheire de ’n Ghearran_). In Tiree, from which the lofty hills of Rum form a conspicuous sight, and to the green appearance of which in frosty weather, their snow-covered summits form a striking contrast, it is said, that at the season “the big mare of Rum turns three times to her colt,” _i.e._ from cold and hunger. The expression refers to times when a little hardy breed of horses was found in the Western Islands, like Shetland ponies, and left to shift for themselves during winter. It was also said:

“Then said Gearran to Faoilleach, Where left you the poor stirk? I left it with Him who made the elements, Staring at a stack of fodder. If I catch it, said the May month, With the breath in the points of his ears, I will send it racing to the hill With its tail upon its shoulders.”[60]

The beast will pull through if it can “lift its ear higher than its horn,” which at that age (one year), it ought to do.

The high winds coming at this time, and well known in the south as the winds of March, were said in their violence to “send seven bolls of driving snow through one augur hole” (_Chuireadh an Gearran seachd bola catha, stigh air aon toll tora, leis co gailbheach’s a bha ’n t-sìd_).

The Gearran is deemed the best time for sowing seeds. The high winds dry the ground, and all agricultural seeds are the better of being put in “a dry bed” (_leaba thioram do’ n t-sìol_). It is a disputed point what precise date.

The Perthshire rhyme also testifies to the still stormy character of the weather. The calling the Gearran short supports the opinion of many, that it was properly only seven days:

“Then, said the short Gearran, I will play you a trick that is no better, I will put the big cow in the mud, Till the wave comes over its head.”[61]

Some say the Gearran is the month before St. Patrick’s day O.S., others fourteen days before it and fourteen days after, _i.e._ before and after 29th March.

_A Chailleach_, the old wife.

This old wife is the same as the hag of whom people were afraid in harvest, the last done with the shearing had to feed her till next harvest, and to whom boys bid defiance in their New-Year day rhyme, viz.: “The Famine, or Scarcity of the Farm.” In spring she was engaged with a hammer in keeping the grass under.

“She strikes here, she strikes there, She strikes between her legs,”

but the grass grows too fast for her, and in despair she throws the hammer from her, and where it lighted no grass grows.

“She threw it beneath the hard, holly tree, Where grass or hair has never grown.”[62]

_Trì làithean nan ōisgean_, THREE HOG DAYS.

In the rural lore of the south of Scotland, the three hog days are held to be the last three days of March, and to have been borrowed by that month from April (Brand, ii. 42). Dr. Jamieson (_Etym. Dict. of Scot. Lang._) says, “Some of the vulgar imagine, that these days receive their designation from the conduct of the Israelites in borrowing the property of the Egyptians.”

There is a Highland explanation also connecting them with the departure from Egypt. They were days borrowed by the Israelites for the killing of the Paschal lamb. “Some went on this side of the hillock, some on that” (_Chàidh cuid an taobh so ’n Chnoc_, etc.).

They are perhaps the days called in Tiree “_trì latha na bo ruaidhe_” _i.e._ “the red cow’s three days.”

_Mhàrt_, SEED-TIME.

This name is doubtlessly derived from the Latin _Mars_, in which case it ought to correspond to the month of March, O.S. It does not commence till the 24th of that month. The word has come to signify a busy time of the year, whether seed-time or harvest, usually, however, the former. _Saothair a Mhàrt_ is the “busiest time of spring”; _a ghaoth luath luimeineach Mhàrt_ means “the bare swift March wind,” frequently mentioned in _Winter Evening Tales_ to denote great speed, and _a Mhàrt tioram blath_ means “dry genial March.” It is a favourable sign of the season when the ground is saturated with wet at its beginning. Old men wished,

“The full pool awaiting March, And house-thatch in the furrows of the plough land;”[63]

and deemed it a good sign if the violence of the wind stripped three layers of thatch (_trì breathan de thugha_) from the houses. The advice for sowing seed now is:

“Let past the first March (_i.e._ Tuesday), And second March if need be, But be the weather good or bad, Sow thy seed in the true March.”[64]

Others say, “though you cannot send a pebble against the north wind” (_ged nach cuireadh tu dòirneag an aghaidh na gaoth tuath_) you are to sow.

“A night in March is swifter than two in harvest” (_Is luaithe oidhche sa Mhàrt na dhà san fhogharadh_).

_Inid_, SHROVETIDE.

The Gaelic name is from Lat. _Initium_, this being the beginning of Lent. It was always reckoned as “The first Tuesday of the Spring Light” (_chiad Di-màirt de’n t-solus Earraich_), _i.e._ of the new moon in spring. It is a moveable feast, and this is a simple way of calculating it. The plan adopted by the English Church is more complicated—Shrovetide is always the seventh Tuesday before Easter, and Easter is “the first Sunday after the first full moon, which happens on or after the 21st March; but if the full moon is on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday following.”

Shrovetide was called “_an Inid bheadaidh_” (shameless Shrovetide), because the day of the festival was held to precede the night, while, in the case of all the other festivals, the night or vigil was held to precede the day. A good reason for this will be found in a natural aversion to begin the austerities of Lent.

It has been already told[65] (art. Diabolus) how Michael Scott, or, according to Skye tradition, Parson Sir Andro of Rigg, near Storr in that island, went to Rome, riding on the devil, and first ascertained from the Pope the rule for calculating the day.

In schools it was the day for cock-fighting, and giving gratuities to the schoolmaster. The latter custom was observed with more correctness on the first Monday of the year, being the day allotted for presents. The practice of cock-fighting is extinct in the Highlands, but presents to the schoolmaster are universally practised. The boy and girl who give the largest donation (and it seldom exceeds a shilling) are declared King and Queen of the school, and have the privilege of asking “a play” (_i.e._ a holiday) for the school.

The names connected with cock-fighting, still to be found in the Highlands, being Latin, shew the practice is not of native growth. Each boy came to the school with a dunghill cock under his arm. The head of the bird was covered and its tail taken out, to make it more ready to fight, and fight better when let loose opposite another bird.

Runaway cocks were called _fuge_, and the name is still given to boys who shirk fighting. Shouts followed the defeated bird of “run, run, cock with one eye” (_fuge, fuge, coileach cam_), and its owner had to pay a penalty of some pence.

Shrovetide was one of the great days for _saining_ cattle, juniper being burned before them, and other superstitious precautions were taken to keep them free from harm.

Those curious or anxious about their future husbands or wives made a cake of soot (_Bonnach sùith, B. Inid_), of which they partook, putting the rest below their pillows to dream over.

It was believed that if there was fair weather at _Inid_ it would be foul weather at Easter, and _vice versâ_, as the rhyme has it:

“Shrovetide said to Easter, Where will I get a place to play myself? Give to me a winter palace, And I will build a summer house for you.”[66]

_Carghas_, LENT,

is the period from Shrovetide to Easter. It extends to 40 days, and refers to the miraculous fasts of Moses, Elias, and our Lord. The Gaelic mode of calculation was, “Seven short weeks from Shrovetide till Easter” (_seachd seachdainean gearr goirid Eadar Inid is Càisg_). The name _Carghas_ is a corruption _Quadragesima_, Ital. _Quaresimo_, 40, just as _Inid_ is from _Initium_. _Inid a charghuis_ is just “the beginning of the forty days.”[67]

ST. KESSOCK’S DAY (_Féill mo Cheasaig_)

was March 10/22. It is said, “On the Feast of St. Kessock every eel is pregnant” (_Latha Feill mo Cheasaig bithidh gach easgann torrach_).

The Saint was Bishop in Scotland in 560, and has given a name to Kessock Ferry (_Port a Cheasaig_), near Inverness, and to a market held at Callander, Perthshire, for hiring, on the 22nd March, or 10th old style. The fair is known as “Tenth-day,” but among the Gaelic-speaking population as “_Féill mo Cheasaig_.” A rock at the west end of the village is known as “_Tom a Cheasaig_.”

ST. PATRICK’S DAY (_Feill Pàruig_)

is the middle day of spring and that on which the night and day are of equal length, March 17/29. A certain sign of the day is held in the Hebrides to be a south wind in the morning and a north wind at night.

The saint comes from Ireland to see his parishioners in Barra and other places on the west of Scotland, and has a favourable wind coming and returning. He is in Highland lore described as “Patrick who blessed Ireland” (_Pàdruig a bheannaich Eirinn_), and is said to have been married to the daughter of Ossian, bard, and last, of the _Feinne_. He was born A.D. 373, but it is disputed whether his native place was Scotland, or Wales, or England, or France. There can be no question that in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland the more lively and kindly recollections of him have been retained. Numerous places called after him are found scattered over Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

After this day (_seach gun leum an Fhéill Pàruig_) (lit. once Patrick’s Festival has jumped) the limpet is better than the whelk, and is said in consequence to treat it with great indignity.

_Latha Feill Pàruig_ _Muinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig._

Another piece of shore information connected with this season is that with the advance of spring “as horses grow lean, crabs grow fat” (_mar is caoile ’n t-each, ’s ann is reamhrad am partan_). Others have it, “When the horse is lean, the whelk is fat” (_Nuair bhios an t-each caol bi ’n fhaochag reamhar._)

The reviving influences of the spring are now making themselves visible, according to the saying, “There is not an herb in the ground, but the length of a mouse’s ear of it is out on St. Patrick’s Day” (_Chaneil luibh san talamh, nach’ eil fad cluas luch dhi mach, latha Féil Pàruig_).

Old men liked the days immediately preceding it to be stormy, and to see, as they said, “the furrows full of snow, of rain, and the thatch of houses” (_a chlaisich làn sneachda, làn uisge, ’s tugha nan tighean_).

There are particularly high tides on St. Patrick’s Day, and the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, according to the saying,

“The spring tides of Lady Day And the mad tides of St. Patrick’s Day.”[68]

_Marbhladh na Feill Pàruig_, the deadening of St. Patrick’s Day, means the quiet calm waters that sometimes occur at this season; others say _Bogmharbhlainn_, and say it means the swelling (_tòcadh_) observable at the time in the sea (from the increasing heat).

LADY DAY (_Féill Moire_).

This was known as _Féill Moire an t-sanais_ (St. Mary’s Vigil of annunciation) to distinguish it from _Féill Moire Mòr_ (the Big St. Mary’s-day), the assumption of the Virgin, which was the middle day of autumn. It is March 25/April 6.

SHORE OR MAUNDY-THURSDAY.

This was the Thursday before Easter, and was known in the Hebrides as “_La Brochain Mhòir_,” the Day of the Big Porridge. It was now getting late in the spring, and if the winter had failed to cast a sufficient supply of seaweed on the shores, it was time to resort to extraordinary measures to secure the necessary manure for the land. A large pot of porridge was prepared, with butter and other good ingredients, and taken to the headlands near creeks where seaweed rested. A quantity was poured into the sea from each headland, with certain incantations or rhymes, and in consequence, it was believed, the harbours were full of sea-ware. The ceremony should only be performed in stormy weather. Its object no doubt was, by throwing the produce of the land into the sea, to make the sea throw its produce on the land.

GOOD FRIDAY (_Di-haoine na Ceusa_).

The Gaelic name means literally Crucifixion Friday. The day was the Friday before Easter, and was observed in memory of our Lord’s Passion. There was hardly any belief that had a stronger hold on the Highlander’s mind than that on no account whatever should iron be put in the ground on this day. So great was the aversion to doing so that the more superstitious extended the prohibition to every Friday. As a matter of course no ploughing was done, and if a burial was to take place, the grave was opened on the previous day, and the earth was settled over the coffin with a wooden shovel. The origin of the observance perhaps was that our Saviour’s sepulchre had been previously prepared, being a new tomb hewn out in the rock.

