Some Prophecies of the Brahan Seer

Howbeg, South Uist

Many traditional tales of Coinneach Odhar or the so-called Brahan Seer were floating around the isles when Alexander Carmichael was collecting there in the early 1870s. One typical tale, noted down on 3 January 1872, from an unnamed reciter in Gramsdale, Benbecula, tells of how the seer came by his powers of prophecy and then how he eventually threw this stone into Loch Ness. It is said that when this stone is eventually rediscovered that all his prophecies will come true. The reciter then goes on to relate a number of prophecies especially those with a connection to Uist and Barra including the presence of grey geese and white sheep; that a battle would be fought at Claddach Kyles after which the raven would drink the blood of the fallen men from the hill at Clach Mhòr a Che and about MacNeil of Barra and the ‘maor nan òrdagan mòr’ who wrote with his left hand:

Coinneach Odhar is said to have

been born at Howbeag – the son of a
widow. He dreamt & got up & dug the
sand on the strand. Twas tho[ugh]t that he got
derg[?]. He wro[ugh]t hard at this for a long time.
He then got a box & in the box a stone
& in the stone all the prophecy – buai[dh]
He kept the stone & as long as he kept
it he proph[esy]ng. He threw fr[om] him[self] the stone
in a lake at near Lochness. When
this lake is drain[ed] the stone will be
found & then many things will c[o]m[e]
to light. He heard a voice when
he was lifting the box on the strand
Prophecies – Uist (N[orth]) will be fo
gheoi[dh] ghlas us caor[aich] gheala which
is true. A battle will be fo[ugh]t at Clad[d-]
ach & the fi[th]each will drink his fill
of the blood of the slain on the top
of Clachamhor a che Passing
a lake at Oban-cinn lianacleit
he said that Lake (Dig mhor[)]
would yet be the best croce feam[ad]
in Uist. There he proph[esied] about
the Macneills of Barra & the duin[e]
mor 24 meoir, & maor nan ordagan
mora a sgri[obhadh] leis an lai[mh] chearr
This maor went to Barra to sequester
Macn[e]ill. He said a coit bheag
would yet carry all the Macdonalds
in S[outh] Uist when the whole country
was full of these.
Calum Bōdach in N[orth] Uist had
tai[bh]searac[hd] & confirmed many of C[oinneach] Odhars.
The man re[a]p[ed] Clai[dh] Chorcail & then
threw at Ioc[hd]ar] the sheaf of corn at the cow
which began eat[in]g & he left & the owner
of the sick cow was d[y]ing. C[oinneach] Odhar
is the seer me[a]nt in S[aint] Clair of
the Isles.

Clach Mhòr a' Che, North Uist

Reference:
CW90/94, ff. 9v–10r.
Images:
Howbeg / Tobh Beag, South Uist / Uibhist a Deas.
Clach Mhòr a’ Che, North Uist / Uibhist a Tuath.

A Colonsay Marriage Custom

Wedding Rings

Tucked in between a proverb – rinn e sùilean na cait rium with the meaning ‘growing wild at me’ – and a fragmentary pibroch song Bodach nam Briogais, Alexander Carmichael noted down a short item about how marriages were negotiated in the isle of Colonsay. Presumably, though it is not explicitly stated in any way, Carmichael got this information from a native of the place. It may also be noted, judging from the tenor of the opening, that such customs were no longer in use but clearly that they must have lingered long enough in living memory in order for them to be written down. In many ways such customs made a lot of sense and this is perhaps why pre-nuptial agreements have become in a similar fashion more usual when marriages are nowadays being negotiated:

About the beginning of this century it
was customary in Colonsay to meet
on two hillocks to arrange marriage
preliminaries. On the farm of
[ ] they met – the bride’s
party on one knoll (cnoc) and
the groom’s party on another. Then
one man from each party
descended the valley and came
within speaking distance of one
another. They conversed in solemn
tones and then retired to their respective
parties. They descended the valley
a second time and came nearer
than before and talked again in
a formal manner and then
went back up the hill as before.
The two men met again for
the third and last time and on
this occasion came quite close
to each other and after a third
and final and formal negociation [sic] they
parted.


If either party with-drew the
party withdrawing paid the tochar
agreed upon to the other. In case the
girl withdrew, her father had to pay
his daughter’s tochar; if the man
withdrew he paid the equivalent of
the girl’s tochar to the girl and there
was an end to it. Neither lost
cast.

Reference:
CW120/341, ff. 99v–100r.
Image: Wedding Rings.

Nine Nines: A Sacred Number

81

Another short anecdote, dating from 14 January 1895, about fairy lore from the pen, or rather pencil, of John Ewen (Iain Eòghann) MacRury, from Torlum, Benbecula, concerns a sacred number in the shape of nine.

