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B, beithe, birch. The second letter in the Ogham.

The totem
bird for this letter is besan, the pheasant; colour ban,
white; dates, December 24 to January 20. Associated with
Di-domhnaich, the Day of the House of Don and the creator-
god.

BÀ. BÀTH, obs. good, simple-minded; now: foolish; deadly


talk, gossip, from bàs, death. Confers with Lat. faut. See
bas. Cf. Lat. fatuus.

BACH, drunkeness, from Latin god Bacchus. Alcoholic


beverages were considered to be full of god-spirit and were
adjuncts of fertility rites.

BACHALL, BACHUILL BUIDHE, AN, bachall, a shepherd's crook,


a crozier, old shoe or slipper, from the Latin baculum, a rod
of power. Confers with G. bac, a crook and bacach, lamed;
buidehe, yellow, Latin badius, the English bay. The yellow
staff of magic. Confers with bach, drunkenness and the Lat.
Bacchus, the staff-carrier, and a noted drinker.

Wooden crooks were often carried by the Celtic gods,


by druids and by the Daoine sidh as symbols of power and as
devices for directing the gisreag, or “fire-magic.” In more
recent times the aoghaire, or “shepherds” have been
considered uncanny because the carried the crooked staff
preferred by Cromm “the Crooked.” The goddess Macha, the
Befind of future events, carried one of these in her guise as
the Cailleach Bheurr, or “Winter Hag.” Those who saw her
pass said that the staff of power shed snow and storms of
ice, and when she pointed it at men, her energies discharged
through it as life-taking lightning.

The crooked rods of the ancient Gaels were seen to be


too potent to destroy, so Christian "saints" confiscated
them, re-dedicated them to the use of An Tighernmas, "The
One God", and represented them as pastoral staffs. Because
they were remnants of "living-wood", housing the totem-
spirits of their carriers, these rods had a limited life span
and only a few remain.

One of their number was obtained by Saint Filian, who


died in Scotland about the year 703 A.D. It was considered
so highly as a relic it was entrusted to the Dewar family,
the traditional keepers of magical implements. There were
once five hereditary Dewars of Saint Filian, whose
descendants include the millionaire peer Evelyn Dewar,
third Lord Fortevoit, of Perthshire. When Filian's staff
began to crumble under use, the crooked head was encased
in bronze, and this was re-encased in silver.

In 1336 the head of Clan Menzies declared Donald


MacSobreil, dewar Cogerach, the magic staff then being
known as Coigreach, "A Stranger," "one who comes from a
neighbouring province." This was because the staff was
often carried into remote parts, for it was law that any
inhabitant of the parish of Glendochart could call for its
help if his property was stolen. The Dewar of Coygerach
was required to have it come and "sniff out" the thief. It
was well known that the crozier had the ability to follow
the goods, or cattle, wherever they happened to be taken
within the bounds of Scotland.

In return for carrying the staff, the dewar was given a


yearly supply of meal by the parish, and each applicant
rewarded him with four pence, a pair of shoes, and food for
the first night on the trail. Apparently the fee was never
adjusted to allow for increases in the cost of living for the
dewar who carried it in the reign of Charles II was so
reduced, he sold the Coigreach itself to Macdonnell of
Glengarry, who venerated it as a Catholic relic.
Succeeding Dewars were not at rest until this thinly
disguised pagan device came back to Breadalbane. In 1782,
the official dewar was a day-labourer but as late as 1795,
Presbyterian highlanders were in the habit of coming in
from the hills to the town of Killin to procure water that
had been in touch with the crozier. In 1818 Archibald
Dewar emigrated to Canada and took the magic rod along
with him. In this country he was persuaded to produce the
magic-water which seemed helpful in treating the diseases
of cattle and men.

In 1876, this dewar consented to transfer the old


pagan staff to the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, "on
trust to the benefit and enjoyment of the Scottish nation."
All that remains for the current Dewars is their heraldic
insignia, featuring a pair of crossed pastoral rods. Another
of this kind is the Bachuil Mor, or “Great Staff,” picked up
at an early date by Saint Moluag and entrusted to the dewars
of Lismore in northern Scotland. It was, for many years,
encased in corroded copper, thus its nick-name Bachuil
Buide, the “Yellow Staff." At the old Samhuinn (Nov. 1) the
Barons of the Bachuel , the Livingstones of the Isle of
Lismore, hosted a gathering at which spring-water was
solemnly stirred using this staff. "...thereafter the water
was carefully decanted into bottles which were distributed
to the relatives present. The belief was current that this
was "holy water" which would serve as a talisman against
all ills throughout the year."

Interestingly, Molaug was a nick-name for Saint


Lughaidh, a Christian who died among the northern Picts in
592 A.D. His name is a combination of Lugh and Aod, two
patently pagan sun-deities. It seems apropos that his
"light" was extinguished on June 25 at an eclipse of the sun.
His name translates, roughly as "the gleaming light of day."
St. Molaug's bachuel was entrusted to the dewars of the clan
Macleay or Livingstone.

BACHAILLE NAN EILEANAN, "bachuill carriers of the islands."


the Morrisons, judges of the western isles of Scotland. The
bachuills were magic staffs, remnants of pagan days re-
dedicated to the use of the Christian clerics. See bachuill
and britheamh.

BAD, a cluster, thicket, similar to the Gaelic bod, the penus;


cf. Bry. bod, a grape cluster or thicket. Thought of Pictish
origin. The Eng. bud, earlier bodde, also bast and bass, a
tree. Badhal, wandering, all perhaps from the root ba, to go.
Having reference to the Quarter-Day activity of seeking
sexual solace in a solitary place. See next.

BADB, BADBA, BADH, BAOBH, BHOABH, BOAGH, (bhuv, Ir. bibe,


rhyming with “jibe”), a wicked woman, a witch, a hag, the
carrion-crow of western Europe, any species of hooded
crow, particularly the Royston crow of highland Scotland
(“a sly, familiar, very knowing bird”), one of the little
people, a scold. EIr. badb, a crow, a female demon from
Badb, the Gaelic goddess of death in battle. She was also
termed Medb or Maeve, and was the prototype for the English
Queen of the May. Note also the Cy. bod, the bird called the
kite and their goddess Bod. This was the
deity called Bodv or Bodvo-gnatus by the
Gauls. All similar to the Old Norse boo,
war and possibly from Skr. badas, famine.

Anciently, the Badb was considered one of


the bas-finne, or bafinne, corresponding
with the classical trio called the Fatum, or
Fates and with the Norse Nornr. She was
considered the goddess of current events
as against her less mature form, termed
the Mhorrigan, and the completely
developed Macha, sometimes called the
Cailleach-Bheur, or Winter-Hag. The
former had control of events in the past
and the latter control of the future. The
devotees of this trionaid, or trinity,
sometimes collectively called the Bafinne,
were themselves the individual befind, invisible god-like
spirits assigned to men and women at their birth. The
crow-goddess was pictured in mythology as a full-armoured
adventuress and an adept shape-changer. She had the ability
to become either the younger Mhorrigan, or the older Macha
at will. In addition, she frequently travelled as her totem
bird appearing before enemy warriors when their time on
earth wore thin. She often slept with her allies among men,
thus gifting them with some of her spirit through the sex
act. In the end, it was her clan that acted as the runners to
men (and the "gods"), "visiting upon them good gifts or ill",
fortune or poverty, long life or short, and happiness or
unhappiness. At the historic battle of Clontarf, 1014 A.D.,
when the High King Brian Boru defeated the Vikings, the
Badb appeared shrieking above the heads of the defeated
enemy.

It would appear that the badb, boadb, boabh, bhoabh, or


bhuabh belonged to a diverse group of characters, which the
English might have termed the boo-men, boo-baggers,
boggers (not to be confused with buggers), or bogeymen.
"Bo" (plural "ba") was Gaelic for cow, and this was often
combined with adjectives to produce compound words such
as "bo-aire", the high cow, a person of importance and "bo-
dubh", the black cow, which is to say, a witch or wizard.
The English "boo" is related to the Celtic "bo", both being
interjections, presumably meant to imitate the lowing
sound of a cow. In earlier days, such sounds were used in
the field to signal friends, express contempt or aversion for
enemies and to startle or frighten them.

The Anglo-Saxons created an entire tribe of elfin-folk


to people the dangerous bog lands where their boo-people
were forced to live. A short list of their kind would include
the boo, boogle, bogle, boggart, bugill, bug, pug, bugbear,
bugleboo, bull-beggar, bugaboo, puck, pouke, pawkey, puckle,
peregrine pickle, little pickle, poake, puck-hairy, pugsy, and
pixie. This is exclusive of the Irish phooka and the Welsh
pwcca, which are obvious relatives. It is impossible to
characterize these legendary little people in any complete
way but they were, at least, troublesome spirits. Almost
all lived in out-of-the-way places, and delighted in leading
travellers, by means of distracting lights or uncanny noises,
"into ditches, bogs, pools and other such scrapes, and then
sets up a loud laugh and leaves them quite bewildered..." 1

There are strong suspicions that the elfs, fairies and


the sidh represented actual races conquered and banished to
the outback by more powerful neighbours. When Leighton
Houghton visited St. Ninian's Cave near Whithorn, in
southern Scotland, he found it locked and barred because of
the pilfering of artifacts by visitors. He knew, however,
that relics of the bronze age had been discovered there
along with stone axes, spindle whorls and hammer heads,
showing it had been inhabited long before the Anglo-Saxons
came to Britain. This led him to comment that: "There are
still tales in Scotland of the pixie folk, who inhabit lonely
caves in the mountains, emerging to graze their tiny cattle
or to steal a baby for a slave. When the Gaels and the
Britons seized our islands in the dim ages of the past they
drove the small dark Iberian natives into the distant safety
of the mountains and these ancient folk-stories may be dim
memories of these primitive cave-dwellers. 2

This idea is reinforced by Gaelic legends which tell of


the Tuatha daoine, who battled against the Celtic Milesian
invaders in Meath and again at Taillte, Ireland. In both
cases, the residents were defeated, their Queen Eire losing
her life in the opening fray. In all three kings and three
queens of the danann, or daoine, were slain, and what was
left of that race fled into the remote hills. "Possibly the
glimpses of some of these fugitive hill-dwellers and cave-
dwellers caught in twilight and moonlight, by succeeding
generations of Milesians, coupled with the seemingly
magical skill which they exercised (at avoiding the

1Thomas Keightley, Gnnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People,


p. 317.

2Leighton Houghton, In The Steps of the Anglo-Saxons, p. 158.


conquerors), gave foundation for the later stories of
enchanted folk, fairies, living under the Irish hills." 3

BADB CATHA, the “Battle Raven,” see above entry. Similar


to the Gaullish (C)athubodva. A goodess of domesticity and
war. Spirit-possessed ravens were actually trained to
attack the eyes of enemies in battle.

BAFINN, BEFINN, BEFIND, BE FIND, BASFINN, pl. Basfinne, ba,


bath, foolish, from bah, deadly with speech, a spell-caster;
“deadly through talk,” bas, death, fionn, white, finne,
maidens, finnean, a buzzard. Eng. befind. cf. G. beathan, life,
the latter being the alternate face of death. From this the
surname Beathag. Confers with beo, living; as an adj.,
lively, alive, and fitheach, a raven. Similar to the obsolete
fidh, a stake driven in the ground to hold sacrificial
victims.

Sometimes given as the best friend of Lady Cassir,


who accompanied her her on a sea-voyage into the western
ocean from the Mediterranean just before the World Flood.
More often, the triad-goddess, whose aspects were
Mhorrigan, Badb and Macha.. Also the followers of this
goddess, supernaturals given the duty as acting as the
guardians of men and the gods. A caste of supernaturals,

3Seumas MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race, p. 10.


the sidh-guardian born to each child, "those who predict its
future and endow it with good or doubtful gifts." a spirit,
now referred to as "the guardian angel." One aspect is the
beansithe, bean-sighe or maighdeann unaine, known in
English parts as the green or the white lady. The guardian
of the Gaels nationally as well as individually.

Named after a sister of the goddess Boann. It was


said that she mated with Idath and became the mother of
Fraoch, the most handsome warrior in Ireland. These are the
Gaelic Fates. The Roman Fata were attached to the Greek
Parcæ but the latter did not survive transplantation in
Italy. The Italian Fates are the Moeræ (confering with the
goddess Mhorrigan) and they are distinguished as the
Befana, the Maratega and the Rododesa. The Befana is the
best known of the three, appearing as a Yule-tide character
who climbs down chimneys to leave sweets for good
children and coal for bad ones. She can only be seen during
one night in January but is otherwise occupied weaving in a
dark cave or hidden chimney corner. The three spinning
women are all “extremely old and often very ugly or
disfigured.” All are shape-changers: the Maratega being
noted for being able to stretch her body to incredible
heights, while the Rododrsa can change her fingers into
sweets which she uses to lure children to their doom. The
“spinners of doom,” are variously known in western Europe
as the Metten, Parzae or Nornr. They are the Witte Wijven in
Holland, the Trois Maries in Switzerland, Urd, Skulld and
Verdandi in Scandinavia, the Bonne Dames in France and the
Miri of Athens.

According to folklore, these invisible spirits were


apportioned (somewhat unequally) to men and women at
birth. They sometimes assisted in the act of childbirth and
often forecast the major events in the life of the individual
in general outline at this time. Individuals particularly
favoured sometimes received additional bafinne, thus the
hero Cúchullain had two invisible warriors always at his
call, while St. Patrick had the ear of several guardian
angels.
While Saint Patrick's two guardian-angels provided
him with nothing beyond theological advice, those at the
call of the Celtic hero Cuchullain supported him in battle.
When he was near death at the hands of Ferdiad, one came to
either side and soon his opponent "felt the onset of the
three together smiting his shield...Then Ferdiad remembered
that Cuchullain had an unusual number of invisible helpers
and complained, "Thy friends of the sidh (elf or fairy folk)
have succored thee, and thou did not disclose this." "Why
complainest thou here, O Ferdiad, thou hast the invincible
horn skin (armour) whereby to multiply feats and deeds on
me, and thou has not explained how that may be opened or
closed!" With these words, Cuchullain dismissed the
advantage of having Dolb and Indolb support his cause, and
went on to kill his combatant.

On the Island of Iona, the Christain saint named


Columba retired to pray at "the hill of visions" near Port-
na-Curiach. Until recent times the villagers said this was a
dwelling-place of the little people, "and at certain seasons
the farmers would gallop their horses three times about it
for luck..." The Gaels called it "Sidhchaillinn", the hall of
the sidh. More significantly, Saint Patrick is supposed to
have been allowed two guardian angels, who he consulted on
every important career move. In 432, Patrick founded a
mission at St. David's Head in Wales, a place central to the
Gaelic kingdoms, but he moved from here when his angel
explained that this place had been reserved for David, who
would be born in thirty years' time. "When Patrick showed
signs of sulkiness, the angel appeased him with the promise
of Ireland instead."

The bafinn travelled into the past and the future to


gather espionage which might be of use to its human host,
and had the ability to move instantaneously to points at a
distance in the present, in the interest of protecting and
favouring its co-walker. Unfortunately, most people were
not "gifted" and received the reports of the bafinn as rude
sensory perceptions. Better placed individuals could
actually make contact with other places through the eyes
(or ears, or taste buds) of their bafinn, opening themselves
to visions (or other extra-sensory phenomena) which
informed them of events past or about to be. In sleep, and
in the altered state of severe illness, the primary soul or
anim was thought to unite with this secondary soul and
travel in parallel worlds. At death, the bafinn and the anim
were reunited and went "to earth" for a rest period after
which the two might be reincarnated as a new individual
entity. In the worst case, a death trauma sometimes
separated the internal from the external soul, in which case
the latter might remain abroad on the land as a revanter or
ghost. The Eng. befind had the duty to appear before its
human at birth, but in that almost insensate stage most men
had no means of recognizing it.

Throughout life, this invisible creature, one of the


Daoine sidh, travelled as a forerunner or hindrunner of the
primary soul. In the former case, it sometimes announced
the coming of its cowalker by banging about the outer walls
of a house which was soon to receive a visitation. Those
gifted with "the two sights" could see this invisible herald
and infer that the person represented would soon appear in
the flesh. Infrequently, the befind was able to shape-
change into an almost corporeal double of the human it
represented, and this accounts for cases where
doppelgangers were sometimes seen at locations remote
from a place where a person was known to be at a given
time. These "ghosts of the living" also appeared as simple
balls of light energy and occasionally took the form of the
totem animal of a given family.

The befind was aware of the approaching death of its


host, and would appear face-to-face with the primary soul
to prepare it for the inevitable. In this form, the befind
was the bean-sidh, which the English call the "banshee".
The banshee may have been seen as a wailing woman
dressed in white (after the fashion of the original Bafinn),
although it often appeared as the totem animal. With the
death of the individual, the befind had the final duty of
taking news of the passing to the closest relatives. To do
this, this spirit often took the form of a "dead-light" or
"corpse-candle" which traced the pre-destined route of the
body from the death-site to the home, to the burial place.
At the home, the death was announced by the three death
knocks, which brought the inhabitants to an empty door.

Barring an exceptional death, the bafinn then went "to


earth" with its host. When the Scots invaded the land of the
Picts, the Bafinn alternately migrated between Ireland and
Scotland. In folklore, she is represented as the goddess of
Fate, but she was never a free entity, her decisions
awaiting the judgement of the sun-god Lugh, thus: "At last
came the message from Lugh that Bafinn had awaited. It
was not good word. The world had gone upside down with
evil-doing. Discord; war; lustful depravity; sexual
abberation. Bafinn was therefore instructed to punish evil
with evil. That she did. She imposed cold and frost in every
region and land. There was no growing grass, trees, plants
and vegetation of the earth anywhere. Long before the cold
and frost had lifted away, everything had decayed - men and
beasts were not to be seen. Bafinn left the fairy-holm at
Ath Leodair and took a trip across to Ireland to find fresh
news. The fresh news was not good. A message came from
Lugh and Nuada that a race of evil and savage men called the
Fearlaich were spreading westward...The religion of these
savages was stupid and untruthful. After these came the
three Samhanach tribes (worshippers of the Samh), the
arrogant Samhnaich, the despot Samhnaich, the rancid
Samhnaich. These savages were due to destroy the
civilization of wise men in every land they visited." (The
Hebridean Connection, pp. 464-465).

In the interval of invasions, predicted to require three


thousand years, Bafinn was told to withdraw her protection
from all men, retiring to Ard Leodair, in northern Scotland.
In some schemes of reckoning, the retirement of the
national goddess is nearly at an end. Notice that the Bafinn
is An Cailleach Bheurr, the Winter Hag (which see). In a
Gaelic tale told by the Kennedys of Cape Breton Island two
of the bafinne, opponents of Finn mac Cumhail are
identified: "And it seems they were in a battle and he got
assistance. The opponent used the Strange Adversaries
(Daoine sidh), and when they came to attack Finn he could
not see them...but he prevailed." (Tales Until Dawn, p. 36).

The Nova Scotian folklorist, Helen Creighton, was


conscious of her befind saying: "It was during my twenties
that I became aware of a guiding spirit, a hunch if you like,
and surely everyone experiences hunches? One day in
Halifax I knew I should cross to the other side of the street.
Therewas no apprent reason and the side I was on was more
pleasant and less congested. Nevertheless, the urge was
strong, and for curiosity's sake more than anything else, I
obeyed. The reason was given immediately when a friend
got off the tram and upon seeing me looked greatly relieved
and said, "I've been trying all day to get you on the
telephone." The message was important." "Ever since then I
have listened when this advice has come. It is not a voice
that I hear nor a vision that I see, but a knowing that a
certain thing is advisable. If I heed it, the reason is soon
apparent. If I decide to go my own stubborn way I soon see
my mistake. This gift I believe may be encouraged and
developed. Or it may be confused with wishful thinking, and
that can be dangerous. But when it comes in the manner I so
often experience, and usually when least expected, it is
something to be treasured and respected."

The Abenaki Indians of Atlantic Canada described


these attendant-spirits as a "ghost-bodies": "For a man or
woman it looks like a black shadow of a man or woman. It
has hands and feet, a mouth, a head and all the other parts
of a human body. It drinks and eats. It puts on clothes, it
hunts and fishes and amuses itself." Although this was not
the only form of the English home-shadow, it was
considered a possible manifestation. On overcast days, the
guardian was observed to be entirely invisible and was
presumed to be free to travel as far ahead of, or behind, its
human as it might wish. In this situation, the spirit often
materialized as the totem-animal of the clan to which the
individual belonged. In a few situations, where it might
serve the interests of that person, the shadow appeared as
his or her double. This "doppelganger" was supposedly
responsible for individuals being seen in two widely
separated communities at the same time. Very important
individuals were born with two or three guardians. and
might be observed simultaneously in as many as four
diffrent places. Even when it was invisible, the shadow-
man often heralded the arrival of his or her human by by
knocking on the walls or door of a house about to be
visisted, or by shuffling its feet in a hallway. If left too
long separated from its host, the spirit became restless and
might resort to opening or closing doors, or swinging on
them, to pass the time. In the elder days it was considered
a impolite and perhaps hostile to shut a door quickly behind
a visitor, an act that might separate the shadow from
helping his master.

Very few of our ancestors were aware of their double,


exceptions being "gifted" individuals; those born with a
double part, or a widow's (or devil's) peak of hair between
the eyes; those delivered into our world with eyes of
differing colour, which eventually merged into one; and
posessors of the caul, fylgia, or birth membrane. Usually
the caul, which is a portion of the amniotic sac becomes
separated from the child at birth but sometimes it is intact
over the head. Folklore insisted that this was a favourable
omen, and the mother was expected to walk upon her child's
caul and hide it for fear it might be taken. At one time,
midwives supplemented their income by stealing cauls
which were offered in the black-market for purposes of
witchcraft. If this was avoided, the caul was sometimes
placed beneath the threshold stone of the home for
safekeeping. The baby would then be blessed with help from
a very powerful attendant spirit. In addition, children who
were gifted were protected against death by drowning, fire
or lightning strikes, and this advantage extended to the
house. As adults, these lucky people usually carried their
cauls on their person, or kept them close at hand. In
Maritime communities, the caul-carriers were sought after
for work in lumber mills or on ships at sea, since no damage
could come to either while these men were about. Helen
Creighton has noted that females were made to take a few
stitches in their caul as soon as they were able, thus
assuring their abilities as seamstresses. It was claimed
that gifted people had the ability to see their shadow-
duplicates, and to direct them to their advantage. Normal
individuals usually bumbled through life aware of their
runners on a subliminal level, when they implanted vague
notions of danger in the minds of their wards. Most were
unable to see the runner until it materialized before them
as a warning of impending death. Particularly clumsy
people are still accused of "tripping over their own
shadow", but few realize this once considered a fact rather
than a figure of speech.

The relationship between the home-shadow and the human


was entirely symbiotic, injury or death to one reflecting
very rapidly upon the other. The runner has been identified
as the residence of a second-soul in European folklore. It
has been suggested that those who sleep, hallucinate, or are
in a trance-state have projected their internal soul upon
this external double. In the case of the witch, this external
soul often occupied an animal body and was commonly
called a familiar. All those who were psychic, or gifted,
shared the witches' ability to see through the eyes and hear
through the ears of this shadow-creature. In earlier times,
the home-shadow was called a runner, or a fetch, from its
use as errand-boy or girl. The mortal-god Wuotan possessed
two familiars in the form of ravens which sat upon his
shoulders. As black as shadows they departed each morning
to gather intelligence for this "father of the gods". One of
these he called Hugin (thought) and the other Munin
(memory). At dusk they returned to him and whispered news
of the world into his ears. He was keenly aware of their
value: "Hugin and Munin fly each day over the spacious
earth. Always I fear for Hugin that he come not back, Yet
more anxious am I for Munin." If the familiar of the witch,
or the runner of one who was gifted, was sent to observe
the future, then that shadow-creature was called a
forerunner, and the ability was known as foresight. If the
runner was sent into the past, it was called a hindrunner
and the craft of the human was named hindsight. A third
function of the runner was to act as a telescope for his
human, allowing distant views of activities taking place in
the present. The Anglo-Saxons called this ability
clearsight; the Normans, clairvoyance. Forays in the past
were usually considered most informative, the craft being
referred to as fortune-telling in the Anglo-Saxon world, and
as divination among the Normans. In eastern North America,
the Abenaki's consulted "those who know in advance", a
class they called the nikani-kjijitekewinu.

While the seers could call upon their shadow-people


at will, views of future events were often forced on
ordinary individuals. In Maritime Canada, these unexpected
foresights have been common. Called tokens or visions,
they were frequently connected with impending death or
disaster. Aside from meeting their own runner face-to-
face some have seen the shades of friends or relatives prior
to death. Others have observed pending ecological
disasters, the erections of mines, running of railways and
creation of manufacturing plants, in days when the land
consisted of nothing more than forest. The Gaels called the
ability "an da shealladh", the double vision, or second-sight,
because the phenomena has been described as the imposition
of a view of the future upon a present-day landscape. When
Helen Creighton was researching folklore in 1956 she was,
"amazed to find this strange faculty possessed by so many
people."

The shadow people possessed all of the five senses


normally attributed to man so it is not surprising that
gifted individuals often received auditory tokens, or sounds
from the past or the future, the ability being named
clairaudience. Others could feel or smell aspects of other
times and places. Hence, a Cape Bretoner once rubbed his
lips and said, "indeed I feel the itch of a kiss (or perhaps a
dram) today." Our ancestors knew that a forerunner was
shaking hands with a stranger when they felt a sympathetic
itch of the right palm. Again, a quiver of the left eyelid
meant bad news lay ahead. Motion in the right eye was
taken as a good omen, and it was presumed that the runner
was looking at something favourable to fortune. Where the
contact between a guardian and his ward was tenuous, he
was forced to resort to shorthand; hence heat in the right
ear meant unfavourable rumors were being passed about a
person. If his left ear burned, this was also the case, but he
could be sure his reputation was being defended by a friend.
Tasting the past, or the future, was not a particularly
useful ability, but a few Maritimers had their lives saved by
forerunners who warned them of fire by allowing them a
early-warning smell of smoke.

The guardian, or follower, continues to have a place in the


affairs of men. The folklorist Helen Creighton has
expressed belief in "a guiding spirit": "One day in Halifax I
knew I should cross to the other side of the street. There
was no apparent reason and the side I was on was less
congested and more pleasant. Nevertheless the urge was
strong and...I obeyed. The reason was given immediately,
when a friend got off the tram and upon seeing me looked
greatly relieved and said, "I've been trying all day to get you
on the telephone." The message was important.

Since then, Creighton claims to have reacted to all


"hunches". "If I go my own stubborn way I soon see my
mistake." She has described this "gift" as a "fortudinous
thought", or sense of advisibility, rather than a directing
voice or vision. She says the experience have been rare, and
that obedience to an implanted suggerstion, does not mean
that one no longer thinks for oneself, but is, instead,
reacting to "advice from a higher source", working "with
this guiding spirit as a team."

In 1917, Creighton's spirit-guide strongly suggested


that she duck under the bedclothes. There was a tremendous
noise, and the breaking of glass, and she emerged to find the
window casing on her pillow, nails ripped into the cloth
where her head had been a few moments before. A
munition's ship had collided with another in Halifax Harbour
and the Great Explosion had taken place.

BAGAIR, threaten, denounce, evil, terrify, usually followed


by the prep. air, from the Cym. bwg, a spectre, whence the
Eng. bogie, bogle, etc. Allied with bac, a crook, a crook-
carrier, an aoghaire or shepherd, a sigh, a sidhe or “fairy.”
Note that the death god was sometimes identified as Cromm
“of the Crooked Rod.”

BAGA BRIGDE, bagaid, a cluster; the “cross” of the Bridd, or


Bride. A cross of straw placed under the cottage thatch on
Bride’s Day (February 2) to ensure good luck. Bagaid brigde;
bagaid, a cluster of things, a troop + Bridd, Brigit, the
goddess of hearth and home, a daughter of Dagda. Originally
a rosette or swastika made from the last standing grain in
the fall. Thought to harbour the spirit of the goddess,
cornered here in a corner of the field at the harvest. Later a
cross. Placed beneath the cottage thatch to bring good
fortune in the coming year.

BAIBEIL, fables, lying, sttammering (a nervous untruth),


given to telling false stories, from the Eng. babble.
Bailisdeir, a babbler, cf. Scand. balderdasher. The Norse god
Balder is represented in this word. A god of sun and summer
he was the preferred son of Odin and Frigga. His death was
arranged by Lokki and his spirit was never completely won
back from the Underworld. As a result we now have winter.
This type of tale was considered distinct from history,
myth and legends.

BAINISG, a little old woman, a female satirist, a musical


mermaid, from ban + eisg, woman + learned person. See
aoir-ceairde, above. Note correspondence with bandrui, a
female druid and with bainidh, madness, which was thought
inspired by evil spiriits invading the body of a man or
woman.
BAIL, thrift, goodness, good management, luck, prosperity,
residence, allowance from a mill to benefit the poor.
Related to bal, immediately below. Bailc, seasonable rain,
showers. All based on the god Bil.

BAILE, “Townsman,” the lover of Ailinn. At their tragic


deaths, a yew tree reportedly grew from the grave of one
and an apple from the other. The tops of the branches
inmtertwined and formed arbors which had the shape of the
people’s heads.

BAINNE, milk, milky, also boinne, after the goddess Boyne or


Boanne. Note also bo, cow. Her people were the boabhe, the
cow people who lived near the Boyne. Boabh, an individual
witch-woman. The English bane, a weregild. See ban,
“white.”

"If you find yourself accidentally in a byre when


milking is going on, or in a dairy where the churn is at work,
it is on the safe side to say, "May God bless everything that
my eyes see and that my hand touches." (Otherwise there is
danger of being accused of some form of witchcraft if
things go awry.) It is not right to hurry a dairy-maid to
milk cows (since they were considered divine). To avert
harm (the milker) she says - "Hurry the women of the town
beyond (the Daoine sidh)." A variant of this is, "Hurry your
mother-in-law," a repartee of immense effect.

If a person suspected of the Evil Eye should speak to


one while milking it is not right to make any answer as
doing so established rapport." "If a cow is lost through
illness it is not right to distribute any of the beef raw. It
must be boiled otherwise the "dosgaich" (loss) is spread. If
a cat cries for it, it must be reproved with, "Whist with
you, for asking of blighted food; may your own skin be the
first on the rafters." This so as not to attract the Evil
Influence." "When going to a well or stream for water, the
rinsings (of milk) should be thrown on the grass, never on
earth or rocks, because the milk comes from the grass (and
must return there). The rinsings of the pail should never be
thrown on one's own land.

