John Gregorson Campbell

Gisvagun, Eapagun, Upagun.—Of the same class with magical charms and incantations, that is, of no avail to produce the results with which they are credited, were various minor observances and practices, to which importance was attached as lucky or unlucky, and ominous of, if not conducive to, future good or ill. In some cases these observances became mere customs, followed without heed to their significance or efficacy; and many were known to, and believed in only by, the very superstitious. So far as causing or leading to the result ascribed to them was concerned, they were, ‘like the Sunday plant,’ without good or harm, but a mind swayed by trifling erroneous beliefs of the kind is like a room filled with cobwebs. Superstition shuts out the light, makes the mind unhealthy, and fills it with groundless anxieties.

The Right-Hand Turn (Deiseal).—This was the most important of all the observances. The rule is “Deiseal (i.e. the right-hand turn) for everything,” and consists in doing all things with a motion corresponding to the course of the sun, or from left to right. This is the manner in which screw-nails are driven, and is common with many for no reason but its convenience. Old men in the Highlands were very particular about it. The coffin was taken deiseal about the grave, when about to be lowered; boats were turned to sea according to it, and drams are given to the present day to a company. When putting a straw rope on a house or corn-stack, if the assistant went tuaitheal (i.e. against the course of the sun), the old man was ready to come down and thrash him. On coming to a house the visitor should go round it deiseal to secure luck in the object of his visit. After milking a cow the dairy-maid should strike it deiseal with the shackle, saying “out and home” (mach ’us dachaigh). This secures its safe return. The word is from deas, right-hand, and iul, direction, and of itself contains no allusion to the sun.

Rising and Dressing.—It is unfortunate to rise out of bed on one’s left side. It is a common saying when evil befalls a person, who seems to himself to have rushed to meet it, “I did not rise on my right hand to-day.”65

Water in which eggs have been boiled or washed should not be used for washing the hands or face. It is also a common saying when mischance befalls a person through his own stupidity, “I believe egg-water was put over me.”

When done washing himself a person should spit in the water, otherwise if the same water should be used by another for a like purpose, there will be danger of quarrelling with him before long.

Clothes.—When a person puts on a new suit it is customary to wish him luck of it: “May you enjoy and wear it.” A man should be always the first to do this, the tailor, if he has the good sense. It is unlucky if a woman be the first to say it, and prudent women delay their congratulations and good wishes till they are satisfied some male friend has spoken first. It is less unfortunate if the woman has had a male child.

If a person wearing a dress dyed with crotal, a species of lichen, be drowned, his body will never be found. This belief prevails in the north, and there the home-made dress indicated, which is of a reddish-brown colour, is frequently seen.

Houses and Lands.—There should be placed below the foundation of every house a cat’s claws, a man’s nails, and a cow’s hoofs, and silver under the door-post. These will prove omens of the luck to attend the house. If an outgoing tenant leaves the two former below the door it is unfortunate for the incoming tenant, as his cattle will die.

An expectant occupier, or claimant, will secure to himself possession of land by burning upon it a little straw. This straw was called ‘a possession wisp’ (Sop seilbhe). If, for instance, there were two claimants to land and one of them burnt a ‘possession wisp’ on it, he might go about his business with his mind easy as to the result of the lawsuit. Or, if a tenant ran in debt and had to leave his farm, another, who had a promise of the holding, came and burnt a ‘possession wisp,’ no evil or debt of those formerly attaching to it would then follow the holding.

Baking.—In baking oatmeal cakes there is a little meal left on the table after the last cake is sprinkled previous to being fired. This remnant should not be thrown away or returned to the meal chest, but be kneaded between the palms into a little cake, to be given to one of the children. This little bannock was the Bonnach Fallaid, called also Siantachan a chlÀir (the charmer of the board), to which in olden times housewives attached so much importance. Unless it was made the meal lost its substance, and the bread of that baking would not be lasting (baan). On putting a hole through it with the forefinger, as already explained, it was given to children, and placed beside women in childbed, to keep the Fairies away. It mightily pleased little children, and was given to them as a reward for making themselves useful.

Its origin is said to have been as follows:

A man fell in with a skull in a graveyard and took it to a tailor’s house, where bread was being baked. The tailor gave it a kick, saying, “There was one period of the world when your gabful of dough was not small, and if I had you on a New-Year’s day, I would give you your fill.” When the New Year came round, a stranger came to the tailor’s house asking for a mouthful of dough. The tailor set his wife to bake, and whatever she baked the stranger ate, and then asked for more. The tailor’s stock of meal, and that of his neighbours, was devoured, and still the stranger asked for more. An old man of the neighbourhood was consulted, and he advised that the remnants, or dry meal used for sprinkling the cakes, should also be baked for the voracious guest. On this Fallaid cake being given the stranger declared himself satisfied and went away.