Nine, Naodh
The fairies are said
to be nine nines of y[ea]rs
sucking the bre[a]st.
Nine nines in boyhood, Nine
nines in younghood
Nine nines in Middle
man hood Nine nines
in old manhood, and
Nine nines to the bre[a]st
of death “ri uchd bais”

On the following folio Alexander Carmichel himself appends a Gaelic version of the above but from whom he got his he does not say. As well as this, Carmichael has added another stage to the six others mentioned in the above indicating that he may have heard his version from a different source:

Naogh naoghanan a deo[ghai]l
nan cioch naoi 9 a nam corrachadh
naogh naoigh na oganach
naogh naogh na fhear
agh naogh naogh na dhann
fear (dol leis a bhiuthadh) naogh
naogh na dhean fhearagh
naogh naogh ri uc[hd] bais
is duile dhomh nan a
naoghannan D bha = 567 years.

The sum of 9 x 9 is, of course, 81. Adding all these six stages (9 x 9 x 6) gives the total life expectancy of a typical fairy to be 486. The sum of nine nines would seem to have a connection with the sacred number 432 (the so-called cycle of time) that Joseph Campbell came across during his studies of comparative mythology. This, however,  falls rather short of 486. Perhaps it may be stretching things out a little to far to suggests there might well be some sort of connection between this pithy anecdote and the cosmic cycle of time. However, within a more specific Celtic context, nine maidens and nine virgin attended Bridget, while the sacred Beltane fire rites were attended by a cycle of nine groups of men consisting each of nine men. And, of course, when looking for other nines there are a great many: nine months for the period of human gestation, nine muses, nine planets and, if we want to look smart, then we all get dressed to the nines.

Reference:
CW1/71 & 72, f. 38v & f. 39r.
Image: 81.

The Gaels Have a Word for It

John Ewen MacRury (1853–1909)

John Ewen (Iain Eòghann) MacRury, from Torlum, Benbecula, and the various materials that he collected for Alexander Carmichael has been the subject of numerous blogs on previous occasions. Here, for example, are a couple of very useful words if you ever get into a dispute and are looking for just the right words:

Feicheantas a common word
in olden times for an arugment [sic]
between man and wife about
paltry dispuits [sic], especially when
such dispute took place regarding
each other’s people.


Cramhan is a continual
low murmuring complaint
by any person kept up for
no other purpose than to keep
on grumbling and dissatisfy[ing]
others.

Both these words can be found in Dwelly’s dictionary where they are glossed as ‘friendly dispute’ under the heading féicheanas and as ‘unceasing, vexatious talk’ under the heading cnàmhan. MacRury’s definitions are certainly more colourful that those given by Dwelly and reflect the intricate nuances of a rich Gaelic vocabulary.

References:
CW1/106 & 107, f. 111r.
Dwelly, Edward, The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary (Glasgow, 1994), p. 217 & p. 426.
Image: John Ewen MacRury (1853–1909). Reproduced with the kind permission of Calum Laing.

Never Refuse a Drink from a Fairy

Shawbost, Isle of Lewis

Perhaps one of the best defining characteristics of the fairly folk is their moral ambivalence towards people. Whatever else may be said about them it was downright foolhardy to insult them in any way for they took umbrage at any perceived slight and would then immediately exact revenge. Here, for example, is one such story collected by Alexander Carmichael from a reciter in South Uist in September 1872:

Two were pas[sing] a si[thein] & hea[r]d mais

readh with[in] glug us glag. They

were plough[ing] near the Sith[ein]. I wish
I had a drink of what she is maist
to cais[g] mo iota[dh]. Thainig bean
chaol chota uain[e] mach agus
deoch aic[e] ann an corn. & she
off[ered] it to him & he refused it.
Fhir a shìn mo dheoch s nach
do gha[bh] mo dheoch galar na te duie
a chir Chiad-aoine na ceann
orst. She then of[fered it] to the other & he took [it]
Fhir a gha[bh] mo dheoch ’s nach do dh iarr
mo dheoch rath is buai[dh] gam bi eir
a cheann.