As late as 1880 it is noted that a Colonsay woman


admitted pouring milk into a basin each night for the
“quieting” of the supernatural glaistig. A belief in these
creatures and brownies persisted here into this century. In
May, 1910, it has been noted that crofters placed milk in a
ringed stone cavity near Balnahard farmstaed. This was
done each year on the first night the cows were left out
overnight in the wild. At these times crofters felt it
necessary to donate the whole night’s milk from one cow to
appease the night-spirits. Once the milk was poured into
itts container the supplicant was expected to turn his head
away immediately for the sigh-folk were careful with their
privacy.

BAINLEANNAN, the milk white prostitute or concubine. The


beannsidh or Mhorrigan, a beautiful vampire-like female
spirit with the legs of a goat. Confers with leannan-sidh,
the root word being leg, to lie on the ground (with sex
intended).

“Among the Irish the white colour again forms a


conspicuous feature in the description of persons,
especially supernatural beings, in ancient non-Christian
legends and myths.” The name of the national hero Finn
means white. To Finn Mac Cumaill there comes, in legend, a
king’s daughter of unerathly size and beauty “Bebend” (see
our Bebhionn or Vivienne) from the Land of Virgins (Tir na-
n-Ingen) in the west of the sea, and she has marvellously
white hair (Zimmer, 1889, p. 269). The corresponding
maiden of the sea-people, in the “Imram Brenaind,” whom
Brandan finds is also whiter than snow or sea-spray (see
vol. 1, p. 363).

The physician Libra at the court of Manannán, king of


the Promised Land, has three daughters with white hair (the
Billow Maidens of Norse mythology). When Midir, the king of
the sid (fairies), is trying to entice away Etáin, queen of the
high-king of Ireland, he says: “Oh, white woman, wilt thou
goest with me to the land of marvels? ...thy body has the
white colour of snow to the very top (cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp.
273, 279).

The Irish female sidh-people were white, so also the


Norse elves who were termed “lysalver,” light elves. The
elf-maiden in Sweden is “slender as a lily and snow white,”
and elves in Denmark are described as white nymphs, the
Latin “albae nymphae.” (quoted from Nansen, Northern Mists,
pp. 45-46).

The Christians identified Christ as “White Christ,”


and robes of this colour were used in the baptismal
ceremony and as burial wraps. Irish hermits dressed in the
ancient white albus and “all holy men were white.” The old
man who welcomed Saint Brendon to his promised land wore
no clothing “but his body was covered with dazzling white
feathers, like a dove or a gull.” This is precisely the garb
worn by druidic ard ollam.

In alternate accounts this Christian hermit is named


as Paulus and it is said that he was without clothing, “but
wholly covered by the hair of his head, his beard, and other
hair down to the feet, and they were white as snow on
account of his great age.” Maelduin, who preceded Brendon
into the Atlantic also met with two hermits, both “with
white hair on their bodies.” The soil of the island on which
one of the hermits lived was “as white as feathers.” Late in
the Navigatio, Brendon met Christ reincarnate who he
perceived as “an aged man with hair the colour of snow and
a shining countenance...His head and hairs were white like
wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire.”

Mythic Atlantic isles were sometimes identified as


“Islands of Mist,” or Tir na Fer Finn, the “Whiite Men’s
Land.” The prototype may have been ancient Great Britain
for the Gaels called it Alba, i.e. the “brood of the white
ones,” from the fact that the inhabitants all wore the sun-
bleached linen shifts which the Romans called albii. Note
the Lat. albus, white, OHG. albiz, a swan.
BAINNE-UAINE, AN, “The Green Woman.” “I have heard
imperfectly preserved stories (from the north of Scotland)
of a lady dressed in green, and bearing a goblin child in her
arms, who used to wander in the night-time... She would
raise the latch when all the inhabitants were asleep and
take her place by the fire, fan the embers into a flame, and
then wash the child in the blood of the youngest inmate of
the cottage, who would be found dead next morning.” One of
this kind was counted as “The Genius of Smallpox.” When an
illness was to end in a fatality she appeared in the gray of
dawn at the bedside of the dying.

BAL, BALL, bala, obs, Lord, The Sun, young, a dance, member,
limb, member of a group, dress, a tool, a globe, spot or plot
of ground, stud, nail, bowl, cable, rope; obsolte, a skull; cf.
Cy. bala, budding, root. Similar to balach, clown and bach,
playing the clown, drunkenness, perhaps cf. Latin Bacchus.
Note G. balbh, dumb as well as ball, a white or shining spot
(whence the English bale-fire); also, ball, a member of a
larger body (hence the English phallus). Similar to bail,
thrift, a collection of valuables; MIr. bail, goodness all from
the root bhel, to swell in size, bud; hence bailceach, a
strong man, EIr. balc, strong, god-like; baile, a strong
member, a supporting ridge or beam, possibly also baile, a
township held by a particular god-king. From this we have
many place names: Bail'-an-luig, Lugh's township; Baile-
nan-cailleach, Town of the winter-hag; Bail'-uaine, Baille
of the green-ones (the Daoine sidh); Baile-sgait, Place of
the sea-skate. Thus, bal or baal, one of the elder- day gods,
especially Bilé, the god of death. The master of ceremonies
reincarnate at fire-festivals. Notice also bealltuinn, May-
day, the date when the Bal was most active . See Bil. Note
that the ON. god Balder was the preferred son of Odin and
Frigga.. See Bil, Lugh, Dagda.

Iain Moncrieffe says that the Scottish round reels are


palpable reminders of events that followed the assembly of
our ancestors: "...throughout eons of time, on through the
Bronze and Iron ages into the eighteenth century, a basic
religious ceremony continued all over Europe, and certainly
in the Highlands. A mixed circle of both sexes danced round
and round a central figure, who played on pipes or a flute, or
sometimes (in more sophisticated days) even on a fiddle.
This central figure was the Fertility Spirit's local priest
and representative - a man dressed up full hairily in horns
and a tail...Nobody could deny there was something rather
beastly about him. As the dance went on, the worshippers
became gayer and gayer, in fact their fine frenzy was
definitely abandoned. Perhaps that is why the poet called
them our "rude forefathers"..."

This writer contends that the eightsome reel in its


current form was created from the old round reels by
members of the Murray family. He notes that in this
"innocent mainstay of every Highland ball", the participants
still encircle a central figure, and that each successive
male dancer replaces him in turn, jigging alone in the
middle. In this place, he raises his arms crescent-fashion
"like antlers" over his head, in a stone-age salute to the old
horned god, who had so many names.

The "lord of the dance" and his adherents always


indulged in ritual drinking and F. Marian McNeill says that
"usquebaugh", or whisky, "was reserved for festive
occasions, and even then it was used sparingly, for unlike
the Saxon, the Celt was temperate in both eating and
drinking." Perhaps, but it seems more likely they
understood that excess drinking might interfere with their
participation in the important rituals of the dance, music,
sex and eating.

BALACH, a clown, a common lad, one of the peasant class, a


sturdy fellow, from Skr. balakas, a little boy and from bala,
young. Cf. Cy. bala, budding. Similar to the English beltane
and the Gaelic beultainne, one of the Quarter-Days (see
Samhuinn and Beultainne). The male participant selected to
play the role of "king of the land" for the term of the
holiday. Since his lot was death by fire he acted in a less
than mature way during his "reign". See bal and Bil.
BALCACH, splay-footed, a condiion endemic among the
Daoine sidh.

BALDAR, balach + dair, clown + mire or semen. Another


version of the sun-god Lugh. The male fertility figure
among the Tuatha daoine, represented as the mate of the
reincarnate virgin of the Brugh-na-Boyne. Originally, the
ard-righ, or “high-king” of this people, ruling from Tara,
Ireland. In his day he was known as an Righ nan Geasan Mor,
the King of the Great Enchantments."

Through foresight he knew of the approach of the


invading Milesians. Standing at Sea Head he upbraided the
strangers for taking his forces by surprise and thus
managed to have them back away from the shore until he
was able to enact a magical storm. In the end the magic of
this "god" proved unequal to the iron swords of men and he
was, presumably killed, for his station was taken by Boabd
Dearg.

When Reginald Scot interviewed the "genius Astral" of


the Orkneys (1665) he was informed that this guiding-spirit
of the land expected to continue in his role for seventy
years, resigning at last to Balkin, lord of the Northern
Mountains. Note that tuath means north, and it was
sometimes guessed that the "northern isles" in which the
Tuatha daoine learned their magic might have been some of
the the islands of Scandinavia.

This being the case, Baldar may confer with the Old
Norse god Balder, an agricultural deity, the god of sun and
summer, and the preferred son of Odin. Notice also that
Skadi, or Scoti, was smitten with the looks of this god and
bargained, unsuccessfully, to marry him. Balder was killed
by his own brother at the contrivance of Lokki. Odin
bargained for his return to earth, but was only partially
successful, the sun being, even yet, confined in the
Underworld each night and for a disproportionate number of
hours during the winter months.
BALG, belly, bag; seed of an herb, belly, womb, quiver for
arrows, blister on the skin; OIr. bolc; Cym. bol; Gaul. nulga.
The Goth. balgs, a wine skin; the Norse, belgr, a skin or
bellows. Perhaps after the thunder-goddess Bolc, the leader
and matron of the Firbolgs, or “Bolt-men.” See separate
entry. Note the Quarter-Day known as the Imbolc, literally,
“the time to smear the stomach,” perhaps having reference
to the painting of the body or the sexual excesses
associated with this holy day. Note the related balgum, a
mouthful, and the god Beul, the “Mouth.”

BALG BANNAIG, The Bannock Bag. A leathern bag formerly


used to carry the relics of paganism for use at festivals.
More recently the sacred shrine used to carry the Christian
Host. The bag in which gifts exchanged at the festivals
used to be carried. Now used to carry foodstuffs to be
distributed to carol-singers at the Christmmastide.

In Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and


Islands of Scotland (1902), J. G. Campbell gives a expanded
version of the traditional calluinn entrance rhyme, which
includes specific reference to the cailleach:

This is the new year of the yellow bag of hide,


Strike the skin upon the wall,
Here is the old wife in the graveyard;
The old hag in the corner;
Another old woman stands beside the fire,
A pointed stick is in her two eyes,
A pointed stick is in her stomach.
Let me in, open this!

The "yellow bag of hide" may point out the "doodlebag",


or bagpipe, which had a place in Samhainn music-making, or
may be a symbol for the cailleach. The act of striking the
"skin" upon the wall is reminiscent of the old act ensuring
the productivity of seeds by placing them in a pouch and
whipping this against the belly of a woman who had a
reputation for child-breeding. It was reasoned that her
spirit would be transferred into the seeds making them
more productive. As the calluinn skin was a phallic symbol
of the god king, it was presumed that some of his spirit was
beat out of the hide at each pass, thus promising
reproductive fertility to all within the walls.

The cailleach with the "pointed stick" in her eyes and


belly is no less that the Samh or Morrigan, this device being
the "divining rod" of witchcraft, a forked branch used to
seek lost goods, dead bodies, minerals and water. Before
the baobh made use of a broom for "flight", she rode upon
this forked stick, sometimes referred to as the "adder's or
Devil's tongue. The cailleach of the Samhainn had the
"forked stick" in her eyes because of her capacity to blight
crops and damage animals with her "evil eye".

BALGAIDH, BHALGAIDH, BALLACH, bal, marked, spotted on


the forehead, white + gad, a withe, switch, sling, a bogie,
see bodach. Appears in the place-name Strath Bhalgaidh or
Strathbogie. A nightmare creature or boogie-man. Note the
entries directly above and below. Horses so marked were
considered a poor bargain since they were marked with the
“star” of the Tuatha daoine and were neither useful nor
reliable.

BALL, BUILL, the penis, the male member, quarter-day


dances, plots of land dedicated to these festivals, a boss,
stud, nail. Also bod, penis, Eng. phallus, from the root bhel,
to swell, ultimately based on the name of the fertility-god
Bil. It is generally held that the various wooden and stone
heads found in Celtic lands, often seen displayed on a pillar,
have phallic significance. From the Celtic point-of-view
the human head combined with a penis best represented the
essential life-force. See next.

BALLABREAC, almost anything which is both round and


spotted, from ball, see above. This word may also mean a
spot, particularly a white spot on the forehead of an animal,
Celtic root bal, white, Irish-Eng. bhel, bhale, shine, from
which bale-fire and Beltane. The Gaels often carried
“lumpy bumpy shields,” i.e. variegated bossy shields which
were circular in shape and were obvious ferility charms
intended to preserve the bearer’s life. This is the same as
the Eng. ball. The Celts were obsessed with the ball and the
circle symbols of completion, death and regeneration. Thus
their fortresses were built in the round and their short
spears were terminated by a brass ball.

BALLAN IOSCSHLAINT, a vessel, a tub, a bowl; iosgaid, of


the “folk” or houghmands. The “teat of health.” A magical
vessel of “balsam” used to contain curative potions.

BALL SEIRCE, beauty-spot. A mark of the favour of a god, or


gods. By this magic Gráinne was drawn to Diarmuid rather
than the hero Fionn: "It happened that there was a beauty
spot on the face of Diarmaid of the Brown Spot; each woman
who saw it would fall in love with him. At times the beauty
spot would be in his eye, at times in his forehead; at other
times it would be in his curly hair. It would make no
difference where the spot was located; it was the seeing
that mattered. A strange thing, it had no effect on men and
there was no loss to them though they were to gaze on it all
day long."

BALOR, BALAR (bah-lorr), BALOR MAC BUARAINNEACH (bal-


or mak bowrain ak). bal + or, god-spirit + gold; having
reference to the pagan-god Bil; a Fomorian chieftain, the
possessor of a single "evil-eye". This mortal giant is
remembered in the Gaelic word balc, a misdeed. Buar, to
vex or tempt, a goad, buair, a rage, the “raging;” aibhtheach,
stormy one. Not “Son of the Gold Ring,” or “Son of Golden
Bull,” as has been suggested.

Balor was the son of Dot and Net, (some say his father
was Buarainnech) and was the chieftain-ruler of Torry
(Tower) Island, off the northwest coast of Ireland, and one
of those called to battle by Breas, king of the Tuathans,
when he attempted to regain the high-kingship of Ireland.
He is believed to have been the first individual to bring the
craft of "overlooking" to a high art. Like many possessors
of the “evil-eye,” he came upon the power to bring death by
accident: As a child he was passing by a house where his
father’s druids were enacting spells, and drawn by the
chants, looked in at them through an open window. The
smoke of poisonous spells rising from their work went
directly into his eye and from that time he had to keep it
closed unless he wished to visit death on the person he
observed. Adrian Loaghrian has suggested that Balor may
have lost one of his original two eyes to his wife Caitlin
(little Cat) or Cethleen, who has been described as “a
slinger and thruster.”

It is said that "his one eye was never opened but on


the battlefield, and then four men thrust a polished handle
through the lid to lift it from the eyeball. Then men died by
thousands in the venomous fumes that emanated from it."
This sounds surprisingly like a poisonous gas attack, but
whatever the case, Balor did not remain long in action. He
was challenged by Lugh, the god of the sun, and opening his
eye to "look upon this incessant babbler" received a sling-
stone (or a dart, the tales vary) directly in the eye. It came
with such force it carried the giant's huge eye out through
the back of his skull.

The battle was then turned in favour of the Tuatha


daoine and the Fomorians were, at last, driven into the sea
from which they had come. He is similar to Cromm "The
Crooked" and is often represented as the god of winter, or
the old-year, defeated by the god of summer and new things.
This god may confer with the ON. sun-god Balder.

BALAR BAILCHEIMNECH. “Balar of the mighty blows,” but


better known for his “evil-eye.” Balardach, “gorgeous.” His
name is seen in Carn Bhalair, which is mentioned in the
Book of The Dean of Lismore. There is also Dun Bhalaire, a
site on a high rock near Ledaig in Lorne. Notice the Cy.
Boleros, the early name for Land’s End, Cornwall.

BALT, BALLT, BOLT, a welt, a fallacy, a girdle, a misleading


argument. Successful misdirection was considered a
magical practise, a lightning-strike. Related to bolc or bolg
as it appears in Firbolg and Imbolg. Possibly related to the
Lat. bolteus, a belt or girdle, the Eng. belt . See also the god
Bil or Bal and note that the ancient thunder-gods increased
their potency by taking in notches on their magical belts.
Note that the Gaelic god Lugh and the Old Norse, Thor, both
possessed a belt which gave them increasing power as it
was tightened.

BAN, BAIN, female, she, left-handed farrow, obs. copper, a


copper mine, brass, a pedestal; “white.” Often compounded
as: ban-charaid, a female relative, Anglicized as Bayne or
Bane. Related linguistically to M’Gillebane now also given
as M’Illebhàin, the “white-servant,” the “fair-haired lad.”
Into Eng. as Whyte, hence also M’Gilvane. Those belonging to
the sigh or witch tribe. A sept of Clan Mackay.

BAN-AIBHISTEAR, a she-devil, or adversary. Next.

BANA-BHUADRAICH, a female witch, sorceress, banachahd,


the act of whitening, bleaching, laying waste.

BANA-CHEARD, a female crafter, gypsy, tinkerer, a


mannerless female.

BAN-GHRUDAIR, female brewer, ale-house hostess.

BANAIS RIGI, a wedding, originally banafheis, a wedding


feast. Oir. rig, of the king, of kingship. The symbolic
marriage of the Gaelic king to the land incarnate as a
goddess.

It will be remembered that Conn was defending Tara


against an unwanted host from the Otherworld when he
chanced to step upon Fal, the screaming stone whose cries
predicted the number of kings destined to rule over Ireland.
At that moment, Conn and his druids were engulfed by an
enchanted mist and an unknown horseman approached,
throwing three spears at Conn before he desisted. Declaring
a peace, he led this chieftain to a splendid house with a
golden tree growing at its door. Within the visitors from
Ireland found a maiden wearing a crown and were given “:a
red drink” in golden goblets. Beyond her sat Lugh, “glorious
in form far beyond the sons of men.”

This god told Conn the names of his successors as high


kings. The maiden was the personification of Sovereignty.
Her function was made clear when she asked Lugh to whom
the drink of the gods should be given and he responded with
the name of various humans, giving a brief summary of their
expected exploiuts as king. It is said that the vessels of
gold and silver implicit to the wedding feast were first
given to Conn and they passed through him into use at
successive inauguration “nuptials.” The stone of Fal also
had a place in the kingdship ceremony as noted elsewhere.

BANBH. BANBA, BANUBH,(bawn vay). land left fallow for a


year, pig, EIr. banb, a pig, a queen of the Tuatha daoine,
once found "at earth" under Sliab Mis. Sometimes defined as
"land which has lain unploughed for a year; fallow land.”

A lady who often travelled by day in the form of a doe,


she befriended and married the mythic Finn mac Cumhail
(MacCool). Her name is memorialized in the place-name
Banff (Scotland and Canada) and as bunyan, a name applied
to our local mythological wood's-hero Paul Bunyan.
According to some folklorists the Milesian invaders were
met by three queens not long after they waded ashore, and
Banba was the first of this trio.

Others say that Banba, Fodla and Eriu, came in private


to the Milesian "gods" Eohgan and Brideag asking them to
invade Ireland to put down the unrest and rebellion then
being experienced in their land. These three sisters
proposed to legitimize the invasion by transferring their
land rights to the invaders. In return the Milesians
promised they would name the land they conquered in honour
of each of these three ladies, a commitment fulfilled at
various times. Notice that entitlement to land passed,
among the Tuatha daoine, from the queen to her consort.
Banba was married to the ard-righ named mac Grian,
literally, the “son of the sun,” thus she represented the
annual union of deities supposed necessary to the renewal
of the earth. When the Milesian kings followed the custom
of marrying the "queen" of Brugh na Boyne they represented
themselves as sun-kings who authority was established and
re-incarnated in an annual sexual unions with the earth-
goddess. These sisters are the same "weird sisters"
collectively represented in the Bafinn (which, see). She
appears as one of three witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

BAN-DIA, female, deity; goddess.

BAN-DIABHOL, female full of god-hood, female devil or fury.

BANDRUI, BAN DRAOIDH, the white druid, a female


practitioner of the arts. Confers with bainisg, a little old
woman, a satirist, a female druid. Any of the bafinne.

BAN-DRUIDH, enchantress, sorceress. A female druid.

BAN-DUIILEAMHUIN, obs. goddess.

BAN-FHAIDH, prophetess.

BAN-FHIOSAICHE, fortune-teller, prophetess, gypsy.

BANG, obs. To magically bind, to obtain a promise, the


healing touch. The act of reaping. Touch, hindrance, a nut.

BAN-IFRINNEACH, “woman from hell.” A Fury, a turbulent


raging human female.

BANN, a bond or bill, belt, girt, sash, tie, key-stone, hinge,


group of men, chain, fetter, cord, proclamation, interdict,
sling, Death, a ball, marching, journeying, bannach, a crafty
person. See next.

BANNAG, BANNAIG, A New Year’s gift, treat given to first-


footers, a New Year’s cake, a corn-fan, a ball used in shinty,
Bannag, the Christian Eucharist, from the Scand. bannock, a
Quarter-Day cake, See bonnach.

Baked as offerings for nature-spirits and the mortal


gods. Essentially these were oatcakes often marked in
special ways according to the season of use. Four
implements were used in preparation: the spurtle, or
porridge stick, for stirring the mixture; a notched bannock-
stick, or rolling-pin, used to create a criss-cross pattern on
the under side; a spathe, a heart-shaped implement with a
long handle, forged of iron, used for transferring the hot-
cakes from place to place; and a bannock-rack, or toaster.
The ingredients were oatmeal, fat-drippings, salt, hot-
water, and later baking-soda. The best results were said
obtained by mixing one oatcake at a time, prepariing the
second while the first cooked on a griddle standing by a
heated rock. The dough was exceptionally stcky and cooks
prevented it from sticking to implements and their hands by
rubbing meal into the surface. It was first turned out as a
smooth ball, but was kneaded with knuckles and rolled to a
thinness of about an eighth of an inch. The bannocks might
be eaten whole or cut into farles, or quarters. They were
placed raw before a moderately hot griddle smooth side
uppermost and baked steadily until they commenced to curl
at the edges. They were then carried away and rubbed with
oatmeal, then toasted lightly before a bright smokeless
flame. Oatcakes were festive fare while barley-cakes were
the staple in Scotland.

BANNAL, EIr. ban-dal or pan-nail, dal, one of two; originally


an assembly of ladies; currently, band, a company, a troop,
gang, crowd, similar to the Eng. band. Literally a “band of
whites (women).” People regarded the meeting of a crowd of
women as a sure indication that a storm was near at hand.
This may be a survival of the Old Celtic Myth of the
Cailleach Bheurr, the “Winter Hag,” a giant woman who
brought the storms of winter." (Folklore of Nova Scotia, p.
108).
BANNIG BAISTE, “a christening cake.” This edible was
placed within a linen handerkerchief and carried upon a
child’s breast to its inaugural. The first person met on the
way was invited to the ceremony and given some of the
bannoch. In the church care was taken that girls not be
baptized before boys as it was believed that girls given
precedence would be troubled with body hair. After baptism
the child was taken home and given fuarag. After that it
was passed across a live fire to frustrate the evil eye and
the designs of witchcraft. If twins were born one was
always sent to the chief’s house for fosterage as this was
considered the lucky thing to do.

BAN-RIGH, RIGHINN, a female king, queen. Thus Mhorrighan,


the “Great Queen Anu.” See next.

BAN-LAOICH, laoch, warrior, hero, champion, an amazon.


Antonia Fraser, speaking of Mhorrigan, has noted that it is
"tempting to regard this chariot-driving Warrior-Queen as
owing her authority to deep memories of a matriarchal
society... where (women) gave men the orders..." For present
day feminists the idea of ancient badb-women is comforting
to the oppressed, and suggests a future remedy, when time
might restore the old "natural" order of rule. Unfortunate
for this theory, is the fact that the law of Mebd's time was
addressed to "the men of Eirinn": "It is proper indeed, wrote
a law-giver,"...to give superiority to the noble sex, that is to
the male, for the man is the head of the woman..."4 She was
never, as elsewhere in Europe, the chattel of her husband,
but Medb was not the head of a matriarchy. Fraser thinks
such systems of government remain "very dubious" even
within the framework of entirely legendary warrior-women.
And note the next, a word with a decidely male-bias.

BANSGAL, an aged contemptible female, an unmarried


woman, an amazon, a lesbian or masculine woman, a whale
or leviathan.

4Seumas MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race, p. 152.


BAN-SITH, female of the Daoine sidh. A banshee, a wailer
after the dead of her clan. Seldom seen but when observed,
seen to have dishevelled hair and a green mantle.

Cu Chullain was successful against Morrigan-Badb-


Macha but her "magic" prevailed against him after peace
was declared between the north and the south of Ireland. In
his last days, Cu Chullain saw his death presaged when he
saw the Morrigan as a banshee, washing blood- soaked
clothing in a mountain stream. Later, he was offered food
by three Macha-look-alikes crouched about a cooking pot.
He at first refused, but was persuaded when they suggested
he was disdaining the hospitality of the poor. Eating the
meat, he found it to be his totem, dog-flesh, and was
immediately paralysed over half his body. Having eaten
Queen Medb's food, Cu Chullain was surrounded and brought
down by human enemies.

BAOBACH, panic, in a terrible fright, a man who is easily


friightened. See next.

BAOBD, BOABD, BOABH, BOABHD, BOAGH, BAO’, see BADB,


above. Wizard, wicked, devious female, witch-woman, witch
of either sex, foolish, disagreeable, she-spirit haunting a
stream, carrion-crow, raven. Confers with bo, the Eng. cow,
Bo, the English cow + abadh, talkative. The later confers
with abaich, ripe, aged; an old cow. The first word in the
compound word confers with bog, a soft place, and bochda, a
poor person, especially one inadequately dressed for the
weather. the descendants of the goddess Badb, sometimes
called Mebd or Maeve; "a wicked woman," the Gaelic "witch."
Ir. badhbh, the hoodie crow, one of the sithe, a common
scold, a nag, a witch; EIr. badb, a crow, a demon-pursuer, in
particular the Badb or Badba, the third part of the triad-
goddess Bafinn. Note also baoghan, a calf, any jolly
individual, from which baoth, foolish. Also: baoghal, danger
and baogram. a fleeting emotion. Corresponds with the Cy.
bod, the bird known as the kite; the Welsh goddess Bodnod,
the Gaullish Bodv, sometimes entitled Bovo-gnatus (the
solitary one). Similar to the ON both, war; the AS beadu,
battle; the Skr. badhate, oppress; the Lit. badas, famine. The
Skr. bodhate. to oppress.

“The responsible witches of Gaeldom were not


weaklings who were merely bad-hearted, nor were they
tricksters in self- defence. They were rather highly-gifted
women who loved being alive, and who won their place by
force of character, and by right of service. That
supernatural powers were attributed to them by the people,
makes one envy them; if they really possessed those
powers, one envies them still more. The only vice in them
which would, perhaps, have shocked the saints was their
sense of humour.

As the recognized guardians of the home parish, the


witches had a solemn sense of responsibility. Each would
fight the other, and sometimes all the others, in defence of
parochial rights and priviledges. Each too, made full use of
all the arts, whether conventional or unconventional, to
bring the luck of the milk to her own sheilings, or the luck
of the fish to her own shores. And if the old tales can be
trusted, the cows did give more milk in the sheilings, and
the herring did come to the shores, sooner or later. But the
witches were racial as well as parochial patriots. If the
kiltless armies sometimes wondered why the mist was so
thick and the rock so unexpected in Gaelic territory, there
was a woman in the place called Moy who knew. And as
likely as not, she was at that very moment handing round
silver goblets, with something in them, to the six guests
who jested and laughed round the fire, serious business
being over.

Many a time too, did those same seven big ones,


standing on the headlands of Knoydart, hurl winds and waves
against such 5 sloops of war as carried intentions that might
not be good for Gaeldom.” It was said that Barra was never
defenseless, for behind Barra stood Gormshuil of Moy, and

5Macleod, Kenneth, The Road To The Isles, Poetry, Lore, and Tradition
of the Hebrides, Grant, Edinburgh, 1927, pp. 223 -224.
beyond her deep in Gaeldom, Doideag of Mull, Laorag of
Tiree, Maol-odhar of Kintyre, Luideag of the Bens and
Corrgags and Corrag and Cas a’Mhorgain Riabhaich of
Glencoe. Before them there existed others of similar
powers. In the latter days

"Witches were said to hold their nocturnal meetings in


churches, churchyards, or in lonely places; and to be
transformed into hares, mares, cats; to ride through the
regions of the air, and to travel (instantaneously) into
distant countries; to inflict diseases, raise storms and
tempests; and for such incredible feats many were tried
tortured and burnt. AIf any one was afflicted with
hysterics, hypochondria, rheumatisms, or the like acute
diseases, it was called witchcraft; and it was sufficient to
suspect a woman if she was poor, old, ignorant, and ugly...I
have often seen all persons above twelve years of age
solemnly sworn four times in the year (at the Quarter-Days)
that they would practise no witchcraft, charms, spells &c..."

There was no single pagan religion in Britain, and


strictly speaking, witchcraft was the practise of the
Anglo-Saxon "wics", or baymen. The Gaels did have "baobhs"
who were very similar to the "wicca" and the "wicce" in
their attachments to old folk cult-practises. Neither group
was abhorred, and when individuals were punished it was
for breaking secular laws; turning magic arts to
mischievous ends, rather than for breaking Church law.
Although Britain was nominally Christian by the fourth
century, the masses were unconverted. New altars had been
set up on the old pagan bases but there was no pressure on
ordinary people to forsake their old festivals in spite of the
leanings of the kings and princes of the nation.

In the Middle Ages, the Church began to take a closer


look at homespun "witches" and the diverse odd rights of
the humble folk. This may have been a result of the
Crusades, wars mounted on the pretext of defending
Christianity against the eastern "heathens." When the upper
class crusaders returned home to Europe they brought back
some exceedingly esoteric cults which were sometimes
overtly anti-Christian. These seemed to share rituals with
local folk-practise, which had previously been tolerated.
Witchcraft was bagged with the others and declared a
heretical cult and its leader was declared to be Satan, or
the Devil, the known instigator of the eastern "heresies."