If bread, when being baked, breaks frequently a hungry stranger will come to eat it. Many cakes breaking are a sign of misfortune, by which the housewife is warned that “something is making for her.”

If the cake for breakfast falls backwards, the person for whom it is intended should not be allowed to go on a journey that day; his journey will not be prosperous. The evil can, however, be remedied by giving plenty of butter, ‘without asking,’ with the cake. To avert this omen, cakes should not be placed to harden at the fire on their points, but on either of the two sides or on their round edge. An old woman in Islay got into a great rage at a wake on seeing the cakes (that is, quarters of a farl or large round bannock) placed on their points.

It is not good to count the cakes when done baking. They will not in that case last any time.

Removal Cheese (Mulchag Imrich).—When leaving the summer pastures in the hills, on Lammas day, and returning with the cattle to the strath, a small cheese made of curds was made from that day’s milk, to be given to the children and all who were at the Àiridh, for luck and good-will. The cows were milked early in the morning, curds were made and put in the cheese vat (fioghan), and this hastily-prepared cheese was the mulchag imrich, and was taken with the rest of the furniture home for the purpose mentioned.

Leg Cake (Bonnach Lurgainn).—This was a cake given to the herd when he came with news that a mare had foaled, or to the dairy-maid when she brought word that a cow had calved.

Giving Fire out of the House.—On the first day of every quarter of the year—New-Year day, St Bride’s day, Beltane, and Lammas—no fire should be given out of the house. On the two last days especially it should not be given, even to a neighbour whose fire had gone out. It would give him the means of taking the substance or benefit (toradh) from the cows. If given, after the person who had come for it left, a piece of burning peat (ceann fÒid) should be thrown into a tub of water, to keep him from doing harm. It will also prevent his coming again. On New-Year’s day fire should not be given out of the house on any consideration to a doubtful person. If he is evil-disposed, not a beast will be alive next New Year. A suspected witch came on this day to a neighbour’s house for fire, her own having gone out, and got it. When she went away a burning peat was thrown into a tub of water. She came a second time and the precaution was again taken. The mistress of the house came in, and on looking in the tub found it full of butter.

Thunder.—In a storm of thunder and lightning iron, for instance the poker and tongs, put in the fire, averts all danger from the house. This curious belief seems to have been widespread at one time throughout the Western Highlands, though now its memory barely survives. Its rationale seems to have been in some way to propitiate the fire, of which lightning is the most powerful exhibition. A woman in Cnoydart (a Roman Catholic district), alarmed by the peals of a thunder-storm, threw holy water on herself, put the tongs in the fire, and on being asked the reason, said, “The cross of Christ be upon us! the fire will not harm us.” Perhaps the practice had some connection with the belief that the Beither, or thunder-bolt, was of iron, a sharp-pointed mass. It seems one of the most irrational practices possible, but was probably of remote origin. In Kent and Herefordshire, a cold iron bar was put on the barrels, to keep the beer from being soured by thunder.

Theft.—The stealing of salt, seed of plants, and lint make the thief liable to judgment without mercy. He may escape punishment from men but he will never attain to rest, as the rhyme says:

Another version of the rhyme is:

Salt.—In addition to the testimony this rhyme bears to the value of salt, there was a saying, that a loan of salt should be returned as soon as possible; if the borrower dies in the meantime and without restitution being made his ghost will revisit the earth. No fish should be given out of the house without being first sprinkled with salt. Meal taken out of the house in the evening was sprinkled with salt to prevent the Fairies getting its benefit.

Combing the Hair.—A person should not comb his hair at night, or if he does, every hair that comes out should be put in the fire. Otherwise they will meet his feet in the dark and make him stumble. No sister should comb her hair at night if she have a brother at sea.

If the hair is allowed to go with the wind and it passes over an empty nest, or a bird takes it to its nest, the head from which it came will ache.

No person should cut his own hair, as he will by doing so become an unlucky person to meet.

If the hair, when thrown on the fire, will not burn, it is a sign the person will be drowned.

Bird Nests.—On falling in with a nest for the first time that year, if there be only one egg in it, or if there be an odd egg in it, that egg should be broken.

Any one finding a cuckoo’s nest will live to be widowed.

Hen’s First Egg.—A young hen’s first egg should be tapped on the hearth, saying, “one, two, three,” etc., and as many numbers as were repeated before the egg broke, or the youngster, who was persuaded to try the experiment, got tired, so many eggs would that hen lay.