This fairy legend must have been fairly common as there is evidence for plenty variants. A contemporary example collected by Rev. Malcolm MacPhail, a colleague of Carmichael’s, was printed in the journal Folklore, entitled Sìthichean Chaipighill, named after a place in Shawbost, Isle of Lewis:

The fairy legend associated with the two Caipighill knolls is the following. A woman who happened to be passing between these two hillocks one hot summer day heard the sound of churning in the fairy knoll (chuala i fuaim maistreaidh anns an t-sitheain). She said (sotto voce): “Is truagh nach robh mo phathadh air bean a’ ghlugain” (“It is a pity my thirst was not on the churning woman”). (“Glug” is the noise of fluid in motion, but confined in a vessel.) No sooner had the words escaped her lips than a fairy woman (a ’bean shith) attired in green came out of the “sithean” with a drinking cup (a ’cuach) of buttermilk in her hand, and offered it to the woman to drink. At this sudden and unexpected answer to her wish she felt a good deal put out, and declined the fairy’s hospitality, giving as her reason for so doing that she was not thirsty. “Why then did you wish for it?” said the fairy woman (“Carson mata a dh’ iarr thu i,” arsa’ bhean shith). Observing the woman’s embarrassment, she said : “Are you afraid it will injure you?” (“Thubhairt i am bheil eagal ort gu’n dean i cron dhuit”). “Yes,” she said (“Tha,” ars’ ise). “The misfortune of her who put the first comb in her head on Wednesday be mine if it will do you any harm” (“Galar na te a chuir a’cheud chir cheud-aoin ’na ceann armsa ma ni i cron ort”).  “What misfortune is that?" said she. “The misfortune of having neither son, nor daughter, nor grandchild, nor great-grandchild” “Coid an galar a tha’n sin?” ars ise. “Tha arsa’ bhean-shith, galar a bhi gun mhac, gun nighean, gun odha, gun iar-odha”). This legend is of some interest philologically, as it indicates that Wednesday (Di-ciadain) was the day of the first fast. Thursday (Diar-daoin) the day after the fast. Friday (Di-h-aoine) the fast-day. The legend clearly shows that these days of the week derived their names from “aoin” (a fast), and that these fastdays were considered so sacred that the first woman who ventured to comb her hair on a Wednesday was believed to have been punished with sterility for her profanity. (I was acquainted with some people in my young days who would not comb their hair on Sunday.) This view is strongly corroborated by a Lewis proverb: “O aoin gu h-an-aoin,” i.e. “From the calmness of sacred fast to the most admired disorder.” It was considered unlucky to marry on Friday, and even at the present day Thursday is the day usually selected for “tying the nuptial knot.” In reading the Apostolical Constitution a few months ago I discovered that Wednesday and Friday were held as sacred fast-days, as the subjoined note shows:

“Wednesday and Friday Fasts.—The reason for fasting on the days specified is given in the Apostolical Constitution thus because on the fourth day judgment went forth against the Lord, Judas then promising his betrayal for money, and on the preparation (fast), because the Lord suffered on that day the death of the cross.” (The Church of the Sub-Apostolic Age, by Professor Heron, p. 185.)

References:

CW108/89, f. 23r.

MacPhail, Malcolm, ‘Folklore from the Hebrides II’, Folklore, vol. 8, no. 4 (1897), pp. 380–86.

Menefee, S. P., ‘A Cake in the Furrow’, Folklore, vol. 91, no. 2 (1980), pp. 173–92.

Image: Shawbost, Isle of Lewis.

The Satirical Wit of Gille na Ciotaig (Archibald MacDonald)

Boleskine Cemetery

The use of satire, especially in poetry or song, was a common phenomenon in Gaelic tradition. Such was the very great fear of being satirised that it was believed that it caused blisters to erupt on the skin or could even cause death! A skilled poet was to be admired as well as feared for in his or her hands words spoken or sung had the power to influence by either praising or dispraising. A good reputation was highly sought after in the Gaelic world and this is why powerful people would pay bards generously to make sure that they would be well thought of and even be remembered to posterity. There are a great many examples of praise songs or poetry. Those who had the temerity to be put in the black books of any given bard would pay the hefty price of being satirised. Aside from any individual bard probably the most famous group of these, of which Alexander Carmichael collected and wrote about, were the Cliar Sheanchain, a wandering band of performers. From whom Carmichael took down this song narrative and satire, he does not say, but in all likelihood it would have been collected in North Uist sometime in 1877 when Carmichael was on his rounds. The bard in question, Gille na Ciotaig – so-called for he probably had a shrivelled or stumped hand – was Archibald MacDonald (c. 1750–c. 1815), a North Uist bard. By refusing to let the bard graze his horse Gille na Ciotaig “lampooned the inhospitable farmer, and thus had his revenge. He gave him the horrible description of being the ugliest man in the sherrifdom, and predicted that there were terrible things in store for him.” It is said that while on his way to Inverness to get his works published he fell gravely ill in Fort Augutus and he was subsequently buried in nearby Boleskine cemetery though his grave remains unmarked. A plaque was raised to his memory in 1988 by members of the Gaelic Society of Inverness:

Gille na Ciotaig was a native of North
Uist but having satirized the factor or
proprietor there for some act of oppression
he was obliged to leave the place. He went to
South Uist and lived at Lochaoineart or
Lochboisdale – uncertain which – . He
travelled much about throughout the
Highlands and Islands and being highly
connected being a near relation of Lord
Macdonald he had access to the best society
in his travels. He travelled on horseback.
Upon one occasion when going through
Bearnasdail in Skye he called at a
friends house and tied his pony at the door.
The pony broke loose and found his way into
the corn of the tacksman of Bearnasdail,
a miser and a churl. The poet’s pony
was poinded and when the poet came
out he found his pony poinded and
would not be released except upon pay-
ment of the damage – miastadh, domail –
done by him to the corn of Fear Bhearnas-
dail. Gille Na Ciotaig put down the half
crown on the wall of the poind – the legal
mode – and got his pony. He then
sang or recited the following satire
which so stung the miserly tacksman
that he begged him to take up his half-
crown and never to repeat his satire,
and besides that he was welcome to
cuid oi[dh]che us la[tha] to himself and his
gearran whenever he came the way.
The poet, however, would not be
thus silenced and he left singing the
satire as he went his way.

1

Bodach Bhearnasdail an Innis (Uinis?)

Duine is grainnde tha ’s an t-siorrac[hd]

Bodach Bearnasdail an Innis

Ceann-cinne [fine] gach déisdin – èigin

2

Tha do ghruaidh gu’n aona mhir bithidh

Do chom lac[hd]un[n] cartaidh ruighinn

Coltach ri bian beiste-duibhe

Ga ruitheadh air dile.

Bodach Bhearnasdail an Innis

Duin is grainnde tha ’s an t-siorrac[hd]

Bodach Bhearnasdail an Innis

Ceann-fine gach déisdin [Ceann-uidhe]

3

Do cheann urrad ri brìg mhoine

Do chluas urrad ri lòban

Do bhial mar gu’m biodh òbar

Le gran eorn air leighinn!

4

Amhach chaol na corra-ghrithich

Ni thu fathast cainb a ruitheadh

Croich a feitheamh ort na suidhe

Gheobh na fithich fèasd ort!

Bodach Bhearnasdail an Innis

Duin is grainnde tha ’s an t siorrac[hd].

Memorial Plaque to Archibald MacDonald / Gille na Ciotaig

References:

CW108/81, ff. 23r –24r.

MacDonald, Archibald (ed.), The Uist Collection (Glasgow: Archibald Sinclair, 1894).

Images: Boleskine Cemetery © Copyright Steven Brown and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence and the Memorial to Archibald MacDonald / Gille na Ciotaig.

Cod Liver Supper, Anyone?

Cod / Bodach Ruadh or Trosg

Very rarely does Alexander Carmichael take the trouble to write down recipes but here is one interesting example of presumably a local delicacy. It would appear that Carmichael took down the instructions in order to prepare cod liver from the recitation of Anthony Campbell (1825–1907) who belonged to Kentangaval in Barra. As is well known cod liver oil – though perhaps not to everyone’s taste – is a common nutritional supplement that is beneficial as it is full of vitamins that help to maintain good health. Carmichael doesn’t mention whether he ever tried the recipe but it seems that he probably did given that he was intrigued enough to have even bothered to have taken it down. Perhaps the resulting dish was rather tasty and it certainly would have been full of very healthy nutrients given that the Hebridean diet then, as now, includes fish such as cod, halibut or turbot and ling:

Gnuan [Gruthan] nam bodach, the liver is washed & put
in clean cold water & all[owed] to stand there for 3 or 4 hours

when it becomes nearly snow white. Then put in a
basin agus ga thaosna[dh] agus toirt as a chuile
riamhach a th ann. Then put puts [sic] a small
grain of salt, soda & pepper & then oat
meal or bere & baked & put in a say a pudding
plate. Puts this in a Poot [sic] of boiling water & if at
hand flounders soles Crog or Crogabhaigean
or piece of cod or skate. Nearly an hours or ¾
takes out allows it to cool little warmer
than cold. Like butter them & delicious
2 put in the goile of the trost & used as a
marrag. The gnuan [gruthan] of the langa is stronger
again. first boiled like fish & then fried.
But only the liver of the ling with the iuchair is
safe. If the gnuan [gruthan] of a ling is taken it causes
for 3 days a heaviness & then the skin peels
of & casts. He is troubled with musgaid, ruai,
trom or sac. The bradan leathan's gnuan [gruthan]
if with iuchar does the same. When the fish[erman]
wants a gruan [gruthan] langa he puts a X of the
gnuan [gruthan] of the ling that has an iuchair & upon
no account touches another.

Reference:
CW108/22, ff. 7r–7v.
Image:
Cod / Bodach Ruadh or Trosg.