In the mid-fourteenth century the Black Death


appeared depopulating twenty-five percent of Europe. Since
evil spirits were regarded as the cause of illness,
churchmen insisted that men were being punished for their
lack of action against the dark forces. That changed in
1484 when witches and baobhs were declared members of
Satan's army, to be pursued and condemned to death.
Between that year and 1735 it was estimated that nine
million people were killed on the continent; in England about
one thousand "witches" were executed. In Scotland, which
caught the spirit of a frightened and repressive
conservatism, the effects were crueller than in England;
here torture was legally applied to baobhe although few
people were burnt alive, a widespread practise in Europe
proper.

Speaking of local practises, Mary L. Fraser said,


"Witches (boabhs) were believed to have communication
with a spirit of evil from which they received the power to
change themselves into any form they pleased. When they
took the shape of animals, they were thought to have some
evil design in view, and it was dangerous to meet them.
They were supposed to have the power to take away the
dairy products, and, indeed, those of the whole farm. The
druids led their followers to believe they had charms to
prevent the witches from doing harm, and these charms they
gave on receipt of payment. Sir Lawrence Gomme in his
"Ethnology of Folklore" traces witchcraft back to the
aboriginal inhabitants of Britain...The aboriginals believed
in their own demoniacal powers and passed on these beliefs
to their Celtic conquerors.

The Scottish witch was considered as the successor


to the druid priestess in her capacity for animal
transformations and her power over wind and waves." 6 The
above statement draws a line between the druids and the
boabhs, but this is artificial since druidheachd, or magical
ability, was a common possession of both groups. Rather, it
might be said that there were craftsmen and master-
craftsmen, witches and witch-masters, the latter having
advanced knowledge and the capacity to check those of the
lower order.

The baobhe of North America concentrated most of


their energies on theft. They had the advanatge of
invisibilty, or could delegate an animal familiar to invade
the barn to milk a neighbour's cows or steal his grains.
Less risky were feats of sympathetic magic in which the
spirit of the boabh was simply projected upon the udder of
the cow, and the milk metaphysically relayed to her own
animal or an artificial uddder in the form of a glove or piece
of unravelled rope. Where the tabihs, or familiars, were
used, rabbits and black cats seem to have been preferred,
possibly because of their speed and agility at escaping men.
Rabbit paws were coveted because it was felt that they
might contain remnant powers of a boabh. Right hand paws
from white rabbits were preferred in polite circles, while
law-breakers took the left foot from a black animal. Having
a black cat cross one's path is still considered bad luck;
while the passage of a white cat was once considered a
good omen. The reverse held true for men who had alliances
with the nathir and his kind.

Mary L. Fraser has noted several instances where


baobhe were cornered while travelling with their familiar-
spirit: "A trustworthy woman in Inverness County (Cape
Breton) knew of a certain farm where, at the milking hour, a
rabbit used to come and run in and out among the cows. The
day following..there would be no cream or milk. As this
state of affairs continued, the woman of the house asked
her husband to take his guun and shoot the

6Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, p. 63.


animal...Accordingly, the man went out prepared to put an
end to the animal. Just as he raised his gun and took aim, he
heard a child's voice warn: "Granny, Granny, hurry, they're
after you!" and he saw a small boy peering through the
pilings. He lowered the gun, picked up a stone, and threw it
at the rabbit, hitting it on the leg. It scampered off as fast
as three legs could go. The next day it was discovered that
an old woman of the neighbourhood had her leg broken in
some mysterious manner."7 Undoubtedly there are still
active baobhe, but few will admit their presence in any
present-day community.

Malcolm Campbell of Glenyer, Cape Breton did recall


that his family contained one of this kind (1980): "Sadie
there had the charm, and our neighbour had a cow...two or
three cows. But our cow would be producing more milk than
all those three because we'd be getting the milk from our
neighbour's cows. They used to tie a red string to the cow's
tail to combat this..." 8 Sadie's habits created some ill-
feeling in the village and the local merchant sometimes
refused to buy her butter, noting that the quantity was in
excess of what the single family cow could naturally
produce. One man who agreed to take butter to market for
this boabh, placed her parcels on the left of his horse and
balanced them with his own on the right. As he roide
towards town, he became aware that she was "charming"
the butter away from his side, because the containers
became unbalanced. To balance the butter on the horse he
had to stop and add stones to his own side. 9

A Marble Mountain, Cape Breton resident told Helen


Creighton how the Widow McNeil took advantage of her
neighbours by sucking the milk from their cows through
straws: "Grandfather's cows were being milked, so he

7Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, p. 64.

8Caplan, Ronald, editor, Down East, Toronto (1980), p. 28.

9Caplan, Ronald, editor, Down North, Toronto (1980), p. 29.


decided witchery was being used. The widow McNeil had
only one cow, (and she) was taking more milk to the store
than he did, so he went to Arichat to (consulte) the witch-
doctor. The doctor told him to stick a sod (from the cow's
pasture) full of needles and pins and put it into an iron pot
with a cover on it (and boil it)." After the pot was at the
boil and grandfather was satisfied that she was "feeling the
pins", he took the pot from the stove. "When Mrs. McNeil
heard of it she stopped milking the cows..." 10

The virulence of these Celtic magicians went beyond


simple theft, their power over men being expressed as,
eadar a' baobh 's a' bhuarach, caught between a boabh and a
wild cow. This is reminiscent of the English "caught
between a rock and a hard place", or "between the devil and
the deep blue sea." Residents of Mull River, in colonial Cape
Breton must have felt this way about their resident
magician. The Boabh of Mull River took her art beyond open
theft. She was never seen near the barns of her neighbours,
but it was observed that her cow sometimes gave double
portions of milk where neighbouring farmers were left with
a dry animal. She never threatened her neighbours in an
open manner, but made periodic "house-visits" up and down
the bye-way carrying "a large iron-clad canvas bag", which
she used for her "collections". She was usually explicit
about her needs, reminding people that it was better to give
than receive, and bad luck followed fast on the heels of
those who refused her "reasonable requests." It was noted
that she had the use of the "evil-eye" and guessed that she
used some terrible incantation against those who "crossed"
her. Through this industry, she remained alive to the age of
one hundred. In recognition of her centenary, she was
"gifted" with two horns, which sprouted from her forehead,
and these increased in length by a quarter inch per year,
until she died aged one hundred and eighteen.

This pioneer baobh lived alone in a windowless log


shanty, one fitted with "a queer old flue known as a witch's

10Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1968), p. 28.


chimney." This was a chimney made of cross-piled logs,
periodically fireproofed with mud. When it was seen that
the "witch" of Mull River was on her last legs, a few
charitable people brought her tallow candles so that she
would not be in complete darknesss. She thanked them but
never burned one. Instead, she melted them down and mixed
the tallow with meal which she ate. Apparently her
digestive powers were unimpaired by her final illness.
When she finally died, those at the death-watch heard
stones falling from the roof. When they went outside to see
what was happening, there was nothing to be viewed
although the sounds continued. Within the hut, there were
sounds of chanted spells bouncing from the four walls,
although the boabh was incapable of muttering anything.
The community was glad to have her dead, and considering
the sounds that persisted about the shanty, decided to burn
it to the ground. Two courageous fellows entered the hut,
piled the woman's furniture in the centre of the room and
started a blaze. As they were about to leave, they noticed
the iron-bound pouch in a corner and threw it into the
flames. There followed a terrible explosion which helped
their exit, and blasted the bag up through the chimney into
the woods. It descended untouched by fire, so they were
forced to bury it. 11

Michael MacLean of Cape Breton told the story of a


local baobh who "could practise witchcraft and sink a ship."
Apparently his father had asked her to prove her power, "So
she asked for an egg, and put the egg into a shoe and kept
rocking the shoe back and forth. And there was a ship out on
the ocean and when they looked the ship, it seems was
rocking back and forth in the waves just as she was working
the shoe. And they made her stop."12

Roland Sherwood says that sympathetic magic has

11Fraser, Mary L., Folklore Of Nova Scotia, np, nd, pp. 65-66.

12as told to Joe Neil McNeil, Tales Told Until Dawn, Toronto (1987) p.
212.
been used to sink ships, one of these being the "Favourite"
which brought Scottish settlers to Pictou township from
the port of Ullapool in 1803. As the "Favourite" stood
loaded, ready to sail, a herdsman spotted a small hare-like
animal moving from cow to cow, suckling away the milk. He
attempted to shoot at it but was prevented from doing so by
a spell which immobilzed him. Knowing that he dealt with a
boabh, the man shaved silver from a six-pence and placed
this as shot in his gun. The next time he spotted the
familiar he was able to blaze away at it, and it limped off
leaving a trail of blood. Inquires made about the parish on
the following morning found an old lady, supected of
druidheachd, laid up with a damaged leg. When this old
crone became aware that her nemesis intended to sail on
the "Favourite" she openly declared that the ship would
never reach the New World. Fearing the boabh might take
some physical act against the sea-worthiness of the vessel,
the owners had her arrested and placed under guard until the
ship was at sea. The craft sailed without incident carrying
her passengers to port on the third day of August.
Interestingly, she made the crossing in five weeks and three
days, a record which stood for many years. The five hundred
passengers embarked in perfect safety and the cargo was
removed. Suddenly, and swiftly, without rational cause, it
sank to the bottom of Pictou Harbour. The witch had been
released from behind iron bars at exactly that time.

Mother Mac, who lived near Tatamagouche, Nova


Scotia, was another boabh of this century: "One day in
spring she visited her neighbour Mrs. M... for the purpose of
purchasing two spring pigs, but they had all been sold and
Mrs. M. was unable to promise her any. This displeased Mrs.
Mac...That night when Mrs. M. went to milk her cow, she
found the creature had suddenly fallen away in its milk and
though several times through the next few days she
endeavoured to milk the cow she did not succeed in
obtaining more than half a cupful. Mrs. M. at once knew that
this was the result of Mrs. Mac's witchcraft, who, to show
her displeasure, had wished this spell upon the cow. But
fortunately a spell which can be wished can be broken... Mrs.
M. was equal to the occasion. Next morning early she turned
her cow out and watching where the animal took the first
bite of grass, she removed the soil, took it into the house
and boiled it with a little milk which the cow had given on
the previous day. While it was boiling she continued to stir
it with pins, several of which she stuck in the sod. This
proved an effective remedy and that evening the cow gave
her accustomed flow of milk. Mrs. M. saved the pins and for
atime kept several in the cuff of her sleeve. With them
about her poerson she felt no fear and her one desire was to
meet the witch face to face and this wish was not gratified.
Several days afterwards other neighbours visited Mrs. Mac.
She stated that she had accidently burned her feet, which
were all blistered. But such an improbable story found
little credance in the doubting minds of the honest
neighbours. They had heard not only of her spell on the cow,
but as well of the triumph of Mrs. M. which had been told
and retold in every home in the community. They "allowed"
that her story was a mere fabrication and that the blisters
were caused by the evil wish which when forced to leave
the cow and find another resting place, finally settled in
the feet of the witch herself. After this, Mrs. Mac's
reputation as a witch suffered a great loss of prestige and
soon the wicked "ceased from troubling"...13

A later Nova Scotia baobh was Mother Ryan of


Margaree, Cape Breton, a practitioner in a time when "the
only vocational requirements were a cross, mean look and a
tongue fluent in profanity." This witch who gloried in her
witchhood "was unwelcome in many houses; not the least of
her faults being the telling of horrendous ghost stories in
front of the children." Flora MacRitchie of Margaree had the
"evil eye" as her chief weapon, but she also kept her
community in turmoil by travelling "from house to house
leaving a curse or a blessing on those who offended or
pleased her."

13Patterson, Frank H., History of Tatamagouche, Halifax (1917)


pp.55-57.
Mother Coo was a traditional boabh, chiefly
remembered for correctly predicting future events in the
coal mines of Nova Scotia. Miss Lillian Fox of Bedford, Nova
Scotia said that this boabh was feared but often consulted:
"...she foretold that a certain mine called the "Foord Pit"
would have a serious explosion, and she named the day and
month on which it would happen. The Foord was believed to
be in excellent condition and all safety precautions were
being observed, so the miners talked and joked about the
silly tales of the "old hag". But their wives were afraid.
They coaxed and begged and thricked their menfolk to stay
above the ground, but the men wouldn't listen; and almost to
the hour, the mine blew up and the loss of life was
appalling." 14 The Foord Pit was not mythological, but
situated in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and successfully
operated for twenty years before the "bump" which occurred
on Friday, November 12, 1880 at half-past six in the
morning. A reporter said that "There were over fifty miners
on the south side (of the pit) when the explosion took place
and only two men and four boys were rescued alive. As the
pit took fire after the explosion, and burned with awful
violence, none of the dead bodies could be recovered. In
order to save the mine the waters of the East River were let
into it." 15

Miss Fox also recounted Mother Coo's prediction of the


Springhill mine disaster eleven years later. This event is
on record in New Glasgow newspapers for 1891 and has been
recorded as history: At the investigation of this collapse
pit-manager Conway revealled that, the general manager
had told him that Mother Coo had predicted an explosion in
May. He said that Mr. Swift had recommended that a
workman's committee examine the workings for unsafe

14Halperrt, Herbert, A Folklore Sampler, Saint John's, 1982, p. 10.


This elderly raconteur heard the story from her father, a Nova Scotia
school principal and apprently did not know the locvation of the coal-mine.

15Morrow, R.A.H., Story of the Springhill Disaster, Saint John,


(1891), p. 160.
practises and conditions. Historian R.A.H. Morrow added: "It
is true that in some bosoms there was a foreboding
apprehension that some dire calamity should happen in the
mines. This fear was engendered by a current report that an
old woman named "Mrs. Coo" had suggested that something
would happen about the mines during the coming month of
May. As a consequence of this report, a committee was
appointed to examine the mine, which they did, and found no
visible cause for alarm...Notwithsatnding the result of this
examination, a few of the miners still retained a germ of
their former timidity, on the plea that "Mother Coo" was
generally known to tell the truth..."16 Once again, she was
correct. The happening took place on the eastern slope,
February 21, 1891 at 1 p.m. One hundred and twenty-one
miners were instantly killed and seventeen were injured,
some fatally. Much of what used to be termed magic is now
seen to be the result of careful observation, and this may
have been Mother Coo's secret. In the winter of 1910,
James Connolly flooded a huge area above the Stellarton
mines, and found much of the ice unusable because it was
filled with bubbles of gas released from the underground.
These were the gases which caused explosions, and Mother
Coo may simply have observed their collection and escape
more carefully than otherrs.

Most local boabhean were involved with soothsaying


and the sale of herbal medicines, but there have been cases
of wonder-working. A farmer at Port Mouton suspected his
team and wagon were leviated from the ground by an
antagonistic boabh.17 This was never proven, but residents
at Big Intervale did see Mother MacKinnon cross the
Margaree River, at the height of the spring freshest, on two
barrel staves which she had strapped to her feet. 18 It was

16Morrow, R.A.H., History of the Springhill Mine Disaster, Saint John


(1891), p. 102.

17Creighton, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1968), p. 60.

18Halpert, Herbert, A Folklore Sampler, Saint John's (1982), p. 20.


usual for boabhean to project their souls upon their
taibhean, or familiars, but when the process was reversed
men fell under the influence of the "evil eye". This style of
wonder-working was attributed to Flora McRitchie of
Portree, Cape Breton. A.N. Chisholm of nearby Maragree
Forks explained that this unmarried boabh "travelled from
house to house," leaving "a curse or blessing on those who
offended or pleased her." In one instance the witch was
offended when a busy house-wife failed to offer her usual
round of tea. After six hours of contant labour she found
that her butter had not solidified, while her cream was
"turned to a sour mess". Follwing this, the lady of the house
attempted to bake bread with equally bad results. When she
told her neighbours of these misfortunes they asked if Flora
had "been about". To undo continuing bad luck, this woman
had to completely pacify the boabh, a process that took two
weeks. Flora's "evil eye" became such a nusiance that
several people co-operated in paying for the services of a
witch-master. This individual advised them to take water
from a local spring and pronounce a spell over it while
stirring in a clockwise direction. As this was done, a silver
coin was dropped to the bottom and the liquid bottled to be
sprinkled on any animal, person or thing afflicted by
witchcraft. To the surprise of all concerned this counter-
charm worked! 19

Those who possessed the "evil eye" were sometimes


noted as having "eyes as sharp as needles." In other
instances, the person who "overlooked" her neighbours was
not physically conspicuous. To be on the safe side, most
Gaels refused to allow anyone to examine newly born
animals or children. A Glen Haven, Nova Scotia, a resident
commented that "old Mother W (who lived) here (was)
supposed to be a witch. She had full and plenty of
everything. She'd come and look at your pig and it would be

19Halpert, Herbert, editor, A Folklore Sampler, Saint John's (1982),


p. 15.
sick the next day."20 Further to this, a resident of Moser's
River noted, "It was believed if a witch admired an animal
you might as well let her have it. You'd never have any luck
with it. My father had that happen to him with neighbours
who admired his Jersey cow. It died. He was Irish." 21

This is not to suggest that our common-place


ancestors were without resources of their own, it being
understood that blights and curses could not permanently
affect a blameless person. In such cases, the evil entity,
had to settle on another target, and counter-charms were
fashioned to be certain that the secondary victim was the
boabh. Where animals were killed by a spell they could
sometimes be revived by burning a bit of wearing apparel,
taken from the witch, under its nostrils.22 Some
individuals suggested filling the corpse of a dead animal
with pins, thus "pricking" the boabh where it did not
reinvigorate the animal.23 A farmer at Scotsburn thought it
advisable to haul the corpse uphill and then down again to
discourage further activity.24 As a last resort a dead animal
was sometimes buried,standing upright, at the entrance to
the barn door, it being supposed that his spirit would
prevent any further visits by the baobh. Prophylactic
measures were preferred over outright confrontation, so
farmers sometimes erected anti-boabh devices at the first
hint of trouble. Countermeasures included burning hair from
a horse or a dog in places where druidheachd was expected
to occur. Men sometimes went through elaborate rituals
which ended with embedding silver, quicksilver (mercury)

20Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 54.

21Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 55.

22Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 27.

23Creighton, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 27.

24Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 50.


or iron in especially drilled holes in door and window
casements. Letter-boards were and horseshoes were put up
above doors, care being taken to have the tines upright "lest
the witch fall out." Red rowanberries and wooden crosses
were put to the same use, and flying witches were disuaded
by discharging firearms up the flue. For additional counter-
measures see entries under bafinn, boann, bodach.

BAOBACH, from the above. A mild curse or impreciation.


“Folly upon you!” “May the witch get you!”

BAOBHANTE, elf-like.

BAOBH DEARG, (bayv djayrg), BAODHAIBH DEARG, see BADB


DEARG , aibhse, a spectre, “The Red Crow Spectre,” His
followers were the baodhaibhsi, (bhuv ee shee or shay), the
so-called “vision-makers.” Considered the guardian god of
the night-hours, a giver of prophecy. It was said that he
painted each setting sun on the western waters over
Connaught, Galway and Connemara. His mound overlooked
Loch Deargdherc, “the Lake of the Red Visions,” which is
located along the River Shannon.

BAODHAISTE, ill-used by the weather, which was thought


aroused by the baobhe. Note that the baobhe were thought to
have almost exclusive control of weather-magic. Seeabove
entry.

BAOGH, same as BAOBD. baoghal, peril, danger, crises, a bad


effect, lull in a storm. Also a favourable opportunity of
short duration.

BAOIS, noticeable lust, madness, idle talk. Possibly allied


with gheidh, desire. These attributes were considered
almost synonymous. Extremes of sexuality were considered
due to demonic or extra-spiritual possession. Baoisleach,
house of ill-repute, whore-house.

BARA, a barrow or burial mound, from MEng. barowe. Similar


to the Skye G. barpa, a cairn. In Sutherlandshire it is G.
parph. The latter from N. hvarf, a turning point, the Eng.
wharf.

BARC (BAIRCS) DIBERGI, “bark of the devils,” a pirate ship.


Supposed to have originated with the Picts. Watson thinks
that the tales of the Fomorian “sea-giants” originated with
“the depradations of the Picts of the Isles.”

BÀRD, BAIRD, a beginning poet. The lowest class of the dan


(poets) among the druids. Dudley Wright, who wrote a
scholarly tome on druidism, said that, "the period of their
novitiate lasted for twenty years... Four degrees were
conferred...the first given after three years' study in the
arts of poetry and music, if the candidate merited the
honour. The second was conferred after six years' further
study; and the final degree, equal to a doctorate, was
bestowed two years' later on the completion of the twenty
years' course. See filid. They were finally suppressed by
Christians in the late seventeenth century. It is said that
they wore sky-blue habits as “an emblem of peace.” It has
been said that the Celtic bards were committed by oath to
represent past events as candidly and truthfully as they
were able, but with the development of the so-called
Medieval Romances anachronisms became commonplace, and
earlier errors of geography, genealogy and social order
became more widespread and even deliberate. A specimen
representing the style and intent of these later writers is
seen in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (1485): “It is
noteworthy through the universal world that there be nine
worthies, the best that ever were. That is to wit three
paynyms, three Jews, and three Christian men. The paynyms
they were the incarnations of Christ, being named Hector of
Troy; Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Emperor of
Rome..And as for the Jews, which likewise were
incarnations of Our Lord, the first was the Duke Josuah,
which brought the children of Israel unto the land of the
host; the second, David, king of Jerusalem and the third
Judas Macabees. And the other incarnations have been the
noble Arthur...Charlesmagne, or Charles the Great, and last
Geoffrey of Boleyn.”
BARDACH, BARDACHD, satire, lampooning, sacrcasm, poetry,
"the prayer of a bard." See above. See also coir san sainnte.
The “thread of poetry" which was “often wound” about the
law, history and genealogy as an aid to memory; a necessity
since these important facts could not be trusted to the
lesser magic of the written word. The Gaels developed
assonantal and consonantal rhyme patterns, the latter being
referred to ascomharradh, and being especially reserved for
forewarnings.

It is said that the old school for poets trained its


students in three hundred and fifty types of metre. Twelve
years was the minimum for study, but twenty years was
required for proficiency. The lowest grade of poet was the
bardach, and there were sixteen divisions of this order,
each dependent on the number of metres mastered. The
poet's training in literature embraced three hundred and
fifty epic poems, all of which had to be committed to
memory in the finest detail. Further the ovate poet had to
be able to compose an impromptu poem on any subject
before graduating as a bardach righ or “king-bard”. The
filid-ollam was subject to proscriptions against the misuse
of power. He was forced to pay a fine for satirizing an
absent individual. He was also prohibited from ranting
against a man through a substitute poet, and was held
responsible for the crimes committed by any of his
students.

Upon graduation the high-poets became attached to


the courts of kings and princes and chieftains, where they
received a regular stipend together with a residence, land
and animals. The ollam typically received twenty-one
cows, two hounds, six horses, and fodder. As
representatives of the bardic order, they made circuits of
the countryside, always accompanied by a retinue suitable
to their social station. Twenty-four attendants was the
usual company of an ollam who intended to visit with a
person overnight. If a longer stay was contemplated, the
law limited his following to ten individuals, for the host
was expected to open his house to the party and pay all
their expenses while in residence. The most famous poets
ignored this cut-off and often travelled with three or four
times the legal limit, imposing themselves upon members
of the community for days, weeks or even months. Several
Irish kings were eaten into poverty before they developed
ruses to move the unwanted visitors to a new location. King
Gauire the Hospitable, of Connaught, was "blessed" with the
sixth century poet Senchan Torpeist for a year and a day,
before the king's brother suggested that the whole company
travel eastward in search of a lost manuscript. Since the
sought-after copy of the Tain Bo Cuailgne was rumoured
carried across the seas, the poet's entourage was
afterwards engaged in an open-ended mission which took
them out of the Gaelic realms.

Until the day of Conor mac Nessa (a one-time husband


of Mebd), the learned professions spoke using the ogham, a
cryptic tongue, supposedly invented by Ogma, the god of the
arts. This language was maintained to monopolize the
profession and impress the peasants. Conor once had the
duty of judging an argument between two poets and
discovered he understood nothing of their arguments and
counter-claims. Provoked by this, he ruled that the
profession should henceforth remain within hereditary
families, but be open to all within them, irrespective of
rank. Even so, the poets had the same eric as the king
himself and Conor protected them against the general
population which saw them as a preferred class. By Conor's
time, the business of druidism had become so profitable
that one-third the men of Ireland are estimated to have
taken up one of these arts or sciences. A vast number, with
the power to destroy through their satires, the poets had
become lazy, covetous, tyrannous, and an almost unbearable
drain on the gross national product. Men actually began to
cut them down, but Conor gathered twelve hundred of them
at his keep and protected them for seven years, until the
fervour against the group had abated.

BARRAN, “The Elder-tree,” Coping at the top of a wall:


glass, spikes, stakes erected to keep out intruders. A hedge,
the top of a mountain, a ragged covering. The Lady Cassir’s
chief advisor was a woman named Barran, whose name is
sometimes given as Barrfhind, the “leader of the white-
ones (women).” The latter word may confer with Bafinne
(which see).

BARR-REULT, the North Star. “prime-star.” See curach


sgiathach. The dwelling place of the creator-god.

BÅS, (bahs), death or Death. Destruction. Basa, fate,


fortune, basmhor, mortal. Celtic root-word, baa, to batter,
hit or slay. Similar to the Low Latin batuere and the English
word battle. Confers with the Anglo-Saxon beadu, battle or
war. Bas biol, the "clean death", death by drowning.
Basfinne, the female fates. On the Continent the death-god
was usually identified as Dis, who the Romans called
Dispater (Father Dis). This god can be shown to correspond
with Tyrr, the Old Norse god of war. The collector of souls
of the dead in Britain was more often personified as the Aog
or as the Nathair (see entries). The time of soul-seeking
was the twelve days of the Nollaig, or Yule, and the leader
of the host that swept out of the northern mountains was
sometimes said to be the Cailleach bheurr, also known as
the Baobd (see these entries). In costal regions, the
gathering of dead souls for transport to An Domhain or Tir-
nan-Og was considered the province of Manann mac Ler,
whose craft, "The Wave-Crusher" swept the seas in this
same season.

BASA, fate, fortune, in the trust of the bas-finne.


Basachadh, expiring, dying.

BASBHAIDH, a hag, a witch.

BASCAID, the Eng. basket. Basc, round, red, scarlet. One of


the Samhain rites consisted of winnowing “three wights of
nothing.” A wight was a circular wicker basket. Dame
Glendenning claims to have foreseen the shade of her
husband Simon during a solitary trip to the barn. She noted
that “I never saw him plainer than at that moment,” but
added that, “He was always annoyed at having been seen out
of the body.” The rite is accomplished as follows: “Go
secretly to the barn at night, open both doors wide, or
better, take them off their hinges, lest the being who
appears close them and do you some injury. Then take a
wecht (willow basket), or fanner, and go through the
movements of letting down corn. Repeat this operation
three times and the figure of your future spouse will
appear, passing in one door and out the other. If you are
fated to die young, a coffin will also enter and pass by.”
Note that basket-making was a magical craft axial to the
building of Gaelic shelters and ships.

BASC-AIRM, a circle. The symbol of magical closure and


regeneration.

BASCALL, obs., bas, death; coill, the woods; one who brings
death in the woods, a wild man or savage.

BAS-FINNE. bas, death; finne, maid, maiden, woman,


beautiful. whiteness, fairness, attendance, testimony,
evidence; fine, obs., milk. While men lived, their guardians
stood close by as invisible shadow-men, or women,
sometimes referred to as runners or home-shadows, fylgiar,
or nornir, or the Gaelic befimde. These were the elfin
servants of the three giant Wyrd Sisters. According to
ancient myth this trinity controlled the destinies of all the
spirits resident on earth. Wyrd was the eldest and had
control of the past; Verthandi determined events in the
present; while Skulld had charge of the future. Between
them these women were said to weave the fates of men and
the mortal-gods. In prose Edda, Gangler noted that the
Wyrds were very unequal in their dealings with men: "Some
(people) have a good life and rich, but some have little
wealth and praise, some long life, some short." Har agreed
adding, "The good nornir and well descended certainly shape
a good life; but those who meet with misfortune have
negligent nornir." Thomas Keightley said that the home-
shadows bore "a remarkable resemblance to the classical
parcae and the fairies of romance. They are all alike
represented as assisted at the birth of eminent personages,
as bestowing gifts either good or evil, and as foretelling
the future fortune of the being that has just entered
existence."

The Abenaki Indians described these attendant-spirits


as "ghost-bodies": "For a man or woman it looks like a black
shadow of a man or woman. It has hands and feet, a mouth,
a head and all the other parts of a human body. It drinks and
eats. It puts on clothes, it hunts and fishes and amuses
itself." Although this was not the only form of the English
home-shadow, it was considered a possible manifestation.
On overcast days, the guardian was observed to be entirely
invisible and was presumed to be free to travel as far ahead
of, or behind, its human as it might wish. In this situation,
the spirit often materialized as the totem-animal of the
clan to which the individual belonged. In a few situations,
where it might serve the interests of that person, the
shadow appeared as his or her double. This "doppelganger"
was supposedly responsible for individuals being seen in
two widely separated communities at the same time. Very
important individuals were born with two or three
guardians. Andthese might be observed simultaneously in as
many as four diffrent places. Even when it was invisible,
the shadow-man often heralded the arrival of his or her
human by by knocking on the walls or door of a house about
to be visisted, or by shuffling its feet in a hallway. If left
too long separated from its host, the spirit became restless
and might resort to opening or closing doors, or swinging on
them, to pass the time. In the elder days it was considered
a impolite and perhaps hostile to shut a door quickly behind
a visitor, an act that might separate the shadow from
helping his master.

While Saint Patrick's two guardian-angels provided


him with nothing beyond theological advice, those at the
call of the Celtic hero Cu Chullain supported him in battle.
When he was near death at the hands of Ferdiad, one came to
either side and soon his opponent "felt the onset of the
three together smiting his shield...Then Ferdiad remembered
that Cu Chullain had an unusual number of invisible helpers
and complained, "Thy friends of the sidh (elf or fairy folk)
have succored thee, and thou did not disclose this." "Why
complainest thou here, O Ferdiad, thou hast the invincible
horn skin (armour) whereby to multiply feats and deeds on
me, and thou has not explained how that may be opened or
closed!" With these words, Cu Chullain dismissed the
advantage of having Dolb and Indolb support his cause, and
went on to kill his combatant.