Euphemisms.—By giving diseases and other evils a good name, when speaking of them, the danger of bringing them upon oneself by his words is turned away. It will be remembered that for a similar reason the ancients called the Fairies Eumenides, and the Celt called the Fairies ‘good people.’ The smallpox was called ‘the good woman.’ Epilepsy ‘the outside disease.’

In telling a tale of any one being taken away by the Fairies, the ill-will of the ‘people’ was averted by prefixing the narrative with the words, “A blessing on their journeying and travelling! this is Friday and they will not hear us.”

When a person sneezes it is customary for the bystander to say “Thank you,” to which is sometimes added, “We will not take his name in vain.” Some say, “God be with you,” others, “God and Mary be with you,” and others, “St. Columba be with you.” By saying, “The hand of your father and grandfather be over you,” the Fairies are kept away. Any words would seem to have been deemed availing, and some of the phrases used were not choice. If the bystander should say, “Your brains the next time!” the person sneezing should answer, “The bowl of your head intercept them!”

When a child yawns, the nurse should say, “Your weariness and heaviness be on yonder grey stone!”

When the story of a house having taken fire is told, the narrative should be prefixed by saying, “St Mary’s well be in the top of every house! the cross of Christ be upon us!” This averts a similar calamity from the house in which the tale is told.

In some places old people are to be found who, when a person comes in with any tale of misfortune, of the death of one of the cattle, a neighbour’s house taking fire, etc., pull threads from their clothes and throw them in the fire, saying, “Out with the evil tale!” or, “To tell it to themselves.”

In speaking of the dead, it is proper to speak of them only in commendatory terms—de mortuis nihil nisi bonum. Hence moladh mairbh (Praise of the Dead) denotes faint praise, not always deserved. In speaking of the dead, old people always added, “His share of paradise be his” (chuid a fhlaitheanas da), or “His portion of mercy be his” (chuid a thrÒcair da). If their tale was not to the credit of the deceased or they were obliged to make any statement unfavourable to him, they said, “It is not to send it after him.”

Boat Language.—When in a boat at sea, sailing or fishing, it was forbidden to call things by the names by which they were known on land. The boat-hook should not be called croman, but a chliob; a knife, not sgian, but a ghiar (the sharp one); the baling dish, not taoman, but spÙidseir; a seal, not rÒn, but bÉisd mhaol (the bald beast); a fox, not sionnach, but madadh ruadh (the red dog); the stone for anchoring the boat was not clach, but cruaidh (hardness). This practice prevails much more on the east coast than on the west, where it may be said to be generally extinct. It is said to be carefully observed among the fishermen about the Cromarty Firth. It was deemed unlucky by east coast fishermen coming to Tiree (as several boats used to do annually to prosecute the cod and ling fishing), to speak in a boat of a minister or a rat. Everywhere it was deemed unlucky among seafaring men to whistle in case a storm should arise. In Tiree, Heynish Hill (the highest in the island) was known at sea as a Bhraonach; Hogh Hill (the next highest) as Bheinn Bhearnach no Sgoillte (the Notched or Cloven Hill), and a species of whale as cas na poite (the leg of a pot). It should not be said “He was drowned” (bhÀthadh e) but “he journeyed” (shiubhail e); not “tie a rope” (ceangail rÒp), but “make it” (dean e). In the north it was held that an otter, while in its den, should not be called bÉisd du (the black beast, its common name), but Carnag. It would otherwise be impossible for the terriers to drive it from its refuge.

Fresh Meat.—When fresh meat of the year’s growth is tasted for the first time, a person should say,

This ensures another year’s lease of life.

Killing those too long alive.—If a person is thought to be too long alive, and it becomes desirable to get rid of him, his death can be ensured by bawling to him thrice through the key-hole of the room in which he is bedrid,

Funerals.—It was customary to place a plate of salt, the smoothing iron, or a clod of green grass on the breast of a corpse, while laid out previous to being coffined. This, it was believed, kept it from swelling. A candle was left burning beside it all night. When it was placed in the coffin and taken away on the day of the funeral, the boards on which it had been lying were left for the night as they were, with a drink of water on them, in case the dead should return and be thirsty. Some put the drink of water or of milk outside the door, and, as in Mull and Tiree, put a sprig of pearlswort above the lintel to prevent the dead from entering the house.

When coffining the corpse every string in the shroud was cut with the scissors; and in defence of the practice there was a story that, after burial, a woman’s shade came to her friends, to say that all the strings in her shroud had not been cut. Her grave was opened, and this was found to be the case.

