Folklore of the Scottish Highlands

F
OLKLORE OF THE
S
COTTISH
H
IGHLANDS

For Berenice

Women at the quern and waulking Pennant, T., 1772, XXXIV, 286

F
OLKLORE OF THE
S
COTTISH
H
IGHLANDS

A
NNE
R
OSS

First published in 2000 by Tempus Publishing

Reprinted in 2007

Reprinted in 2011 by

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire,
GL
5 2
QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in
2013

All rights reserved

© Anne Ross, 2000, 2011,
2013

The right of Anne Ross to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988
.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB
ISBN
978 0 7509 5245 3

Original typesetting by The History Press

Contents

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface

1
Introduction

2
Clan lore

3
Seers and Second Sight

4
Witchcraft, black and white

5
Supernatural beings, omens and social customs

6
Life and death

7
The seasons and the archaism of calendar festivals

8
Epilogue

Bibliography

1
Distribution map of Gaelic speakers in the Highlands and Islands, 1991. The western, northern and central mainland is defined on the east by the old county boundaries of Nairn, Moray, Banff and Aberdeenshire with Inverness-shire, then through Atholl and Breadalbane to Loch Long. After G. Price 1998, map 16

List of illustrations

Frontispiece Women at the quern and waulking

1
Distribution map of Gaelic speakers, Highlands and Islands

2
Map of peoples of Caledonia, Pictland, Dalriada

3
Map of the peoples of Scotland, first century AD

4
Map of the colonisation of Dalriada

5
Pictish figures — fish, snake, birds

6
Alexander Carmichael

7
Pictish figures — deer, horse

8
Highland army officer

9
Map of the distribution of the Highland clans

10
Leather front of targe

11
Dirk, claymore

12
Piper

13
Shinty player

14
Pictish figures — bulls

15
Pictish figures — sow, boar

16
Clach-na-buidseach

17
Callanish — stones and chambered cairn

18
Callanish — oblique view of whole monument

19
Horse

20
Crow

21
Hare

22
Cat

23
Frog

24
Raven

25
Eagle

26
Direach ghlinn eiti

27
Smith god

28
Bronze cauldron

29
Iona

30
Fortingall Church gatepost stones

31
Map of the distribution of NEMET- in Scotland

32
Ballachulish figure

33
Harp

34
Lewis chessmen

35
Coins of CUNOBELINUS

2
The names of the peoples of part of Caledonia, first century AD. Pictland succeeded Caledonia; Dalriada colonised by Scotti from Ulster, third century AD onwards. Caledonii was a group name applied collectively to all the peoples later known as Picti, and was also the name of a single people. F.T. Wainwright, 1955, 1980

Acknowledgements

It is not possible to express adequately here my deep affection for the people of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the delight that their unique heritage of folklore and folksong never fails to bring to me. I would wish to record my sincere gratitude to the numerous Gaels who, at home in the Highlands, or in exile elsewhere, have given up hours of their precious time in conversation about the old traditions and superstitions, and have patiently and generously recited tales and legends, poetry and song which reached them through many generations of their ancestry. Their hospitality is unrivalled and their company without equal. It is not possible to name them all, and to select a few would imply that others, equally deserving of thanks, have been forgotten. I would however like to pay tribute to the people of North Uist, and especially the Ferguson family, from whom I learnt so much. They introduced me to the charmed life of the Island and its people in a way which would otherwise have been quite impossible. I must also acknowledge with humility and gratitude the work of all the great collectors of the past who battled heroically to salvage as much of the still-rich tradition as they could, without the aids with which present-day field-workers are equipped.

Today, the dedicated work of the School of Scottish Studies, a teaching department in the University of Edinburgh carries on the valiant work of recording and preserving as much of the rapidly-dying tradition as it can. Many friends have helped me in a variety of ways, and to them I likewise extend my grateful thanks. To the late Bob Bissett, shepherd of upper Glen Lyon, whose death I have recently learnt of with much sorrow, and the people of Glen Lyon and Fortingall for their invaluable assistance and for the further insight they gave to me I offer my gratitude. I wish the recently founded Killin Heritage Society and the Fortingall Group of Researchers all success. I thank my family for their help and support — Richard Feachem for his fine drawings and maps and Berenice for her invaluable assistance in preparing this edition for the press. I thank David Clarke for generously allowing me to use his fine photograph of Glen Lyon, on the front cover of the book. Lastly, I must express my appreciation to Peter Kemmis Betty and to all the staff of Tempus for their unfailing patience, understanding and good humour.

Anne Ross

3
Map of the peoples of Scotland, first century AD

Preface

There are many factors which, down the ages, have contributed to the evolution of the oral tradition of Gaelic Scotland. Moreover, we are now working with the remnants of what was, even a century ago, an invaluable source, not only of folklore — which had for centuries been handed down orally from generation to generation — but of many other aspects of an archaic way of life which continued well into the twentieth century. Even today, living traces of it are still to be found, kept alive by those Highlanders who continue to treasure their own unique past. This preface, then, consists of a fleeting view of some of the early historical peoples of Scotland who undoubtedly must have had some influence on the later Gaelic tradition.

The importance of Irish Gaelic, from which the bedrock of Scottish Gaelic must ultimately have sprung, is incontestable. The Irish (or Goidelic) language (later known as Gaelic) was in all probability introduced to the West of Scotland from Ireland in the third-sixth centuries AD, the time of the settlements of the sons of the Irish king Erc in Dalriada (
4
). Gaelic may well have been spoken in some areas of the Scottish Highlands prior to this historical event. We certainly know that it was not unfamiliar at a later period to the Picts of the more easterly Highlands as their commemorative standing stones or boundary markers inscribed in both Pictish and Goidelic Ogams would suggest (
5
). These stones, of course, are dated to a later period than that of the colonisation of Dalriada, but both Picts and Gaels — or Scots, as they were known at an early period — may already have been familiar with some form of Ogam script.