Very few of our ancestors were aware of their double,


exceptions being "gifted" individuals; those born with a
double part, or a widow's (or devil's) peak of hair between
the eyes; those delivered into our world with eyes of
differing colour, which eventually merged into one; and
posessors of the caul, fylgia, or birth membrane. Usually
the caul, which is a portion of the amniotic sac becomes
separated from the child at birth but sometimes it is intact
over the head. Folklore insisted that this was a favourable
omen, and the mother was expected to walk upon her child's
caul and hide it for fear it might be taken. At one time,
midwives supplemented their income by stealing cauls
which were offered in the black-market for purposes of
witchcraft. If this was avoided, the caul was sometimes
placed beneath the threshold stone of the home for
safekeeping. The baby would then be blessed with help from
a very powerful attendant spirit. In addition, children who
were gifted were protected against death by drowning, fire
or lightning strikes, and this advantage extended to the
house. As adults, these lucky people usually carried their
cauls on their person, or kept them close at hand. In
Maritime communities, the caul-carriers were sought after
for work in lumber mills or on ships at sea, since no damage
could come to either while these men were about. Helen
Creighton has noted that females were made to take a few
stitches in their caul as soon as they were able, thus
assuring their abilities as seamstresses. It was claimed
that gifted people had the ability to see their shadow-
duplicates, and to direct them to their advantage. Normal
individuals usually bumbled through life aware of their
runners on a subliminal level, when they implanted vague
notions of danger in the minds of their wards. Most were
unable to see the runner until it materialized before them
as a warning of impending death. Particularly clumsy
people are still accused of "tripping over their own
shadow", but few realize this once considered a fact rather
than a figure of speech.

Among most primitive peoples the shadow, as well as


reflections, are considered an embodiment of the ghost, or
spirit, a vital part of the person and a possible source of
danger to that individual. While the "breath of life" was not
considered a physical thing, the soul was thought of as a
concrete object, capable of being seen, captured or injured.
Observing the beating of his heart, man sometimes assumed
this to be the seat of his soul. When the "little animal
within" ceased to move it was assumed that the spirit had
departed and the soul was declared AWOL. Sleep and illness
were taken as times when the the soul was temporarily
absent, death being its final departure. According to the
Nootka Indians of British Columbia the soul has the shape of
a tiny man: "its seat is the crown of the head. So long as it
stands erect, its owner is hale and healthy, but when from
any cause it loses its upright position, (the man) loses his
senses. Among the Indian tribes of the Lower Fraser River,
man is held to have four souls, of which the principal one
has the form of a mannikin, while the other three are
shadows of it." This same authority noted that the Innu also
thought that "the soul exhibits the same shape as the body
it belongs to, but is of a more subtle and ethereal nature." 25

The belief in internal souls is not restricted to the


past and primitive men. The following report comes from
Tancook Island, Nova Scotia, and was made in the middle of
the current century: "When Sebastian died, when his last

25SirJames George Fraser, from "The Soul as a Manikin", The Golden


Bough, 1922, one-volume edition.
breath came, the whole shape of him came out of his mouth
like he was a young man, no longer old and wrinkled, and it
went out the door. Just before he died three little taps
came to the door, just a couple minutes before. He must
have heard them because he looked to the door."26
Noteworthy here, is the typical description of the soul
coupled with the traditional "death knock", supposedly the
responsibility of the the individual's runner or home
shadow. In the last decade, Cape Breton Magazine
interviewed a faith-healer named Cleve Townsend. This
Louisbourg, Cape Breton resident made it clear that older
concepts linger: "There's no death for the inner man. The
inner man is what controls this body, not you. It's the inner
man that's controlling everything." 27

The relationship between the home-shadow and the


human was entirely symbiotic, injury or death to one
reflecting very rapidly upon the other. The runner has been
identified as the residence of a second-soul in European
folklore. It has been suggested that those who sleep,
hallucinate, or are in a trance-state have projected their
internal soul upon this external double. In the case of the
witch, this external soul often occupied an animal body and
was commonly called a familiar. All those who were
psychic, or gifted, shared the witches' ability to see
through the eyes and hear through the ears of this shadow-
creature. In earlier times, the home-shadow was called a
runner, or a fetch, from its use as errand-boy or girl. The
mortal-god Wuotan possessed two familiars in the form of
ravens which sat upon his shoulders. As black as shadows
they departed each morning to gather intelligence for this
"father of the gods". One of these he called Hugin (thought)
and the other Munin (memory). At dusk they returned to him
and whispered news of the world into his ears. He was
keenly aware of their value: "Hugin and Munin fly each day
over the spacious earth. Always I fear for Hugin that he

26Helen Creighton, Bluenose Ghosts, p. 79.

27Robert Caplan, editor, Down North, p. 165.


come not back, Yet more anxious am I for Munin." If the
familiar of the witch, or the runner of one who was gifted,
was sent to observe the future, then that shadow-creature
was called a forerunner, and the ability was known as
foresight. If the runner was sent into the past, it was
called a hindrunner and the craft of the human was named
hindsight. A third function of the runner was to act as a
telescope for his human, allowing distant views of
activities taking place in the present. The Anglo-Saxons
called this ability clearsight; the Normans, clairvoyance.
Forays in the past were usually considered most
informative, the craft being referred to as fortune-telling
in the Anglo-Saxon world, and as divination among the
Normans. In eastern North America, the Abenaki's consulted
"those who know in advance", a class they called the nikani-
kjijitekewinu.

While the seers could call upon their shadow-people


at will, views of future events were often forced on
ordinary individuals. In Maritime Canada, these unexpected
foresights have been common. Called tokens or visions,
they were frequently connected with impending death or
disaster. Aside from meeting their own runner face-to-
face some have seen the shades of friends or relatives prior
to death. Others have observed pending ecological
disasters, the erections of mines, running of railways and
creation of manufacturing plants, in days when the land
consisted of nothing more than forest. The Gaels called the
ability "an da shealladh", the double visiion, or second-
sight, because the phenomena has been described as the
imposition of a view of the future upon a present-day
landscape. When Helen Creighton was researching folklore
in 1956 she was, "amazed to find this strange faculty
possessed by so many people."28

28Helen Creighton, Bluenose Ghosts. See Chapter One, "Forerunners"


and Chapter Four, "Foresight And Hindsight". It should be noted that she
does not understand the nature of the forerunner, describing it as the
equivalent of clairaudience.
The shadow people possessed all of the five senses
normally attributed to man so it is not surprising that
gifted individuals often received auditory tokens, or sounds
from the past or the future, the ability being named
clairaudience. Others could feel or smell aspects of other
times and places. Hence, a Cape Bretoner once rubbed his
lips and said, "indeed I feel the itch of a kiss (or perhaps a
dram) today." Our ancestors knew that a forerunner was
shaking hands with a stranger when they felt a sympathetic
itch of the right palm. Again, a quiver of the left eyelid
meant bad news lay ahead. Motion in the right eye was
taken as a good omen, and it was presumed that the runner
was looking at something favourable to fortune. Where the
contact between a guardian and his ward was tenuous, he
was forced to resort to shorthand; hence heat in the right
ear meant unfavourable rumors were being passed about a
person. If his left ear burned, this was also the case, but he
could be sure his reputation was being defended by a friend.
Tasting the past, or the future, was not a particularly
useful ability, but a few Maritimers had their lives saved by
forerunners who warned them of fire by allowing them a
early-warning smell of smoke.

BASGAIR, BASGAIRE, applaud, “death-noise,” palm of the


hand noise, lamentation expressed in the clapping of hands,
mourning-sounds. These were the sounds sometimes used by
the banshees to announce a death, and were traditional
sounds voiced by professional mourners at a wake.

BAS TREAS, the three-fold death. A situation where the hero


could only be killed by the sequential attacks of three
different weapons. The death of Diarmuid mac Fergus
followed this motif.

BAT, BATA, a stick, from MEng. batte, now bat. Confers with
bas, death. An implement of destruction through physical or
magical use.

BÂTA-MANA, MANADH, ship of omen. The death ship also


known as the Long Thane or Wave-Crester. The “Ship of
Manann,” was sometimes said to have been “gifted” upon
Lugh, the sun-god, by his foster-father. This explains why
engravings show the sailing ship followed by a sun-orb in
the sky above the mast. Whoever piloted it (and there had to
be various pilots since the gods were mortal), noticed that
the wheel was a mere decoration, since the ship responded
to the thoughts of the helmsman. It was said that this ship
always made record time, commencing its sailing schedule
at mid- night, always reaching the far shore before dawn.
This “flame-ship” could sail the hills of land as easily as it
could crest the waves of the sea. There is something very
like this ship in Norse myth: In north Frisian tradition it
was held that the giants possessed a colossus named the
Mannigful, “Full of Men,” which constantly cruised the open
ocean. This vessel was so large that the captain patrolled
the decks on a white horse. The rigging was so high and
extensive that sailors who went there as young men
returned grey-haired, The huge blocks that carried the
tackle actually contained rest stations and were
provisioned with food and water. By mischance the
helmsmen once got himself in fog and entered the English
Channel. He might not have passed the cliffs at Dover, if he
had not instructed his crew to soap the sides of the ship.
Like Manann craft, this ship could be reduced in size so that
it would fit a knap-sack. Ordinarily the death ship was seen
as teine-thall, a fire-ship; a long narrow craft as the name
suggests. This type of long-ship is generally associated
with the Vikings but it is necessary to remember that the
Old Norse had forerunners in Celtic sailors. The north of
Scotland, Shetland, the Orkney Islands and the Faeroes were
reached and settled by a seagoing people of such antiquity,
they were all in their graves before the classical
civilizations of Greece and Rome were a germ in the
Mediterranean. The Picts and the Celts who followed them
were equally competent in crossing and recrossing the “Sea
of Darkness,” and had a long love-hate relationship with the
Atlantic by 330 B.C., which some historians consider the
dawn of history.

BATH, to drown, smother, OIr. badud. Cy. boddi, Bry. beuzi,


Indo-European gadh, to sink, Skr. gadhae, the deep. Bathing
was once considered an ill-advised act.

BE. Obs. Life, woman, wife, female, Night. See next.

BEACH, The Devil’s snuff-box. Lycoperdon gigantitum. One of


the puff-balls. Beacan, obs. same, any mushroom.

BEACHD, opinion, notice, seemingly magical


prognostications resulting from keen observation, Ir.
beacht, a certain fact, a physical law, EIr. becht, I certify
(that this is correct). In eastern Canada it is said that "The
ability to read omens is closely associated with the faculty
of "beachd." It is classed as "passive divination", such
abilities having once been considered of supernatural origin.

BEAG, BEOG, N’ BE AG TOBAIR EAGNA. (be ah hag), beag,


little, short; “The Woman at the Well (Fountain).” The
guardian of the well of wisdom.

BEALCU (bayl coo), the Dog-god. Called upon by men at the


point of death, “he would not slay a foe that was badly torn
but carry him home and nurse him to health.” Afterwards he
would renew a more equal combat if requested. A “healer of
the soul-borne, mender of wounds and hatreds.” See Cromm
and note that he was accompanied by two dog-gods, one
antagonistic to men.

BEALIST, a mathematician. Beal, from OIr. Bil or Bile, a god


of the Underworld and Death; bileag, the root, the pith, the
mouth of anything, e.g. the opening in a jar.

BEALADH, anointing. Beul, the mouth, any body opening.


Ancient rituals usually anointed the major body openings
blessing the regions between. See next.

BEALLTUINN (bail-tin) May-day, the month of May in some


places. A Quarter-Day celebration until recent times. Ir.
Bealteine. EIr. Beltene or Belltaine. Perhaps belo + te + nid,
"bright-fire", the Gaelic belos being considered the
equivalent of the English bale, as in bale-fire. The AS. form
was bael, white, thus "white-fire". This festival was
established in honour of the god Beall or Beltene, also
called Bil or Bile, who the Welsh called Beli, and the Gauls,
Belenos.

The fires of Bal or Bel were actually set on May-eve,


when appropriate feasting and ritual acts took place. Note
that this god is theequivalent of the Death-God the Gauls
named Dis, who corresponds in every way with the
Scandinavian deity Tyrr. The Gauls said that Dis was their
patriarch, the giver of life as well as the god "of last
moments." A similar role was credited to Beall "the god
who gives life to men and takes it away from them." This
god may be seen as having regional equivalents in Aod and in
the Oolathair, or Allfather.

This holiday is sometimes entitled the Cetshamhain


(Samh’s (i.e. Summer’s Mayday) thus giving notice to the
female aspect and the ritual sex customary at this time.
Survivals of the May Day fires are found in France, Scotland
and Cornwall. Until the nineteenth century the Scottish Law
Term commencing in May was entitled the Beltane Term. In
the Manx language May is known as Boaldyn and May Day as
Laa Boaldyn. Significant legendary events always took
place on this date in Gaelic, Cymric and Manx tales; the
Tuatha daoine invasion of Ireland and the Milesian invasion
are two ready examples. See Latha Ruadh, See also Beltene,
Bil.

Examples of this festival in Scottish communities is


discussed elsewher but note: “the Baal worship is even
more pronounced in Ireland. In the Survey of the South of
Ireland we read: “The sun was propitiated here by sacrifices
of fire; one was on the 1st of May, for the blessing on the
seed sown. The 1st day of May is called in the Irish
language La Beal-tine, that is, the day of Beal’s fire.

Vossius says it is well known that Apollo was called


Belinus, and for this he quotes Herodian, and an inscription
at Aquileia, Apollini Beline. The Gods of Tyre were Baal,
Ashtaroth, and All the Host of Heaven... and the Phoenician
Baal, or Baalam,29 like the Irish Beal, or Bealin, denotes the
sun, as Ashtaroth does the moon.” A resident of Midart has
this to say: “A world of years ago before Prince Charlie
landed...the folk here were fierce and dark and ignorant; they
kept the Bealltainn better than Christmas or Easter Sunday.
It is said they would even be praying to the serpents...”

BEALTAINE, BEALLTAIN, obs., agreemant, compact, bargain.

BEAN, wife, female, woman, she-goat, OIr. ben, Cy. bun,


Celtic bena, Goth. gino, Eng. queen, Scot. queyn, Skr. gna. As
a verb, to touch. Cf. G. bun, root, stock, bottom and with the
root bhu, to grow, swell, increase, Skr. bhumis, the earth,
capable of pregnancy and increase. Beanag, diminished form,
term of endearment for a female, the “little woman.”

BEAN-NIGHE, BEANN-NIGHEADAIREACHD, small female spirit


haunting a loch or burn. Washes the bloddy clothes of those
destined for death. A banshee.

BEANTAG, the corn-fan of the harvest home. The spirit of


the corn was considered encapsulated within this figure
which was often over-wintered.

BEARA. “Dogfish,” A judge. A daughter of the king of


“Spain” (the west?) who married Eoghan Mor of Munster.
Eoghan first saw his mate standing within the River Eibhar
wearing the scaled “clothing” of a salmon. At home in
Ireland, the pair landed at Bantry Bay, which is still
entitled the peninsula of Beara or Beare. See Mhorrigan and
Cailleach Bheurr. The Dogfish was one of her totems.

BEASTAS FEUD, feudail, cattle, beastas, wealth. In the old


Gaelic society wealth was divided as "first wealth", one's
worth in land and cattle, and the lesser, "second wealth",

29Knowlson, T. Sharper, The origims of Popular Superstitions and


Customs (London), 1940, p. 47.
income from the earnings of labour. The former was
considered gifted upon the individual through his bafinn.

BEAN A BHEUL MHIODAIL, embodied in a comment, "the wife


with the foul mouth." A druidic aside concerning the
Christian church; a phrase levelled at her for "bad-
mouthing" the elder religions. First voiced after a curse was
"placed" on the Earl of Buchan because he expressed support
for the druidic notion that the moon was in orbit about the
earth. Alexander Barr, Bishop of Elgin speaking from a pulpit
berated the Earl adding: "Cursed be your sitting, your
standing, your riding, your walking, your sleep, your waking,
your eating, your drinking, your entering in, your going out,
cursed be you from the crown of your head to the sole of
your foot. Cursed be your casting out from the followers of
Christ, and may every person breach every kindness to you.
May your name be blotted out from the book of life, may
your name be never mentioned in the books of good men. May
your home be Korah, Datan and Abiram and as they received
the wages their guilt merited may you also be rewarded
likewise. As I throw this candle from the view of men, so
likewise may God cast you down to the deepest hole in Hell
to be in the cursed company of the guilty for ever and in the
cursed company of the sinful rulers for ever without
opportunity of freedom or salvation." Further "Big
Alexander" directed that the Earl not be buried in
consecrated ground. In response the nobleman arranged a
little fire beneath the seat of the Bishop as he sat in
church. and the cathedral was ravaged almost to the ground.

BEANN, top, horn, peak, summit, Cy. ban, MBry. bann, Eng.
knoll, Scot. knowe. A place sought for the enactment of
pagan magic. See next. From this the Scottish ben, the
summit of a mountain.

BEANNACHD, BEANNACHADH, blessing, OIr, bendacht, Cy.


bendith, allied with Latin benedictio, the English
benediction. Related to beinn, or beann, a ben or hill, the
place usually chosen for formal benedictions. Women with
eolas, or control of magical spells, attempted to relieve
curses by taking a red thread and tying it around the
afflicted person or animal while envoking a blessing. The
healing thread for humans was three-ply and made of red
wool knotted in a prescribed mannner. The knots were used
like a rosary, the charm being repeated as each knot was
fingered and passed. A portion of an old rann follows:

An (evil) eye covered thee,


A mouth bespoke thee.
A heart envied thee,

If harm has come,


With evil eye.
With evil wish,
With evil passion.
Mayst thou cast it off,
Every malignacy.
Every malice,
Every harassment.
And mayst thou be well forever,
Whilst this thread goes around thee,
In honour of all (the gods)
May the spirit of balm be everlasting.

"The spinning wheel is blessed when it is put away for


the night, the cow before she is milked; the horses when put
to any new work; the cattle when they are shut up in the
byre; the fire when the peats are covered up at bedtime; the
door when it is signed with the cross to be closed for the
night; the joiner's tools when he leaves them in his
workshop, otherwise he is likely to be disturbed by hearing
them used by unseen hands (particularly those of the spirits
of death). For the same reason, the women take the band off
the spinning wheel, for when a death is about to occur, tools
and wheel are likely to be put to use." "The boats are always
blessed at the beginning of the fishing season, and holy
water is carried in them. When one leaves the shore the
skipper says. "Let us go in the name of God." "In the name
of God let us go," is the proper refrain for the next in
command." "After the home-spun cloth has been "wauked" or
"fulled," that is cleaned or oil and grease with which it has
been dressed, there is a curious ceremonial blessing by the
Head of the fulling-women. All present stand, while, with
hands laid upon the bale of cloth, she says:

Let not thee be afflicted by the Evil Eye,


Let not be mangled,
The man about whom thou goest forever.
When he goes into battle or combat.
The protection of the Lord be with him.

"When the door is first opened in the morning one should say
:- "May God bless what my eye may see and what my hand
may touch (this day)." "An old man in Erisky used to say, on
leaving his cattle, after leading them to the hills:- "Closed
be every hole (into which they might stumble), clear be
every knowe (knoll, of obstacles) and may the herdship of
Columcille be upon you till you come again home." "One does
not hear of dogs and pigs being blessed, though they are
animals of great value to their owners. This is perhaps
because the demon, or evil thing, sometimes takes their
form, as it does that of the cat or hare. I only heard one
story of a dog being so utilized, and that was one belonging
to a priest. Whether the atmosphere was overcharged with
piety, or for what reason does not appear, but the dog, lying
on the hearth, suddenly started up, saying, "If you liked me
before, you never will again," and disappeared in a shower
of sparks." (Celtic Monthly, 1901, p. 143).

It was felt that care has to be exercised in setting


loose a curse since it would continue to circulate and
remain potent until it had produced an effect. Once voiced,
the magic words were said to hover in the air ready to fall
upon the victim in a moment when his guardian-spirit (who
Christian's referred to as the "guardian-angel") was
inattentive. If this happened, it was claimed that the
invading word-spirit would shoot "like a meteor" to the
head of that person, creating illness, accident or a
dangerous but irresistable temptation. William Carleton
contended that a curse "will rest for seven years in the air,
ready to alight..."30 The air-spirit could never affect a
blameless individual, since his guardian was always
vigilant and at hand. In addition, the curse of one individual
might be negated by the blessing of another; in which
instance, the air-borne nasty looked for a secondary host,
and finding none, might return and fall upon the boabh who
generated it. When a seemly innocent person fell ill, or was
a victim of accident, it was suspected: "He has taken on
some poor body's curse!" On the other hand, those who were
observed to have exceptionally good luck, were assumed the
recipients of "some poor body's blessing!"

BEANNACHD AN DAIN ‘S AN DOMHNAICH, The Blessing of


Heaven and the Deep. The shrewd man’s wish for his friends:
Security promised by both the fates and Heaven, paganism
and Christianity.

BEANNACHD BAIRD. A poet’s congratulations. It was


customary for the bard to salute a newly married woman
and her chamber-maids with a poetical salute on the
morning fllowing her deflowering. Also, when a man left a
festive-board, for any reason, he was forced to compose a
verse of this type before he could reseat himself.
Otherwise, he was forced to pay a monetary penalty or
perform a feat for the assembly.

BEANNCHADH BEANNACHADH NA CUAIRTE, the Blessing of


the Circle Circles of fire or water were known as effective
agents against evil. In the water rite the baobh was
required to to fetch water from “a living stream where the
dead and the living both cross.” On the lower side of such a
ford water had to be taken while kneeling on the left knee,
and hand-cupped into a crock while saying an appropriate
rann. Otherwise wordless in the quest for water, the healer
returned to his or her patient and sprinkled this water along

30William Carleton, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, pp.


203-219. From "An Essay On Irish Swearing", a very full account of oaths,
curses and blessings.
the spine and in the ears of the animal or person under
treatment. Any remaining water was poured out in a
circular pattern on a grey stone, on a standing-stone or upon
the hearth-stone. Another rite used to counteract the evil-
eye required an iron hoop. About it was wound a siaman, or
straw rope. This was saturated with a combustible and set
on fire. Handhold were provided for two women who held
the flaming hoop vertically while the ill child was passed
three times through it, the process being accompanied by
incantations in Gaelic. Three-plied wreaths fashioned of
Ivy, woodbine and rown were considered useful in
instigating dreams aimed at foresight. These were also
placed over the lintels of homes and sheds to protect the
in-dwellers from “witchcraft, the evil eye and murrain.”
Magic hops were also constructed of dandelions, milkwort
and marigold (all sun symbols). These were bound together
with household lint forming little circles three or four
inches in diameter. This trefoil was placed under milkpails
to prevent the substance of milk from being drained way by
the baobhe or sidhhe. The circle was the druidic symbol of
continuity and reincarnation, and the Christian saints are
remembered for inscribing crosses over the circles they
found cut into the standing stones. Interestingly, the “circle
of God” is invoked inhighland games of tag, where a
childtired of being chased in the game may take his rest by
declaring: “The circle of God rests on my head; you can’t
touch me. The Rev. Robert Kirk (1691) reminds us that the
Daoine sidh have the idea that “nothing perisheth but (as the
Sun and the Year) everything goes in a Circle, less or
greater, and it is renewed and refreshed in its Revolutions.”
Evan Wetz noted: “The ancient scientists called life a
Circle. In the upper half was the visible plane...we have in
the lower half of the Circle the Hades or Otherworld of the
Celts...”

BENNACHAN, a cuckhold.
BEANSITH, BEAN-NIGHE, BEAN SHITH, BAN SITH, bean + sith,
a wife of the side-hill folk. A general name given a
weregild, but particularly the prototypical Mhorrigan who
still appears to announce the deaths of those of Clan Morgan
or Mackay. “The close association of the fairies (i.e. the
Daoine sidh) with the spirits of the dead is illustrated in
the use of the anglecized Gaelic name banshee which means
literally “fairy woman,”

The name is commonly applied to the spirit of some


dead ancestress who has become the guardian spirit of one
of the great families. The banshee occupies a middle
position between mortals and the “fairies;” she is, in fact,
regarded as a mortal who has been put under enchantment
and given a fairy nature. In the highlands she is know as the
Glaistig . or Glaistig Uaine . from her wan looks and green
garments or as Maighdeann Uaine, the green-clad maiden.
Elsewhere in Scotland she is known as the Green Lady. The
Green Lady was always regarded as having been, in life, a
woman of honourable position, usually a former mistress of
the house whose precincts she haunted, and she might be
seen at dusk, gliding noiselessly through the grounds...When
any great happening or great misfortune was about to befall
the family, the event was preceded by her cries of rejoicing
or lamentation. Some have heard the call as toman milaid,
“a wailing murmer of unearthly sweetness and melancholy.
(McNeil, The Silver Bough, Vol. 1, p. 115).

Sometimes the banshee occurs as a tutelary deity of


the hills, a castle, a cattle-fold, or a well.“The banshees of
the wild were associated with solitary places. They would
wander at dusk through the woods, or by the banks of some
river, or close to some waterfall or ravine, and lure the
traveller to his doom.” The Bean-nighe, or “Washer Woman”
was of this class, and there is scarcely a mountain stream
in the highlands that lacks this ghost. “I knew of people
who, though not seeing her, heard the “slac, slac, the
pounding of her wash. Once a man passing a ford heard the
refrain, “Si do leine, si; do leine ta mi nigheadh,” - “Tis thy
shrooud, ‘tis thy shroud that I am washing!” - which he told
on going home. Not long afterwards, the same man, crossing
by the stepping-stones at the same place on a dark night
lost his footing, and being alone, was drowned. (J.J.
McPherson, a Scottish cleric and folklorist).

Reginald B. Span says that possession of a banshee “is


quite a thing to be proud of as it gives proof of distinction
and pure Hibernian breeding.” In general he says that the
noise of their wailing came a few hours before the death of
a scion of the family. When the banshee was seen it was
ofen observed as “a hideous old woman of very small size
with flowing grey robes and white hair streaming in the
wind.”

The Earls of Airlie are said to have a phantom


drummer attached to their retinue and she has announced
the impending death of a family member by beating a drum
for the past two hundred years and more. In Lord Lyttleton’s
family the forerunner takes the form of a dove which
appears before a death. Other Highland families have the
banshee materialize as a swan, and one clan has this bird
appear on a particular lake: “A member of this family
related that on one occasion the father, being a widower,
was about to marry again. On the wedding day his son
appeared very depressed, which gave offense to the
bridgegroom. He accordingly remonstrated with him,
whereupon the young man told thim that his distress was
occasioned by having seen the dath warning - the fateful
swan - and he thought it might be a bad omen for the
wedding. However, the warnning was not meant for the
father - as that night the son died unexpectedly.”

For the Span family the death-bird was a robin, which


the author noted flew into his mother’s home in South Wales
just before the individual deaths of his grandfather, his
uncle, an aunt, a brother, and a cousin. In addition the bird
appeared at Eastbourne just before the death of his
mother’s brother and her sister. S0-pan noted that the
howling of dogs oftyen prognosticated death and said that
these hell-hounds could not be chased off from the doors
and windows of sick people. “I have only once heard the
peculiar howling myself, and that was when I was in one of
the frontier mining camps in America. I was awakened by
the unearthly wailing noise of a dog. I thought at the time
that it portended death and the next day I heard that a
woman had been murdered secretly in a building outside the
dog was howling. The dog did not belong to the house, and
had no connection with the woman who was murdered...’

In Lady Fanshawe’s memoirs she relates seeing a


conventional banshee while paying a visit to the home of
Lady Honor O’Brien: She was awakened the first night she
slept there by a voice in her room and looked up to see “a
female attired in white, with red hair and a pale, ghastly
aspect.” The phantom visitor looked out a window andcried
out in a loud voice, “A horse! A horse!” There followed a
huge sigh, “which rather resembled the wind than the voice
of a human being.” After this the apparition dissolved but
Lady Fanshawe was so frightened she shook her husband
awake, told him what had happened, and pointed out the open
window through which the banshee had retreated. This was
a species of banshee, for the next morning Lady Honor
informed them that there had been a death in the family and
said she hoped they had not been overly disturbed by their
banshee. In Cornwall, as elsewhere, there are some families
whose forerunner is a black dog. In the former countryside,
a lady newly married into a Celtic family rushed from the
nursery to ask the others to help drive off a big black dog
which was lying on her child’s bed. When they went up the
dog was not there, but the child was dead.

In 1818 Sir Walter Scott was at his home,


Abbotsford, when he heard a night-sound “like boards being
drawn along the new part of the house.” He arose, and
broadsword in hand, went to meet the source of the
commotion. Nothing was seen that night but the next
morning he received news that George Bullock, his builder
of the new wing, had died at the very hour of the
disturbance. Commenting by letter, at a later date, Scott
noted:: “Were you not struck by the fantastical coincidence
of our nocturnal disturbances at Abbotsford with the
melancholy event that followed? I protest to you, the noise
resembled half a dozen men hard at work, putting up boards
and furniture, and nothing can be more certain than that
there was nobody on the premises at the time.”

The gille of the Chieftain of Clan Ranald met a


banshee at the Benbecula ford and hearing her at the death-
wail, he seized her hoping to learn who was doomed. The
woman finally answered: “I am washing the shroud and
crooning the dirge for Great Clan Ranald of the Isles; and he
shall never again in his living life of the world go thither
nor come hither across the clachan of Dun Borve.” Hoping to
forestall this fate the servant seized the shroud and threw
it into the water. When he reported these happenings to the
Chief, the head of Clan Ranald instructed that a cow be
killed, and instructed that a coracle be constructed using
the hide. In this rude boat he set sail into the west and was
never seen again in human form. In Perthshire this washer-
woman was described as small and well-fed, clad in flimsy
raiment of an emerald green. The person who happen to see
her was advised to attempt to catch her between his
outstretched arms, stealing away being a bad omen.
In Skye she was described as a squat toad-like
creature rersembling a small, pitifully deformed child. If
whe happened to be captured while “dreeing her weird,” she
was reputed to answer all questions truthfully. If a banshee
noticed a potential captor she was likely to curse him with
“wooden limbs,” render him impotent or injure him with a
fire-spell. In the Highlands there are traditional haunts for
the various waher-women. One of these is in the Alvie
district of Invernesshire. This lady was guessed to be
visible only for those in dangerous of imminent death. The
Mermaid of Loch Slin belongs to this species. On a Sunday
morning is said that a Cromarty maiden met this creature in
to form of a tall woman standing in the water, knocking her
clothes on a stone with a washing stick. On a nearby
bleaching-green, the young girl saw thirty smocks and
shirts, all besmeared with bloood and gore. Not long after,
the roof of Fearn Abbey collapsed during worship, buring the
congregation and killing thirty-six people. See Mhorrigan,
baobd, Macha, bafinn. caoineag, eun glas, glaistig, gruagach

BEANTAG, a corn-fan, the “miden” or “old hag” of the first


quarter festival.