It was said that if the day be cold, it is colder than any other, in fact the coldest day of the whole year.

EASTER (_Càsg_).

The proper day for keeping this festival, the anniversary of our Lord’s resurrection, was at one time the cause of bitter controversies in the Christian world. It was first a subject of keen dispute between the Eastern and Western Churches, and again between the Church of Rome and the Irish and British Churches. The feast is moveable, and depends on the time of the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Owing to rectifications of the calendar introduced at Rome, but unknown to the British Churches, two different days had come to be observed, and by the seventh century the discussion as to which day was the correct one had become so warm and the difference so scandalous that the civil powers interfered and the question was settled in favour of the Church of Rome by Oswy, King of Northumbria, at Whitby in 664. The Celtic clergy were accused of being Quartodecimans (a very good word in a controversy), that is, of keeping the festival, according to the Jewish mode of calculation, on the fourteenth day of the month Nizan, whether that day fell on a Sunday or not. The accusation is now universally acknowledged to be ill-founded, but it is likely they followed the Alexandrian rule on the point, by which the Easter festival could not begin till the eighth of March, a rule which had been at one time observed by the Church of Rome itself. Neither the cycle followed during the controversy by the Celtic Church, nor that followed by the Romish Church, is that now prevailing, so that if one day was of more value than another for the festival, both parties were in the wrong.

The rule now observed in the Highlands is “seven short weeks from Shrovetide to Easter,” Shrovetide being “the first Tuesday of the New Moon in Spring,” or, Easter is “the first Sunday of the second wane of the moon in spring” (_chiad Di-dòmhnaich de ’n dara earra-dhubh san Earrach_).

The name “_Càsg_” is but the Gaelic form of the Hebrew _Pascha_. The change of P into C, K, or Q is well known in philology, and the most noticeable difference between the Welsh and Gaelic branches of the Celtic tongue is, that the latter has an aversion which the former has not to _p_ as an initial consonant, preferring _c_ instead. Lhuyd (_Arch. Brit._, p. 20) says, “It is very remarkable that there are scarce any words in the Irish (besides what are borrowed from the Latin or some other language) that begin with P, insomuch that in an ancient alphabetical vocabulary I have by me, that letter is omitted; and no less observable that a considerable number of those words whose initial letter it is in the British begin in that language with a K or (as they constantly write) C.” He then quotes as illustrations, W. _Pask_, Easter, Ir. _Kasg_; Corn. _Peneas_, Whitsuntide, Ir. _Kinkis_; W. _pen_, a head, Ir. _keann_, etc. He quotes from Vassius instances of a similar change in the interrogatives and relatives of the Greek Ionic dialect. A readily recognised instance is the change of the Greek ἱππος into the Latin _equus_.

On Càisg Sunday, the sun was believed in the Highlands of Scotland, as in Ireland, to dance soon after rising, and many respectable people are to be found who say they saw the phenomenon. The alternate glancing and darkening of the sun on a fitful spring morning was no doubt often so construed by those who stared too long at a brilliant object.

A liability to north wind has made “_Gaoth tuath na Càisg_” (the north wind of Easter) a proverbial expression. The most trying part of the spring is still to come, and it is an expression employed to moderate excessive joy, and to put people in mind that the cares of life are not all past yet, that there is “a long spring after Easter” (_Earrach fada ’n déigh Càisg_).

Another expression, reminding men that it is not too late to acquit themselves of their duties or hold rejoicings, is “a Feast can be kept after Easter” (_Gleidhear cuirm an déigh Càisg_).

Easter was a particular holiday with the young, and preparations were made for it long beforehand. Every egg that a boy could steal or lay his hands on unobserved, was hid by him in the thatch of an out-house, or in a hole in the ground, under a turf, or wherever else he thought his treasure would remain undiscovered. When the great day came, he and his companions, each with his collection of eggs, went away to some retired spot, at a distance from the houses, and beyond the probability of being disturbed by their seniors. Here they had a grand feast of pancakes, and enjoyed themselves uncontrolled. The eggs were deemed of no use unless they had been secreted or stolen, and this originated, perhaps, in a feeling that with honestly or openly got eggs the feast was not so entirely independent of the older people.

The reason why eggs were used at all is supposed to be from an egg being emblematic of the resurrection.

Two Sundays were held as Càisg. The second was distinguished only by a better feast than usual in the houses. The first Sunday was called “Big Easter” (_Càisg mhòr_), and the Sunday after it “Old Men’s Easter” (_Càisg nam bodach_), corresponding to the English Low Sunday.

ALL-FOOLS’ DAY

is variously known in the Highlands as “The Day of going on Fools’ errands” (_Latha na Gogaireachd_), “Cuckoo Day” (_Latha na Cuthaig_), and “The Day of Tricks” (_Latha nan Car_). Its observance is on the first of April, N.S., and this argues its very recent introduction into the Highlands. The tricks and practices of the day are the same as elsewhere, the sending of acquaintances on sleeveless errands. Sometimes, but only rarely, there is some ingenuity displayed in taking advantage of local and passing events to throw the most suspicious off their guard, and send them on fools’ messages. It is not difficult to impose on men with a serious face and a plausible story, when it entails but little trouble to see if so likely a story or so pressing a message is real.

_Bailc na Bealltainn_.

The fourteen days preceding May-day were known as _Bailc na Bealltainn_, “the balk or ridge of Beltane.” The sea is then as it were awakening, and is more obedient to the winds. _Balc_ means a ridge, also swelling, strength, _onfhadh_, _foghail_. The weather threatens frequently without breaking.

“If warm May day be swollen [threatening], And it be dry the third day, And it be an east wind after that, There certainly will be fruit on trees.”[69]

_Bealltainn_, MAY-DAY.

The advent of summer is everywhere hailed with joy, and the day recognised as the first of the season is naturally one of the most important days in the calendar. Another day of equal importance in the Celtic year was the first of winter, and the names of the two days, _Bealltainn_ and _Samhainn_, cannot be traced, like so many other notations of the year, to ecclesiastical sources. Like the names _Faoilleach_ (the Storm month), and _Iuchar_ (the Hot month), they are best referred to Pagan times.

_Bealltainn_ is commonly derived from _Bel teine_, the fire of Baal or Belus, and is considered as sure evidence of the Phoenician origin of the sacred institutions of the Celts. It is a derivation, however, that wants all the elements of probability. There is a want of evidence that the Phoenician Baal, or any deity resembling him, was ever worshipped by the Celts, or that the fires kindled and observances practised on this day had any connection with the attributes ascribed to him; while the analogies of the Gaelic language prevent the supposition that “the fire of Baal” could be rendered “Beall-tein’.” Besides, the word is not _Beall-teine_, but _Bealltainn_, a difference in the final syllable sufficiently noticeable to a Gaelic ear. It is the difference between the single and double sound of _n_. Baal and Ashtoreth were the supreme male and female divinities of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, and are supposed to be personifications of the generative and receptive powers of nature, and to be identical with the sun and moon. In Hebrew and kindred languages, _Baal_ is a mere title of honour, signifying “Lord or Possessor of,” and in Gaelic the Sun and Moon are both feminine nouns, merely descriptive of the appearance of these planets. There is nothing that indicates their ever having been looked on as divinities, or ascribing to them any attribute such as belonged to Baal. In Gaelic the noun limited or possessed always precedes the qualifying noun, and it would require strong evidence to show that “Baal’s fire” could be “Beltane” _i.e._ Baal-fire, and not “Tane-Bel” (_Teine-Bhàil_), _i.e._ fire of Baal. The contrast between English and Gaelic in this respect is often very striking, and a safe rule in etymology!

The final syllable is the same as in _Samhainn_, the end of summer, which is thought by Lhuyd, to be from _fuinn_ (connected with the Latin _finis_), an end. In this case _t_ is simply accresive. _L_ has an attraction for _t_ after it, as _m_ has for _b_, and _n_ for _d_. _Beall_ is likely connected with the other words that have _bl_ in their initial syllable, with a root idea of separating, parting, opening; and claims kindred with _blàth_, a blossom, _bial_, the mouth, _bealach_, a pass, more than with the title of a Semitic deity. It is the opening day of the year, when the rigours of winter are parted with, and the seasons, as it were, separate. Behind lay winter, cold, and unfruitfulness of the earth, but before was warmth and fertility and beauty. The final syllable has no more to do with fire than it has in _gamhainn_, a stirk, _calltainn_, a hazel tree.

It was said, with truth, that whatever day New Year day fell upon, Beltane fell on the day following. “New Year’s day to-day, Beltane to-morrow” (_Nollaig an diugh, Bealltainn a màireach_).

There is sometimes very cold weather at this time, and this was denoted by the expression “The mournful linnet of Beltane” (_Glaisein cumhach na Bealltainn_). Snow at the time was known as “Snow about the mouth of May-day” (_Sneachda mu bhial na Bealltainn_).

On the night preceding it, _i.e._ Beltane eve, witches were awake, and went about as hares, to take their produce (_toradh_), milk, butter, and cheese, from the cows. People who believed in their existence were as earnest to counteract their machinations. Tar was put behind the ears of the cattle, and at the root of the tail; the animals were sprinkled with urine to keep them from fighting; the house was hung with rowan-tree, etc., etc. By having a churning past and a cheese made (_muidhe ’s mulchag_) before sunrise, the Fairies were kept away from the farm for the rest of the year. If any came to ask for rennet (_deasgainn_), it should not on any account be given to them. It would be used for taking the substance out of the giver’s own dairy produce.

When the day arrived, it was necessary, whatever the state of the weather, though people sank ankle deep in snow, or (as the Gaelic idiom has it), though snow came over the shoes, to get the cattle away to the summer pastures among the hills (_àiridh_).

No fire on this, or any other first day of a quarter of the year (_latha ceann raidhe_), was given out of the house. It gave the borrower the power of taking the milk from the lender’s cows.

People had a feast in their houses with better food than ordinary. The arrival of the cuckoo was looked for, and boys shouted “Cuckoo! cried the ‘gowk’ on yellow Beltane day” (_Gug-ùg ars’ a Chuthag latha buidhe Bealltainn_).

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1794, XI. 620, there is a custom described, as existing at Callander in Perthshire, of boys going on this day to the moors, and kneading a cake of oatmeal, one part of which was daubed black. The bread was then put in a bonnet, from which each drew a piece. The boy, to whose share the black piece falls, is obliged to leap three times through the flames, at which the repast was prepared. The minister of Logierait (V. 84), says the festivities of the day were chiefly observed by herdsmen, and Pennant (_Tour_, p. 90), describes a similar feast of herdsmen, in which pieces of the cake were offered to the fox, hoodie-crow, eagle, etc., with a request that they would avoid the cattle during the year. In the south of Ireland, we are told (_vide_ Brand on May-day customs), cows were made to leap over lighted straw. All this has been referred to Baal and human sacrifices, and the going through the fire and other observances, have been assumed to be the remains of Syrian rites. They seem to be nothing but parts of the numerous superstitious observances for the _saining_ of cattle.

A _Sop seilbhe_, or “Possession Wisp,” was burned on land, of which possession was to be taken at Whitsunday. The wisp was of fodder or heather. The burning of it on the land, as already explained, insured possession (_bha e ceangailte aige tuille_).

_Céitein_, MONTH OF MAY.

This is the month of which Beltane day, O.S., forms the centre, and consists of the last fourteen days of spring, and the first fourteen days of summer. Its derivation is from _ceud_, first, it being the beginning of the summer season. It is identical with the present month of May. “Better is snow in May, than to be without rain” (_’S fhearr sneachda sa Céitein na bhi gun uisge_).