The only instance the writer has heard of Cere-cloth, that is, cloth dipped in wax in which dead bodies were wrapped, being used in the Highlands, is, that the Nicholsons of Scorrybreck, in Skye (a family said to be of Russian descent through Neacal mÒr who was in Mungastadt), had a wax shirt (Leine ChÉir) which, from the friendship between themselves and the chief of the Macleods, was sent for from Dunvegan on every occasion of a death.

The Watch of the Graveyard (Faire Chlaidh).—The person last buried had to keep watch over the graveyard till the next funeral came. This was called Faire Chlaidh, the graveyard watch, kept by the spirits of the departed.

At Kiel (Cill Challum Chille), in Morvern, the body of the Spanish Princess said to have been on board one of the Armada blown up in Tobermory Bay was buried. Two young men of the district made a paction, that whoever died first the other would watch the churchyard for him. The survivor, when keeping the promised watch, had the sight of his dead friend as well as his own. He saw both the material world and spirits. Each night he saw ghosts leaving the churchyard and returning before morning. He observed that one of the ghosts was always behind the rest when returning. He spoke to it, and ascertained it to be the ghost of the Spanish Princess. Her body had been removed to Spain, but one of her little fingers had been left behind, and she had to come back to where it was.

When two funeral parties met at the churchyard, a fight frequently ensued to determine who should get their friend first buried.

Suicides.—The bodies of suicides were not taken out of the house, for burial, by the doors, but through an opening made between the wall and the thatch. They were buried, along with unbaptized children, outside the common churchyard.

It was believed in the north, as in Skye and about Applecross (a Chomrach) in Ross-shire, no herring would be caught in any part of the sea which could be seen from the grave of a suicide.

Murder.—It was believed in Sutherlandshire that a murdered body remained undecayed till touched.

The Harvest Old Wife (a Chailleach).—In harvest, there was a struggle to escape being the last done with the shearing, and when tillage in common existed, instances were known of a ridge being left unshorn (no person would claim it) because of it being behind the rest. The fear entertained was that of having the ‘famine of the farm’ (gort a bhaile), in the shape of an imaginary old woman (cailleach), to feed till next harvest. Much emulation and amusement arose from the fear of this old woman; and from it arose the expression, “Better is a mercy-leap in harvest than a sheaf additional” (’As fearr leum-iochd a’s t’ fhogaradh na sguab a bharrachd). The cum-iochd,67 or mercy-leap, is where a rocky mound or a soft spot, where no corn grows, occurs in a ridge. Its occurrence was a great help to the shearing being done.

The first done made a doll of some blades of corn, which was called the ‘old wife,’ and sent it to his nearest neighbour. He in turn, when ready, passed it to another still less expeditious, and the person it last remained with had the ‘old woman’ to keep for that year. The old wife was known in Skye as the Cripple Goat (a Ghobhar Bhacach).

The fear of the Cailleach in harvest made a man in Saor-bheinn, in the Ross of Mull, who farmed his land in common with another, rise and shear his corn by moonlight. In the morning he found it was his neighbour’s corn he had cut.

Big Porridge Day (La u Bhrochain mhÒr).—In the Western Islands, in olden times (for the practice does not now exist anywhere), when there was a winter during which little sea-ware came ashore, and full time for spring work had come without relief, a large dish of porridge, made with butter and other good ingredients, was poured into the sea on every headland where wrack used to come. Next day the harbours were full.

This device was to be resorted to only late in the spring—the Iona people say the Thursday before Easter—and in stormy weather. The meaning of the ceremony seems to have been that, by sending the fruit of the land into the sea, the fruit of the sea would come to land.

Fires on Headlands.—In Skye, fires were lighted on headlands at the beginning of winter to bring in herrings.

Stances.—Particular stances, or sites of buildings, were accounted unlucky, such for instance as the site of a byre in which the death of several cattle had occurred; and it was recommended, to prevent the recurrence of such misfortunes, that the site should be altered.

Names.—So with regard to names. If the children of a family were dying in infancy, one after the other, it was thought that, by changing the name, the evil would be counteracted. The new name was called a ‘Road name’ (Ainm Rathaid), being that of the first person encountered on the road when going with the child to be baptized. It was given ‘upon the luck’ (air sealbhaich) of the person met.