BEARNAN BRIDE, the “cleft” bride; the dandelion. Said to


nourish the early lamb at the time of Bride’s Day (February
2). A sun symbol, the flower of Lugh and Bridd, see above.

BEARRADH EIOIN IS AMADAIN, Clipping hair from one side of


the head. A former mark of dishonour. A form of punishment
as “Clipping the wing from a bird.”

BEARRADAIREACHD, a nimble feat, flighty (act), bearr, to


cut away, to shear. See above. A contest of wits. When the
cliar sheananchain camped upon the hopitality of common
men and became a burden they could only be made to “move
on over” by worsting them in mental or physical
gymnastics. When they were outsung, outplayed or tricked
honour forbade them from staying longer. If they could not
comply with a request for a professional service they were
considered “sheared away.” This act of “shearing” was also
termed gearradh cainnte. An Irishman named Marvan got rid
of his hangers-on by asking them for several days of cronan,
or crooning. Marvan noted that they exhausted themselves
before they had fulfilled his expectations. Before they had
recovered from that Marvan demanded that they recount the
Tain Bo Cualgne , knowing full-well that that story was, at
this time, forgotten. When they could not comply he put a
geasa upon them that they should never remain for two
nights with a particular landholder until they had pieced
that old story together. This the bards finally managed by
recalling a particpant in that “cattle raid” from the dead to
recite the great tale. When Saint Columba was satirized by
visiting poets “his face did sweat exceedingly, and he put
his hand to his face to take away that sweat and that sweat
became a talent of gold in his hand, and he gave that talent
o the poets (thereby shifting the balance of power).

BEATHA, life, livelihood, food, welcome, salutation, OIr.


bethu, root bith. From this beathach, an animal. Beathuile,
the whole life, life force, the three fold life (life, death and
rebirth in one).

BEBHIONN. Vivienne. A giantess, the daughter of Treon,


from the western Land of Maidens. She was unwillingly
betrothed to a Fomorian named Æda (Aod) and having heard
of the Fiann from a fisherman accidentally thrown up on her
shores, came seeking his protection. While they were
discussing sanctuary the suitor appeared and thrust a spear
through her body. Angered at this, the Fiann pursued but the
stranger walked into the surf where he was “met by a great
galley and bore away to regions unknown.” As the woman
lay dying she distributed the gold rings from her fingers
(which were as big as ox-yokes) among the sons of men.
The Fiann raised a pillar-stone over her body at the place
now called the Ridge of the Dead Stranger.

BEBO, The wife of Iuban king of Faylinn (the Little People).


She had an affair with the human named Fergus mac Leide.

BECUMA CNEISGEL, (bay-kun-a), bo, cow; cuma, of mourning,


the “Beckoning Fair One.” She came to Ireland from Manann
Mac Ler’s Land of Promise. There she had an unsanctioned
affair with a son of the sea-god. and was banished to the
human world. She persuaded Conn of the Hundred Battles,
High King at the time, to take her as a concubine. While she
lived with him all of Ireland suffered famine and desolation.
She challanged Conn’s son Art to fidchell and he was
banished for a time to the Otherworld as a result of his
loss.

BEC FOLA. The wife of King Diarmuid, who “left him one
morning” spending one day and one night in the Otherworld.
On her return she found her husband just stirring from sleep
and completely unware of her seemingly protracted noctural
adventures. See alp.

BEFHIND BEFINNE, BAFINNE, BASFINNE, (bah in yah) the


“white lady,” bainne, “milk,” “milk-like;” finne, maiden.
Bas, “dead white,” Her minion were the banshees and she
was the triad of the Fates. She is sometimes identified as a
sister of Boann, “the White Cow.” See entry under alternate
spelling Bafinn. The triad of Mhorrigan, Boabh and
Macha. The befind have been described as "sidh who
predict the future and endow it with good or doubtful gifts."
"Sidh" corresponds very loosely with the Anglo-Saxon "ealf"
and the Norman "fayre". Unlike the fairies, the sidh were
thin rather than little people, up to six feet in height,
handsome and young looking in spite of their great age.
Nancy Arrowsmith says that they were a shadowy race who
could only materialize in the presence of humans. "Even
their beauty is of another world. Their skin is soft, their
hair long and flowing, their clothes blindingly white. Their
voices are sweet and seductive and their bagpiping
unrivalled."

Maria Leach (Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary


of Folklore, 1972) says that the befind and the Norse
valkyra, or norns, are parallel beings. We go to the prose
Edda for something of their character: "There standeth a
city under the ash (i.e. Yggdrasil, Wuotan's tree, the world
tree) near the spring, and out of its halls came three maids
who are thus named, Udr (corresponding with Mhorrigan),
Verthandi (Badb, Mebd or Maeve), Skulld (Macha). These are
the Past, Present and Future. These maids shape the lives
of man. We call them Nornir. But there are now many
nornir; those who come to each child that is born, to shape
its life, are of the race of the gods; but others are of the
race of Alfs (elfs); and the third of the race of dwarfs. The
nornir shape the future destiny of men very unequally. Some
have a good life and rich, but some have little wealth and
praise, some long life, some short. The good nornir, and
well met shape a good life; but as to those who meet with
misfortune, they are given malignant nornir."

The Norns were sometimes called the Vals, a word


which means prophetess. All were female and their
predictions were unfailing. The Roman general Drusus was
so terrified by one of these, who warned him not to cross
the river Elbe, he retreated, and afterwards died in a fall
from a horse just as she had predicted.

Also known as the Hagedises (women of the death god


Dis) they officiated at forest shrines and accompanied the
invading armies of the north. Riding within, or ahead of the
host they urged the men to victory and when the battle
ceased bled the bodies of captives into great iron tubs. Into
these they plunged their arms prior to joining abandoned
dances and the ceremonies of their order.

The Norns were originally a single goddess, entitled


Udr in the Old Norse tongue and Wyrd in that of the Anglo-
Saxons. From the latter we have our word weird, and the
three weird sisters who confronted Macbeth in
Shakespeare's play. The befind had a similar reputation and
were described as the "bhaobh", which interprets from
Gaelic as "a hag, witch, wizard, or carrion crow." The male
of the species is sometimes called a "bhodach" (cow tender,
rustic). The most dangerous position a Gael can be in is
still "eadar a'bhaobh s'a' bhuarach", which is, caught
between a witch and a tethered but enraged cow. Donald
Lamont explains our definition more fully by noting that
witches were supposed to be capable of taking the form of
carrion crows. We further note that shape-shifting was the
chief magical ability of the Fomorian giants, who could take
any organic or inorganic form at will.

The triad-goddesses appeared individually in the


Celtic countryside but they might unite in the form of Badb
(whose name is a variant of "bhoabh"), in order to pursue
battle, for this lady was the goddess of the present, the
mature warrior-woman, whose food was the heads of slain
enemies. She had the unnerving habit of materializing
before men who were destined to die, invariably bespeaking
their fate with a crow call. When she was not busy at this,
she flew across the battlefield in crow form attempting to
demoralize the enemy with her cries. She also materialized
and dematerialized as a vicious predatory animals, creating
confusion among enemies of the Tuatha daoine, and nipping
at the heels of those she particularly disliked.

Unlikely as it seems, there is a tale of a battle-crow


in action against men on Tabnnock Moor, near Wick, Scotland
in 1438: The Clann Gunn began a land quarrel with the
Keiths as early as 1426 and kept up the pressure until that
they met near Halberry Castle. Iian Moncrieffe thought the
warfare had a distinctly Nordic flavour, as Odin was always
attended by two black birds who were his spies in the land
of men. In any instance, the Gunns reported that the battle
was won with the help of a huge Keith warrior "attended by
a devil with the shape of a crow or raven sitting on his
shoulder and assisting him by tearing the eyes out of the
sockets of some of our men." Fortunately for my own clan,
the Mackays were allied with the Keiths in this victory. The
Gunns managed their revenge in 1517 when they defeated
the Mackays at Torran Dubh in Bogart.

The Badb does not appear often in accounts of our


Celtic past but she was at "The Destruction of Da Derga's
Hostel": Conaire Mor reigned as High King of Ireland in the
century before the birth of Christ. In the pursuit of law and
order he exiled his four foster brothers, sons of a great
chieftain in Leinster. These returned from Britain with a
Ingcel, son of a British king and a host of mercenaries. They
caught with King Conaire while he was staying at a hostel,
one of six safe-houses in Ireland. A giantess came alone to
Derga's Hostel and stood at the gate asking entrance.
Conaire was on guard as it had been predicted that he would
die if he admitted any solitary woman to his dwelling place
after dark. He was perturbed when she said her listed
Samhuin as one of her names, but he became fearful when
she mentioned Badb, who he knew as the presager of
slaughter. He tried to turn her away, but when she impugned
his hospitality he felt obliged to open the gate. Conaire's
foes entered in Badb's wake and the hostel was fired, the
goddess appearing before the king as he lay dying.

As Macha, the goddess represented the future fate of


all women, typically appearing as a withered crone or
bhoabh. In this guise she sometimes approached the camps
of men, converting herself to a beautiful woman and
favouring the beds of those who used her with kindness.
Those who greeted her with rapacious intent often found
themselves magically bound to one of the trees of the
forest.

The people of Macha were originally the northern Irish


and in one reincarnation she favoured Crunniac Mac
Agnomain with marriage. He was a widower and she came
to his door as a ravishingly beautiful dark-haired woman. In
this guise she provided him with love, children and even
food and drink. As a huntress she showed her divinity in an
ability to outrun the animals of the forest, but bedded with
Crunniac after a promise that he would not question her
origin or ask that she demonstrate her running skill.

Again, alcohol did down this otherwise lucky man.


While in his cups he bragged that his wife could outrun the
King's stallions. A wager was made and to save her
husband's honour Macha agreed to the contest. Being
pregnant and close to term, she begged the men of Ulster to
delay the race until she had delivered but they refused her
request. As a result, she ran and beat the stallions by half a
course but collapsed at the finish line. She went into
painful labour but survived to bear twins, who gave their
name to present day Emain Macha. Recovering quickly, the
Macha held her offspring before the assembly and predicted
that the men of Ulster would be punished for their
indifference by suffering pangs of childbirth when their
country was in military need. She advised that this curse
would continue for eight times eight generations. After
that, this "horse-goddess" took her children under her arms
and spend off, road-runner style, to a new affiliation with
the people of Connaught province.

At the time of Christ, the High King was Eochaid


whose daughter was Mebd, this same reincarnate battle-
goddess. She first married Conor MacNessa the ruler of
Ulster, but he separated from her and remarried her sister
Ethne (sweet kernal of the nut). Mebd took refuge at the
Connaught court where she remarried and outlived a second
husband afterwards choosing Ailill of Leinester as her
consort.

This set the stage for a classic battle between Ulster


and Connaught, a tale enshrined as Tain Bo Cuailnge, or The
Cattle Raid of Cooley. The trouble started when King Ailill
and Queen Mebd began comparing their worldly possession,
the reckoning favouring the former by one prize bull. To
improve her herd the Queen sent a courier to Couth Louth
(which was allied with Ulster) requesting stud service from
the celebrated brown bull of Cuailgne. The request was
granted but the well-lubricated emissary for Mebd bragged
that if the bull had not been offered his queen would have
taken it anyhow. This boasting carried back to the chief of
the province who ordered the courier back to Connaught
without the bull.

Enraged, Queen Mebd determined to war with Ulster


and take the animal by force. She had the Connaught army
under Ferdiad and a group of Ulster malcontents under
Fergus MacRigh (a cousin of King Conor) at her back. She
also had her other allies, in all three-fifths of the
population of Ireland.

She might have succeeded except for the intervention


of the northern hero, Cu Chulainn (The Hound of Chulainn).
This lad was born under another name but received this
nickname when he killed the watchdog of the smith named
Chulainn and undertook to compensate him by acting the
part of a dog for one year. Having acquired a dog spirit as
his befind Chulainn was afterwards under a "geis" never to
eat dog meat.

Cu Chulainn was not out of adolescence which was


fortunate since mature Ulstermen were overtaken by
Macha's curse as her troops marched north. While they
remained doubled over in pain, Cu Chullain went to the ford
of Ulster and single-handedly opposed the Connaught men,
who were unable to pass this location except in single file.
Seeing that a quick victory was not at hand, Mebd agreed to
match one a champion a day against the Ulster hero, noting
wryly, "It is better to lose one man a day than a hundred."

Again and again Cu Chulainn despatched his opponents,


including at the last, his old friend, the Connaught leader
Ferdiad, who had come to the battle after bedding with Mebd
and being promised marriage with her daughter Finnahair.
All of her champions having failed, the witch-queen
resorted to magic, hiring the Calatin magicians to bewitch
and kill her enemy. This fight looked like loser for Cu
Chullain, but some of the Connaught forces switched sides
and helped kill the magic-makers.

At this point, Mebd was clearly impressed by Cu


Chulainn's virility and appeared before him as the Mhorrigan
offering him her love. Failing to recognize the crow-
goddess, Cu Chullain spurned her, after which she
materialized before him as a huge serpent, and then as a
she-wolf and as a heifer, making repeated attempts to
overcome him by physical force. The god-like Cu Chulainn
was equal to all this and very nearly killed the Mhorrigan.

During this time, the Ulster forces remained severely


inconvenienced by Macha's curse. Suspecting that the
single-handed approach would finally fail, Cu Chullain's
mortal father attempted to rouse his compatriots. In an
unbelievable bit of bad luck Sualdam accidentally beheaded
himself. The separated head continued to make the call to
arms shaking the Ulstermen from their lethargy. The hosts
gathered, and finally the invaders were driven off.

Peace between the north and south followed, but


Mebd's hate for Cu Chullain became implacable and she again
plotted to destroy him through magic. She first planned to
drive him into madness by sending phantom armies against
him but he recovered through the counter-magic of Cathbad.
Nevertheless, the auguries of death gathered about Cu
Chullain. He next saw the Mhorrigan, who Gaels still
identify as one of the "bean-nighe" (washing women) or
"bean-sidhe" (i.e. banshee or side-hill women), washing
blood soaked garments in a mountain stream. He then came
upon three bhoabhs hunched around a cooking pot, after the
fashion of Macbeth's weird sisters. They begged him to eat
with them, and when he refused, accused him of being to
proud to share the hospitality of the poor. Stung by this, he
ate and rose to find his body half paralysed, the repast
having been dog meat.

Enemy druids now drew near, asking for his spears and
threatening to satirize him in their poems if he did not
grant their requests. He complied by throwing one into the
body of each man. Less uncanny warriors approached, and Cu
Chullain was cut down at the age of twenty-seven, leaving
Mebd to relish another pyrrhic victory for Ulster was intact.

At the hostel, the Mhorrigan had named herself "an


Samhuin", the ritual bride of the kings of Tara. Her season
is still remembered as "an samhradh" (the time of the ride
of Samh), which the Anglo-Saxons called "summer".
Samhuin or Samhainn also identifies the first day of
November and the entire month that follows, the latter
being entitled, "an t-Samhainn". It should be noted that the
ancient Celts recognized only two seasons, the time of
Samh and that of "an geamhradh" (the riding out time of the
game-keeper), which most of us call "winter". The
gamekeeper is better known as "an Cailleach Bheur" (the
winter hag), who corresponds exactly with the "bhoabh".
Summer is therefore seen as the season of the Mhorrigan
and winter as a time preferred by her alter-egos, the Badb
and the Macha.

BEGA, the “Little One.” An Irish princess who escaped an


arranged marriage to a prince of Norway when angels
brought her an “engagement bracelet” marked with the sign
of the cross. She slipped away from her wedding feast,
wearing nothing but the token, and jumped into the sea. She
was washed along the coasts of Cumberland, sustained
during the crossing by “food” delivered to her by seagulls.
Bega eventually founded a cloister in the northwest of
England, and there her bracelet is still guarded by nuns, who
take solemn oaths upon it. Formerly it was used to curse
foreign enemies.

BEINN NA’ MAC DHUBHI, “Mountain of the Son of the Black


One.” Home to the Grey Man, in the Grampians of Scotland.
Climbers there have been followed by ghostly footsteps.
Those harassed in this way have included Professor Norman
Collie who climbed those mountains in 1891. In a fit of
terror he fled from the summit and ran five miles downhill.
Another camper on the top reported seeing “a great brown
creature swaggering down the hill.” It was said to have
been more than 20 feet in height “covered with short brown
hair and possessing a large head.” Tom Crowley, who
encountered it in the 1920’s said it had pointed ears, long
legs and feet fitted with talons. Like Collie, he fled from it.
One of the mountain-dwelling uirsige, the “hairy men”
known as “bigfeet” in North America. The Himalayan Yeti.

BEINN NA CAILLEACH, “Mountains of the Winter Hag,”


located on the Isle of Skye. Prominent features of the
landscape which carry storm clouds throughout the months
of the “little sun.” Their crags supply freezing rain and wet
weather to the moors below. It used to be said that the Hag
in the form of a white mare was often seen leaping between
these mountains. See Cailleach Bheurr. Winter is
sometimes said to originate on these and similar heights of
land.

BEIRE, beir, catch, bring forth a hidden object; Ir. beirim,


OIr. berim, the Cy. cymmeryd, to take, to accept, Br. kemeret
(com-ber), the Indo-European bher from which all these as
well as the Latin fero and the English word bear. Related
words are beer, and boar as well as the Gaelic beirm, to
rise up, hence barm or yeast. The Latin equivalent is
fermentum. Monson says that “In the Elder Eddas it is said
that ol (ale) among men is called bior among the gods.” This
drink of the gods was the so-called Gaelic fraoch ool,
“heather ale” “the secret of which has long been considered
irretrivably lost.” When the Roman traveller Pytheas came
to Pictland he found the natives involved in brewing this
potent drink. It has even been suggested that the Scots were
lured from Ireland by the fame of this concoction. Some of
these Pictish breweries have survived in Galloway although
they no longer supply the old product. There are still pear-
shaped vats about sixteen feet long by eight deep, all
situated on southern hill slopes near swift-running
streams. In the twelfth century the German brewing method
was introduced into Scotland and the local drink was
gradually superseded by ale derived from malted barley. In
Galloway, however, this earlier drink was brewed until the
last century. The term beer originally implied a drink
brewed with an infusion of hops, but the name now applies
to any malted liquor, ale being, commonly, but not
exclusively of lighter colour. See fraoch ôl.

BEIREGONIUM, “Place of the Wounded Bear.” The supposed


seat of the Pictish kings, the equivalent of the Scottish
Dunadd and the Irish Tara. Support is given for this in the
fact that the Island of Lismore, the known burial ground of
royalty is only one and a half miles distant from this
coastal location. Like the Scottish capital this was a
multi-layered structure incorporating several stone forts
on a single hill. Located near Oban.

BEIST, beast, monster, beast of prey, wretch.

BEIST NAN COILLE DUBTHACH, the “Beast of the Burnt


Woods,” having reference to a creature said to inhabit the
charred remmains of the old forest of Sutherlandshire, in
the northwest of mainland Scotland. It is said that the
Scandinavian vikings fired these lands to destroy cover for
natives who might lie in ambush, but the locals had
otherideas, insisting that the woods were burned down by a
fire-breathing beast. The monster was said to have been
killed with arrows by St. Gilbert, and the folk of the land
are said to have buried it between Dornoch and Skibo, and
covered it with a memorial known as “The Beast’s Stone.”
See nathair.

BEITH, BHEITHE, first letter of the Old Gaelic alphabet. (be),


birch. One of the nine magical woods used to kindle the
druidic fires. The others were the willow, hazel, alder, ash,
yew, elm and the oak. OIr. bethe, Cy. bedw, Bry. bezuenn,
Celtic root betva, Lat. betula, Fr. boule. Note that it was
said that men should seek “the birch of the waterfall” for
ritual purposes, and this tree was the totem of the House
of Don. It is thus attached to the Oolathair who is the Old
Norse Alfadr or “Allfather.” In the Heimskringla Erling
Monsen adds this useful note: “Odin’s vine was the scaldic
art of poetry, (but more literally) the buds on the birch
tree.” In Old Norse these buds were also entitled birkibrum,
and indeed “brooms” were fashioned from the nether ends of
the birch tree. Notice that the touch of windblown birch
“fingers” after dark was considered to lead to certain
death. Thus, the tree was seen as the embodiment of some
dark lord such as Cromm.

BEITHER, BEITHIR, (be-hir), bear, a snake, a serpent; any


untrustworthy beast, any wild beast, a monster, a huge
marine monster, in particular the skate. Ir. wild beast, in
particular a bear, cf. ON, betrix, Latin, bestia, English bear.
It was once commonlace to place the beither mor, or “great
snake” about the neck to ensure “enchantment, spells and
aall sorts of adventures.” In the tales it was said that the
great snake became part of the form of the wearer.

"The sages built an observatory on the top of Mount


Cliatramal (North Uist) where they were measuring and
taking observations of the skies during the night. At times
they would be building fires here and there, sometimes
grinding conusg, sealbhag, gille guirmein, iris root and so
on, in order to put colour into their fire. There was the
time when they were returning at night (from
observations)...They were descending on the north-west
face, making for Dorghais, the next hill...(when) the sky
opened up with a fearful barrage of thunder and lightning.
The next thing they noticed was that a fireball (meteorite)
had struck the south-west shoulder of Mairemheall, and that
area of the hill was set all afire, the soil and undergrowth
swept away in the path of the fireball, and by the force of
storm.

Though the sages (druids) were understanding


completely the natural causes of such happenings, the
Church did not. The Church had the opinion that this was
caused by a large venomous serpent, which the Evil One sent
to scourge the people and they were in the habit of calling
upon St. Columba to protect them from this beither. They
(churchmen) were spreading tales about the Sages of the
White Mountain to the effect that they were visited by a
judgement of God because they took unlawful measurements
of earth and sky from their Observatory." Thus it was that a
portion of Mairemheall is still named Sgriob na Beitheir,
“The Blow of the Serpent.”

At a later date, a hurricane blew in from the ocean and


devastated the township of Balemore. Prior to this, the
sages had built fires on the hilltops of the adjacent loch and
their observations pointed to a tropical storm. There
warnings were not taken, and afterwards the Christian
clerics spread word that the pagan fires had roused an
invisible beast of the air. Since that time the loch has been
called Loch na Beisde, the Loch of the Beast.” (from The
Hebridean Connection).

BEL. obs. Oir., the chief speaker for a group of folk. the
"mouth" of the tribe; the leader. bi, to be, to exist, In
Gaelic. the word continues in several forms, notably beul,
mouth, derived. Certainly it is related to balgum, a
mouthfull, and bailceach, a strong man, the chief of a baile,
or township. Also note: bealltuinn, or balefire, the fires of
Be-al and the time when they were lit, i.e. May Day. The
wordsmith, Alexander Macbain adds that the word confers
with the Anglo-Saxon bael white (like intense fire) and
with the Gaullish god-names Belenos and Belisama.

"Baal" was never a word which was the sole property


of the Phoenicians, being rather "any of a multitude of local
deities of the Semetic races, each distinguished by the
name of his own place or of some distinctive character or
attribute. Thus the Hebrews used the name in the sense of
"lord", and we see Biblical references to the Baal of Tyre, of
Sidon, of Lebanon, and of Tarus. Of particular note was
Baal-ze-bub, liteerally the Lord of Flies, sometimes
confounded with Satan or the Devil. Baal became a
compound in many eastern place names and in the names of
people, some examples being: Hannibaal (in favour with
Baal); Hasdrubaal (the helper of Baal); Baal-hermon (place
of the Baal named Hermon); and Baal-peor (place of the Baal
named Peter). Something very similar is found in Gaelic
places such as Baile-nan-cailleach (place of the old woman
goddess); Baile-an-luig (place of the god Lugh); and
Bail'uaine (place of the green-coloured lord). Thus the
Olaithir is represented in those who have particulary large
portions of his spirit.

Some of these nature gods are the elemental gods,


those whose existence was independent of time and who
shared in the indestructibilty and immortality of the
Oolaithir. Among all the northern tribes the will of the
Allfather was seen as the impetus for the creation but the
elementals were credited with performing the physical
tasks that led to the rise of the worlds and life forms from
darkling swirls of dust.

The immortal god had no restrictions on his power,


except those he willingly placed on himself when he created
the elementals. Sir James George Fraser noticed that these
spirits of nature are distinguished from the creator god and
mortal gods by the fact that their magic is confined to a
single department of nature. He has also noted: "Their
names are generic, not proper." This means that the names
they are given are synonyms for fire, air and water.
Wherever they were found, the three prime nature spirits
were members of a class, having no marked individuality, no
agreed upon origins, and (in general) a threadbare history.

Men agreed that the elementals were a surly lot,


liable to bring storms of fire, wind and water upon men
without warning or care for their needs or desires. Forest
fires, tornados and dangerous eddies of water were seen as
embodied powers that ravaged in spite of sacrifice, prayer
and praise. Propitiation moved neither the creator-god nor
his god-spirits although occasional attempts were made to
influence the latter through sympathetic magic: When the
earth was dry individuals sometimes sprinkled droplets of
water on it hoping to get the attention of the water god,
who might respond by creating showers on a larger scale.
Where the sun was wanting hunters sometimes fired
flaming arrows into the clouds hoping to catch the "eye" of
the sun god on the other side of the overcast. If a little
wind was needed to propel a sailing ship, a cloth might be
flapped in the air with the intention of arousing the
legarthic wind-god. These rites of the elder world could be
performed by any individual, at any time or place as the
ocassion demanded. No temples were built to honour the
triad of elementals and no special class of individual was
needed to act as priests to the tribe.

BEL-AIN, The circle of Bel, i..e. The Sun. The latter part of
the compound is ann, circle or revolution from the
matriarchal goddess Anu or Dane. The word also implies a
living object.

BELTENE, (Bal-tinna), one of several names given the god of


death. Corresponds with Bile and the Cymric god Beli (the
husband of Don). See Nathair. See also Bealltuinn, his
holiday. Note the correspondence with beul, a mouth, a
devourer. The Erse form is sometimes given as Ceiteane.
which confers perfectly with Aod. See also Beul and
Cambeul.

BENEN, the son of an Irish chieftain converted as a child by


Patrick. He succeeded Patrick as bishop at Armagh.

BEO, alive, living, quick, sprightly, living flesh; obs. Cattle,


beol, a robber after the god Bil.

BEO-IOBAIRT, a living scarifice.

BEOLG, hindsight as opposed to fios fithich, foresight. Beo,


living. An ability thought dependant upon the familiar, or
befind of an individual.

Those who were "gifted" were capable of directing


these invisible spirits to run into the past seeking
information, termed "hindsight." Once there, the human
directed his life-force into his double, allowing sight
through the eyes of this distant observer. During this time,
the vacated human body became a relatively inactive shell,
or might fall into a coma or trance-state.

On January 2, 1950 Miss E. F. Smith was travelling by


car on the road from Brechin when her car skidded into a
ditch "just past Aldbar School." She had to abandon her car,
and being on a back-road was faced with walking ten miles
to her own home. As she neared Letham village, about two
miles en-route, she saw moving torches in the dark. Some
of the torches gradually approached to within a distance
that she estimated as "about 50 yards." At that the little
dog who had accompanied her became frantic and would only
quiet when parked on her left shoulder. Feeling "a positive
disinclination to linger" she fled toward the village.
Interviewed afterwards by The Journal of the Society for
Psychical Research (Volume 49), she said she had seen
figures clearly within the light and had the impression of
some men skirting a non-existent lake. She thought that the
nearest were "looking for their dead...the one I was
watching, the one nearest the roadside, would bend down
and turn a body over, and if he didn't like the look of it, just
turned it back on its face and went on...They looked as if
they were in...dark tights the whole way up...a sort of
overall...very long torches were in their left hands...very
red...Afterwards I wondered what they were made of - tar, I
suppose." Along with other evidence, these facts were used
to deduce that Miss Smith had witnessed the closing events
of the Battle of Nechhtanesmere, which had involved the
Picts and Scots May 20, 685 A.D. Although there is no lake
in the vicinity at the present, it was in place in the seventh
century. (see The Scots Magazine, January, 1980, p. 397 for
a detailed account.

BEN-URNADNA, “wife in adversity.” a contracted concubine,


avaliable to those poorly disposed in all but wealth.
Concubinage was also open to legally married men, but the
contract had to be renewed yearly, usually at the Beltane.
The wife lost none of her rights from the presence of a
concubine and could refuse her admission to the house. It
may be recalled that the druid named Dubhthach
impregnated a concubine. In reaction his legal wife
threatened divorce, which would have taken away her
coibche, her savings and her tinnscra. Considering these
things, the druid separated himself from the love of his
life.

BETH-LUIS-NION, the oghamic alphabet, named for the first


three letters. The ogham was named after its inventor,
Ogma, a son of Dagda. Early on, this system of representing
sounds with symbols enabled men to magically embed
information on wooden or parchment surfaces, retrieving
them at will. "Word-sorcery" applied inscriptions to runes,
or dice, which were "sorted", or randomly thrown in seeking
omens. The alphabet consisted to twenty symbols arranged
on either side of a central stem line, the number and
position of the strokes from this base signifying the sound
or meaning that was intended. This alphabet was anything
but compact and when the Christians introduced the Roman
alphabet this older form of magic was swept away. Much of
the early writing was done on boundary markers hoping to
dissuade boundary-stone movers. Some of the ogham was
cut into the roofing stones of underground caverns as
protective magic, and even yet these symbols are used to
help date the souterrains. O’Riordain advises archaeological
field workers to be particularly observant for markings
within caverns, "since many of our ogham stones have come
to light in this manner."

BEUL, BEAL, BEOL, (bial) mouth, opening, orifice, approach,


nearness. Beolachasd, an artful speaker, a prattler, a
babbler. After the god Bil.