The month preceding Beltane was called _Céitein na h-òinsich_, “the May-days of the silly one,” the word _òinseach_ denoting both a silly woman and a cuckoo. The habits of the bird, which has no nest of its own, and goes about all day aimlessly uttering its peculiar note, has earned for it the reputation of being silly, as is witnessed also by the Scotch word _gowk_, and premature glimpses of fine weather are supposed to mislead it as to the advent of May.

WHISTLING WEEK.

_Seachdain na feadaireachd_, the whistling week, is the first week of summer, and the name is in allusion to the loud, whistling winds, that are apt to occur at the time. It is unlucky during it to proceed with field operations.

_Màigh_, MAY.

The name _Màigh_, for the first month of summer, is quite common in the Highlands, and is to be found in songs and proverbs. This is mentioned as shewing incontestably that Roman (or rather ecclesiastical) notations of time were adopted into the ancient Celtic calendar.

THE AVOIDING DAY OF THE YEAR.

(_Latha seachnach na Bliadhna._)

This is the third day of summer, and its name is almost the only part of the beliefs concerning it, that now survives. The writer searched far and wide for an explanation of the name, and only once heard one that was satisfactory. It was on this day that the fallen angels were expelled from Paradise, and on it people should avoid doing any kind of evil. If caught in the act, they will be similarly expelled from the regions of forgiveness, and be visited with “judgement without mercy.” If it falls on a Friday, it is unlucky to go on a journey.

Pennant says about it, “The fourteenth May is unlucky, and the day on which it falls.”

_Caingis_, WHITSUNTIDE, PENTECOST.

This and Martinmas are the two principal term days in Scotland, at which half-yearly servants enter on their duties, and at which removals take place. At Whitsunday term (old style) especially, the 25th of May, the towns of Scotland present an animated appearance from the number of removals, or changes of residences. The streets are crowded with household goods being removed from one house to another. Tenants at will are removed and leases expire at this term.

In Lorn, and the districts to the south of it, along by Lochfyneside, the term is called _Feill Breunain_. St. Brendan the Elder, from whom the name is derived, was abbot of Clonfest in Ireland A.D. 578. His day is May 16-28. Kilbrandon parish (in Gaelic _Sgìreachd a Chuain_, the parish of the ocean) in the west of Argyllshire, derives its name from him, and there is a farm in the island of Mull of the same name. History records that the saint with 14 companions once made a voyage in search of Paradise, and in stormy weather, when the sea is rough and the sky inclement, and the earth is hid with driving showers [it excites a smile], that he came north in the hope of finding it. There are days indeed in summer in the Hebrides, when a glory covers the sea and sky and the hills “that encircle the sea,” when he might think that he was on the way.[70]

In Sutherlandshire, people reckon by the _Feill Chelzie_, a market held on Tuesday of the term, deriving its name from a wool manufactory, now discontinued, called _New Kelso_, near Loch Carron.

The names _Caingis_, Whitsuntide, and Pentecost, are modifications of one and the same word. Pentecost became _pencas_ in Cornish, in Gaelic (which represents _p_ of the Welsh dialects by _c_) _caingis_ (Kinkis), as _pascha_ became W. _pâsk_, Gael. _Càisg_ (Kasg). The Gaelic _c_ or _k_ sound is represented in the Saxon tongue by _wh_. Thus we have _cuibhle_ (cuile), wheel; _cuip_, whip; _ciod_, what?; _cuilein_, whelp; _co_, who?; _cuist_, wheesht! be quiet!; _caoin_, whine; etc. So _cencas_ has become _Whitsun_. The feast has no name in the languages of Western Europe, but such as are derivations of the Greek word. The English name has been thought to be an exception, and to be, therefore, of modern origin. From the light thrown upon it by the Celtic languages, we infer that it is of the same origin as the rest.

_Caingis_ is reckoned to be “at the end of a fortnight of summer.”

_Feill-Sheathain_, ST. JOHN’S OR MID-SUMMER’S EVE, 24TH JUNE-6TH JULY.

On this day, the cuckoo was said to enter its winter house (_theid a chuthag na tigh geamhraidh_). It is not natural for its song to be heard after this. The bird may be seen, but it is not heard. It is, like the landrail, stonechat, or other birds that disappear in winter, one of the seven sleepers, who were believed to pass the winter underground.

_Seathan_, Swithin, is the old form of the name John, the common form being _Iain_, _Eòin_, and in Islay _Eathin_. It still survives in the name of the Clan Maclean, Mac-ill’-sheathain, also written MacGhilleòin. A former minister of Kilmore in Mull is still remembered as _Maighsthir Seathain_, and an exceedingly plaintive song, composed to her husband, who had been betrayed and executed for piracy, by his widow, begins “Swithin is to-night a dead one.”

“Tha Seathan nochd na mharbhan,”

the names being those now denoted by John.

_Mios crochadh nan Con_, DOG-DAYS.

(Lit. month for hanging dogs.)

This is but a boyish and sportive name given to the month preceding _Lùnasdal_, or first of August, the time of greatest scarcity with the poor. The stores of last harvest are exhausted, and the new supplies are not yet come in. If there is a scarcity of food for the dogs, it is recommended as the best thing that can be done, to hang them. Besides, the excessive heat makes it advisable to get rid of all superfluous dogs.

_Latha Martainn Builg_, TRANSLATION OF MARTIN.

(Lit. Martin of the Bag’s Day.)

July 4-16 received its title of the Translation of Martin from being the day on which the remains of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, 397, “the apostle of the Gauls” (who also gives his name to the Martinmas term) were transferred to the Cathedral of Tours. In Scotland the day is called St. Martin of Bullions Day, and it was a proverb that if the deer rise dry and lie down dry on it, that is if the morning and evening be dry, it will be a dry season till harvest; and it was a general belief over Europe that rain on this day betokened wet weather for the next twenty days.

The Day of St. Martin of the Bag is commonly translated St. Swithin’s day, which is the 15th. St. Swithin was Bishop of Winchester, and no name of an English Bishop is found in the Gaelic calendar.

_Lùnasdal_, LAMMAS, AUGUST 1-12TH.

This, being a quarter day, formed a great day with old women for saining cattle, and performing those ceremonies by which evil was to be kept away from them for the next three months. Tar was put on their tails and ears, charms (_òradh_) were said at their udders, red and blue threads were put on their tails, and various observances were gone through with balls of hair (_rolag_), plants, fire about the earthenware pipkins (_crogain_) in which milk or butter was to be put, etc. Curds and butter were specially prepared for a great feast held this day, at which it was highly important that everyone got as much as he cared for.

On Lammas day, the gad-fly “loses one of its eyes” (_Latha Lùnasdal caillidh chreithleag an leth shùil_). The creature is not so vicious after this date.

_Lùnasdal_ is not a word of Gaelic origin, at least no satisfactory Gaelic etymology can be given for it. It is perhaps a contraction of the Latin, _luna augustalis_, the August moon. The Roman month was lunar, and was reckoned from the first appearance of the moon’s slender crescent in the sky. The moon in the harvest months is of more consequence to the husbandman than at any other season, and has always been taken notice of for its splendour. The temperature of the night air has much to do with this. The Gaelic bears its own testimony to it, in giving distinctive names to the autumn moon.

The corresponding English name, Lammas, had very likely the same origin, and it is a contraction of _Lunamas_. The derivation of it from Lamb-mas is an “affectation of punning,” and that suggested by Gen. Vallancey from La-ith-mas, “a day of eating fruit,” is extremely fanciful. The omission of _n_ in the middle of a word, for the sake of brevity or from inadvertence, frequently occurs. So _g_ has been elided in _Lùnasdal_. Augustus, which was adopted as the name of the sixth month B.C. 6, became _east_ in Cornish and _eost_ in Armoric.

_Iuchar_, THE HOT MONTH (_i.e._ AUGUST).

The _Iuchar_ consists of 14 days of summer and 14 days of autumn, and Lammas Day, O.S., being the first of autumn, corresponds to the present month of August. It is regarded, in point of weather, as the opposite of _Faoilleach_, the “storm month” of February.

The name is derived from an obsolete verb _fiuchadh_ to be hot. Lhuyd (_Archæolog. Brit._) renders _fiuchaeh_, boiling, and _fiuchadh_, a spring, _scatebra_. In another place he gives _fiuchadh_ as an equivalent of the Latin _æstus_. In some districts of the north, the name of the season is still called _Fiuchar_. Linlithgow, celebrated for its wells, is known in the Highlands as _Gleann Iuch_, and the Linlithgow measures are called _tomhaís Ghlinn Iuch_. The dropping of _f_ initial, as in the case of the Greek digamma, is too common to need illustration.

_Fèill Moire_, ASSUMPTION DAY.

This is the middle day of autumn (_latha meadhon an fhogharaidh_), August 15-27. It was counted a greater day than St. Mary’s Day (_Féill Moire_) in spring, and was called “the Big St. Mary’s Day.” Harvest operations were now vigorously pushed forward, and hence the saying, “Big St Mary’s Feast in harvest, sheaf and binding and men with their coats off” (_an Fhéill Mhoire mòr a’s t-fhogharadh sguab ’us ceangal ’s daoin’ as an léintean_).

_Féill Ròid_, ROODMAS, SEPTEMBER 14-26.

This day is the first of the rutting season among deer, and it was held that if the night before it (_oidhche na Féill Ròid_), be wet, or (as it was expressed), “if the deer took his head wet into the rutting season” (_ma bheir e cheann fliuch san dàmhair_), there will be a month after it of dry weather, and the farmer need be under no apprehension as to securing his crops. The belling of red deer among the hills on this night is magnificent.

The night succeeding Roodmas was called “the night of the nut,” “the night of the Holy Nut” (_oidhche na cnò, na cnò Naomh_), a name, the reason of which is doubtful. Some say it arises from this night dividing harvest in unequal halves, as the kernel is divided in the nut. Brand (i. 353) mentions a custom of going a nutting upon Rood Day, and it seems to have been a popular belief that on this day the devil goes a nutting. This does not explain why the nut is called the Holy Nut.

The Holy Rood is the same as the Cross.

MICHAELMAS (_Feill Mìcheil_)

is also known in the Roman Catholic districts of the Highlands, as “the Riding Day” (_latha na marcachd_). On the level green of Borg (_machaire Bhorg_), in Barra, a great race is held, the women bringing the horses, and sitting behind the men on horseback. In the scamper that ensues, it is a lucky sign if the woman tumbles off. All the expenses of the festivity are borne by the women, each of whom takes with her to the racecourse a large thick bannock of oatmeal, made with treacle, butter, etc.

_Samhain_, HALLOWMAS,

is the first day of winter, and is also known as All-Saints’ Day (_Latha nan uile Naomh_), Nov. 1-13. It was a sign of a bad winter if it fell upon a Wednesday, according to the saying: “When Hallowmas is on Wednesday, it is afflictive after it” (_Nuair is Di-ciadaìn an t-samhainn is iargaineach na déigh_).

The coming of winter was hailed with more fun and merriment than any other season of the year. The cold was now fairly set in, the fruits of the summer, down to the very nuts, were gathered, and the young became desirous of learning their fate with regard to that subject of anxiety in every age, their future husbands and wives. This natural welcoming of winter explains the ceremonies of the day, and the games of the evening. Hardly any of them have reference to the practices or deities of the nations of antiquity or to Scripture, and this explanation must be sought for in Pagan times.

