đ§Have a watch/listen to a story about St BrĂŹde in Scottish Gaelic or English from the wonderful, new Map of Stories website:
đ° More folklore & folk customs can be found in this great article from the West Highland Free Press.
đ Also, for people interested in our native adders, some seasonal folklore associated with them may be of interest – read here. You also might want to have a look at last yearâs LĂ Fhèill BrĂŹghde post.
â¨Lastly, some brilliant thoughts on BrĂŹde/Brigid that are well worth the read so Iâm re-sharing this year from Monumental Irelandâs FB page. Itâs fantastic that in Ireland, as of this year, St Brigidâs Day has been made a Bank Holiday with the aim of celebrating women there đĽł
đžJust a wee post to highlight a couple of contrasting beliefs about seasonal corn dolls (actually made of wheat or similar grain plants) in Scotland. I feel itâs interesting & is a good example of how there wasnât, & isnât, a singular pan-Scottish culture – cultural & linguistic influences vary by area đ´ó §ó ˘ó łó Łó ´ó ż
đ Iâll start with âThe Clyackâ as at least in my personal experience she is less well known nowadays. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language is a wonderful resource for both language & culture – which should be no surprise given how closely theyâre interlinked – so hereâs an extract from an entry on making a âClyackâ, an old custom for Scots speakers at this time of year:
ââŚâThe last sheaf of corn to be cut at the harvestâ (e.Rs.1 1929; Mry.1 1912), gen. cut by the youngest person on the farm. It was dressed to represent a maiden, or decorated with ribbons and carried home in triumph. At âAul' Eel Evenâ it was given to the oldest (or sometimes to the best) animal on the farm, or to a mare in foal. Usually in phr. to tak, get (Abd. 1863 G. Macdonald D. Elginbrod xi.) or hae clyack. In the south of Scot. this is called the kirn (see Kirn, n.2, 2), elsewhere the Maiden. Sometimes used attrib. with sheafâŚâ
To read the full entry plus examples of use in extracts from old books newspapers etc see the DSL website ⏠ď¸
âď¸ In Scottish Gaelic culture however this last sheaf wasnât considered in such a positive light. It was referred to as a âCailleachâ (hag, the spirit of the harvest) & having to look after her all winter was undesirable as it was thought to be a bad sign. Folklorist John Gregorson Campbell asserted that no-one wanted to have to take in & feed this âCailleachâ over winter. I suppose a surprise extra mouth to feed, even symbolically, over the harshest time of year wasnât a welcome thought. He also states that this harvest hag spirit is the same as the one being taunted in the New Year rhyme chanted by groups of boys as the went round the houses – there appear to be 3 Cailleachan mentioned in that rhyme, so Iâm guessing itâs the one with sharp sticks in her eyes & stomach. You can read the rhyme & translation here in this article I wrote earlier this year, along with more info on Campbellâs indispensable writings on Scottish Gaelic culture, now put together in one book: The Gaelic Otherworld đ
đ Additionally you might want to have a look at the Language & Folklore, Folk Customs & Folk Magic sections of the Resource Pages, &/or related topic tags that can be found either the the bottom or on the right-hand side of any page depending on your device đˇ
đĽ Tonight is Oidhche Bhealltainn (Beltane Eve) – hope everyone celebrating has a good time đ
đ° Hereâs an interesting & relevant article from the brilliant Quern-Dust Calendar online archive:
ââŚMay-Day is universally known to Gaelic speakers as Latha Buidhe Bealltainn, the Yellow Day of Beltane. It marks the first day of summer, but we needn't necessarily regard it as falling on 1 May - in the Old Style which survived until a couple of generations back, it fell on 13 May.
Bealltainn has been derived from beall-teine, "bale-fire" or "beacon-fire" (of which more later), but why buidhe, "yellow"? Well, buidhe is the colour of gold and of sunshine and of whisky and of good luck as well: buidhe dhut, lucky for you! Gold and whisky make little sense here, and the weather of May-Day, far from being sunny, is characterised by glaisean cumhach na Bealltainn, the dreary drabness (or linnet) or Beltane; so that seems to leave good luck.
The best-remembered saying about Beltane isâŚâ
âĄď¸ Continue reading more about dates, language, the role of fire, & of course washing faces in the morning dew in âBETWEEN TWO BELTANESâ by Raghnall Mac Ille Dhuibh. (You may notice thereâs no mention of any connection to the Phoenician God Baal because there isnât one – unfortunately itâs a common myth that doesnât make sense if you know anything about Scottish Gaelic Language)
đŠ¸As mentioned in yesterdayâs post, this is one of the times of year when Otherworldly beings were thought to be particularly active, so have a read about this cute wee bird & some surprisingly sinister folklore associated with it in âYellowhammer Folkloreâ, a previous short article of mine.
âŹď¸ Informative post & lovely photo from Stories of Scotland giving more details about morning dew as well as showing people still washing their faces in modern times đ§
đ Read more about Bealltainn & its relationship with other major Scottish folk festivals here ⏠ď¸
đ Lastly, there are many other festivals taking place in Europe at this time of year – such as Walpurgisnacht – so itâs important not to lump them all together & recognise they all come from different cultures âşď¸
Iâd like to share an article that I feel is an important read for anyone interested in Gaelic Polytheist Reconstructionism or even wider Celtic Reconstructionism, particularly if they also identify themselves as being a witch.
Itâs also a really interesting read in general, especially for those interested in cultural beliefs about witchcraft past & present.
