Folklore of the Scottish Highlands (18 page)

In Martin’s observations, as in those of writers on the Celts down the ages, orators always held an elevated place in society. Their houses and villages were regarded as sanctuaries and they had precedence even over medical doctors. Martin says that after the Druids had lost their authority the orators were employed to preserve the genealogies of the noble families — always an important Highland activity. These were recited on public occasions such as the succession of a chief, or his marriage or the birth of an heir. As in the distant past, anything requested by these orators was given to them, more out of fear of satire — a powerful and much-dreaded weapon — than out of respect. By Martin’s time, however, these people had lost their effective power and only received a pittance.

Cures, tabus, and social customs are all closely intermingled in Highland life; for example, on the island of Gigha it was considered unlucky to bury people on a Friday. On the other hand,
only
a Friday would be suitable for the performance of certain cures. The healing of
màm
(
fàireagan na hachlais
), swelling of the glands, must be undertaken on a Friday by certain gifted people, using specific methods. A magical incantation was apparently whispered over the blade of a knife or axe — steel was an essential ingredient in the cure — which was then held close to the mouth, and finally the blade was placed upon the swollen part. The swelling was then crossed and divided into nine or some other odd number; each time one of these divisions of the swelling was crossed with the steel, the blade was pointed towards a hill, the name of which began with
màm
and not the more usual
ben
. In this way the swelling of sickness was transferred to the natural swelling of the hill and this performance was believed to be an infallible cure. When the swelling had been divided up and counted in this way, the blade was pointed towards the ground and the following words were said: ‘The pain be in the ground and the affliction in the earth’. Martin records an interesting remedy for fever which was used in the island of Colonsay. A certain man, a member of whose family was ill with a fever, went to Martin to borrow his Bible so that he could fan the patient’s face with it; at once, the sick person began to improve. This was apparently a recognised method of healing the sick.

Martin records a tradition connected with the preservation of boundaries which is of considerable interest. In Skye, people laid a quantity of burnt wood ash on the ground, and over this they placed large stones. A somewhat barbarous means of making each new generation aware of where the traditional boundaries were situated was as follows. Some boys from the villages on either side of the boundary were carried there and soundly whipped so that they should never forget the place; this, when the time came, they themselves did to their own offspring. Martin mentions that a boundary between the villages of Ose and Groban was being disputed at one time; when the stones were lifted and ashes were found there, the controversy was decided.

Charms were widely used, not only for the protection of the stock, the dwelling and its inmates, but against specific mishaps, including drowning and death in battle. The following translation of a Gaelic charm collected from an old man in Mull, about 1800, is given by Campbell in his book on Witchcraft and is important enough to quote here in full:

For himself and for his goods,

The charm Bridget put round Dorgill’s daughter,

The charm Mary put round her Son,

Between her soles and her neck,

Between her breast and her knee,

Between her eye and her hair;

The sword of Michael be on thy side,

The shield of Michael on thy shoulder;

There is none between sky and earth

Can overcome the King of grace.

Edge will not cleave thee,

Sea will not drown thee,

Christ’s banners round thee,

Christ’s shadow over thee;

From thy crown to thy sole,

The charm of virtue covers thee.

You will go in the King’s name,

And come in your Commander’s name;

Thou belongest to God and all His powers.

I will make the charm on Monday,

In a narrow, sharp, thorny space;

Go, with the charm about thee,

And let no fear be on thee!

Thou wilt ascend the tops of cliffs,

And not be thrown backwards;

Thou art the calm Swan’s son in battle,

Thou wilt stand amid the slaughter;

Thou wilt run through five hundred,

And thy oppressor will be caught;

God’s charm be about thee!

People go with thee!

A smith in Mull was alleged to have got this charm from his father. He subsequently enlisted in the army and fought in some 30 battles. He came home unscathed; although he had in fact been struck by bullets, the charm rendered them powerless. This is only one example of many beliefs in the power of the
sian
, ‘charm’ against war.

Charms were also used for the cloth when it had been waulked, or shrunk. It was then neatly folded and laid on the table, and the waulking women gathered round and sang a charm over the material. As they sang, they lifted their hands together and beat the cloth, turning it over after each repetition of the charm.

Popular belief has it the oldest traditions in the Scottish Highlands are to be found in the islands and the coastal regions. This is not by any means always the case and sometimes truly archaic customs and ritual survive in more central areas which tend to be isolated from intrusive cultural elements by reason of their wild terrain and general inaccessibility. One of the most exciting of these is the region from Killin in central Perthshire, leading through Fortingall and on up the long, wild countryside which borders Loch Tay and towards the mountains beyond. Loch Lyon itself was greatly elongated by the development of hydroelectric power, and to reach the upper wilderness it is more convenient for those who have not too much time to spare to approach by road one of the most fascinating cult complexes of a pagan nature in the British Isles. I have described this site and the traditions associated with it in
Druids
(1999) and the reader will find more information there than I have space to include in this more general work. The whole glen, from Fortingall up towards Loch Lyon, bears convincing traces of its former importance in pre-Christian times. Many beliefs are associated with the ancient, circular, fortified dwellings the ruins of which stud the region. The church of Fortingall, which stands at the mouth of Glen Lyon, dominates a countryside which was once believed to be a popular hunting ground of the Irish semi-divine hero, Fionn MacCumhail, and many prehistoric circles of stones and other ancient features have still survived, to a greater or lesser extent, no doubt in a considerably aetiolated form. It is not surprising that a church should have been erected in such a position, and should have possessed one of the most ancient yew trees in the British Isles, which has been dated by recent dendrochronology to a thousand years BC. It was clearly an important
bile
(sacred tree) of a kind and species which played an important role in wider early European paganism and here would have been accredited with strong apotropaic powers. The hallowed nature of the site is emphasised by the presence on the gateposts of two huge, leonine stones (
30
), their weird shapes fashioned, not by human hands, but by the action of the turbulent, dark River Lyon, which flows nearby.