The Mac-Rories, a sept of the Mac-Larens, in Perthshire, were descendants of one who thus received his name. His parents, having lost a previous child before its baptism, were advised to change the name. They were on their way through the Pass, called LaÌrig Isle, between Loch Erne and Glen-dochart, to have their second child baptized, when they were met by one Rory Mac Pherson. He was an entire stranger to them, but turned back with them, as a stranger ought to do to avoid being unlucky, and the child was called after him. Clann ’ic-Shimigeir, a sept of the Mac Neills, have also a road name.

Delivery of Cattle and Horses.—Before delivering a cow to the buyer at a market, the seller should pass the end of the rope, by which she is led, three times round his body. When taking delivery of a horse, from one of whom you are not sure, you should come deiseal between him and the horse, and take hold of the halter inside his hand, that is, between him and the horse. Otherwise, the seller’s eye will be after the beast.

Trades.—Masons were said to be able to raise the devil, or, as the Gaelic expression more forcibly describes it, “to take the son of cursing from his roots” (macmollachd thoirt as a fhriamhaichean).

Smiths, being people who work among iron, were deemed of more virtue against the powers of evil than any other tradesmen.

Tailors were looked upon with a feeling akin to that entertained in the south, where “nine tailors made a man.” The reason probably was that in olden times every man fit to bear arms thought it beneath him to follow a peaceful occupation, and only the lame and cripple were brought up as tailors.

Tinkers are known as Luckd-Ceaird, that is literally ‘tradesmen,’ and the name is a memory of days when they held the first rank as hand-craftsmen.

Saor, a joiner, means literally ‘a free-man,’ whence it would appear that from the earliest times the trade was highly esteemed.

Iron.—An oath on cold iron was deemed the most binding oath of any; when people swore on their dirks it was only because it was at the time the cold iron readiest to hand. A man who secreted iron, and died without telling where, could not rest in his grave. At Meigh, in Lochaber, a ghost for a long time met people who were out late. An old man, having taken with him a Bible and made a circle round himself on the road with a dirk, encountered it, and, in reply to his inquiries, the ghost confessed to having stolen a ploughshare (soc a chroinn), and told where the secreted iron was to be found. After this the ghost discontinued its visits to the earth.

Cold iron, e.g. the keys passed round the body of a cow, after her return from the bull, keeps her from ath-dÀir, that is, seeking to go on the same journey again.

Empty Shells.—Empty whelk shells (Faochagun failmhe) should not be allowed to remain in the house for the night. Something is sure to come after them.

Similarly, water in which feet have been washed (i.e. out of which the use or benefit has been taken) should not be left in the house for fear the noiseless people come and plunge about in it all night.

Protection against Evil Spirits.—On every occasion of danger and anxiety, the Highlander of former days commended himself to the protection of the Cross. In a storm of thunder he blessed himself saying, “the Cross of Christ be upon us.” When he encountered a ghost or evil spirit at night, he drew a circle round himself on the road with the point of his dirk, or a sapling in the name of Christ, “the Cross of Christ be upon me,” and while he remained in the circle no evil could come near him.

A person was also safe while below high-water mark. Fairies and evil spirits had no power below the roll of sea-weed.

When walking the high road at night, it is recommended to keep to the side paths in case of meeting the wraiths of funerals. The ghostly train may throw a person down, or compel him to carry the bier to the churchyard.

Misnaming a Person.—If a person be accidentally misnamed, as e.g. being called John when his name is Donald, he who made the mistake, on observing it, instantly exclaimed, “The Cross of Christ be upon us.”

Gaining Straw (Sop Seile).—At certain seasons of the year, principally at Beltane and Lammas, a wisp of straw, called Sop-seile (literally a spittle wisp), was taken to sprinkle the door-posts and houses all round sunwise (deiseal), to preserve them from harm. When a new cow came home it was also sprinkled to preserve it from the evil eye. The liquid used was menstruum.

In spring the horses, harness, plough, etc., were similarly sprinkled before beginning to plough.

Propitious Times.—A great number of the observances of superstition were regulated by days of the week or year. There were certain days on which alone certain works could be commenced under favourable auspices and with any chance of being successfully done.

Unlucky Actions.—It is unlucky to wind black thread at night. A vicious wish made to one another by women quarrelling, in olden times, was, “The disease of women who wind black thread at night be upon you!” Some say the reason of the evil omen is, that black thread is apt to disappear at night, or be taken by the Fairies, and be found through the house next morning. Superstition probably assigned some more occult reason.

It is ‘little happiness’ for anyone to kill a magpie or a bat.

It is unlucky for a person on a journey to return the way he went. This belief had its origin in the instructions given to the ‘man of God,’ who rebuked the idolatry of Jeroboam. “Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest” (I Kings xiii. 9).