On the last day of autumn children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the long thin stalks called _gàinisg_, and everything suitable for a bonfire. These were placed in a heap on some eminence near the house, and in the evening set fire to. The fires were called _Samhnagan_. There was one for each house, and it was an object of ambition who should have the biggest. Whole districts were brilliant with bonfires, and their glare across a Highland loch, and from many eminences, formed an exceedingly picturesque scene. Some find in them traces of the worship of the invariable Baal, but there is no reason to look upon them otherwise than as the natural and defiant welcome of the season, in which fires are most required, when the heat of the year is departed, and cold and frost and rushing winds cover all things with gloom. Bonfires are kindled on all occasions of public rejoicing, or excitement, and Hallowmas fires are a natural expression of the change of season. It is possible a deity was originally associated with the practice, but there is now no trace of him in name or practices of this day.

As the evening wore on, the young people gathered to one house, and an almost endless variety of games (_cleasan_) were resorted to, with the object in every case of divining the future lot of the company. Were they to marry or not, was it to be that year or never, who was to be married first, what like the future husband or wife was to be, their names, trade, colour of hair, size, property, etc.? were questions of great importance, and their answer was a source of never-failing entertainment. The modes of divination are of interest, from the light they throw on the character of the people among whom they prevailed, and from an antiquarian point of view, as remains of Pagan times.

A shoe caught by the tip and thrown over the house, fore-indicates the future by its position on the ground on the other side. In whatever direction the toe points, the thrower will go before long, and it is very unlucky if the shoe be found with the sole uppermost, misfortune is “making for” him. A thin, fine shoe, used in this manner, led the man, fished up from the Green Island, to remark, after some years of silence:

“A thin shoe, little valued, It is hard to say who will wear it.”[71]

He might well say so, for the owner of the shoe died in a few days.

The white of eggs, dropped in a glass of pure water, indicates by certain marks how many children a person is to have. The impatience and clamour of the children often made the housewife perform this ceremony for them by daylight, and the kindly mother, standing with her face to the window, dropping the white of an egg into a crystal glass of clean water, and surrounded by a group of children, eagerly watching her proceedings, formed a pretty picture.

When the fun of the evening had fairly commenced, the names of eligible, or likely as possible matches, were written on the chimney place, and the young man, who wished to essay his fortune, was blindfolded and led up to the list. Whatever name he put his finger on would prove to be that of his future wife.

Two nuts were put on the fire beside each other, representing two individuals, whose names were made known to the company. As they burned together, or flared up alone, or leaped away from each other, the future marriage of the pair, or haughty rejection of each other, was inferred.

A dish of milk and meal (_fuarag_, Scot. crowdie), or of beat potatoes, was made, and a ring was concealed in it. Spoons were given to the company, and a vigorous attack was made on the dish. Whoever got the ring would prove to be the first married. This was an excellent way of making the taking of food part of the evening’s merriment.

Apples and a silver sixpence were put in a tub of water. The apples floated on the top, but the coin lay close to the bottom. Whoever was able to lift either in his mouth, and without using his teeth, was counted very lucky, and got the prize to himself.

By taking an apple and going to a room alone, dividing it there into nine pieces against the name of the Father and the Son, eating eight pieces with the back to a looking glass and the face looking over the left shoulder, and then throwing the ninth piece over the same shoulder, the future husband or wife was seen in the glass coming and taking the piece of apple away.

A person, going in the devil’s name to winnow in a barn alone, will see his future partner entering the door.

An unmarried woman, taking a ball of thread and crossing a wall on her way, went to a kiln or other out-house. Here, holding one end of the thread, she threw the ball in the dark into the eye of the kiln (_sùil àth_), or over one of the rafters or a partition wall, in the name of a sweetheart whom she had before fixed on in her mind, and calling out “who is down there at the end of my little rope?” (_co so shìos air ceann mo ròpain?_), at the same time she gave the thread a gentle pull. In reply, some one or something pulled the thread at the other end, and a voice called out the name of her future husband. There is a story of a tailor having hid himself in anticipation of this mode of divination being resorted to, and when the ball was thrown he caught it and gave the thread a tug. In answer to the question “who is this at the end of my little rope?” he said, “I am the devil” (_Tha mise, ’n deamhan_), and the woman to whom this frightful answer was given never tried divination again.

Young women sowed hemp seed (_fras lìn_) over nine ridges of plough land, saying “I sow hemp seed, and he who is to be my husband, let him come and harrow it” (_Tha mi cur fras lìn, ’s am fear bhios na fhear ’dhomh, thigeadh e ’s cliathadh e_). On looking back they saw the figure of their future husband. Hallowe’en being the night preceding the first day of a lunar month was always dark, and this ceremony was rendered more awful by a story that a woman once saw herself coming after her, and never recovered from the effects of the vision.

By dipping his shirt sleeve in a well to the south (_tobar mu dheas_), and then pulling off the shirt and placing it to dry before the fire, the anxious youth, if he does not oversleep himself, will see his sweetheart entering through the night and turning the shirt.

On putting an odd number of keys in a sieve, going to a barn alone, and there riddling them well “with the wrong hand turn” (_car tuaitheal_), the destined one will come and put the odd key right.

By holding a mouthful of water in the mouth, and going to listen (_farcluais_) at a neighbour’s window, the first name overheard will prove to be that of one’s intended.

The same knowledge was obtained by biting a piece of the last cart that sent in the corn, and with it in the mouth going, without speaking, to listen (_farcluais_) under a neighbour’s window.

A common practice was to go and steal kail stocks. Unless the plants are pulled surreptitiously, without the knowledge or consent of their owner, they are of no use for the purpose of divination. A number of young people go together, and having cautiously and with difficulty made their way into a kailyard, pull each one the first stock that comes to hand after bending down. It must be the first that the hand meets. The plant is then taken home and examined by the light, and according to its height, straightness, colour, etc., will be the future husband or wife. A quantity of soil adhering to it signifies money and property. When put for the night above the lintel of the door, it affords indications by the first person entering below it in the morning; and, put below the pillow, it is excellent to dream over.

A straw, drawn at random from a stack, indicates by the number of grains upon it what family a person is to have.

Three ears of corn similarly pulled and placed below the pillow for the night, will cause dreams of the future husband reaping them.

A plate of clean water, one of dirty water, and one empty being placed on the floor, and a napkin thrown over the eyes, the dish in which the person blindfolded puts his forefinger, indicated a maid, or widow, or none at all.

A piece of flesh being buried this night, if any living creature was found in it in the morning, the person burying it would be married; but if not, he never would.

If water, in which the feet had been washed, were kept in the house this night,[72] (and the Fairies were apt to enter the house when that was the case), a person putting a burning peat in it will see the colour of his sweetheart’s hair in it.

If a mouthful of the top sod of the house wall (_fòid fàil na h-anainn_), or a mouthful from the clod above the lintel of the door (_àrd-dorus_) be taken into the house in one’s teeth and any hair be found in it, it is of the same colour as that of the future wife of the person who performs the rite.

One of the chief performances of the evening was for young women to go to a Boundary Stream (_allt crìche_), (if between two neighbouring proprietors so much the better,) and with closed eyes to lift from it three stones between the middle finger and thumb, saying these words:

“I will lift the stone As Mary lifted it for her Son, For substance, virtue, and strength; May this stone be in my hand Till I reach my journey’s end.”[73]

The stones were for putting below the head when going to sleep.

Many other modes of divination were practised too tedious to mention, by slices from the plough, different metals, eating a stolen raw salt herring, sprinkling corn in front of the bed, etc., etc. These observances can hardly be characterised as superstitions; they proceeded from a spirit of fun more than from any belief in their efficacy. There are in every community many weak and simple people who are easily imposed on, and made to believe almost anything; but the divinations of Hallowe’en left an abiding impression on few minds.

_Feill Fionnain._

St. Finan’s Eve is the longest night in the year, and hence it is said of a very stupid person, “he is as dark as the night of St. Finan, and that night is pretty dark” (_Tha e co dorcha ri oidhche Feill Fionnain, ’s tha ’n oidhche sin glè dhorcha_). The shortest day is called, in the Mackay country, the extreme north of Sutherlandshire, “The Day of the Three Suppers” (_Latha nan trì suipeirean_).

On this night it was said “the rain is wine and the stones are cheese” (_Tha ’n t-uisge na fhìon ’s na clachan nan càise_), and it was considered a joke to persuade boys to go out and see. “I remember,” says one who is a shrewd intelligent man, “about fifty years ago, when I was a little boy, sitting quite contentedly on the Eve of St. Finan’s Day sipping with a spoon from a big tub of water, in the full hope that the next spoonful would prove to be wine.”

The name is derived from St. Finan, confessor, Bp. of Clonard, in Ireland, in the sixth century. This day is now fixed as the 12th December, but in the Highlands it is the shortest in the year, whatever day of the calendar that may fall upon. In olden times it was much esteemed, as the rhyme shows:

“St. Finnan’s night of festivities, And Christmas night of great cheer.”[74]

Besides giving a name to the days of the calendar the saints were employed to designate local markets, St. Kessock’s Day (_Fèill mo Cheasaig_) at Callander has been already mentioned. St. Connan’s Day (_Feill Connain_) is the autumn market in Glenorchy; _Feill Fhaolain_ is held at Killin; _Feill Ceit_ at Kenmore; and in other places we have _Feill Peadair_, _F. Aindreis_, etc. Old men spoke of _Feill an Diomhanais_, the festival of St. Idleness, a holiday frequently observed by a great many people. _Latha na Sluasaid_, Shovel Day, means the day of one’s burial. _Bliadhna na Braoisge_, Grinning Year, and _La Luain_, Moon-day (_i.e._ Monday come-never), mean the same thing, the Greek Kalends. _Bliadhna nam Brisgeinean_, the Year of Silverweed roots, was shortly after Culloden, and is remembered in Tiree as a year of great scarcity. The land had been neglected in previous years from the disturbed state of the country, and in spring the furrows were white with roots (_brisgeinean_), and people made meal of them.

DAYS OF THE WEEK.

These play a more important part in Highland superstition than even the seasons of the year. The names by which they are known are not Celtic; two, Wednesday and Thursday, are of Scandinavian or Teutonic origin, and the rest are from the Latin. The superstitions, as might be expected, can in most cases be traced directly to incidents in Scripture history. The division of time into weeks was introduced with the Christian religion from Ireland, and the Irish must be held responsible for the names adopted. Neither in the names nor in the superstitions is there any trace of an age anterior to Christianity.

_Dĭ_, which is prefixed to each name, in the sense of _day_, is kindred with the Latin _dies_, and occurs in slightly modified forms in all the Celtic dialects. It is curious that in Gaelic it occurs in no other form or combination in the sense of “day,” and a suspicion is thereby created that it is merely an adaptation of the Latin word, an easier adaptation, because there are words of similar sound and kindred meaning in Gaelic.

_Di-dòmhnaich_, SUNDAY (_dies Domini_).

The name _Dòmhnach_ for our Lord is not common. It is evidently derived from the Latin _Dominus_. It occurs in the proper name _Maol-Dòmhnaich_ Ludovic, lit. the bald one (_i.e._ the shaven priest) of our Lord, a name still to be found in Skye, and formed like _Maol-Mhoire_, Miles (lit. the priest of St. Mary), _Maol-Ciaran_, _Maol-Ruainidh_, etc. There is a streamlet near Strowan, in Blair Athole, called _allt Dòmhnach_, the streamlet of our Lord; and a _Tobar an Dòmhnach_, the well of our Lord, in Balmeanach, in the west of Tiree. In a charm for fulling cloth the expression occurs, “if he (the wearer of the cloth) enter field or fight, the full succour of our Lord be his” (_Slàn chomraich an Dòmhnach da_).

The day is also known as “_an Dòmhnach_” without the prefix of _di_. Other names are those occurring in Scripture, Sabbath, etc.