BEUL-AITHRIS, traditions, beul, mouth, aithris, to tell; oral


history. The former word remembers the pagan god Bel,
Baal or Beall, see entry under Beltene and Bealltuinn. It
was the custom of the "senachies" or historians to recount
this information formally, and informally, at the time of
the four Quarter-Days.

BEULANAICH, magical allure with words.

BEUL-CHRABHACH, “lip-religion,” cant, hypocracy.

BEUL-CURAM, mouth-keeper, beul, mouth; curam, care, keep.


A spokesman for a god or god-king. The first of these was
Ogma "of the silver tongue" a spokesman for his father the
Dagda. An individual entrusted with the oral exhortations,
histories, blights and blessings of the druidic class.

BEUL-DHRAOIDHEACHD, the“druidic-mouthings,”incantation,
enchantment. beul-dhruid, silence, to shut the mouth using
magic.

BEUL SIOS ORT! An interjection which is considered a potent


curse: “May you be down at the mouth.”

BEUM, stroke, blow, wound, gasj, taunt, sarcasm, insult,


reproach, torrent, knell, misfortune, a gap.

BEUM SGEITHE, severe sarcasm; striking the shield as a


sound of alarm or challenge.

BEUM SUL, the varied effects following use of the evil eye,
any optical illusion or delusion, a disease of the eye.

BEUR, BHEURR, BEIRE, shrill, sonorous, loud-lunged, having a


shrill voice, less often, genteel, well-spoken, eloquent,
sometimes used ironically, clean, sharp, witty, sarcastic,
pointed. Thus we have the Cailleach bheurr, or “Winter Hag.”
Similar to the pronoun bhur, “your.” See the next.

BEURLA, speech, language, one with a clipped tongue, an


Englishman. See next entry.

BEURLAD, oral lore, beur, sharp, pointed, clear, a gibe, a


jeer, from bearr, to cut short, a short tale as opposed to
those of heroic size. In most communities the long
narratives were traditionally recited by men, these tales
were told by women.

BEURLA NAN FILIDH, poetical language, Language of the


filids or bards.

BHA FIRID AIGE, bha, deadly, a charm, "killing speech;”


firionn, male; aigeach, young horse; a magic wand, the wand
of the sithe, the mind's eye, poetry, particularly satirical
chanting. Wands of wood were seen as totem spirits of the
carrier, and thus, an extension of his arm and magical
powers. With the common charm, an arm was sometimes
extended to heighten the force of the promise of
destruction. See beoir.

BHLIADHN UR, A', (a vlean oor), bliadna, year; ur, fresh, new;
the New Year, new style, commencing January 1. The New
Year, old style, is still celebrated in some places eleven to
fifteen days after this date. The first of the Laithean
araidh (special days) celebrated as the beginning of a new
year was at first the Samhainn, which fell on November
first, but was a continuing part of a five or ten-day fire-
feast.

The feast and entertainment, as opposed to pagan


religious rites, was scheduled for the daylight hours of
what is now November first. With the druid priests removed
from the scene, the secular crowd set up markets and fairs
wherever people gathered, and politicians used this time to
solicit favours from the Ard Righ (High King) and his
courtiers. Provincial representative assemblies were a
part of the feis-anna (feast and fire) in larger communities,
and the fairs were welcome relief from the serious rituals
of religion and politics.

Originally, the fire-festivals were held for only one


evening and the following day, but large gatherings
prompted other diversions and the celebrations soon invaded
days on either side of the main events. Athletic games
were usually a part of New Year's Day celebrations and some
of the fairs sold crafts. "Fast-food" outlets were required
to satisfy visitors from the countryside and marriage
brokerage booths were set up on the fair grounds. As this
was essentially a gathering for religious and political
purposes, the "king's peace" was declared to keep rival clans
from decimating one another. During all of Samhainn,
fugitives from justice walked freely among their equals. At
this time, and in that needed to reach and return from
festivities, no debtor could be arrested or even reminded of
his debt.

On the eve of this, or any other feisanna, all personal


ornaments, rings, bracelets, and personal gear which had
been pawned, had to be loaned to the "owners" for use during
the assembly. Any creditor who refused, could be fined or
even stripped of his own possessions, so that he arrived
looking shoddy on days when the rest of the nation was
dressed in finery. Because the Samhainn brought together a
unruly mix of friends and foes, and whisky was common, the
king's peace meant that anyone who fought was instantly
put to death by the forces of the ard-righ. In the days of
Saint Columba, church sanctuary was unable to save the son
of a king who had broken the peace at a rural gathering.
Because of the evenness of the law, the Samhainn usually
passed "without crime, violence, or dishonour."

Since actual bloodshed was forbidden, the Scots and


the Erse, or Irish, channelled clan-rivalries into "sporting"
events, which were very lively. In addition to eating more
than they were able, the people heard the laws recited by a
member of the druidic class. After this onerous business
was past, they got relaxation by listening to music or the
individual histories recited by clan story-tellers. Aside
from watching the games, or arranging a marriage, some
clansmen met to forge an economic or political union or to
call quits to long-standing arguments.

Of the two fire-festivals, Samhainn is considered


more ancient than Beltane. The first of November, Old Style,
was regarded as New Year's Day down to the last century.
Manx mummers used to go on the rounds on the evening
before, singing in Cumric, "Tonight is New Year's Night,
Hogunnau!" Again, throughout Ireland and Scotland, all fires
were extinguished on Samhainn Eve and re-kindled in the
New Year as symbolic of new beginnings.

The New Year's Day, Old Style, was at first named the
Samhainn or Samthain, and this followed Oidhche Challainn.
literally the "night of the dog." The Christians preferred to
call that holiday All Saint's Eve, All Hallow's Eve, or
Hallowe'en thus avoiding unpleasant reminders of gods
whose day had passed.

In the most remote times, the half-yearly


celebrations consisted of religious ceremonies: a fire and a
feast. Soon, the secular crowd forced to attend these
happenings, added a fair while politicians used fragments of
spare time to solicit the High-King or cement alliances. As
a result, periodic multi-purpose assemblies appeared in
both Scotland and Ireland. In the end the Samhainn became a
complex of days on either side of the rites including at
least legislative assemblies, secular entertainment, and in
most cases marriage brokerages. A few regional fairs
added craft booths and at some an important concern was
the selection, examination and certification of crafts-
people.

The religious aspects of the New Year's celebrations


was termed the "feisanna", or feast and fire. Such
occasions brought out an unusual mix of Celts, so that the
King's peace had to be proclaimed for all. During the period
of Samhainn, all fugitives from justices were unbound and
walked as free men among equals (and this included witches
and the sidh). This equivalent of "Pax Romana" held during
the time of travel required to get to and from the fairs as
well as during the five or six days which they consumed. In
this time, no debtor could be arrested and imprisoned or
even reminded that he owed money. In the days before this
great feisanna, all personal ornaments, rings, bracelets, and
personal gear which had been pawned because of financial
distress had to be loaned to the owners for their use during
the days of assembly. Any creditor, who refused to comply
with the law would be fined and in extreme cases might be
stripped of his own possessions and finery, at a time when
the entire nation was dressed at its best.

Because the ceremonies demanded a mixing of friend


and foe, and whisky and malt beverages were freely offered
the king's peace had to insist that those who fought be
instantly put to death. In the days of Saint Columba, his
sanctuary was unequal in saving the son of a king who had
broken the peace of SAmhainn. Because of the evenness of
the law, these special days typically passed "without crime,
violence, or dishonour!" Since actual bloodshed was
forbidden, clan rivalries were diverted into "sporting"
events, which tended to be quite lively.

The feast-day was supposed to provide relief from the


previous evening which was always a time of physical
excess. In addition to eating all they could stomach, the
people had their laws and rights recited by some member of
the druidic or the Christian priestly class. After this
serious business, the gathering turned to music, poetry, the
recitation of family histories and the games for relaxation.
Those with money went to the various stalls to buy, while
those without manned the booths, hoping to sell. Aside
from the marriage brokers, there were clan tents where
political or economic alliances were sought and old
enmities put to rest.

All Hallow Day was probably a less suitable


substitute name, than All Saint's Day. Hallow is directly
linked with the word holy, being based on the Anglo-Saxon
"hoalig". The word is hardly appropriate to Christian aims,
being linked with "holly", which was much used in the rites
of the Dawn Religion. In addition, it is similar to the
Anglo-Saxon "holen", this being the root of "hole", or place
of concealment, all confluent with hill, hall, helmet, and
"hell", the kingdom of witches, the damned, and the little
people.

The New Year was usually an anti-climax to Hogamanay. In


Scottish parts of Atlantic Canada it used to be the practice
to reserve a bucket of hot water for the first visitor on New
Year's Day. Those who were familiar with the tradition
arrived with a dog or cat under their arm, and thrust this
animal before them as they knocked at the door. In elder
days, as now, New Year's Day was a feast day as opposed to
the fire-burning time. In Christian circles this day of
recuperation was called Yearmas, and was a time for Church
ceremonies. This day was closely tied to other special days
in Scotland, and these have rites which are a better
reflection of what the Old New Year (November 1) used to
be.

BI, to be, to exist, bith, life, existence, being, obs. custom,


habit, order, law. bith-beo, everlasting. bithe, obs., female;
bithidh, lad,

The old dawn-religion said that the creator-god


delegated his life force, variously referred to as "ghost",
"spirit" or anam to underlings who were collectively
identified as the elemental-gods. These immortals, no less
whimsical than their immediate superior, existed in all the
world's myths, being identified by the Gaels as Lugh, Ler and
Myrddin (Merlin). These correspond with the Old Norse
elementals Loki, Hler and Kari, and have names that are
synonymous with fire, water and air, respectively. Each
elemental was supposed to have absolute authority over his
own medium but was ineffective elsewhere. Thus Ler, the
god of the sea could raise storms of water, but not of fire
and wind.

The early magicians claimed control over these gods


and a variety of earth-deities, who were perceived as their
servants. In those days it was assumed that all matter,
organic and inorganic, contained some degree of the "divine
spark", the soul-stuff imparted to everything at the
beginning of time. The ability of a plant or animal to move
was considered evidence of high spirit, the highest degree
being posesssed by those objects which were most mobile
and artful. Disease and death were considered an effect of
the gradual seeping away of birth-spirit, a loss which could
be reversed by eating, drinking and sexual activities, which
increased the spirit of one organism at the expense of
another. In each case, spirit was thought to flow from the
weaker to the stronger individual, and those who
accumulated great energies through excesses were
considered god-like.

BIAST, BEISTE, a beast, a monster, a worthless human,


mannerless child, niggard; also biast, abuse, a metaphoric
use of the word. Often used as a descriptive of the Devil or
his devils. Cf. aibhistear.

BIATACH, BIADHTACH, a raven, a provider, a farmer, host,


glutton, from biadh, food. As opposed to bran; this word
represents the bird as having desirable characteristics and
was probably formulated by those having it as a totem-
animal. The raven figures with the stag, bull, and horse as a
cult-aniaml totem for solar-deities. The bird appears on
pottery and vessels regarded as having a ritual chacter. In
Ireland it appears on the La Tene sword pommel from
Lisnacrogher, where two small birds are seen. Ravens are
also cast into a horse-goad from Dunsaverney, where they
are seen sharing space with swans.

This bird has a special affinity with the western sea-


deities and was the totem of both the Dagda and his
“daughter Mhorrigan. The bird’s use in cult-ritual is not
restricted to ancient times. The bird is found in later Celtic
folk tales and local legends of Ireland and Scotland, where
it is taken as a bird of evil-omen and as a formn favoured by
witches and anti-Christian spirits.

A striking example is from seventeenth century


Sutherlandshire: At the village of Halmadry it was
customary to hold Christian prayer meetings in the house of
a certain resident each week. One day while the service was
in progress, a large raven was seen within the house in the
dim light, sitting on a pillar by the house. The worshippers
claimed to feel “a great evil” enamatiing from this bird, but
were bound in their places, unable to move, beseiged by a
horrible fascination. Less religious men, standing outside
the house, were surprised at the sudden hush from within,
and entered the place to see what had taken place. They
were equally gripped by the strange spoell of this “bird.”
Others arrived over a two-day span, and when more men
were swallowed by this haunted-house, those outside
decided to de-thatch it. When this was done the people
within could again move. It was said that the power of evil
had become so heavy wityhin the place that the unmoving
worshippers had come to a strange silent agreement to
sacrifice the householder’s son to the bird spirit in order to
escape their stasis. The natives of that village are still
wary about discussing this incident.

The tale is, of course, reminiscent of the story of


Cornu, the great black raven that lived in St. Patrick’s
Purgatorium on Lough Derg in Ireland. This creature
supposedly a demon cast in bird form by the saint, it
thought to have represented some much more antique bird-
deity which inhabited caverns here. The Cave of Cruachan
had a similar tradition of housing a malignant bird from the
Otherworld. This creature periodically emerged to blight
and distress the surrounding lands.

BIGEAN BIGEIN BRIDE, “Bride’s Bird,” the linnet. The first


word confers with ceitean (which, see) and ceit, beginning.
The common Old Word finch, which feeds upon the seeds flax
and hem, plants used to weave linen. Bridd was the
household goddess and the patron of weavers and spinners.
This bird was her totem and travelling-form.

BIL, BILÉ, BEUL, (bee-lah), the edge of things, lip, Mouth, a


blossom, a beard, the margain of anything, the edge, a
cluster of trees, leaf blade, the root bhi, split away from
other things, dead, from the god Bil or Bile, a son of Mil
drowned in the invasion of Ireland. Later confounded with
the various death-gods. Sometimes represented as the
father of Mil. See Bal. The continental Belenos, known in
Welsh mythology as Beli. Corresponds with beul, a mouth, a
devouring opening. His festival was the Beultinne. beul,
mouth, to swallow, Hebrew, bil, rancid butter, bilslear, a
sorry fellow, a glutton, “one who is all mouth,” Eng. blade,
from the As root bhi, bhei, split, the Cy. myl, which may be
the G. mil or Mil, a thousand, leading many soldiers, Skr.
bila, a hole, mouth, vessel, etc. Compare these with OIr.
ebelta or epelta, dead.

“It was on a Thurday, the first of May, and the


seventeenth day of the moon, that the sons of Miled arrived
in Ireland. Partholan landed in Ireland on the first of May,
but a less auspicious day of the week and moon; and it was
on the first of May, as well, that pestilence came which in
the space of one week destroyed utterly his race. The first
of May was sacred to Beltené, one of the names of the god of
Death, the god who also gives life to men and takes it away
from them again. Thus it was the feast day of this god that
the sons of Miled began their conquest of Ireland.”

Presumably because they had taken good care of


protocol they were the successors to all the folk who tried
to encompass this land. In Gaelic mythology Danu, the
mother goddess cohabited, in winter, with the Death-god. In
Welsh mythology this goddess was Dön, and their
descendants comprised the House of Don, which included
the various land-gods and goddesses of Ireland. From this it
can be seen that Bil is the summer-god known as the Dagda.
Lugh is regarded as descendant from this line. The sea
giants, or Fomorians, were a side-issue produced when Ler,
the son of the Oolathair, united himself with a daughter of
Danu to create the rival House of Ler. The two families of
the Gaels were allied through intermarriages which
continued into historical times. Ler is regarded as the
patron of thermal springs and thus makes contact with the
Old Norse Lokki, the god of underground fire, whose daughter
was called Hel.
The connection between the druids and Bil is
suggested in the following quotation from Ausonius (third
century A.D.): “If report does not lie, you were sprung from
the stock of the druids of Bayeux, and traced your hallowed
line from the temple of Belenus.” This is also the name
given sacred trees, and occurs in place-names such as The
Danish Bilum and the French Bilem. The Irish goddess-queen
Mebd had particular trees sacred to her and these were
termed the Bile Meidbe. Birds and squirrels found in such
trees were said to sit upon her shoulders, literally and
figuratively.

The fact that Bil was a sun-god is made clear by the


fact that some texts represent him as, “the father of the
gods and men.” His name also translates as “the bright
one.” He is, further, listed as the mate of Boann, Anu, Danu
or Dana , who is more often acknowledged to be the “wife”
of Dagda, In some texts Bil is stated to be the father of King
Milesius, the patriarch of the Milesians, the final
conquerors of ancient Ireland.

Significantly it is said that Bile had his palace in


Tir-nan-Scaith, “The Land of Shadows,” the place of the
dead. There are many locales in Europe named after this
death-god, for example Billingsgate, London, formerly
Belinos’ Gate. His name-sake is also counted among the
legendary kings of Britain. We have in that list the Latin
Cunobelinos Rex (the Celtic form is Cunobel). William
Shakespeare borrowed the personality of this High-King and
gave him even greater glory as Cymbeline.

The Beultuinn, which still identifies the Gaelic May-


Day is less frequently called the Cetshamhain, “the first
weather of Summer,” or “Summer’s Start.” It was
customary to observe the feast of Bil by kindling the
Beltane, Bel-fires or Bale-fires. These honoured the
constructive powers of the sun as represented in the Dagda
and his son Lugh, who represented Bil transformed at the
end of winter.
In a similar manner, the female element was referred
to in the winter months as the Cailleach Bheur or “Winter
Hag.” On May Eve she threw her “hammer,” representing
foul weather and bareness, “under the mistletoe, and
coupled once more with the summer god as Samh or
Mhorrigan, becoming a reincarnate virgin for each new
festival. Thus the reincarnate death-god, represented in
the eastern sun was praised for having overcome the forces
of darkness found at the setting of the sun. Sometimes this
unending struggle between summer and winter, or darkness
and night, was represented as the temporary victory of
Dagda over his personal enemy Cromm, “The Crooked.”
Thus, periodically, “the crooked was made straight,” the
crops, the animals of men, and men themselves, being
prompted to sexual unions, and the promises of yearly
renewal and ultimate reincarnation. At these times of the
year all fires in Celtdom were extinguished and rekindled by
the druids using friction between two bits of oak, the wood
sacred to the gods of fire and lightning.

The sons of Miled were considered as "an entirely


human race" yet their origin was as problematical as that of
the Tutha daoine. They were led by King Miled, or Milus
(confering with the Gaelic "milidh", a champion), who is
represented as a god in inscriptions from ancient Hungary.
There he is said to be the son of Bile (the Gaelic "bil" or
"bile", the lips of the mouth, a good politician) and Bile is
identified as the god of Death. His counterpart in Gaul
(France) was Dis, corresponding with the Anglo-Saxon Teus,
whose name appears in Tuesday. The Romans identified Dis
as Dispater (the Father Dis) and Julius Caesar said this was
the god from whom all Gauls claimed descent. His name is
embodied in a number of compound words which suggest his
character, viz. disturbance, disaster, disapproval, dislike.
In some respects Nuada may be considered a death god, with
Lugh representing the life force, But Balor, the Lord of the
"ord", or hammer, is more closely identified with chaos and
the Land of the Dead.

The Roman writers thought that "the Land of the Dead"


was "in the western extremnity" of Great Britain",
separated from
the land of the living by an impassible wall. It was
attainable by every man after death, the way being made
easy by a boat, which passed between the land of the living
and that of the dead with one stroke of the oar in one hour
of time ending at midnight: "Some mysterious law, indeed,
brings together in the night the great spaces which divide
the domain of the living from that of the dead...It was the
same law that enabled Ith (a son of Miled) one fine winter
evening to perceive from the Tower of Bregon, in the Land of
the Dead, the shores of Ireland, or the land of the living.
The phenomenon took place in winter; for winter is a sort of
night; winter like night, lowers the barriers between the
regions of Death and those of Life; like night winter gives
life the semblance of death, and suppresses, as it were, the
dread abyss that lies between the two." 1.

BILÉ, obs. bird’s bill. blossom, a beard.

BILISTEAR, a mean individual, a person to be pitied, a


glutton, EIr. bille, mean, paltry. See Bil.

BILL, obs. a leper, a fool, bille, mean, weak, a rag.

BINNDEAL, head-covering, bearing a badge of authority, a


crown. From binn, a sentence or verdict, thus one holding
authority over others.

BIOCIONN, a goat-skin, skin, the human prepuce or foreskin


of the penis, boc-cionn, buck-skin. The OIr. cenni, which is
the second part of the word is our semen. The Cym. cen,
skin; Br. kenn; ON. skinn, hence our English word. The
definition of this word helps to clarify the intent of the
Hogamanay rann which repeats these words:

Calluinn a bhuilg,
Calluinn a bhuilg,
Buail am boicionn,
Buail am boicionn...
Hogamanay of the sack (the scrotum),
Hogamanay of the sack,
Strike the goat-skin.
Strike the goat skin...

Later it intones: Down with it!


Up with it!

This skin was called the casein-uchd and was sometimes


formed as a oval purse used to collect alms. In other
situations this sheep, cow, goat, or deer hide was singed at
each household hearth and used to mark the foreheads of
animals and humans, thus ensuring their fertility and
prosperity in the coming year. Thus, as McNeil mentions,
the Calluinn holiday is, to all intents, the “Calend of the
Prepuce,” and has reference to the old fertility rites.

BIOR, BEOIR (beer), obs. well, fountain, water,. Currently, a


goad, a sting, a prick, a pointed stick, a speller, a stake, a
cooking spit, a divining rod for finding lost articles, water
or minerals. OIr. bir, Lat. ocru, a tree. Thus G. biorach,
pointed. Given in the oldest dictionaries as “water” or
“well.” Possibly allied with the old Celtic bervo, to well up,
seethe, OIr. tipra, a well, G. tobar, Eng. burn. Possibly allied
with beo, living + ir, matured.

Men were often thought of as liberated tree spirits, thus


certain trees were sought as totems. Cut wood was
considered to remain spiritually active and any implicit
powers were added to those of the spell-maker. The wand
was observed to direct and focus the power of the gisreag
or lightning-bolt. In addition, spellers were used to
retrieve the sounds of words from their magical embedment
on parchments or runes. "People had a certain belief in
certain signs that occur. And there was one which they
called the augury, which consisted to two wood chips
crossed over each other on the floor. If a person happened
to be walking where there were wooden sticks on the floor
and knocked the two of them with his foot without
intending to; he or she would put them over each other in
the form of a cross and (others) would say, "Do you not see
the fine augury on the floor? It won't be long before you get
a letter." And I believe when they saw it they would expect
good news according to how good the Augury looked." (Tales
Until Dawn, p. 209). See bha firid aige and next entry.

BIORACH UISG, a heifer, a colt, Ir. biorach, a cow-calf +


uisg, water-calf. A calpach. See also eac uisg. Hornless
cattle from the deep, side-forms of the Daoine-mara.
Resembling the cailpech and the “bull from the sea.”

BIOR GOBLANACH, a pointed stick, gobhal, fork; also known


as the slat-n'-nathair, the equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon's
naidre-tunge, or “adder's tongue.” Corresponds with the
Anglo-Norman "divining-rod." Note that the Gaels referred
to the Anglo-Saxons as "the coiled serpent people," making
it reasonable to suppose that the first of these rods may
have been carried by the walkyra of Woden, or perhaps by
the Old Norse god Odin himself. He corresponds with the
Gaelic Dagda, sometimes termed the Oolathair (Allfather).

The Dagda's alter-ego was called the Nathair, as


indicated in slat-n'-nathair, the staff of the one who is not
the father, or the “serpent's staff.” A device carried by the
Gaelic death deities, including the female Cailleach Bheurr.
"A "y"-shaped cutting from a tree, used to detect hidden
metals, streams, treasures, crimes and thieves."

The first recorded use of a divining rod is in the Bible


(Genesis 30:36), so it is not true that the rod was first
utilized by German prospectors in the fourteenth century, as
one expert contends. They have been traditionally
possessed by the sighe, elfs, fairies and the druids.
Romulus, one of the co-founders of Rome, held a forked rod
aloft when he uttered his prophecies, and other noted
classical users have included Medea, Circe, Bacchus, and the
humans, Zoroaster and Pythagoras.

The ability to make use of this device is considered a


"gift" of the bafinn or the gods, usually a matter of
inheritance rather than education and practise. Those men
who were related to the Fomorian sea-giants were
considered capable of making use of the bior-goblanachean.
Adults uncertain of their status may examine their upturned
palms, the thumbs turned outwards: If the lines
commencing at the base of the first and third fingers appear
to unite across the two hands, it is said that person
possesses an dara sealladh (which, see) and is capable of
using a divining rod.

The "y"-shaped stick needs to be cut from a tree or


shrub found in a well-watered valley, since its operation in
detecting water depends on the principle of sympathetic
magic that "like attracts like." The hazel, alder, apple,
beech, and poplar trees will provide wood for the purpose.
The thinner arms of the crutch are cut from upper (smaller)
branches and should be about eighteen inches in length. The
single thicker lower branch should be about four inches
long. In use, the two longer arms are gripped in the hands,
thumbs turned outward, curled fingers uppermost, both
lightly held. The short arm is first arranged in a nearly
vertical position, in against the body. In seeking water, the
diviner proceeds across the land until he encounters an
underground stream. At this, the free end of the stick will
turn downward, forcibly, of its own accord. Sometimes this
force is so strong that bark is twisted from the handgrips;
some diviners therefore strip this portion to prevent hand-
burns.

In dousing for metal, or oil, a small sample of that


substance is fitted into a groove at the free end or touched
to the rod. Divining rods so treated will not respond to
water or other unwanted substances. In seeking dead
bodies, a bit of clothing from the missing person is slotted
into the rod. It is said that the "baobhs" used this rod as a
means of transport, in the same manner as the witch's
broom. Note that this transportation devices had limited
range, being reported to have carried the magicians to roof-
level, where they were met by, and carried off on the backs
of, invisible "bogans," spirits of the upper-air.

BIORACH, BIORAICHE, (beerich), sharp-pointed, dog-fish


shark. The shark was considered an incarnate ocean-spirit,
a representative of Mannn mac Ler, and thus dangerous
company for those travelling at sea. The totem of the
goddess Mhorrigan.

BIRLINN, a galley or bark, MIr. beirling, said formed from N.


byrthingr, a ship of burden. Note their verb bera, to bear
weight, the Eng. verb bear.

BIROG, gush, twitch, or tingle. A druidess said to have aided


Cian of Contje in gaining access to the crystal tower of
Balor of the Evil Eye. Biorg later rescued the son of Contje
and Ethlinn when Balor had his grandson cast into the sea.
The child survived and grew to be the sun-god Lugh “of the
Long Arm.” In some of the tales Manann mac Ler is credited
with aiding Cian, later becoming Lugh’s godfather.

BITH, ITH, bithe, the world, existence, being, “quiet.”


appearances vs. reality; a coy person; obs. custom, habit,
order, law, wound, blow, contest, woman. Bith-beo,
everlasting, evergreen, everliving, perennial. Used as a
prefix denoting “ever.” OIr. bhuith, bithrol eigseach,
metaphysical discussion. bitheolas, metaphysics; from the
root bi, to live. Cy. byd, Br. bed, Gaul, bitu-, root similar to
Eng. verb be. After Bith, "a grandson of Noah (Nuada)." His
folk emerged from the Mediterranean or more probably, the
western Atlantic. Also a name given the “son of the Nodah, “
the father of Lady Cassir, who fleeing the World-Flood,
established a kingdom in Ireland and died there as the
waters followed his expedition out of the Mediterranean.

Sometimes Bith is equated with Bas, a god of death.


In the ancient tales it is always Munster that is represented
as the primal world or place of origins for Ireland. Because
it had this reputation every invader tried to legitimize his
landing by sending some part of his fleet to these shores.
Although the northerners said otherwise, the kings of
Munster always traced their descent from Lugaid (a
descendant of Lugh) son of Ith. Unfortunately, gods and
heroes were routinely reincarnated in these early days and
another Ith came to the fore several thousands of years
after Lady Cassir’s voyage.

This Ith is represented in later folklore as the son of


Bregon and is said to have dwelt in a great tower which is
father built in Spain. From the ramparts the young man,
who possessed the gift of long-sight, said that he could see
Ireland and he resolved to go there. He eventually sailed
with ninety retainers and landed in County Kerry. He arrived
at a time when monarchs of the north and south were
arguing about their bounds. Seeing a supposed neutral, the
kings asked Ith to suggest a settlement. When he did as
asked the northerners were dissatisfied and killed him,
sending his body back to Tir-nan-Bas, or “Spain.” His
relatives saw this as an exceptional excuse to invade and
gain new territory, thus followed the so-called Milesian
Invasions of Ireland. The sons of Mil deliberately confused
Ith son of Lugaid with their own Ith and thus gave Munster
to his descendants. In that place, the Milesians were
assimilated and may years after we find the famous king Cú
Roi still referring to himself as domhain-righ the “ruler of
all things,” or as the “king of the deep.”

BLADIR, wide-mouthed, a flatterer. Bladh, fame from EIr.


blat, to speak; the Lat. babble; ON blathr, nonsense; bladhair,
expressive person, a boaster.

BLÀR, a white spot on the face of a cow or horse; blarag, a


white-faced animal. Thought Pictish in origin, not used in
Argyll or Ireland. From EIr. bhale, to shine; For roots see
bealltuinn. Also blàr, a field, a battle, peat-moss, all
having the sense of “a spotted place.” Animals so marked
were considered unlucky as they were essentially the
property of the Daoine sidh.

BLATHNAT, or Blanid. The daughter of Mend, king at Inis Fer


Falga. The Munster king Cu Roi abducted and married her but
she already loved Cúchulainn. She led him into the palace by
emptying cans of milk into a secret drainage system. Inside
the keep Cúchullain killed Cu Roi and carried off his ex-
wife. Amongst the booty was Fer Cherdne, Cu Roi’s bard. As
Cúchulainn progressed homeward along the Beara Peninsula
and they paused at a cliff-side, the druid seized the woman
and bothwere carried over the edge to their death.

BLEACHDAIR, a cow-milker, a flattering person. Bliochd,


milk. One who takes milk without the owner being fully
aware of theft.

BLEIDLOCHTANA, a monster (s) evoked by the Dagda on the


fourth day of the first battle of Magh Tuireadh. They were
accompanied to that fray by the Badbh and the Amaite
aidgill.

BLOCC AN’ BLUIGNE, the “King Stones,” stone gates which


opened to admit Conaire Mor when he demanded recognition
as the High King at Tara. This demonstration of his
spiritual power caused the assembled chieftains to accept
him.

