Earrach beag nam Faochag.

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

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

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

“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).

“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, calledsiabhorbrochan fhaochag, was deemed as good as flesh.

St. Bridget’s, or St. Bride’s day (Feill Brìde,Brithid) is the first day of spring, consequently the middle of theFaoilleach, the 1st of February, O.S., but the 13thNew 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 aworkhouse 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]

“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]

“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]

“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 fromNollaigtoFeill Brìde, was reckoned at one month and three days.

TheFaoilleachintroduces 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.

succeeds immediately to the Wolf-month (Faoilleach), though some place it beforeCailleach, 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 theFaoilleach, 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, theGearran’sgloomAnd shrivellingCailleach, sharp bristled.”

“Season in which comes the flaying Wolf-month,Cold hail-stones, a storm of bullets,Feadag,Sguabag, theGearran’sgloomAnd shrivellingCailleach, sharp bristled.”

“Season in which comes the flaying Wolf-month,Cold hail-stones, a storm of bullets,Feadag,Sguabag, theGearran’sgloomAnd shrivellingCailleach, sharp bristled.”

“Season in which comes the flaying Wolf-month,

Cold hail-stones, a storm of bullets,

Feadag,Sguabag, theGearran’sgloom

And shrivellingCailleach, 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]

“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]

“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]

“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]

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

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.”

It is quite possible the latter may have been the original name, as there is always associated with it a period calledCaoile, Leanness. It extends over a month, and in Skye is made to succeed to theFaoilleach. 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 hillWith its tail upon its shoulders.”[60]

“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 hillWith its tail upon its shoulders.”[60]

“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 hillWith its tail upon its shoulders.”[60]

“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 theirviolence 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]

“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]

“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]

“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.

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.: “TheFamine, 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,”

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

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

“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]

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

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

“She threw it beneath the hard, holly tree,

Where grass or hair has never grown.”[62]

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.”

This name is doubtlessly derived from the LatinMars, 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 Mhàrtis the “busiest time of spring”;a ghaoth luath luimeineach Mhàrtmeans “the bare swift March wind,” frequently mentioned inWinter Evening Talesto denote great speed, anda Mhàrt tioram blathmeans “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]

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

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

“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]

“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]

“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]

“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).

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, ridingon 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 calledfuge, 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 forsainingcattle, 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 atInidit would be foul weather at Easter, andvice 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]

“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]

“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]

“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]

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 nameCarghasis a corruptionQuadragesima, Ital.Quaresimo, 40, just asInidis fromInitium.Inid a charghuisis just “the beginning of the forty days.”[67]

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.”

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 theFeinne. He was bornA.D.373, but it is disputed whether his native place was Scotland, orWales, 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 PàruigMuinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig.

Latha Feill PàruigMuinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig.

Latha Feill PàruigMuinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig.

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 DayAnd the mad tides of St. Patrick’s Day.”[68]

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

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

“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 sayBogmharbhlainn, and say it means the swelling (tòcadh) observable at the time in the sea (from the increasing heat).

This was known asFéill Moire an t-sanais(St. Mary’s Vigil of annunciation) to distinguish it fromFéill 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.

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 securethe 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.

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.

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 theeighth 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 HebrewPascha. 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 topas an initial consonant, preferringcinstead. 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 Latinequus.

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 whereverelse 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.

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 sendingof 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.

The fourteen days preceding May-day were known asBailc na Bealltainn, “the balk or ridge of Beltane.” The sea is then as it were awakening, and is more obedient to the winds.Balcmeans 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]

“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]

“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]

“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]

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,BealltainnandSamhainn, cannot be traced, like so many other notations of the year, to ecclesiastical sources. Like the namesFaoilleach(the Storm month), andIuchar(the Hot month), they are best referred to Pagan times.

Bealltainnis commonly derived fromBel 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 notBeall-teine, butBealltainn, a difference in the final syllable sufficiently noticeable to a Gaelic ear. It is the difference between the single and double sound ofn. 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,Baalis 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 inSamhainn, the end of summer, which is thought by Lhuyd, to be fromfuinn(connected with the Latinfinis), an end. In this casetis simply accresive.Lhas an attraction fortafter it, asmhas forb, andnford.Beallis likely connected with the other words that haveblin their initial syllable, with a root idea of separating, parting, opening; and claims kindred withblàth, 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 ingamhainn, 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 (videBrand 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 remainsof Syrian rites. They seem to be nothing but parts of the numerous superstitious observances for thesainingof cattle.

ASop 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).

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 fromceud, 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 calledCéitein na h-òinsich, “the May-days of the silly one,” the wordòinseachdenoting 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 wordgowk, and premature glimpses of fine weather are supposed to mislead it as to the advent of May.

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.

The nameMàigh, 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.

(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.”

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 calledFeill Breunain. St. Brendan the Elder, from whom the name is derived, was abbot of Clonfest in IrelandA.D.578. His day is May 16-28. Kilbrandon parish (in GaelicSgìreachd 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 theHebrides, 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 theFeill Chelzie, a market held on Tuesday of the term, deriving its name from a wool manufactory, now discontinued, calledNew Kelso, near Loch Carron.

The namesCaingis, Whitsuntide, and Pentecost, are modifications of one and the same word. Pentecost becamepencasin Cornish, in Gaelic (which representspof the Welsh dialects byc)caingis(Kinkis), aspaschabecame W.pâsk, Gael.Càisg(Kasg). The Gaeliccorksound is represented in the Saxon tongue bywh. Thus we havecuibhle(cuile), wheel;cuip, whip;ciod, what?;cuilein, whelp;co, who?;cuist, wheesht! be quiet!;caoin, whine; etc. Socencashas becomeWhitsun. 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.

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

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 beingIain,Eòin, and in IslayEathin. 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 asMaighsthir 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.”

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