The plant pulled on Sunday is, according to a proverbial expression, without good or harm (_luibh an Dòmhnach gun mhath gun chron_).

_Di-luain_, MONDAY.

_Luain_ is said in dictionaries to be a Gaelic name for the moon, agreeing in origin with the Latin _luna_. It is used only in the name of this day, and in the expression _la luain_, a poetic phrase for Monday come-never, _i.e._ “never more.” The adjective _luaineach_, restless, is supposed to be derived from it, but is a word never applied to the moon. It applies to whatever moves restlessly by fits and starts, from place to place, without staying long in one place, and never to anything on account of change of shape or form. Its derivation from _la uaine_, green day, is absurd, and there are grounds for suspicion, that _luain_ is a word manufactured by ancient Gaelic grammarians from the Latin.

It was deemed unlucky to commence ploughing (stretching the team, as it was called, _sìneadh na seisrich_), or any kind of work on Monday. It will be proceeded with too quickly or too slowly, according to the adage,

“Work commenced on Monday, Will be (too) quick or will be (too) slow.”[75]

It was deemed, however, a good day for removing or “flitting” upon, just as Saturday was the reverse.

“Saturday removal is to the north, Monday removal to the south, Though I had but a lamb On Monday I would it remove.”[76]

Old men called it “the key of the week” (_iuchair na seachdain_).

_Di-màirt_, TUESDAY.

The name is obviously enough from _dies martis_, the Latin name.

This was a good day to begin ploughing upon, and it was ominous of good luck if any of the harness broke and the ploughing was stopped for the day. Such a belief could exist only in the easy-going olden days.

_Di-Ciadain_, WEDNESDAY.

Much ingenuity has been spent on the etymology of this word by those who delight in recondite meanings, and believe that every word in Gaelic must be traced to a Gaelic origin. What Lhuyd says of radicals and primitives is equally applicable to other words. It is a very common error in etymology to endeavour to derive all the radical words of our Western European languages from the Latin or Greek; or indeed to _derive the Primitives of any one language from any particular tongue_. When we do this we seem to forget that all have been subject to alterations, and that the greater and more polite any nation is, the more subject they are (partly from improvement, and partly out of a luxurious wantonness) to remodel their language. Nearly all words connected with ecclesiastical affairs both in English and Gaelic have been imported from the Latin and Greek, undergoing only such changes as the difference of language requires. When or why the name of a Scandinavian deity, and not a Roman name, was adopted by the British and Irish churches to designate this or any other day is a different question. We must seek (and this is a rule lamentably neglected by Gaelic etymologists), the true explanation of words in any language that offers one that is probable and rational; otherwise we make “a useful art ridiculous,” and the etymologist degenerates into “a trifling conjecturer.”

The Latin name of this day is _dies mercurii_, which name was adopted in the Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, but the Teutonic names are derived from the Scandinavian deity _Odin_ or _Woden_, who was supposed to correspond to Mercury. This was the designation adopted in Gaelic, both Irish and Scottish. Like the French the Gaelic has no _w_, and represents that sound by _g_ or _c_. Thus, _gad_, withe; _gul_, wail; _cosd_, waste; _clòimh_, wool; _cnuimh_, worm; _curaidh_, warrior, etc. Sometimes, as pointed out under Whitsuntide (_caingis_), the corresponding English sound is _wh_. So _Woden’s_-day, Wednesday, became _Di-ceden_.

The derivation _ciad aoin’_, first fast, is open to the objection that there was no fast on Wednesday in the Celtic or any other church, that the use of the word _aoin’_, to denote a fast, is secondary, and derived from Friday (_di-haoine_), the true fast day, and that the final syllable, being the essential one, would with such a derivation, be heavily accented, instead of falling away into a mere terminal syllable. The grave _ia_ in _Di-ciadain_ is accounted for by the _o_ in Woden being long.

There was a malediction used to young women, “The disease of the woman be upon you, who put the first Wednesday comb in her head” (_Galar na tè chuir a chiad chìr Chiadna na ceann_). The disease was that she died childless.

Many would not begin sowing seed in spring, but on this day or Thursday. It was also counted a lucky day to begin ploughing upon.

A witch, in the island of Coll, being asked by a person, who had detected her in her unhallowed pranks, to visit a farm-house in shape of a hare, said, that as the day was Wednesday she could do nothing. Why her power was limited on this day does not appear.

_Di’rdaoin_, THURSDAY.

The Latin name, _dies Iovis_, has been similarly followed, with slight alteration, by the Cymric branch of the Celts; while the Gaelic names are taken from _Thor_, _Tor_, and in some dialects _Thordan_, the Scandinavian deity, son of Odin.

This is a lucky day for a calf or lamb to be born upon, for beginning the weaving of cloth, and on which the hair should be cut, as the rhymes testify:

(1) “Thursday the day of benign Colum-cill A day to take possession of sheep, To put cloth in warp, and settle cow on calf.”

(2) “Cut your hair and beard on Thursday, And blunt the nail on Saturday.”[77]

It is unlucky if Beltane day, the first of summer, falls upon a Thursday, according to the saying, “Many a woman will be without an infant son, when Beltane falls on Thursday” (_Is iomadh té bhios gun mhacan baoth dar is ann air Di’rdaoin bhios a Bhealltainn_). M’Intosh (_Gael. Prov._, 146) has it, “Woe to the mother of a wizard’s son, when Beltane falls on a Thursday.” A similar prejudice existed against Hallowmas (_Samhain_), the first of winter, falling on a Wednesday.

_Di-haoine_, FRIDAY, DIES VENORIS.

Here the Gaelic names revert to the Latin. Venus is etymologically connected with the Gael, _bean_, a wife, as _Friga_ is with the German _frau_. In Armoric the name of the day is _dar guener_, and says Lhuyd (p. 9) “’Tis observable that the initial _gu_ is common to the Britons, with the French, Spaniards, and Italians; and that the Romans frequently begin such words with an V consonant.” The Gaelic word would be pronounced in the same manner, though spelled _di-Fhaoine_, which probably is the more correct form. _Aoine_ is said in dictionaries to mean a fast, but in that sense never came into popular use, and is not found in song or proverb.

The number of superstitions attached to the day were very numerous, and this origin is to be traced to Friday, being the day of the Crucifixion. On Good Friday (_Di-haoine na Ceusa_), the anniversary of our Lord’s Passion, the various beliefs had twofold force. So much was it a belief that the powers of evil have more power on this day than on any other, that it was a common saying, “Friday is against the week” (_Tha Di-haoine an aghaidh na seachdain_).

On Friday and on Sunday it was not deemed proper to go and see a sick person. Most took such a visit in anything but good part, and many would as soon see death coming to the house as a sympathising friend. In their opinion there was little difference.

The more superstitious would not allow iron to be put in the ground, and consequently no graves were dug and no ploughing was proceeded with. Commonly, however, ploughing was abstained from only on Good Friday.

It was not lucky (_sealbhach_) on Friday to cut one’s hair or nails, to sharpen knives, commence work, count animals, or go near the fire. In Argyllshire and the Highlands generally it is deemed unlucky for marriages, but in the south it is a favourite day, and in Appin, Perthshire, people did not care to be married on any other day. The aversion of seafaring men to leave on this day is well known.

On Fridays the fairies visited men’s houses, and people were careful not to say anything to give them offence. Friday was not called by its own name, but “the day of yonder town” (_la bhaile ud thall_), and if any one unfortunately mentioned the proper name, the evil was averted by the bystanders adding “on the cattle of yonder town.” Old women in Tiree averted the evil consequences of sharpening knives on Friday by saying “on the farm of Clark,” alluding to a big strong man of that name to whom a general dislike was entertained, and who was said to have entered a fairy hillock and compelled the inmate to give him a cure for his sore leg.

The aversion of the elves to iron was a prominent feature in their character, and dislike to putting iron in the ground was perhaps aversion to disturb (especially with what the elves disliked so much) the earth under the surface of which that easily offended race lives. The “little folk” are quick to take offence, and dislike hearing the name of Friday, seeing iron sharpened, or the earth disturbed with it. When there was any occasion to mention the creatures, all danger of evil consequences is averted by saying, “A blessing on their journeying and travelling, this is Friday and they will not hear us.”

In the western islands it was a bitter curse to wish that “the number of Friday” or “the cross of the number of Friday” might come upon a person (_crois àireamh na h-aoine dh’ amas ort_). To count three times cattle, chickens, men, etc., on this day was followed as a certain result by none of them being alive at the end of the year. Many in Tiree remember that in their youth a sure method of putting an old woman in a rage was to begin counting her chickens on a Friday. She seldom allowed them to get beyond three or four. The superstition probably arose from a belief that it was on Friday King David numbered the Children of Israel.

People did not like to kill a cow, a sheep, or other beast, or cut or mark calves or lambs on Friday, and there were many who would not allow their cattle to be shifted from one place to another. They would not alter their fold. If, _e.g._ the day was come for removing cows to the summer hill pastures, the more superstitious would not allow it to be done if the day was Friday.

As work commenced on Monday proceeded too quickly or too slowly, work began on Friday was said to be always hurriedly done, “it will be running” (_bi i na ruith_). “A person born on Friday is always in a hurry” (_Bi neach a rugadh Di-haoine driopail_); hence the malediction, “The running, or hurry, of Friday be upon you” (_Ruith na h-aoine ort_).

“A threatening Friday makes a tearful Saturday” (_’Si ’n Aoine bhagarach ni ’n Sathurna deurach_), and if it came on to rain early on Friday, or (as the saying was) if Friday caught the rain “in its mouth” (_Nan glacadh an t-aoine na bhial e_), it would be wet all day.

_Di-sathuirne_, SATURDAY (_Dies Saturni_).

This, as might be expected, was not deemed a lucky day to begin work upon. It was not deemed of much consequence whether ploughing began or not, but the manufacture of cloth should on no account be begun. “The warp prepared on Saturday will have the delay of the seven Saturdays upon it” (_An rud theid a dheilbh Di-Sathuirne, bi stad nan seachd Sathurn’ air_). No spinning was to be done after sunset, but other work might proceed as usual. All work should stop at 9 p.m. It is still considered a bad thing among the old people in Kintail to work past that hour.

There is a man in Tiree who will not allow a newly-engaged servant to come home to enter on his service on Saturday. On one occasion, when the term-day happened to be Saturday, he persuaded the servant man to come on Friday, though only to stand in the house for a few minutes, that the evil omen might be averted.

New moon on Saturday was deemed a presage of stormy weather. “Saturday light goes seven times mad before it goes out” (_Solus Sathurna gabhaidh e na seachd cuthaich mun d’ theid e mach_).

An evil wish is “The end of the seven Saturdays be upon you” (_Deire nan seachd Sathurn’ ort_), Macintosh’s _Prov._, p. 78; and in Cowal it is a vicious saying of one woman to another, “Worse than that will come upon you, the disease of the seven Saturdays will come upon you” (_Thig na ’s miosa na sin ort, thig galar nan seachd Sathurn’ ort_).

The objection to removing on Saturday has been already mentioned under Monday.[78] The same objection is entertained in Ireland.

The end of the week is very grateful to the labouring man. “Alas! and alas! is Monday, but my love is Saturday” (_och is och! Di-luain, ach ’s e mo luaidh Di-Sathuirne_).

WEATHER WISDOM, ETC.