BÓ, a cow; Cym. buw; OBr. bou; Lat. bos; Skr. go. As an
interjection the word means starnage, wonderful. May
infrequently be used in the sense of “a fawn.” See combined
forms below.

Cows play a role in Celtic mythology, which abounds


with descriptions of Otherworld cows, the ownership of
such beasts and cow raids reflecting the domestic
importance of these animals. There is no direct reference to
a cow-goddess although Boann is certainly suggestive. It is
certain that the she owned a magical cow and so did the
female deities Mhorrigan and Flidais. The Otherworld cows
usually had red ears and white bodies.

Saint Brigit whose cult-legend descends from the


pagan Bridd may be deen as a “cow-goddess” as she has
pastoral affiliations. One supernatural lake-dweller was
Sithgail Sechderc who dwelt at the bottom of Loch Sithgail.
His magic cow was stolen by Liath Lurgach. In a fight over
the animal Sithgail was defeated and his body cast back
into the water.

In a folklore context we meet a number of enchanted


cranes who can only be brought back to human form by being
sprinkled with the blood of the legendary Connra bull, which
was owned by the cow-woman known as the Cailleach
bheurr.

Boann is nothing less that the spiritual


personification of the river Boyne. She is often represented
as “The She of the White Cattle.” Flidais is likewise
portayed as a cow and the possessor of cattle. The war-
goddess Mhorrigan turned Odras into a pull of water after
the latter allowed his bull to “ball” her cow. Iuchna’s three
cows had the images of three men emblazoned on their red
ears, all shape-changed unfortunates from the real world.

Magic cows were created by Tuathan magicians with


help from Lugh mac Ethlenn, and they were used to meet the
oppressive demands of the Fomorians, who demanded an
illogical tribute of milk from every household in Ireland. It
was additionally demanded that the cow-levy should consist
of animals of exactly the same colour. Nechtan Bascain
managed this by singing his cows in a bonfire, tinting them
to the same shade of brown with a mixture of porridge and
burned flaxseed. In certain legends it is said that the cow-
folk constructed 300 cows of sticks and other dead matter
and coloured them with a stain made from “bog-stuff.”
When they were enlivened by magic, the “milk” they gave
was an unappetizing liquid without substance.

It was tabu for King Breas to refuse to drink the milk


of cows. The giant eventually drank three hundred
bucketsful and died of a wasting disease. See next.

BO! BO! Interjection used to excite terror. Strange!


Wonderful! Bobh, fright. bobhdach, a pimp. bobhdag, a
prostitute.

BOANN, BOAND, BOANNA, BOYNE, bo + anam, cow + soul, Eng.


bonnie. Further, ann, a circle, a revolution, obs, The Ground,
the goddess Anu or Danu, matriarch of the Tuatha daoine.

The sometime mate of the Dagda; the mother of


Aonghas Og; she was the first resident of his souterrain at
the Brugh na Boyne, located on the river Boyne, near Tara.
Sometimes represented as the legal wife of Nechtan, who
had charge of the well of knowledge.

Only three men were allowed there, the king and his
two cupbearers. Boann ridiculed this taboo, and feminist
that she was, walked round the well in the contemptuous
left-hand fashion. At this the spirits of water rose against
her, pursued her eastward, and drowned her in the newly-
formed river that was given her name. In an alternate
version of prehistory, Boann is given as the wife of Elcmar.
Wishing to sleep with her, the Dagda sent the husband off on
a nine months errand which was made to seem as the
business of a single day. The child of there cohabitation
was Angus the Young, so called because he was conceived
and born between morning and evening. Christian monks
often represented this goddess as the “wife” of the Dagda.

BOAG, bo + ag, a ddimuation, thus “little cow,” a bodhag,


bodach, a spectre, bobh, fright. Bobhdag, obs. a bawd.

BOBAN, BOBUG, a term of affection given small boys,


godfather, as a term of contempt; papa; cf MIr. boban, a calf,
from bo, cow. Confers with the English babe from the
earlier baban. Bug is another form of the Gaelic boc, a he-
goat. Confers with diamasadh nam boc, who is known in
English as the Devil. Notice the Argyallshire boobrie,
supposed to inhabit fresh water and sea lochhs in that
region. This creature is gigantic, webbed-footed, loud and
ravennous. Since he delights in scaring clergymen it is
assumed that he is a force for evil.
BOC (bhock) a he-goat, deceit, fraud, blow, to box, to stroke.
English, buck. Cornwall was anciently, "the land of bucks."
Goats were often chosen to represent the god sacrificed
"for the good of the land" at the quarter days.

The Irish Puck Fair and Pattern continues this


tradition except that the he-goat is released at the end of
the day. The head of witch-covens often dressed as goats in
continuation of this old tradition. See entry above and
below. See also feis poca. In Gaelic the pig is referred to
obliquely as a muc, the English “mucker,” from its habit of
drooling “mucus,” but in earlier times it may have been
identified using the more general name bòc, one having
“swelled cheeks.”

This is the English “buck” a word now applied to the


male of any kind of deer, goat, hare or antelope. Bòc and
muc may be dialectic forms of the same word, and the
former is the source of the Gaelic bòcan, “generated by a
buck,” a hobgoblin or sith. This is also the origin of boc-
sith, an apparition or ghost. There are all kinds of
associated words, as: bochd, poor; bodach, a male member
of the Daoine sidh and boabh, a female of this species.
Thus, you are what you eat!

Note also the connected Welsh, bwg and the Cornish


bucca, which are the English bug, pug, bugbear, bogie,
boggle or boogey-man. These are all allied with the Gaelic
pucca, the Norse pukka, the English hobgoblin who is called
a “puck.” Puck can be shown to confer with the god Lokki.
and he is derived from the Gaelic Lugh (or the reverse).
Thus, the sun-god Lugh is the ultimate source of
sustenance for the Daoine sidh. While he is the lord of life,
his dark side is seen in Cromm an’ Cam , “Crom the
Crooked,” the lord of death, and god of the night. The pig
was the totem of all the Firbolg people of Ireland, and when
the Milesians invaded they referred to that place as “the
sow-backed country,” a pointed reference to the continued
existence and power of the Firbolgs. The Tuathan god Manann
mac Ler had constant problems with “wild pigs” and their
place at his annual banquets may point to their final
submission to him.

BOCAN, a spirit resembling the English goblin, a terrifying


object, apparition, bugbear, pimple, pustule. EIr. boccanach.
These words confer with the Cy. bwg and the Cor. bucca and
with the English bug. Macbain thinks this may be the Celtic
stem-word bukki, relating to the Old Norse pukki, a little
man-spirit or puck, similar to the Irish phooka.

Miss A. Goodrich-Freer has said: "An old inhabitant (of


the Hebrides) told us that there is not a glen in Eriskay in
which a mass has not been said on account of the presence
of some fuathas or bocain. Father John - used to say mass
at Creasg Shiant, the fairy or enchanted rock in Baile,
Eriskay. She herself had never felt anything there. It is,
however, customary to recite the genealogy of St. Bride (to
clear the air of spirits)...and among the concluding lines are
these:-

Each day and each night that I recall the genealogy of


Brigid,
I shall not be killed,
I shall not be wounded,
I shall not be struck by the Evil Eye.
(Celtic Monthly, 1901, p. 143).

Gaelic bog, a low area partially flooded with water, thus a


bog-dweller; from which the Lowland Scots bogle, literally
a little bog man or bogger, a scarecrow or bodach. Note also
boban and bobug Gaelic words sometimes applied
affectionately to small boys. The source here is taken as
the Middle Irish boban, a calf, from bo, a cow. These confer
with the bocan, or hobgoblin of Gaelic myth. The bogeymen
are characterized in several obsolete expressions, notably:
bog, a surly person; boggard, a latrine; bogger, one who
works at the home of his employer, especially a shoe-maker
or repairer; bogging, peddling or hawking from door-to-door;
boggish, a boorish person given to bragging and cursing,
especially a person who drank excessively. Until recently a
bug was known to be a vain, conceited, boastful individual. ;
boggle-de-botch, a total screw-up; bogus, watered-down
rum; bogie, a low solidly built mechanism, especially an
early railway cart.

Bogan is the Anglo-Saxon descriptive for a boastful


person. The word bogie was the base for our word buggy, a
high-wheeled vehicle which would keep the peddlar's goods
clear of water and mud. Confers with bodach and the
various English species, namely, boggle, bogy, boogy-boo,
bogie, bug-a-booh, bugill, boggart, bogan, booman,
boogeyman, bugleman, bullerman, bullbeggar. bugman, bug,
bugbear, bugaboo, buck, pug, puck, or puck-hairy. Related
Celtic species include the Cymric pwcca which is the Gaelic
pooka.

In tracking related names, Sir Francis Palgrave has


helped to characterize the bogle: The Anglo-Saxon poecan
means to deceive, or seduce; and the Low Saxon picken to
gambol; pickeln, to play the fool; the Icelandic pukra, to
steal secretly; and the Danish pukke, to scold.

Retained in Atlantic Canada as bocan, bauken, bawken,


bocain, boccan, a bogeyman or bog-dweller, one of the
Daoine sidh. A creature used to threaten small children
away from dangerous places. Sir Andrew MacPhail (1936)
noted that "Witches, ghosts and fairies were so common
they excited little interest. Bocans were a more serious
menace. A bocan might leap upon a boy in the dark at any
minute." "They (the Scot's pioneers) also had weird stories
about ghosts and hobgoblins and bocain and what not from
the old country. Hair-raising stories of the antics of an
unearthly bocain called "Colunn gun ch'eann" held the young
breathless and often caused an uncomfortable shifting of
chairs nearer the company on the part of elders... (Hubert
Macdonald, The Lord of the Isles and Their Descendants,
1944, p. 97).
Bogeyman was perhaps the common form in Atlantic
Canada, while boo-man or boo-beggar seems to be have been
preferred in Newfoundland. Notice that the bogeymen
frequently carried their goods in bags, sacks or pouches, and
that poca is still the Gaelic word for a sack. Our word
pocket may come from this source and is related to the
Anglo-Saxon words pucca and bucca, a pocket and a he-goat,
respectively. It is suspected that all of these corresponded
with the Old German, tanherabogus, a goblin or devil. One
man described an encounter with a bogey who was "as tall
as a tree with arms like logs, speckled all over (freckled?)"

A resident of South River Lake, Nova Scotia, insisted


he was assaulted by "a blanket" which transformed itself
into "a fleece of wool" and finally reconstituted itself as "a
round black ball." A traveller at East River Point, in that
same province, was less certain what opposed him but found
the road blocked by "a black thing." Returning home he took
down his shotgun and returned to the wayside intending to
blast this bogeyman into the beyond. His family members,
remembering other incidents where bullets had ricocheted
from such creatures killing the marksman, blocked him from
this effort.

A Rothesay, New Brunswick man on the road to his


weekly hand of forty-fives at the village fire hall was
driven to the pavement by a stunning blow to his right
shoulder. He could see nothing in the darkness but later
said that the blow came as, "a great thudding whack, like
that given by the flat of a hand." His wind knocked from
him, he looked up and thought he saw "an enormous black
man wearing a derby."

Another memorable attack took place in the Dagger


Woods of Nova Scotia where a farmer was driving his team
and wagon through the darkened forest. Suddenly the horses
refused to move and the farmer got down to assess the
difficulty. In mid-step he was swept away on a whirlwind
and recovering, found himself seated on the ground, facing
backwards, between his two sweating completely
immobilized animals. He immediately turned the team
about and had no difficulty retreating back down the road.

Bougies were known in the Acadian countryside, where


they were seen travelling as a single ball of cold light.
"Bougie" is retained in the French language as a measure of
light intensity, one unit equalling a candlepower.

The bogeymen attempted to terrify, or mislead, men.


Failing this they sometimes assaulted people at night and
Robert Lowe of Moser's River, Nova Scotia, was one of their
victims. He noted that the thing that struck him in the dark
"was pretty powerful to be a person, but it was too dark to
see anything. It was raining, so not very likely any normal
person would be hiding in the bushes." Feeling outmatched
Lowe took the sensible route of running for his own
doorstep, and inside equipped himself with a lantern and a
gun. In the best tradition of men who return again and again
to haunted houses to face a virulent monster, Lowe went
back to the scene of the attack. Something came running at
him out of the pitch-blackness and he fled without firing a
shot. The next night he heard the bug-man rustling the
leaves in the woods close to his house. The morning after
both incidents he emerged at dawn to look for prints or
some signs of damaged trees or brush, but there was never
anything to be seen in the damp soil except the prints of his
own boots.

BOCAN-ROCAIS, crow-bucks, a scarecrow.

BOCAN-BEALLTINN, anything which wild and unmanageable,


a wild horse. These animals were said particularly
ungovernable at midsummer (August 2, the Lunastain).

BOC-SITHE, "buck of the side-hill folk," the bocan, the bog-


dweller described above under this name. One of the Daoine
sidh, or wee-folk of Celtic mythology. Note that the fay-
folk were often observed materialized upon hill slopes in
animal form, particularly as small hornless breeds of
cattle, as pigs and as goats. Note that boc correponds with
the Gaelic muc, a pig.

BOCHD, poor, needy, wretched, sick, sickly, sad, lean, lank.


dear, parish poor, obs. breach, fire, reaping, cutting down at
the harvest.

BOCHDA, BOCHDAIN, BHOCHDAIN, BOCHDAINN, a bochdan,


poor, a participle from the verb bongaim, break, reap, a
field-worker. These people were sooth-sayers. Also,
poverty, trouble, mischief, bad luck, mishap, the Devil. The
root-word is the Celtic bongo, to break, similar to the Latin
banga, a breaker or wave. Notice that the ocean between
Barra and Ireland is entitled Cuan a’ Bhochdain by the
islanders. See separate entry.

This creature continues in Atlantic Canadian folklore


as a revanter, a revenge-seeking spirit, a remain of those
dead by violence. This a spirit was thought generated from
a befind, the second soul of a human, unable to unite with
the primary soul due to a severe trauma at the time of
death. It has been observed that this wraith is capable of
crossing bodies of water unlike many of the species. It is
capable of partial or entire materialization and typically
appears as a counterpart of the victim, complete with
death-wounds.

Mary L. Fraser has noted that the bochdan stalks the


murderer reminding him of his crime, but this ghost is
unable to manage retribution in the real world, although it
can presumably harass evil men (and women) in their
dreams and when their spirits are separated from their
bodies, as in illness. Note the Eng. bongo-drums. A typical
boogie-man he was incapable of doing the person he pursued
any physical harm, but his constant presence was unnerving
and drew unpleasant questions from the neighbours. This
was particularly so since the bochdan always carried the
death injury on his ghostly, or ghastly, form. If his human
had died by having his throat cut, the bochdan showed a neck
wound.
A bochdan of a man who was strangled would show
bruises, while one who died of a gunshot wound might
display a gaping tear in the chest cavity. Those afflicted by
such a haunt usually fled from its presence, but this was
was not usually a succesful manoeuvre as something in the
job-description allowed bochdans to cross running water, a
prohibition that usually halted run-of-the-mill bogeymen.

A typical case was that of the "Bochdan Greve", which


follwed a murderer from lowland Scotland to the docks of
Halifax. Having outrun a charge of murder, the assasin was
distressed when he came ashore and spotted a shadowy
figure in a grey cloak waiting for him. The bochdan stood
with a dog hollowed in against his leg, and said nothing, not
surprising since his throat was cut. Although the face was
in darkness, the murderer recognized his victim in the
stance of the bochdan. Taking the first coach, the man fled
to Mull River, Inverness County, Cape Breton, but his
follower was as attached to him as any homing pigeon. The
new neighbours of this Scot observed that he kept very
peculiar company, although the bochdan never came nearer
than an apple tree nearest the house. There he stood, facing
the front door at dusk and dawn. Every so often the bochdan
must have taken a lunch break as the dog alone remained
visible. Over many years hundreds of passers-by saw the
vision, which entered popular folklore as "The Bochdan
Greve." The follower continued active as long as this
gentleman lived, and failing to get justice, he remained as
an ancestral haunt to other members of the family after the
murderer died. 31

The bochdan that appeared at Margaree, Cape Breton,


troubled the neighbourhood because the befind felt his host
had been ill-treated by the Christian church. The evolution
of this spirit was traced to a suicide that took place in the
early years of this century. A drunkard was found dead in a
field and was buried on an island in unconsecrated ground,
since the clergy regarded his passing as a suicide. Not long

31Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, p. 83.


after "ugly noises" began to be heard from the cburial site.
It was known that spirits were at large during the Yule, and
one Christmas Eve a priest was crossing a small brook on a
road adjacent to the island when he was attacked by the
materialized bochdan;"...they wrestled until morning, the
man losing one of his braces in the encounter. But all this
time he refrained from speaking to his assailant, for the
Bochdan could not speak unless addressed." Luckily, the
clergyman had heard that the voice of the bochdan could kill.
When dawn came this ghost dematerialized, but the priest
was determined to eradicate the presence and went to the
island. The priest blesssed the grave of the poor outcast
man, and arranged that the body be transferred to a church
cemetary. "After this, the noises ceased; nor was anything
more seen or heard at Bochdan Brook, which still bears this
sinister name." 32

Although "bochdan" was originally used to describe


befinds, especially those with a mission, it was finally
extended to any dangerous apparition, thus Mrs. O.N.
MacPherson of Margaree Forks defined "bodchan" more
loosely as "an off-shoot of Satan." 33 Mary L. Fraser
confused them with run-of-the-mill sidh-folk, and with
forerunners, as the following story reveals: "One evening
about fifty-one years ago a young man...was going on a
message to a neighbour's house, when he saw it before him
on the road, a very terrifying object. It was large and black
and had a red light in the middle of its back. A stream of
light came from the front of it, so bright he could see the
shingles on the house to which he was going. It went up to
the house, passed around it, and then came down the road so
swiftly that he jumped aside to let it pass. Terrified he
made the sign of the cross, then looked to see the terrible
bochdan. The bright front lights had turned once more to

32Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, p. 89.

33Halpert, Herbert, A Folklore Sampler, St. John's (1982) p. 14.


red. He heard no sound." 34

BOCHRA, bocsa, a box, boch-tonn, wave-box, “the ocean.”


The father of Finntann and husband of Lady Cassir, Fintann
escaped the Deluge in “a flood-barrel.”

BOD, penis, tail, hence bodha, hard as a rock, a rock,


especially a hidden rock in the ocean, and bodach, an old
man, a carle, a dirty old man, a male sigh. Anne Rice says
that while stone heads are frequently seen, throughout
Europe, as symbols of virility and spirit, the combination of
head upon a pillar stone, at once a phallus and a seat of
intellect, is peculiarly Celtic. She notes that the phallus
and the head were considered capable of independent life
after the death of the male body. The genetive is boid. Note
that Rothesay is Baile Bhoid, the “town of Bute.” OIr. bot,
fire, thus originally Inis Boit, “Fire Island.” Having special
reference to the bale or signal fires and the quarter-day
fires. Note also beo, living, full of divine “fire.” The
personal name of Saint Buti, (521 A.D). Butelach, a big fire
or a place where a fire was traditionally laid. Connects
with Eng. bute.

There was never much “penis envy” among ancient


goddesses: The reincarnate Mebd bragged that she was the
equal of any man whether on the plain of battle or the bed.
She valued her consort a little less than Ferdiad who she
took to her bed as an encouragement to fight against Cu
Chullain. Like the Dagda, Ferdiad ate seven times as much
as an ordinary man, had the strength of seven hundred; a
nose mouth and penis that were each seven fingers long and
a scrotum as large as a sack of flour. When looked with lust
at the wolf-queen it was said that they lost two-thirds of
their strength.

Katherine Scherman thinks that this fact illustrates

34Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, pp. 46-47. Twenty-
five years later railway tracks were run through this region and the
"bochdan" was seen to be the forerunner of a locomotive and train.
"the combined fertility and destructive functions of female
deities", but the case is simpler than that. Just as men, or
women could gain spirit by eating food, they might rob vital
energies from one another by the virtual consumption of
bodies. Coupling was considered to pass god-spirit in one
direction or the other and the movement was always toward
the more "spirited" person. With this in mind, Mebd is
known to have said: "Were my husband a coward it would be
unfit for us to be married, for I by myself and alone break
battles and fights and combats, and it would be a reproach
to my mate should his wife by more full of life than myself,
while there is no failing in being equally bold. Further,
should he be jealous (and hence of less spirit) that too
would not suit me, for there was never a time when I had a
man but another stood ready in his shadow." Although it
might seem extreme, some claimed that Mebd required
thirty men a day to service her sexual needs and that she
kept no lover who was not her equal in virility.

In the pagan theology, Mhorrigan-Samh was the


original befind, so it must be assumed that she was the
unseen guardian of this particular version of Queen Mebd.
Like other mortal-goddesses Mebd died. While she survived
all the battles, including that with Cu Chullain, she was
unable to avoid an ironic encounter over the breakfast table,
where her nephew revolted at her haughty manners. He
picked up a lump of the hard but instead of putting it in his
mouth, shot it at her out of a sling. She was hit between the
eyes and her spirit immediately departed for one of the
nether worlds.
BODACH, BHODACH, BOTHACH, an old man, a karl, a spectre,
the cod-fish, the lesser seal, from the OF. botte, a clod of
earth, thus a rustic; by way of bod, a penis, and the Anglo-
Saxon, boda, a messenger or menial. Possibly formed from
OF. botte, a clod of earth. See also bod, above, a “dirty old
man.” A bhalgaidh or “day-bull,” the descendant of the god
Bal or Bil. The mate of the boabd or Celtic witch.

He is the invisible house-spirit, corresponding with


the English brownie or hobgoblin. Differing from these in
his endemic nakedness and the fact that his body was
liberally covered with hair. About two and a half feet in
height, he possessed slitted nostrils rather than a true nose
and had slightly webbed hands and feet. The bodach had the
ability to materialize at will and often did so to create an
uncomfortable situation among humans. Each croft was
once thought sure to decline unless it housed a bodach in the
chimney space. These creatures exchanged their labours (in
the dead of night) for food and drink. Originally a social
class, "below the general body of the tribe: labourers.
horse-boys, herdsmen, and hangers-on, supported by
particular families... but having neither property rights nor
any voice in the tribal council." These were not counted
free men, but with the "sencleithe", were considered
superior to the "fuidir", strangers, fugitives, war captives.
condemned criminals, or people who had surrendered their
freedom while paying off a debt or fine which they could not
afford by other means.

All were described as poorly clothed and completely


covered with hair. The brownie had webbed fingers and toes
in common with the species of banshee known as the
morrigan. The bodache were more servile than the female
of their species often entering contracts with men. King
James VI said: "The spirit appeared like a rough man, and
haunted divers houses without doing any evill, but doing, as
it were, necessarie turns (chores) up and down the house;
yet some were so blinded as to believe that the house was
all the sonsier (luckier), as they called it, that such spirits
resorted there."

The bodachs did this work in return for a small


allowance of food and clothing and a permanent place in the
chimney corner. They were usually invisible but sometimes
took the shape of farm animals. According to tradition this
spirit presented himself to the patriarch of a family when
he went looking for work. If accepted, he put on his cloak of
invisibility and never reappeared except to reintroduce
himself to some new master upon the death of the lord of
the household. After dark, the bodach performed all of the
usual farm chores in exchange for board and a small food
and clothing allowance. The food would have been a small
portion of bread and honey and a bit of milk, or a sample of
homebrew placed near the fireplace in a hollowed stone
bowl. It was though absolutely necessary to bring samples
of ale and newly formed butter to the bodach "for the luck
of the house."

Bodachs were usually given a single stook of grain


which stood unprotected in the frame yard. In spite of its
exposed location this haystack was never disturbed by the
wind. Bodachs were more serious minded than brownies and
reacted badly when offended. Like the Scots, with whom
they boarded, they bristled at anything resembling charity,
and given foood that seemed to fine for their palate, or
clothing that seemed excessive to their sense of fashion,
they would leave the farm taking the luck of the farm with
them.

The name survives in Atlantic Canada, but the original


meaning is largely lost: "Used in a derogatory fashion to
describe an old man; an old fella who's past it. A churl, a
boor, a niggardly fellow, a mutchkin." 35

My great-grandfather, Thomas Alexander Mackay, lived


at Bonny River, New Brunswick, after his family emigrated
there from Glasgow in 1828. Like all his Scottish
neighbours, he was accompanied by a hearth-spirit, which
some suspected projected itself into the family cat. In any
event, the brownie bowl was dutifully filled at night and
always found empty by dawn. His wife, Priscilla
Williamson, recognized the perogatives of the bodach, which
explains why she would never shake the crumbs from a
table-cloth or sweep the floor after the setting of the sun.
These were then the duties of the bodach and he was
angered when men or women suggested that he was
inacapable or inefficient.

There were tales of farmers who had crossed their


bodach by such simple acts: Once a young girl responsible
for replenishing the brownie stone filled it first with honey
and then with oatmeal and a spot of cream. Thinking the
usual sweet stuff had been omitted, the bodach flew into a
rage and rushed to the barn where he broke the neck of a
prized cow. In a more reflective mood, he went back to his
oatmeal and discovered his mistake. At that he
compensated the farmer by leaving a pile of woodchips on
the table. These turned to gold with the rising of the sun.
The bodach may have been the befind, or familiar, of a

35Prastt, Dictionary opf Prince Edward Island English, Toronto


(1988) p. 210.
human magician, but no distinction was made between
bodachs belonging to the sidh and those of human clans.

The bodachs described by Mary L. Fraser were


certainly well versed in the druidheachd. We are not told
how many there were, but all were fisherman on the Cape
Breton shore. They were also bachelors as they were in the
habit of making full use of their weekends: "On Saturday
might they would jump, each one into a bailing can and
would sail away to parts unknown. On Monday morning they
would all come back, each one with a clean "shift" (shirt)." 36

A little more credible is the following account given


by the Pictou County historian Frank H. Patterson: "...there
lived at Tatamagouche (Nova Scotia) an old sea captain who
sailed his little shallop between here and "the Island"
(Prince Edward Island). One day he was sailing there under
a steady and favorable breeze when suddenly in the Strait,
far from land and in deep water, his vessel, without any
reason wahatever suddenly stopped. An ordinary mariner
would have been at a loss to understand so strange a
phenomenon but this old salt was not only a masterof the
waters...he was a master of witchcraft as well. He knew
his plight had been wished on him (by an enemy)...His fingers
ran through his long grisly beard, and across his weather-
beaten features came a cunning, confident smile. He lashed
the wheel and then disappeared in the cabin. In a moment he
reappeared, carrying in one hand an old musket...in the other
a rough slab (of wood) on which he had sketched the
likeness of his enemy...Placing the slab by the mast he shot
at it...Scarcely had the report died away when the vessel
began to move and the spray was flying from beneath her
clumsy bow and at the stern a happy sea captain wore a
smile that would not wear off..." 37

36Fraser, Mary L., Folklore of Nova Scotia, np, nd, p. 65.

37Patterson, Frank H., A History of Tatamagouche, Halifax (1917), p.


57.
One of Helen Creighton respondants at Allandale, Nova
Scotia, has explained the intention of this counter-charm:
"Fishermen here used to make a drawing of the person they
thought responsible for bad luck and they would put it (the
image) up on the mast. Then they would shoot at the hand or
some part that would be mutilated, believing that in
whatever place the image was pierced, the witch would
suffer. The young men knew about this and sometimes made
images for fun, but they noticed when they did this
something always happened (to the person who was
represented).38

Daddy Red Cap was the nickname of a bodach who


plagued Allandale, Nova Scotia. The fact that he was given
this name suggests he was considered a dangerous creature,
for the redcaps were evil goblins who inhabited the
wastelands at the border of England with Scotland. They
occupied ruined towers and castles and waylaid travellers,
re-dying their cylindrical, flat-topped hats in human blood
after each night of mayhem. It was said that the bodach had
once bargained to buy a cow, but the owner refused to sell.
Shortly after, a snow-white bumblebee appeared on the
rump of the animal and it lost the ability to give milk.
Citizens of Allandale were sure this was the befind of Old
Daddy Red Cap, who had also cast spells against people he
disliked.

Unfortunately for him, it is simply not true that "the


Devil looks after his own!" His first set-back came when
his wife agreed to apprentice a visitor from the
neighbouring village of Black Point. The woman was made
aware of the initiation rites of the sgoil dubh, or black arts,
being told she would have to curse her father and mother,
sign a "lease of her soul" contracting in blood. She had
arrived at the point in the ritual where she was required to
say aloud, "I sell my soul to the devil'," when she had second
thoughts. Instead she said, "I sell my soul to the Lord!" A
terrible commotion followed, and the Mrs. Daddy Red Cap

38Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 41.


cowered before a gathering cloud of darkmesss crying,
"You've ruined me, you've ruined me!" The accolate retreated
so that she did not see what followed, but the
disappearance of the boabh from the community was noted
shortly afterwards.

Fanny W. had no quarrel with Daddy Red Cap, but


hearing that nine new needles boiled in human or animal
urine was a countermeasure against the craft, tried it while
concentrating her attention on the old man. To her surprise,
this act called him to her doorstep, and she noted with
horror that a sharp stick protruded from his arm. "Pull it
out, pull it out!" he demanded, and she complied breaking the
spell against him.