Itâs a substantial read as it covers Irish, Scottish & Manx traditional beliefs about magic, various different traditional labels for magic practitioners, & what the word âwitchâ & its Gaelic equivalents meant both in the historical context (& to some even now) đ
I feel that even if you donât personally agree with the authorsâ argument that even the reclaimed version of âwitchâ is not appropriate for Gaelic Polytheists due to its traditional meaning, itâs important to understand the reasons why some people think like this, particularly those who grew up in the culture đ The role of the community & how traditionally people got their labels from their communities rather than declaring themselves to be something is also outlined.
This article was put together by members of Gaol Naofa, an anti-racist & anti-cultural appropriation Gaelic Reconstructionist organisation. (You may notice Annie, the creator of the Tairis websiteâs name in there). As such, as well as history & traditions, they also go into issues with Wicca, âTraditional Witchcraftâ etc & why they donât wish to be associated with these things. They also explicitly state that practices such as Tarot have nothing to do with Gaelic or wider Celtic traditions.
In terms of folk practice rather than pre-Christian reconstruction, they make a good point that Scottish folk magic practitioners usually stressed their connection to tradition & their gifts coming from the Daoine SĂŹth, whereas in England & Wales book learning was commonly held as being more valuable. This means that for the latter you have to watch out for any written sources that may have been taken from ceremonial magic, as even centuries before the likes of Crowley the cultural appropriation of closed practices such as Judaism had already begun đ
Sorry this was quite a long post – I was trying summarise the main points of what, as I said, is a pretty substantial article. I hope anyone interested will of course read it for themselves through the link below đ
Iâve always found the contrast of dangerous/harmful vs protective/healing associations with adders in Scotland interesting. There are charms associated with LĂ Fhèill BrĂŹghde (1st February) & protection against adders due to it being the time of year they usually emerge. Conversely, there are various stones or beads associated with adders used to help people in sickness or childbirth, bring luck or to protect against enchantment year-round. Also, the skin or head of a dead adder could be used to heal people from sickness or even bites from the snakes themselves, for example by being placed in water & having the afflicted person then drink the water đ§
An example of a charm or rann to protect against adders is:
âEarly on Brideâs morn The serpent shall come from the hole, I will not molest the serpent, Nor will the serpent molest me.â
Another, more euphemistic one is:
âThis is the day of Bride, The queen will come from the mound, I will not touch the queen, Nor will the queen touch meâ
The brilliant Scottish Gaelic Polytheist site Tairis has some interesting notes about the original Scottish Gaelic euphemisms used:
âThe other verses were not recorded, but the use of the term âqueenâ (an rĂŹghinn) is interesting. Gregorson Campbell notes that in Argyllshire and Perthshire serpents were often referred to as âthe daughter of Edwardâ, whereas in Skye they were called an rĂŹbhinn (the damsel), âin both cases the name is probably a mere euphemism suggested by the rhyme to avoid giving unnecessary offence to the venomous creature.â Ronald Black quotes a correspondent from Stornoway, writing in 1981, who remembers his grandmother saying âAir latha FhĂŠill BrĂŹghde/ Thig an rĂŹoghann ĂĄs an tollâ (On St Brigidâs day/ The rĂŹoghann comes out of the hole). Here the rĂŹoghann means âsupple oneâ, which the correspondent took to mean that the snake simply came out of hibernation at the beginning of spring.The similarity of rĂŹoghann, rĂŹbhinn and rĂŹghinn is striking, however.â
What are called hag stones in some countries are occasionally claimed to have been known as adder/serpent stones in Scotland, particularly Lowland Scotland, as it was thought that the holes in them were made by snakes. However, itâs more likely to have been applied to naturally formed glass like sea glass with holes in it or rediscovered human-made old glass beads, or even stone spindle whorls. There were also older Scots terms like etherstane that you may come across in some sources. In the Highlands this term similarly often applied to things like old glass beads, sea glass or colourful stones that had been found with holes through them rather than plainer stone objects – clach nathrach or glaine nathair in Scottish Gaelic, meaning serpent stone or serpent bead/glass. Another term occasionally used for these glass beads is âdruidical beadsâ (gloine nan draoidh), & though in modern times all these terms are becoming quite interchangeable, this doesnât seem to have been the case historically đ
In relation to healing, an example of a recording of a story from Shetland about a woman who uses an adder skull she found along with water from a particular well to cure her son can be found on the wonderful Tobar An Dualchais đ§ Another example is given by John Gregorson Campbell in The Gaelic Otherworld (Black, 2005) of a man who kept a live adder in water so that he could use the water to cure epilepsy. This book also mentions the kinder method of simply putting snake skin that had been naturally shed in water for its healing properties as previously mentioned. George F Black speculates that charms made from snake skin attached to ribbons or girdles may have also been used for healing purposes &/or to aid childbirth – you can read or download the full âSCOTTISH CHARMS AND AMULETSâ to read as a free PDF or have a look online at the divided up Electric Scotland version đ
For more information: Tairis has a good round up of LĂĄ FhĂŠile BrĂde traditions as well as a list of further sources for this info, such as Carmichaelâs Carmina Gadelica & McNeillâs The Silver Bough Vol 2 đ Edit: On 1st Feb 2022 The West Highland Free Press published this wonderful article which I highly recommend reading also – plenty in there about Adders, especially with regards to healing, alongside lots of other St Brideâs Day traditions & history đ°
Scottish history, archaeology, folklore & more~ 