Expressions denoting high wind are: “the blowing of hillocks out of their places” (_seideadh nan cnoc_), “a wind to take the tails off horses” (_Bheireadh i na h-earbuill bhar nan each_), and “blow the barn over the house” (_chuir an t-sabhuill thar an tighe_); heavy rain takes “pieces out of the ground” (_mìrean as an talamh_), and gives “milk to the whales” (_bainne do na muca mara_), it being supposed that in heavy rain whales lie on the surface to cool themselves; heavy snow “confines the infirm to their cots” (_chròdhadh e na giùigirean_), strong robust men can go about their business. A dead calm is called “the calm of birds” (_fia’ nan ian_); on days when not a hair is moved by the wind, and the sea is unruffled, the young fry of fish come to the surface, and sea-birds, themselves also conspicuous in such weather, can look about them for their prey.

The first breath of wind after a calm comes from the south, hence “When the wind is lost look for it in the south” (_Nuair a bhios gaoth air chall iarr a deas i_). After a heavy fall of rain the wind comes west, as is told in the saying, “West wind after fat rain” (_Gaoth ’n iar ’n déigh uisge reamhar_). If frost comes on, when rivers and pools are swollen, and the ground is very wet, it does not last long; “the freezing of the full pool does not rest long” (_reodhadh an lodain làin, cha mhair e fada_). The heaviest rain comes from the north (or rather north-east), and the longest drought from the south; “there is no rain but from the north, or lasting dry weather but from the south” (_Cha-n uisge ach o’n tuath, ’s cha turadh buan ach o’n deas_). The frequency with which the violence of the wind moderates after a shower of rain has given rise to the proverb “after wind comes rain” (_an déigh gaoth mhor thig uisge_), to denote that after loud merriment and laughter come sorrow and the cares brought by reflection. “It is north wind that dissipates mist” (_’s i gaoth tuath sgaoileas ceò_); “the first day of south wind, and the third day of north wind” (_chiad latha de ’n ghaoth deas ’s an treas latha de ’n ghaoth tuath_), _i.e._ they are moderate then, and are best for crossing ferries on. “A speckled chequered summer makes a white, sunny harvest” (_ni samhradh breac riabhach fogharadh geal grianach_). The south-west, being the direction from which rain commonly comes, is known in the Hebrides as “_Cachlaidh na Buigeuisg_,” the gateway of soft weather.

THE MOON.

Both the sun (_a Ghrian_) and moon (_a Ghealach_) are feminine in Gaelic, and the names are simply descriptive of their appearance. There is no trace of a Sun-God or Moon-Goddess. The root _gr_ in _Grian_ denotes horrent or bristling, and alludes to the sun’s rays. It is said by some writers, that the name is connected with Apollo Grannua, but the connection is a mere accidental similarity in the initial letters. The root _gr_, denoting what is streaming or bristling, occurs in _gruag_, a wig, flowing hair; _greann_, a surly look, a bristling of the hair as on an enraged dog; _grāin_, aversion, from the turning up of nose and stomach and bristling appearance of one much disgusted, so ab_horr_ence, etc. _Gealach_, the moon, is from _geal_, white. The names _luan_, _easga_, or _easgann_ are given in dictionaries, but have disappeared from common use. With the former is supposed to be connected _luaineach_, restless, and _luaisg_, to move. _R’_ denotes any planet.

The moment the moon begins to increase is called _gob soillse_ (lit. the bill or beak of the light). The height of the tide, which follows his changes, is _bolg reothairt_ (lit. the swollen womb of spring tide). The moon’s increase is _fās_, and when waning she is _san earra-dhubh_ (lit. in her black boundaries).[79]

At the instant the moon begins to increase, (_air gob na gealaiche_) the horns of cows are loose on their pith (_slabhagan_), and may be pulled off and stuck on again. It is told that a dispute having arisen on one occasion as to the correctness of an almanac, about the moon’s change, the old man who raised the question proved himself to be in the right by turning round and drawing the horn from one of his cows, as a sheath is taken from a knife, and sticking it on again. The story is told of a man who lived in Sconser, Isle of Skye, of more than one person in Tiree, and was doubtless told of people in various places.

It was said that there is never any north wind at _gob gealaich_.

The first time an unmarried person sees the new moon, he should stoop down and lift whatever meets his hand. If, on taking it to the light, any hair be found among it, its colour will prove to be that of the future husband or wife. It is unlucky to see the new moon for the first time when washing one’s hands, or with the hand on the face.

In olden times great regard was paid to the increase and wane of the moon. Garden seeds, as onions, kail, etc., if sown in the increase, ran to seed, but if sown in the wane, grew as pot-herbs. Withies or slender twigs (_Caol_) intended for creels and baskets were cut only in the wane. Twigs cut in the increase proved brittle. Trees cut in the increase were believed to bud again, but not those cut in the wane. Eggs laid during the wane were preserved for hatching, rather than those laid during the increase. Hens came from the former; cocks from the latter. Birds hatched in the increase were deemed difficult to rear, and it was doubtful if any of them would ultimately survive. Hence _Eòin an fhàs_, birds of the increase, is a name given to weakly pining children. They are worthless for hatching.

Many would not cut (_i.e._ castrate) an animal, calf, or foal, or pig, during the increase of the moon, and it was a belief that cows seek the bull only in the first and third quarters of the moon, and never at neap tides. A man in Islay pretended to tell, from the time the cow paid her visit to the bull, whether her offspring would prove a bull-calf or a cow-calf. If in the first quarter, the former; if in the wane, the latter.

The second moon in autumn, the harvest moon, or first after the autumnal equinox, was variously known as _Gealach an abachaidh_, “the ripening moon,” from a belief that crops ripen as much by it as they do during the day; _Gealach bhuidhe nam broc_, “the badger’s yellow moon,” these wary animals being engaged, it was said, in taking home their winter supplies; _Gealach an t-sealgair_, “the hunter’s moon”; and the last moon in harvest, extending for a month before Hallowmas (_Samhain_). The first of winter was known as _Gealach a ruadhain_, “the reddening moon,” during which vegetation grew as much by night as in the day.

It was said there was no north wind at the exact period of the appearance of new moon (_gob gealaich_).

FOOTNOTES

[1] Gheibh baoth ’guidhe ach cha-n fhaigh a h-anam tròcair.

[2] _Prov._, p. 143.

[3] Is mairg is màthair do mhacan baoth, dar is ann air Di’rdaoin bhios a Bhealltainn.

[4] In Germany it was a common belief that witches met on the night before first May (_i.e._ Beltane night) on the mountain called the Blockberg, to dance and feast with devils.

[5] The crook or pot-hanger seems to have been an important article of the witch’s paraphernalia. A shepherd in Mull, coming in late from the hill, with his feet wet, placed his stockings to dry on the pot-hanger. An old woman present pulled the stockings down again, saying to the shepherd, “Don’t do that; remember you are a person that travels the hill night and day.” (Cuimhnich gur duin’ thus’ tha siubhal a mhonaidh latha ’s a dh’oidhche.) He never could ascertain what she meant.

[6] The ancient churn was broader at one end than the other, and its narrow end, or mouth, was secured with a prepared sheepskin covering, called _fùileach_ in Mull, _iomaideil_ in Morven and on the mainland generally. The cross or hoop, that secured this covering in its place, should also be of mountain ash. The churn was worked by the small end being lifted up and let down repeatedly.

[7]

Badan de ni ’chaorruinn Thig o aodunn Ealasaid, Cuir snaithn’ dearg ’us sreang as Cuir sid an ceann a chrathadair; ’S ged thigeadh buidseach Endor Gun ceannsaicheadh Ailein i.

The rhyme was composed by the bard Ailein Dall.

[8] De’n riabhach thug a’ so sibh?

[9]

Di-luain a dh’éirich a ghaoth, ’S thog i orra fraoch us fearg, Us innis do mhathair mo chuirp, Gur h-e na h-uilc a rinn an t-sealg.

[10] The tale has this much truth in it, that one of the ill-fated Spanish Armada was blown up in Tobermory Harbour, A.D. 1589. The wonder would be, in those days when public news travelled slowly or not at all, if the history or object of the Spanish fleet should be known in the Highlands, or that it should be known to the Mull people that there was any ship in the fleet but the one that came to their own coasts.

[11] A family of this name has had down to the present day a reputation for witchcraft. The last of them was known to the writer as a poor woman of much shrewdness and inoffensive character. She professed great skill in healing cattle by means of charms and such-like _white_ witchcraft.

[12] _Cùl a’s aghaidh mo spòige ri Macillduinn._

[13] Tha m’iteagun’s m’atagun ag atadh ris na h-eibhleagun.

[14]

“’Sann a nochd a thorchanaich leinn Mharbhadh an urchuill earchaill mhòr.”

“An do mharbhadh Maol Meanachan nan cat? Mar bhi na h-uile oidhche fhuair mi biadh ’us bainne na d’theaglach, bhiodh do sgòrnan fada riabhach ann am ìnein. Innis do Bhruc Riabhach gun d’eug Bladrum.”

[15] Mhami, mhami! tha mo sheanair ag éiridh.

[16] Cotta, _Short Discovery of Unobserved Dangers_, 1612. Quoted by Beand, iii. 3.

[17] The author wrote this chapter in 1874.—ED.

[18]

Dia bheannachadh do shūil Deur muin mu d’ chridhe, An luchaidh san tom ’S an otm ri theine.

[19] Al. Early on Sunday, to a level stone on the shore.

[20]

Teine dé air do bhus, Rug do mhàthair chéil ubh, ’S thug thu fhéin mach an gur.

[21]

Beairt ribeach Dubhan bradach Slat cham chaoruinn.

[22]

Buainidh mise a mòthan An luibh a dh’òrduich Criosd Chaneil eagal losga—teine dhuit No cogadh nam ban shìth.

[23]

Achlusan Challum Chille, Gun sireadh gun iarraidh, Cha d’thoir iad as do chadal thu, Is cha ghabh thu fiabhrus. Buainidh mis’ an donn duilleach, Luibh a fhuaradh an taobh bearraidh, Cha tugainn e do dhuine Gun tuilleadh air mo bheannachd.

[24]

Buainidh mis’ an t-achlasan, ’S e luibh nam ban fionn e, ’S e chuirm eireachdail e ’S a chuirt shòghail. Luibh fhirionn e, luibh bhoirionn e, Luibh bh’aig eòin an allt e, Luibh bh’aig Ni Math na eiginn ’S aig Chrisd air aineol, ’S b’fhearr a dhuais do’n laimh dheas, Am bitheadh e.

[25]

Buainidh mis’ an t-iubhar àigh Roimh chòig aisneam croma Chriosd An ainm an athar, a Mhic, ’s an Spioraid Naoimh Air bhàthadh, air ghàbhadh, ’s air ghriobhadh.

[26]

Buainidh mis’ a chathair làir Mar bhuain Moire le da làimh, Buainidh mi le m’ neart i, ’S buainidh mi le m’ ghlaic i, etc.

[27]

“_A’v a chuis a choinneal_ _Thuair mi an’am laimh ga cumail_ _Um sheasamh a’ s an deathaich_ _’S cha be sin m’ abhaist_ _Un tigh mo mhathar ’s m’ athar._”

“A’r a shocair a bhuinneag ’S math a b’aithne dhomhsa chuideachd Aona mhart air thri sinnean ’S naoinear do mhuinntir.”

“Cha be sin an gnathas Bha ’n tigh m’ athur no momhathar Cha robh aona mhart air thré sinnean Na naoinear ’a mhuinntir Ach naoi slabhrinnean òir An crocha ’n tigh Righ Sionnach.”

[28] Others say his servant man saw her first, a tradition which finds a ready explanation for the whole account, in an attempt to discourage Hugh by means of a prevailing superstition.