30
Water-worn stones on the gateposts at Fortingall Church. From a photograph by the author

One can hardly do other than envisage these remarkable ‘monuments’ as apotropaic features, especially as the gateposts of an estate opposite the church are similarly adorned, as are the gates of many properties in the glen and one is even sited emphatically as the very top stone of the war memorial. Testifying, perhaps, to the original and intense pagan associations of these features is the fact that a mound opposite the church, which is popularly explained as having been the place where the bodies of an earlier population decimated by plague had been piled and covered over with turves and stones. Another factor pointing to the stubborn persistence of pagan practices is the presence of names of features or structures which contain the ancient word
nemed
,
nemeton
(
31
), a sacred grove or a building in a sacred grove. This word is found widely throughout Celtic Europe. The glen itself was once rich in legends of giants and water monsters and supernatural creatures of every kind. Sadly, many of the stories about them have virtually been forgotten as the old people who treasured them have now died and so many of the remaining, younger generations have lost interest in the old ways of the countryside. However, in spite of all these inauspicious factors, several fascinating folk sites and legends have been preserved and a new awareness of their unique importance has caused many of the people to determine that what is left of their Celtic heritage will not be allowed to perish.

31
Map of the distribution of NEMETON- in Scotland:

1
Neave/Eilann Coomb — NC 6674, p250

2
Navidale — ND 0315, p250

3
Dalnavie etc — NH 6473, p249

4
Navity — NH 7767, p249

5
Glen Urquhart —
c.
NH 5030, p249

6
Nevie — NJ 2127, p249

7
Ben Newe, Strathdon — NJ 3814, p248

8
Navar —
c.
NO 5386, p247

9
Finavon — NO 4955, p250

10
Nevay — NO 3444, p247

11
Tynayere, Duneaves, Fortingall — NN 7346, p247

12
Craig Rossie — NN 8912, p248

13
Navity Hill — NT 1798, p247

14
near Dumbarton —
c.
NS 3585, p246

15
MEDIONEMETON — ? Cairnpapple NS 9871

? Bar Hill NS 7176, p246

Page numbers from Watson, W.J., 1926

Such organisations as the Killin Heritage Society have already taken steps to ensure that the sacred healing stones of St Fillan will be preserved for all time and this enthusiasm extends to many other ancient objects and monuments. It also takes account of the extraordinary site of
Tigh na Cailliche
, situated in the remote upper glen. This consists of a miniature dry-stone shrine, thatched with rushes, in which are housed three large water-worn stones which have been shaped into crudely anthropomorphic form. The largest of these is known as the
Cailleach
, ‘hag’, ‘old woman’, or ‘goddess’. The second largest is traditionally known as the
Bodach
, ‘old man’, ‘husband’. The third and smallest stone is the
Nighean
, ‘daughter’ or ‘girl’. The cult legend must have originally been more detailed than the one which was communicated to me by the shepherd, Bob Bissett, who was by tradition the guardian of the shrine and the stones and had full responsibility for carrying out the ritual associated with them. The site is studded with
Cailleach
names, which would seem to attest to the genuine antiquity of the cult. This would not be surprising, for there are many other
Cailleach
legends in the wider region of this part of the Highlands, and a belief that such goddesses are sometimes to be encountered in the wild hills round Loch Tay and in the locality of Ballachulish (
32
). Here, some years ago, a wicker shrine was uncovered, containing the carved wooden figure of a presumptive female deity which has now been dated to the very early Iron Age.

Many goddesses possessing cattle and other beasts and roaming the hills and mountains figure frequently in the surviving traditions of Britain and Ireland. One fearsome example is the dread
Cailleach Bhéarra
(sometimes anglicised to
Vera
) who could allegedly be seen swimming towards the western shores of Scotland from time to time, her ghastly appearance striking terror into the hearts of those who chanced to catch a glimpse of her. The goddess of Glen Lyon, however, does not seem to have been regarded as anything other than benign. Briefly, the fragments of her cult legend which have survived orally tell of an event which happened ‘many years ago’ when, in a fierce snowstorm, an unnaturally large man and woman were seen coming down the mountain-side of the upper glen. They asked the people who were still settled there, for hospitality and shelter. These were willingly given to them. This pleased the supernatural pair well and they took up residence in the glen when the inhabitants had built a thatched house large enough to accommodate them. The woman was pregnant and in due course gave birth to a daughter. The weather was always favourable when they dwelt there. The stock flourished and the crops were always of the best. Then one day the time came when they decided they must go. Before doing so, they promised that as long as they were remembered and their house kept in order, and everything done as they themselves had done it, they would bring it about that winters would be mild, the summers warm, and peace and prosperity would always be with the people who had been so generous to them. In memory of this event of long ago a small shrine in the form of the house was constructed and every May Day the three stones representing the three deities would be taken out of the house and placed facing down the glen, there they remained until the house was re-thatched and made warm and comfortable for the winter and they were returned to the miniature house on the eve of 1 November, Hallowe’en. When the upper glen was flooded and the people moved away, it became the shepherd’s duty to continue this ritual and this was faithfully carried out. It was thought that with the death of Bob Bissett the end of this archaic custom had come. It is therefore extremely heartening news to learn that the new shepherd has every intention of carrying out the ritual as it had been handed down for noone knows how long and it now seems to be assured, in view of local enthusiasm from Killin, that the tradition will survive for many years to come. There must have been countless legends of this kind in circulation widely in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland but few of them have had similar favourable circumstances in which to survive.