[29] After his victory Dowart made prisoner of his brother, Lochbuy, and sent him to Kerneburg, a stronghold of which the Dowarts became heritable keepers, on one of the Treshinish Islands, near Staffa, west of Mull. He sent “Black Sarah Macphie” (_Mòr dhu nic a Phì_), from _Suidhe_, in the Ross of Mull, the most ungainly woman he could get, so ugly that she was nicknamed “The Pack-saddle” (_an t-srathair_), to take care of him. Black Sarah, however, became the mother of _Murcha Gearr_, who ultimately made himself master of his paternal acres.

[30] Campbell of Islay’s _West Highland Tales_, ii. 83.

[31] An old man in Aharacle, in the north of Argyleshire, was shaved, his face was washed, his hair combed, and his personal appearance attended to in anticipation of his speedy dissolution. When an attempt was made to cut his nails, he told his friends to let them alone: “They are, he exclaimed, but slight weapons for myself, seeing I don’t know where I am going to.” (_’S beag an t-armachd dhomh fhìn iad, ’s gun fhios ’am cean’ tha mi dol._)

[32] MacGlumag na mias, o liath tarrang shìoda, burrach mòr.

[33]

’S gum b’ainm do’n fhuath nach robh tiòm A mhuireartach maol, ruadh, muing-fhionn; Bha-aodunn du-ghlas, air dhreach guail; Bha-deud a carbaid claon-ruadh; Bha aon sùil ghlogach na ceann, ’S gum bu luaith i na rionnach maghair; Bha greann glas-dhu air a ceann Mar choille chrionaich roi chrith-reothadh.

M. S.

[34] North Morar is known as _Mòrair mhic shimidh_ and South Morar as _Mòrair mhic Dhùghaill_.

[35]

Dar chaidh Fionn don Bheinn Thachair ris Colann gun cheann.

[36]

Colann gun cheann, Thig a nall ’s thoir leat mi.

[37] Fhaic thu ’n t-sean bho liath, ’s i gun bhiadh, a thàillear.

[38] Sgòrnan fada riabhach, ’se gun bhiadh, a thàillear.

[39] Chì-sa, mhic, chì-sa, mhic, chì-sa sid ’s fuaigheam so an dràsda.

[40] Gairdean fada riabhach ’s e gun fheòil gun bhiadh, a thàillear.

[41] Spòg mhòr liath gun fhuil, gun fheòil, gun fhéithean, ’s i gun bhiadh, a tháillear.

[42] Spòg mhòr liath, ’s i gun bhiadh, a thàillear.

[43] In connection perhaps with this is the saying, “Ask everything of a Cameron, but ask no butter from a Cameron” (_Iarr gach ni air Camsrhron ach, ach na iarr ìm air Camsrhronach_). The clan are also called “The soft Camerons of the butter” (_Camsrhronaich bhog an ime_).

[44] This is the origin, at least an illustration, of the saying, “Take a wife from hell, and she will take you to her own house” (_Thoir bean a ifrinn, ’s bheir i gu tigh fhein thu_).

[45] It was in the house of this man, tradition says, that Allan Breac, the true murderer of Colin Campbell of Glenure, when making his escape, stayed the night after the murder. James Stewart of Ardsheal was hung in chains for the murder in 1752.

[46] The excessive use of wine by the West Highland chiefs is borne witness to by the distich:

“Neil, son of Rory, fast travelling, Who gave wine to his horses, That they might avoid the meadow waters.”

[Nial Mac Ruaraidh ’n astair Bheireadh fiòn da chuid eachaibh Air son bùrn an lòn a sheachnadh.]

[47]

Bha mi’n Dun-Eideann an raoir, Tha mi’m thalla féin a nochd; ’S fiach an, dadum ud ’sa ghréin Chaneil annam féin do neart.

[48]

Mar bhi na gathannan caol giuthais Bhiodh so gu d’phuthar-sa, Dhò’uill Ghuirm Oig.

[49]

Bhean, thug mo thriubhas dhiom ’S mo bhrògan grinne dubha bhuam, ’S an léine thug mo phiuthar dhomh,— Thuige, thuige, chasan fuara, ’S ioma cuan a shiubhail sibh.

[50]

Thàinig ceathrar a nall, Gun bhàta, gun long, Fear buidhe, fionn, Fear slatagach, donn, Fear a bhualadh na sùisde, ’S fear a rùsgadh nan crann.

_Toimhseagan._

[51] Highland Society’s Dictionary, _sub voce_.

[52] _Am fear nach dean a Nollaig sunndach ni e chàisg gu tursach deurach._

[53] _Chaneil Nollaig gun fheòil._

[54]

A challuinn a bhuilg bhuidhe bhoicinn Buail an craicionn (air an tota) Cailleach sa chill, Cailleach sa chùil, Cailleach eile ’n cùl an teine Bior na da shùil Bior na goile A challuinn so, Leig astigh mi.

[55]

Gaoth deas, teas is toradh Gaoth tuath, fuachd is gaillionn, Gaoth ’n iar, iasg is bainne, Gaoth ’n ear, meas air chrannaibh.

[56]

B’ fhearr leam a chreach thigh’nn do’n tìr Na mhaduinn chiùin ’san Fhaoilleach fhuar.

[57]

Faoilleach Faoilleach, cruth an crios Faoilte mhòr bu chòir bhi ris; Crodh us caoraich ruith air theas, Gul us caoidh bu chòir bhi ris.

[58]

“Nead air Brithid, ubh air Inid, ’S eun air Càisg, ’S mar bi sin aig an fhitheach Bithidh am bàs.”

[59]

“Feadag, Feadag, màthair Faoilleach fuar, Marbhaidh i caoraich us uain, Marbhaidh i ’n cro mòr mu seach, ’S an t-each ris an aon uair.”

[60]

“Thuirt an Gearran ris an Fhaoilleach, C’àit an d’ fhàg thu ’n gamhuinn bochd! Dh’ fhàg mi e aig an Fhear rinn na dùilean, ’S dhà shùil air an t-sop. Ma bheireas mis’, thuirt a mios Màigh, Air an anail am barraibh a chluas, Cuiridh mi ruideis air an tràigh e, ’S fheaman air a ghualainn.”

[61]

“Sin thuirt an Gearran gearr, Ni mi farran ort nach fhearr, Cuiridh mi bhò mhòr sa pholl, Gus an d’ thig an tonn far a ceann.”

[62]

“Buailidh i thall, buailidh i bhos, Buailidh i eadar a da chois; ... Thilg i e fo ’n chraoibh chruaidh chuilinn, Air nach do chinn gas feur no fionnadh riamh.”

[63]

An linge làn air chionn a Mhàrt, ’S tugha nan tighean an claisean nan iomairean.

[64]

Leig seachad a chiad Mhàrt S an dàrna Mhàrt màs fheudar e, Ach olc air mhath gan d’thig an t-sìd, Cuir do shìol san fhior Mhàrt.

[65] Campbell’s _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_, p. 296.

[66]

Thuirt an Inid ris a Chàisg, C’àit am faigh mi àite cluich? Thoir thusa dhomhsa pàilliun geamhraidh ’S togaidh mi tigh samhraidh dhuit.

[67] This derivation has been derived from, and others have been confirmed by Lhuyd (_Archæologia Britannica_, publ. at Oxford, 1707). The work is folio size, and contains many curious and sensible philological observations. Its principal defect is, that what is valuable is buried in pages of uninteresting glossaries.

[68]

Reothairt na Feill Moire ’S boilich na Feill Pàruig.

[69]

Mas a bailc Bhealltainn bhlàth, Mas a turadh an treas là, ’S mas a gaoth an ear a rithis, ’S cinnteach gum bi meas air chrannaibh.

[70] In the Hebrides, the name St. Brendan’s Eve for the Whitsunday term is entirely unknown. It is told of a Tiree man of the last generation, that he was promised a croft, or piece of land, by the then chamberlain of the island, who was a native of the mainland, and said, “Your name will be put on the rent-roll on St. Brendan’s Day.” The Tiree man went home and consulted his godfather (_goistidh_) as to what day the factor meant. “I really don’t know,” said his godfather, “unless it be the day of judgment.”

[71]

Bròg thana, ’s i gun mheas, Gun fhios co chaitheas i.

[72] Campbell’s _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_, p. 260.

[73]

Togaidh mise chlach, Mar a thog Moire da Mac, Air bhrìgh, air bhuaidh, ’s air neart; Gun robh a chlachsa am dhòrn, Gus an ruig mi mo cheann uidhe.

[74]

Feill Fionnain nam fleadh S’ oidhche Nollaig na mòr bhladh.

[75]

Tinnste (tionnsgnadh?) nitear Di-luain, Bithidh e luath no bi e mall.

[76]

Imrich an t-sathurna mu thuath, Imrich an Luain mu dheas, Ged nach biodh agam ach an t-uan ’S ann Di-luain a dh ’fhalbhainn leis.

[77]

(1) Di’rdaoin, latha Challum-chille chaoin Latha chuir chaorach air seilbh, A dheilbh, ’s a chuir bo air laogh.

(2) T’ fhalt ’s t’ fhionna Di’rdaoin, ’S t’ ionga mhaol Di-sathuirne.

[78] _V._ page 293.

[79] When hid in her vacant interlunar cave, _i.e._ when she is waning and late of rising, the dark period of the night is called _rath dorcha_ (dark circle). “Son of the moon’s dark circle” (_mhic an rath dorcha_) is an expression of mild objurgation.

INDEX.

All Fool’s day, 266

All Saints’ day, 281, 297, 307

Allan of the Faggots, 45

Allophylian, 92

Apparitions of the Dead, 127, 137

Ardvoirlich Stone, 94

Arrow-head, 92

Assumption day, 279

Autumn, 227, 306

Avoiding day, 273

Baal, 224

“Beard Gateway, the,” tale, 189

Beast of Odal Pass, tale, 207

Beckoning Old Man, 187

Beltane, 267, 270, 272 Beltane day, 12, 156, 297 Beltane night, 7

Bereavement of a taïsher, tale, 139

Big Allan of Woodend, 83

Black Duncan of the Cowl, 110

Black Walker of the Ford, 201

Black witchcraft, 1

Black shore, 184

Blind Allan, the Glengarry Bard, 82

Boat of Gortendonald, tale, 161

Boat of Iona, 162

Bocain, 220

Bonfires, 282

Breadalbane’s Warning, 110

Bridewell, 248

Brimstone Betty, 154

Burt’s Story, 36

Calluinn, 230

Cameron of Glenevis, 35 tale, 38

Cameron of Locheil, 198, 200

Campbell and the Battle of Gaura, 206

Candle Day, 244

Cattle cured of sickness, 56, of murrain, 94 elf-struck, 91 Hairy Donald’s power to hurt or cure, 10 Saining cattle, 257, 272, 277 watched by their dead possessors, 210

Cats, 34 Boy eaten alive by cats, 39 coming to life again, 40 protection against drowning, 35 revenge of a, 38 used in the cure of the evil eye, 61 witches as, 18, 34 woman torn by cats, tale, 39

Celtic Year, the, 224

Charms, 6, 55 against danger, tale, 73 against drowning and dangers in war, 74 counter-charms, 10 Eòlas or, 57 for bruises, 67 for cattle, 71 for conferring graces, 80 for consumption and affections of the chest, 68 for fulling new cloth, 77 for general use, 79 for new-born babes, 77 for preventing a newly-purchased animal going astray, 71 for rheumatic pains, 67 for a sheep, 74 for sprains, 66 for toothache, 69 for young women’s faces, 81 in a lawsuit, 83 love charm, 82 smith’s immunity from bullets, 76 The Gospel of Christ, 79 use of, 55 veteran’s safety, 74

Christmas or Nollaig, 229 Black cuttings of, 244 cheese, 232 Day of Little Christmas, 238 Rhymes, 233 the twelve days of, 243

Cock fighting, 249, 257

Coffin, 151

Contest of a gull and a cormorant, 23

Cormorants, 43

Cows bewitched, 14 bringing back a cow’s milk, 71 milked to death, 9 old wife’s charm, 73

Cure of axillary swelling, 99 consumption and leprosy, 100 epilepsy, 97 hiccup, 96 lumbago, 100 miscellaneous cures, 94 stiff neck and toothache, 96 stye and tetter, 95 treatments of madness, 97 warts, 94 whooping-cough, 96

Danger of strong wishes, 140, 143

Daughter of the King of Enchantments, tale, 107

Day of the big porridge, 261

Day of three suppers, 289

Days of the week, 291 to 302

Death, 150 apparitions of the dead, 127, 137 death lights, 169 funeral processions, 155 howling of dogs, 164 legend of the death lights, 171 Spirits seen before a, 172 taïsher seeing his own, 159 warnings, 109 wraiths seen before, 158

Devil’s wiles, tale, 186

Dog Days, 276

Dogs, 163 as spectre-seers, 163 howling, sign of death, 164

Doideag, 26

Donald of the Ear, 48

Donald the Fair-Haired, 140

Doubles, 122, 125, 128, 130, 145, 163

Dowart, 112, 117

Dreag or Driug, 111

Dreams, 27, 209 Spirits appearing in dreams, 179

Drowning, charm against, 74 foreseen by seers, 160 ill-fated boats, 161 sailors’ drowning foretold by screams, 168

Druidism druid’s glass, 87 relique of, 84 remains of Druid magic, 121

_Dublin University Magazine_, 39

Duncan Ban MacIntyre, 82

Easter, 263

_Easter eggs_, 265

Egyptians, 87, 254

Eddy winds of the Storm month, 251

Elisha, 59

_Ellis’s Brand’s Antiquities_, 239, 243, 244, 248, 271, 280

“Enticing plant, the,” 106

Envy splits the rocks, 63

_Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Language_, 254

Events happening at a distance, 149

Evil Eye, 59 Cure for, tale, 60 dangers of the, 61 danger for a horse, 62 how to detect the victim, 60 incantations to counteract, 63 precautions against, 59 stone for the cure of the, 93

Ewen M’Corkindale or Ewen of the Dirk, tale, 190

Ewen and the Carlin Wife, tale, 198

Ewen and the Skull, tale, 200

Fairies, 1

February, 245

Festival of Fools in Paris, 243

“Fetch,” or coffins, 119

Fin MacCoul, 188

Fish procured by witchcraft, 17

Flounders, 18

Friday, 297 Good Friday, 262, 298

Frog Stone, 89

Fulfilment of visions, 157, 158, 159, 160

Funeral processions, 128, 155, 156

Gaelic customs on festivals, 229 etymologies, 224 divisions of time, 225

Gaelic months and seasons, 224 to 307

Games to divine the future, 282

Gaura, battle of, 205 Hero of battle, 206

Gelding season, 251

Ghosts Donald Gorm’s Ghost, tale, 211 Drowned man’s Ghost, tale, 214 and 215 “Gospel,” 94 Hidden ploughshare, tale, 213 Laying a, 222, in name of Duke of Argyle, 223 of the living, 124 Shadows, 221 Song of a, 179 Silent horseman, 221

Glen Erochty, 203

Goblins, 220

Good Friday, 262, 298

_Gregory’s Western Highlands_, 211

Grey Paw, the, tale, 194

Gulls, 23, 42

Hallowe’en night, 144 Hallowmas, 284, 297, 307

Handsel Monday, 245

Hares, 8, 33

Haunted houses, 217 seer, 137, 148, 161

_Highland Society’s Dictionary_, 226, 244

Henderson’s Gloves, tale, 135

Hobgoblins, 181 Baucan, 181, 182 Bodach, 187, 190 dogs and horses, tales, 185, 215 Etiquette when meeting a, 184 Fuath, 188 Haunts of, 183 precursor of Death, 182 refuge from, 184 safety in a circle against, 185

Hogg’s _Witch of Fife_, 36

Holly whipping, 232

Horses as spectre-seers, 163 fright of a horse, tale, 165 horse as an omen of Death, 117 men changed into, 49 phantom horse, 111 safe from witches, 13 and 185 saved by incantations, 63

Horse-shoe protection against witchcraft, 12

Hot month, 279

Hugh of the Little Head, tale, 111

Hugh M’Lachlan of Aberdeen, 250

Hugh, son of Donald the Red, tale, 147

Hump-backed Blue-eye or Gormla, 23, 26, 50

Ian Garve, tale, 25

Ignes Fatui, 171

Ile, tale, 177

Juniper, 11, incantations, 105, 242

Kate MacIntyre, 51

King Frog, 89

Lachlan Mor, 139

Lachlan the Wily, 112

Lady day, 261

Laird of Coll, tale, 8, 139, 146, 180

Lent, 258

_Lhuyd’s Archæologia Britannica_, 230, 258, 264, 269, 294

Linlithgow, 279

Little Spring of Whelks, 247

Lochan Doimeig, 208

Lochbuy, 112, 118

Lochlin’s daughter, 100

Loch Ma Nàr, 101

Macaulay, Lord, 198

MacCannel, 173

Macdonald, Lord, 23, 48, 173

Macdonall or MacCuïl and the Headless Body, tale, 191

Macdougall of Lorn, 113

Macfadyens, 113, 194

MacGilvray, freed from witchcraft, tale, 47

MacGregor, 35, 110

MacIain Ghiarr, 47

_MacIntosh’s Gaelic Proverbs_, 297, 301

Maclachlan Clan, 110, 170

Maclaine, 113

MacLean, 118

Maclean, Hector, tale, 30

M’Lean of Coll, 102, 139

MacLean of Dowart, 27, 76, 117, 139 Bewitched clay figure of, 47 his bargain with a shade, 178 clan, 276 Nose of the, 136 Song of the, 115

_M’Leod and Dewar’s Dictionary_, 250

MacNeills, 21

“Macpherson of power,” legend, 20

Macpherson, 206

MacRanald, 21

Magic staff, 6

Malicious spectres, 133, 135

Manaman MacLeth, 83

_Martin’s “Western Highlands”_, 248

Martin of the Bag’s day, 277

Martinmas, 274

Maundy-Thursday, 261

May, 272, 273

May Day, 267

Mountain ash, 11, 242

Meyer, 88

Michaelmas, 281

Midsummer’s Eve, 276

Milk carried in a seaweed, 9

Monday, 292

Moon, 304

Nails, 176

New Year’s Day customs, 238, 241 fire, 237 night, 236 rhyme, 234

Nightly assignations with spectres, 130, tale, 132 with spirits, tale, 175, 201, tale, 203

Noises depression of a seer caused by, 151 forerunners of funerals, 154 heard by people not taïshers, 152 wailing, sign of death, 166

Old Wife, 253

Omens, 145

Oswy, King of Northumbria, 263

Otter, 89

Paschal Lamb, 254

_Peacock’s Guide to the Isle of Man_, 70

Pearlwort, 15, 71 its uses, 103 to prevent the return of the dead, 172

Pennant, 89, 243, 271, 274

Pet Ram, the, tale, 217

Phœnicians, 87, 268

Pins, used to free cows from witchcraft, 14

Quartodecimans, 263

“Rag,” the, or the Lakelet of Black Trout, tale, 208

Rats, 42

_Red Book of Appin_, 13

Red-Headed Donald, 216

Red Hector of the Battles, 76

Return of the Dead, 172, 210, 215

Rhymes, 56 New Year, 234 of the wind, 237

Riddle of the Four Seasons, 225

Roman Calendar, 263

Ronag, or ball of hair, 11

Roodmas, 280

St. Brendan’s Eve, 275

St. Brendan the Elder, 274

St. Bride’s Day, tale, 247

St. Bride’s Rhyme, 249

St. Fillan, legend of, 98

St. Finan’s Eve, 289

St. John’s Eve, 276

St. John’s wort, incantation, 104

St. Kessock’s Day, 259, 290

St. Patrick’s Day, 250, 259

St. Swithin’s Day, 277

Scott, Sir Walter, 87, 193 Michael, 200, 256

Second Sight, 120 hereditary, 126, 131 marriage foreseen by, 147 to get rid of, 180

Seed time, 255

Seers, 122, tale, 138 haunted by a drowned man, 161 the four wives of a, tale, 148

Sharp-billed one, 251

Sheep, 10, 30

Shepherd’s adventure, 35

Shinty, 230, 238, 239

Shore Thursday, 261

Shrovetide, 256

Sinclair, Alexander, and the dairymaid, tale, 135

Spanish Armada, 28

Spectral funerals, 128, 155, horses, 153

Spectres, 160 of the living, 132

Spirits of the dead, 172 reverence paid to the dead, 176 Secrets revealed by, 173 unholy compacts, tale, 174 f.

Spring, 225, 250, 260

Strong wishes, tales, 141

Stones— Burial stones, 177 Cruban stone to cure diseases of joints, 92 Fairy-arrow or elf-bolt, 91 frog stone, 89 serpents’ bead, 85, 87 serpents’ egg, 84 snail bead, 88 storm stone, 93 Virtues of the Fairy Spade, 92

Storm of the Borrowing Days, 25

Summer, 226

Sun, 304

Sunday, 292

Swarths, 124

Sweeper, 251

Tailor and the skulls, 176 detected among witches, 50 drowning witches, 15 Grey Paw and the, tale, 194 tailor’s hole, 197 torn by cats, 37 unlucky experiment in witchcraft, 16

Taïsher, 123, 126 moral character of a, 131 tale, 137, tale, 159

Tàradh, or the omens of living men, 124, 125, 144, 146

Tàsg, 166

Threads used in witchcraft, 6, 10, 61

Three hog dogs, 254

Thursday, 296

Translation of Martin, 277

Tuesday, 294

Ulysses of the Highlands, 198

Unbeliever convinced, tale, 169

Unearthly whistle, tale, 204

Waldron, 121

Wallace, Sir William, and the headless body, 193

Weather wisdom, 302

Wednesday, 294

Weight of the dead, 140

Wells Fian Flag-Stone Well, healing power of, 101 of Stones, 102 of the Heads, 114 of the Nine Living, 102 Sanna Cave, 101 to cure toothache and jaundice, 102

Western Sea poem, 188

Whales, 44

Whistle, 250

Whistling week, 273

White witchcraft, 54

Whitsuntide, 274

Wicken tree, 103

_Wilson’s Prehistoric Annals_, 90

Wine, 211, 212

Winter, 227, 281 games, 283

Witchcraft, Black, 1 White, 54

Witches as cats, tales, 18, 34 as cormorants, tale, 43 as gulls, tale, 23, tale, 42 as hares, tales, 33 as rats, 42 as sheep, 10, 30 as whales, tale, 44 bribes to, 2 celebrated, 50 definition, 2 delaying birth of child, 45 destruction of Captain Forrest’s ship, 27 disguised as a hare, 8 doings of, 5 etymology, 4 going to sea, 15 how to detect, 53 knots to raise the winds, 19 little witch, the, tale, 22 on Beltane eve, 270 plants and trees as protection against, 103 Portree witches sinking a boat, 22 powerless on Wednesdays, 296 raising storms and destroying people, 19 sinking a vessel by means of a dish of milk, 21 their own belief in witchcraft, 3, 58 transformations of, 6 use of tar, 13 using clay corpses, 46 witches and milk, 7 wounded by silver, 30, 49

Wizard rising after death, 52 head-stone, 53

Year, Celtic, 224 of the Silverweed roots, 290

“Yellow Claws,” 23, 26, 51