He recovered from this, but it did not disuade him


from turning his craft against a number of local fishermen.
At sea in the waters off Cape Breton they were without
fish, decided that, "old Daddy Red Cap has bewitched us."
They drew an effigy of the fish-robber, hammered it to the
mast of their ship, and ground up a silver dime to make
appropriate shot. They put this in their shot gun, and fired
away, hitting the image in the eye. After that, the fishing
improved so that they forgot about the old bodach. Back at
the wharf they enquired after the news of the day, and were
told that little had transpired, but that Daddy Red Cap had
fallen on his picket fence and damaged his right eye. While
this did not di

spose of him, he suffered a long recuperation and died


of a heart attack. During his wake, relatives were gathered
in one room, and acquaintances in another. His befind
signalled his leaving with a number of terrific crashing
sounds. Both groups rushed to the opposite room, supposing
the supernatural noises to have come from there, but there
was no visible explanation for the sound in either place. 39

The chief blighting-power of the bodach was the evil-

39Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Magic, Toronto (1978), p. 41.


eye. Nova Scotian writer, Neil MacNeil saw this magic in
operation in the 1920's: "Grandfather and I were riding in
our buggy...We stopped to pass the time of day with a
neighbour. Grandfather and the neighbourt asked about each
other's families and about the crops, and made small talk
about other matters. In the course of conversation I noticed
the neighbour looking intently at Old Maud, Grandfather's
mare, which was standing relaxed and glad of the chance to
rest. "That's a fine animal you have, Michael Eoin,"
remarked the neighbour. "Indeed she is, and may Saint
Columba bless her," replied Grandfather. Shortly after this
we were on our way; but something happened to Old Maud.
The mare limped badly in her hind right foot...I was doing
the driving. I thought she had picked up a stone in her shoe,
or that a nail or stone had injured her hoof. I got out and
examined the hoof and found nothing wrong with it. We
drove on and Old Maud was as lame as ever. Grandfather,
who was watching the performance in silence, finally spoke.
"that neighbour has the evil eye," he said. "That is why I
asked for St. Columba's blessing on the poor creature. I was
trying to save her. Water off silver will cure the spell. So
let her move along gently until we reach some water." This
we did. When we reached a small brook I stopped the horse
and Grandfather lent me a silver coin. Under his
instructions I held it in my cupped hand and dipped some
water from the stream. I rubbed the water first and then
the coin on Old Maud's leg and hoof. After some of this
Grandfather remarked: "That will do." I got back in the
buggy and we drove off. Old Maud's limp was gone, in fact I
never saw her more happy or more sprightly." 40

When the Reverand James MacGregor came out to


Pictou township in the 1780's it was said that he was
"beset on all sides with the superstitious beliefs of the
settlere. While he did his best to overcome their fear of
witches, fairies and beasties, he was to contend with this
problem until his death." Some of the settlers were certain

40MacNeil, Neil, The Highland Heart In Nova Scotia, New York (1948),
pp. 82-83.
that he was a Christian bodach, and one elderly lady
insisted that he lay hands on their sick cow to drive off the
evil spirit that was causing it to be ill.

Pushed to his limit, he at last gave in, and laying a


stick on the animals rump, declared, "If you live you live,
and if you die you die." Fortunately for his reputation as a
magician the animal recovered. There was a sequel. The
minister was afterwards forced to bed with an abcess in
his throat which nearly blocked his breathing. This same
old lady approached his bed-side and reiterated MacGregor's
"god-spell": "If you live you live, if you die you die." This
teased the clerics funny-bone and he laughed aloud in spite
of his discomfort. At that the tumour burst, he regained his
breath, and was soon up and about. This reinforced his
reputation, and not long after a farmer arrived saying his
horse had wandered and could Dr. MacGregor please locate
the animal? The minister protested that he had no
supernatural powers but he did recollect seeing a stray
animal earlier in the day. He mentioned this to the man
saying, "Perhaps it is yours." As this was the case, word
spread that the "Spirit of God" enabled James MacGregor to
perform miracles equal to that of any pagan bodach. 41

BODACH NA CROIBHE MOIRR, croibhe, cattle pen, moirrear,


lord, great steward; the old man who watched the cattle, na
croibhe moirr, of the great and ancient oak tree. “Great”
may also be translated as large. The word croibhe
resembles croich, a gallow tree, and also cro, blood, raw
flesh or death.

This bodach is pictured as a strong, wirey little man


as gnarled and stout as his parent oak. The oak-tree man
was actually one with the spirit of his tree and when it
fell, he died. He was therefore obsessively protective of
his home, his liveliheed and his second soul. The oak was
the preferred resting-place of the spirits of the pagan
thunder-gods, so these creatures can be seen as demoted

41Sherwood, Roland H., Pictou Pioneers, Windsor (1973), pp. 72-73.


gods, quite possibly the spirits consulted by the ancient
"draoi" or druids, whose religion centered on the worship of
this species of tree. In the past ancient trees were
reserved to the crown, and the peasent was only allowed
deadwood, that which he could pull away from the living
tree "by hook or by crook". At that, it was always
considered good manners to ask a tree permission where
wood was to be removed. A typical charm had to be
repeated three times: "Great oak-man, give of your wood,
and when my spirit has gone to earth and tree, then I will
give thee of mine!" This was made a firm contract by
spitting three times against the roots.

Those who cut without formalities often lost their


eyesight or their health when a limb fell on them. More
often, the adventurer was not stricken but his wife,
children or cattle were destroyed by the oak-tree man. If
this danger was noted, the wounded tree was sometimes
diverted from antagonistic action after being offered a
libation of milk or ale. The village of Tusket, Nova Scotia,
lies ten miles away from the larger town of Yarmouth. It
was once noted for "a large, rather ungainly, oak tree
growing on the bank of an ocean inlet beside the village's
main road. The branches are gnarled and crooked and the
tree has a rather ominous aura surrounding it. It is said
that it was from this tree that the early settlers of the
area hanged condemned criminals or victims of lynching
gangs. The tree was not removed when the road was
made...because an axe would not scar it nor could oxen pull
it from the ground. 42 Our ancestors might have argued that
the spirits of hard men were added to that of the tree,
giving it unusual physical strength.

It was well-known that oaks were slow to die. When


they fell, the stump typically became the root for a coppice
haunted by the spirits of many bodache. These sidh-folk
were distressed at the loss of the tree and often blamed
men for the damage. They therefore offered food to passing

42Halpert, Herbert, A Folklore Sampler, St. John's (1982), p. 7.


mortals, and the dainties were tempting, but had to be
refused as they were fungal growths disguised by magic.
Wood taken from fallen oaks, hanging trees, or the remains
of a shipwreck carried spirits with them which were not
always comfortable in the homes of the living.

At Victoria Beach, Nova Scotia, Joseph Casey told of a


cradle fashioned from such wood by his great grandfather:
"(He) had started out to be a priest but he changed to
become a Baptist minister and was married three times. He
made a cradle that was as long as a cot and pretty soon they
noticed that the cradle rocked whether the baby was in it or
not...Some people who used it said that hymn music would
come from it." Casey's mother confirmed her son's story
adding that she had seen the cradle rock by itself but had
not heard the music. The cradle was eventually loaned to a
friend, but she found its actions so uncanny she returned it.
"The cradle now belongs to people who keep it in their
attic." 43

BODACH AN DUN, the Old Man of the Heap, or Dune (a decayed


fortress), "Particular families were said to be haunted by
certain demons, the good or bad geniuses of these families.
The Speyside family known as Rothiemurchus considered
this typically invisible creature as their weregild. It was
this bodach that appeared to the Shaws in this countryside
when they were dispossessed of their lands. It lamented in
Gaelic as follows:

Ho! e! as exiles we go,


From our lands and duns, away, away!
But we trust, though out-thrust
By an earthly foe,
To reach the City that lasts for aye.
The City of Peace - for aye, for aye.”

The Gaelic version may be found in Macpherson's


Social Life In The Highlands, p. 4. Notice that the Shaws are

43Creighton, Helen, Bluenose Ghosts, Toronto (1976), p. 164.


the Daoine sith of ancient legend and that their bodach does
not pine for the Christian Heaven. According to the family,
this ghost continues to guard the graves and memorial
stones within the old family lands.

BODACH AN LAMH-DEARG, the Old Man of the Red (or Bloody)


Hand. The forerunner to the Scottish family descendant
from the Baron of Kincardine. A "ghost" with one hand that
dripped blood. A weregild or banshee.

BODACH-GARTIN, garadh, a garden, or yard, the weregild of


Gartenberg, Scotland. Some bodache, like this creature, had
jurisdiction over villages, towns or districts.

BODACH-GLAS, The Gray Man, the weregild of Clan Ivor,


warning their chieftains of impending doom.
BODACH SABHALL, sabhall, a barn, from Br. from Latin
stabulum, a stall, hence English, stable. A spirit of the
stables used to caring for horses and cattle. The latter word
confers with the English word stable through a Brythonic
root word.

This creature corresponds exactly with the English


barguest or barn-ghost. Thomas Keightley speaks of the
boggart and barguest of Yorkshire, noting that the former
"is the same as the brownie or kobold (of Germany); the
latter, whose proper name is barn-ghaist, or barn-spirit,
keeps without, and usually takes the form of some domestic
animal." An earlier account says that, "The barguest used
also to appear in the form of a great mastiff-dog, and
terrify people with his skrikes (shrieks) There was a
barguest named the pick-tree-brag whose usual form was
that of a little galloway (horse) in which shape a farmer,
still or lately living, reported that it had come to him one
night as he was going home; that he got upon it and rode
very quietly till it came to a pond, to which it ran and threw
him in, and went laughing away."

The highland barn brownies had a great love of horses


which they often rode as well as emulated. Where they
were exuberant the horse was sometimes left panting and
exhausted by morning. In a foul mood, they sometimes
lutinized the tails or manes of animals, giving the herdsman
and impossible job for the daylight hours. They were
usually propitiated with a stack of straw, which was never
disturbed, even by winds of hurricane force. Bodachs
sometimes consented to mow and thresh the grain crop, but
were hot-tempered and if criticized might respond by
taking the harvest and dumping it in a remote location.

BODACH SGEIR ROIS, the Old Man of the Rock of Rois.


Between the island of Kirkibost and the mainland of Uist, a
place of omens. Here Iain Mor was met by a weregild who
informed him that the would die by "am bas biol" the clean
death, and he did afterwards expire by drowning while en-
route to his own wedding. (The Hebridean Connection, p. 50).

BOD FHEARGUIS, BODHA FHEARGUS. “Fergus’ Prick,” the


rural name for the coronation stone of Milesians and the
Tuathans. An obvious symbol of male reproductive power.
bodha, "a rock over which waves break," from Norse bothi,
same meaning; specifically, the "Rock of Fergus". See bod.

This is the Scottish equivalent of the Irish Lia Fail,


"The Stone of Destiny." Note that it too is sometimes
designated as Clach Fhearghuis Mhoir, the “Rock of Big
Fergus,” and in all cases makes reference to Fergus Mor mac
Erc, who was said responsible for its removal from Tara to
Dunadd in Argyllshire, Scotland. It may have been purloined
from the sea-giants and was counted as one of four
treasures of the Tuatha daoine. It is known to have been
obtained by the Tuathans from the island city of Falias
(thus fal, having ramparts) located somewhere "among the
northern isles of the world" where they resided "learning
lore and magic and druidism and wizardry." This stone was
said to roar with pleasure beneath the feet of a rightful
monarch, but cried in sorrow at the coming of an unlawful
or unworthy king. Scottish historian W.C. Mackenzie (1901)
thought that the "northern isles" referred to in folklore
were most probably Lochlann (Loch-land), or Norway. He
says that the Lia Fail was more than a common means of
indicating the succession of kings. Among the Irish high-
kings at Teamore, or Tara, it was custom to sit upon a
throne located over the stone during investiture. It was
thought that this coronation passed god-spirit through the
stone into the candidate, who afterwards became an oracle.
The stone itself sometimes gave opinions on important
matters of state, and whether this voice was aroused by
druidic ventriloquism or other supernatural means, its voice
had the weight of law.

Although the stone was originally placed on a hill near


Tara, it was removed. Katherine Scherman contends that it
was not carried out of the province of Meath, but says it
was repositioned to mark a minor skirmish that took place
between the English and the Irish in 1798.

Earlier historians say this is not so, and most agree it


was removed to Scotland when the Scots at Tara were
dislodged from their homeland by invading southerners.
Ware and Keating are of the opinion that it was carried
across the Irish Sea by three sons of Erc during the sixth
century. O'Flaherty, another well-known Irish chronicler,
believed the stone was sent to Scotland in the ninth century
by Hugh Finliath, son-in-law to King Kenneth MacAlpin, the
ruler of Dalriada in southwestern Alba, or Scotland. In this
version of the transfer we come upon the notion that the
stone carried with it the promise that the race that held it
would subjugate the land on which it rested.

Since the Scots were then struggling with the Picts


over ownership of Ireland, the placement of the stone in the
royal precincts at Dunadd was apparently undertaken to
assure the subjugation of the Picts. When the Lia Fail was
removed the Scots did, indeed, lose control over their
former lands in Ireland but gained Alba in such measure it
was renamed Scotland.

The very early Scottish senachie, Baldred Bisset said


that the Lia Fail was transported into Dalriada by the
matriarchal patroness of all the Scots, the goddess Scota.
Bisset's near-contemporary, John of Fourdon says that two
versions concerning the origin of the stone were current in
his time. The more accepted version claimed that Gaodhal
Glas (The Gray Gael), a Greek national, went to Egypt about
the time of the Israeli exodus to take a position at the court
of the pharaoh. There his grandson Niul (Nile or Neal)
became completely integrated into the local royal family
when he married the king's daughter, Scota. Later the
extend family had a falling-out with the royal ruler and
they migrated through north Africa to Spain where they
established a kingdom under the leadership of King Miled.
This Milesian race invaded Ireland about 1,000 years before
the advent of Christ and it is said that the "stone of
destiny" was carried from Egypt to Spain to Ireland by the
hereditary guardians of this artifact.

Hector Boece, a sixteenth century writer, agreed with


John of Fourdon, that the stone was carried into Ireland by
Simon Brec, or Bres. They are not agreed on its origin, for
Boece claims it was accidentally raised from the sea-bed
on a wood-and-stone anchor. Both accounts do agree that
the Lia Fail was of a marble-like rock, shaped like a chair.
This leads to the plausible conclusion that the Lia Fail is
not the Bodha Fheargus of the Scottish nation, but an
entirely separate "fatal stone." The latter is made of "a dull
reddish or purplish sandstone with a few embedded pebbles,
some quartz; two others of a dark material; one may be
Lydian stone."

The Bodha Fheargus was located for may years at the


coronation-town of Scone, until Edward I, seeing it as a
mystical support to Scottish sovereignty, removed it to a
safe place beneath the English coronation-throne in London.
It is almost certain that the Scottish stone was quarried
from the sandstone districts found between the coasts of
Argyll and the mouths of the Tay and the Forth. This being
true, it is probable that Baldred Bisset, and others like him,
deliberately confounded the two stones to give the Scottish
kingdom a firm rallying point.

Unhappy with the pagan origin of the stone, clerics of


the Christian church later claimed that the coronation stone
was actually the "stone-pillow" used by Abraham when he
dreamed of angels descending from heaven. The official
English tale said that the "pillow" ultimately saw service in
Dunadd in Argyllshire, "being taken from there by King
Kenneth MacAlpine, who to secure his empire, removed it to
Scone. There it remained for the inauguration of Scottish
kings until 1296 when it was translated to Westminster
Abbey, and in accordance with prophecy, the empire of
Scotland went with it." The original Lia Fail may have gone
to Iona for a chronicler claimed Wyntoun said it was
routinely used as a pillow by St. Columba. This might have
led to the tale that it was Abraham's pillow.
It is a known fact that St. Columba consecrated Aidan,
king of the Dalriada upon the Lia Fail, although both men
were by then removed to Scotland. Mackenzie has suggested
that the Stone of Destiny may have been the altar used by
Saint Boniface to celebrate the Eucharist after he persuaded
the Picts to forsake the old Columban church for that of
Rome.

This stone exists in the folklore of Cape Breton,


where it is remembered as having been approached "by those
hoping to benefit from its powers of prophecy." John Shaw
points to the appearance of this stone in a tale involving the
northern hero Cúchullain, a reference "unparalleled in
Cúchullain tales elsewhere (See Tales Until Dawn, Tale #
13, p. 51).

BODB DEARG, (bove darrig), also given as BOABD DEARG, Also


spelled BADB (see entry under this heading), BAOBH or
BAOBD.

He is the male counterpart of Mhorrigan, the Boabd


dubh, or "Black Crow" of Irish and Scottish myth. When the
Tuatha doaine were beaten by the Milesians, Manann mac Ler
took it on himself to find places where these folk would be
safe from their enemies. Some resettled the Otherworld but
others took to the hollow-hills of Ireland and Scotland. “He
put hidden walls before them that

no man could see, but the sigh could pass through them
as if they were air.” Manann also arranged the Feast Against
Aging for them so that they became almost immortal. As a
result of this, many of the side-hill folk wanted Manann as
their king, but there were other contenders: Ilbrech of Ess
Ruadh; Manann mac Ler himself, the king of, the “Hill of the
White Field,” situated on Slieve Fuad ; Midhir the Proud,
from Bri Leith; Aonghas Og mac Dagda; the Dagda and Bodb
Dearg mac Dagda whose residence was Sidhe Femen. Five of
these men went into council to choose the next leader and
came out supporting Bodb Dearg because he was the oldest
son of the Dagda.

At his principle residence Bodb cast potent spells that


blocked anyone from seeing or entering his property. Cliach,
the chief harpist in Connacht went there to seek the hand of
one of Bodb’s daughters in marriage, but wandered for a full
year in the general area without finding any sign of the
dwelling place. While he was entertaining himself with his
harp a lake burst up under his feet, and that water is now
found on the top of a mountain where it is called Loch Bel
Sead.

When he was not at home, this monarch lived with his


son Aonghas Og at Brugh-na-Boinn. It was Bodb who led the
human sons of Lugaidh Menn into his secret caverns and
made them allied by marrying them to three of his
daughters. “And when their lifetime was over, they went
back to the Tuatha de Danann, for they belonged to them
through their wives, and they have stopped (in the
Otherworld) ever since.” Called the “Red Crow.” his palace
was at Loch Deargherc, the “Lake of the Red- Eyed Crow.”
His jurisdiction was Connaught province in western Ireland.
He had a daughter Sadb who was turned into a fawn but
became human to conceive Oisin, a son of Fionn mac
Cumhail. His second daughter Daireann was rejected by
Fionn and she had her revenge having him take the drink of
madness. Bodb Dearg’s goldsmith Len gave his name to the
lakes of Killarney (Loch Lena and Len of the Many Hammers).
Sometimes considered a localized form (he was resident on
the River Boyne) of Cromm Cruach (of Connaught) to whom
human sacrifices were made

BODBHBH, BOBH, a form of the “god” mentioned above. A


fright; EIr. bodba, dangerous. Related to the baobh, and the
bodach, which, see. Not the G. bod, a penis,

BO-DUBH, black cow, a witch, a wizard. Confers with the


above.

BOGAN, BOBAN, BOCAN, bog + amhas, "wild man of the bog,"


egg in embryo, quagmire, marsh, rarely, bacon; a uruisg.
Former from AS bog, damp, sinking ground. See bocan, a
bogeyman.

Keightley says that the lowland Scottish form of this


creature is the bogle and contends that the Yorkshire
boggart and the English bug are descendant from it. Most
authorities distinguish these from the home-bound
brownies, but from them come the bugbear, the bugleboo and
the bugaboo. Bullbeggar is thought a corruption of bugbear.
Following another linguistic line it has been shown that bug
equals pug and puck, the Scottish pawky and the southern
English pouke. The Welsh form of this is pwcca, the Irish
phooka the Old English, puckle. From these we have the
peregrine pickle, the little pickle, the puck-hairy and the
pickleharin.

A German equivalent is the spuka, which we call a


spook. Hence cf. with the gods Lugh and Lokki. "Roguery and
sportiveness are the characteristics of this spirit. Hence it
may have been that the diminutive of proper names was
given to him...In a country like England, that is in general
dry and free from sloughs and bog-holes, this creature was
mischievous rather than dangerous." (GFE, p. 318).

BOGHA CHLANN UIS, bow of the children of Uisneach, the


Milky Way, from bogha, bow; chlann, clan, children; uis,
bearded. Notice that the Clann Uisneach has a name which
translated as "anyone of the name of Uis." This is a
contraction of Uisdean, or Old Hugh, whose name is the
patronym of Clann mac Aod (Mackay). Aod an ancient day-
god. In the lowlands of Europe the Milky Way was known as
Vrou-elden-stratt (Old Vrou's Street) after the goddess
Vrou-elle, who the Germans termed Nerthus or Frau Wode.
She was the chief mate of the god Wuotan, also known as
Odin. Notice that Odin is represented as having "a long grey
beard."

BOID, a vow, oath, swearing. MIr. moit, root men, to think,


cf. the Lat. votum. Boidhe, the same as buidhe, which see.
Boidhichead, worth of a vow, beauty, handsomeness. A
promise made within the hearing of a pagan nature-spirit or
god. This solemn promise, made devoted the individual,
absolutely or conditionally, in part or in whole, to the
service of some deity, God, god, or gods, for a longer or
shorter time, to some service or duty.

BOIDICH, to vow, to curse

BOID-RREULT, a tailed star, comet. Considered a forerunner


of disaster.

BOIGREAN, obs., the bullrush, flummery, anything flabby or


likely to break apart. Boigreanach, the place where they
grow. This useful plant is the totem of a number of clans
including Clann Aoidh.

BOIL, BOILE, madness, rage, fury, passion, frenzy, same as


buil, confers with EIr. baile, see Bil, Beul and related words.
This condition was considered “gifted” on men by the gods
through their individual bafinne.

BOINEID MHOR. Similar to the struileag. “Great bonnet.” An


imaginery boat sent from person-to-person in the form of a
rhyme. The recipient never cared to keep it for a long time
since this was bad luck. If he could not compose a
continuing verse on his own, the person who got it had to
hire a versifier and pass it on, by whatever psychic or real
means, he could manage.

BOIRDHEACHD, a Hyperborean. A dweller in the extreme


north. Classically attached to the followers of Apollo. A
mythical race living beyond the dwelling place of the north-
west wind. A name sometimes attached to the Scots or the
Irish, boirgire, fellow with a little screwed up mouth,
foreign-speaker.

BOISCEALL, a wild man or woman, cowardice, a hind or deer.


Bos, abject, low, mean, vile.
BOL, obs. poet, art, skill, a cow; now, a bowl, cup or crater,
to smell up the area (as with cow dung), bolachd, obs.
Poetry. Combines bo + lac, “sweet milk of the cow,” with
ultimate reference to the cxow-goddess Boann or Anu.
Bolaich, loud speech, bombast.

BOLG, BOLC, BALG, obs, a man of learning; now, a leather


bag, aq bbudget, belly, womb, skin-blister, quiver, bellows.
Note the Gaelic boo or bo, cow, cf. Cy. buw and OBr. bou,
whence the Latin bos and the English cow and bovine.
Related to the Skr. go, a cow. See Boann. The word is
sometimes interpreted as "bag" perhaps from the cow's
udder; thus the Firbolg race is sometimes identified as the
"people of the bag." Also bolg, a snood for gathering up hair
at the back of the head. Balgach, bellied, buldging, jutting,
a corpulent female, small pox, a boil. Balgair, a fat man,
fox, impudent persaon, glutton, thief, robber.

The cow-goddess of the Firbolg, a people who may


have migrated from Belgium to Britain in pre-Celtic times.
The Bolg was considered a lightning-goddess and we
suspect she may have been a female counterpart of the old
god Thor, who occupied the first place in northern European
theology before King Odin appeared on the scene. She may
also confer with the Gaelic goddess Bridd, goddess of hearth
and home, the protectress of the domicile against fire and
destruction by lightning. We think her holiday may have
been the Imbolc or Imbolg, now called Saint Brigit's Day
(Feb. 2). This remains as one of the Scottish Quarter-, or
Rent-Paying Days, but was once considered the "moving-
day" for the Daoine sidh, and was said to have been the time
of an important Gaelic fire-festival.

The rituals of Imbolc were similar to Samhuinn


(which see). The Firbolge established their ultimate capital
in Ireland at Tara on the River Boann, which is another name
given the goddess. This stone-age race fought the Fomors
to a stand-still but were defeated by the bronze-age Tuatha
daoine. They were afterwards assimilated by a number of
successive conquering races. "The cow is a blessed animal.
It is not right that she should be struck by the flesh of a
(human) sinner. A stick, even a few inches long, is to be
used in preference...In taking cattle to the hills they should
be driven by a stick of no value, as it must be thrown away
after them when they are left. The stem of the docken,
which comes naturally into use, where sticks are scarce is
"forbidden." The drovers and crofters are agreed about this,
but can give no reason. It is equally "forbidden" for horses.
An old man in Eriskay used to say, on leaving his cattle: -
"Closed be every hole (into which they might stumble), clear
be each knowe (knoll, of obstacles) and may the herdship of
Columcille be upon you till you come again home." (Celtic
Monthly, 1901, p. 143). The "docken" referred to in this
except is the Gaelic "dogha", the "burdock" which is
unsatisfactory as a switch even if it were not prohibited by
tradition. See bo and related words. See next.

BOLG MAC BUAN, a wise man, a champion of the eastern part


of the world, buan, lasting, durable. He found the bones of
the Coinchennm, a great sea-monster, on a strand, and he
made a spear with them. He gave it to a great fighting man,
the son of Jubar, and it went from one to another till it
came to the woman champion Aoife. She gave it to
Cuchullain, and he brought it to Ireland. With it (the gae
bolg) he killed his own son, and his friend Ferdiad. See above
entry.

BÓ NA MANNAN, the “Cow of Manann” mac Ler. There were


two of these beasts, appearing to represent his ladies,
Boann and Mhorrigan. It is said that they had twisted horns,
were perpetually in milk, one a speckled animal, the other
dun coloured. The sea-god also possessed other supernatural
beasts including a cow born with silver horns, and a bull
which gave milk.

BONN, foundation, heel, bottom, base; OIr. bond; Lat. fundus,


the English bottom, bum, buns. It was traditional to
sacrifice a human as the guardian “foundation-spirit” of
buildings erected in ancient times. The Christians adopted
this practise but usually surrendered “unimportant” body
parts to the building of their monasteries and churches.
Related to the word ban, a woman.

BONNACH, “foundation-mound,” a quarter-day cake, a


festive cake, a cake, bannock; Ir. boinneog, oatcake. This
word, like the Scand. bannock is thought founded on Latin
panis, bread. See bannaig and ban, woman (a maker of
bannocks).

BONNACH-BEALLTAIN, bannock baked for the first day of


summer, May 1 (according to Gaelic reckoning, Old Style).

Thomas Pennant has noted that the Beltane was


principally a rural happening by his century: "They first cut
a square trench on the ground (to contain the fire), leaving
the turf in the middle; on it they make a fire of wood, on
which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal and
milk; and bring besides these ingredients, plenty of beer and
whisky; for each of the company must contribute something.
The rites begin with the spilling of the caudle on the ground
(to remember the Daoine sidh and prevent the later
development of "hungry grass") by way of libation: on that
everyone takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised
nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being,
the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to some
particular animal (a totem of the deities), the real
destroyer of them: each person then turns to face the fire,
breaks off a knob, and flinging it over his shoulder, says,
"This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee,
preserve thou my sheep," and so on. After this, they give
the same ceremony to the noxious animals: "This I give to
thee, O fox! spare thou my lambs! this to thee, O hooded
crow (Mebd)! This to thee, O eagle (Lugh)!" When the
ceremony is finished, they dine on the caudle; and after the
feast is finished. What is left over is hid...but on the next
Sunday after they reassemble, and finish the reliques." (The
Golden Bough, quoting Pennant. p. 717).

Another eighteenth century writer described


activities in the parish of Logierait in Perthshire: "On the
first of May , O.S., a festival called Beltane is annually held.
It is celebrated by the cow-herds, who assemble by scores
in the fields, to dress a dinner for themselves, of boiled
milk and eggs. These dishes they eat along with a sort of
cake baked for the occasion, having small lumps in the form
of nipples, raised all over the surface." (The Golden Bough, p.
718) Sir James George Fraser suggests that this ritual
cake may once have been the "carline cake" used to chose
the "devoted one", the individual "doomed to the flames."

MacNeill has noted that John Ramsay, a contemporary


to Robert Burns, mentioned the persistence of "a large cake
baked with eggs and scalloped round the edge, called "an
bonnach beal-tine." In 1902, Miss Goodrich-Freer noted, "It
is no longer made in Uist although Father Allen remembers
seeing his grandmother make one about twenty-five years
ago." MacNeill advises that "an excellent oatcake is baked
with whey instead of fat and water. Buttermilk and cream,
fresh or sour may be used, but milk renders them flinty."

The traditional Beltane cake were baked in the heat


from a large stone, but were glazed with a thin batter
consisting of whipped egg, milk, or cream, with a little
oatmeal. In some districts oatcakes were rolled through
the ashes after the fire was out, or were rolled down nearby
hillocks. In either case, each cake was associated with an
individual roller, and its fate was carefully watched as an
omen of good or ill-luck. Any extreme breakage of the
oatcake was considered to prognosticate death. See
bealltuinn.

BONNACH-BRIDD, Bride's cake, also termed infar-cake or


"dreamin-bread; "baked for the first day of spring;"
technically, the first days of lambing (Feb. 1-2). "A
decorated cake of shortbread is still the national bride's
cake of rural Scotland, and was formerly used as infar-cake.
The breaker of the infar-cake over the head of the bride, on
the threshold of her new home, is a very ancient
custom...Portions were distributed to the young men and
maidens "to dream on." (The Scots Kitchen, p. 194).
BONNACH COLUMCILLE, Columba's Cake, offered to Christians
on June 9 each year. This festive bannoch had a silver ring
embedded in it, indicating good luck to the finder. This
seems a deliberate attempt to subvert the means once used
to isolate the victims of the Quarter-Day fires. Baked on
the eve of this saint's day, this cake was toasted before a
fire of rowan, yew, oak, or other "sacred wood." In latter
days, the division of the cake was made among children, and
the offspring who got the "ring", which had devolved into a
silver "coin," was given the crop of new lambs born that
year.

BONNACH-DUBH, the black bannoch or black bun, a possible


survivor of the ancient lottery used to select "devoted"
individuals. While the usual oatcakes were without
inclusions, these special festive cakes contained fruits in
such quantity that the oatmeal was darkened. "Round cakes
of oatmeal were split in four, and placed in a small bag, and
everyone present had to pick out a portion. Each person who
chanced upon a piece of brown-meal cake was compelled to
leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice between
two fires, by means of which the people felt sure of a
plentiful harvest. Shouts and screams of those who had to
face the ordeal could be heard ever so far, and those who
chanced to pick (the unmarked) portions sang and danced and
clapped their hands in approval..." (The Golden Bough, p.
719).

BONNACH LUNASTAIN, the so-called "Lammas-bannock,"


baked for the first day of autumn (August 1) which is one of
the Celtic quarter-days. This day was originally dedicated
to the sun-god named Lugh.

BONNACH SALAINN, the salted bannock. An oatcake baked


with the addition of a great deal of salt. Eaten in the
highlands at Samhain eve to induce dreams foretelling the
future. No water was drunk after retiring, nor any word
spoken, for fear the charm would fail. If all went well the
individual expected to dream that a future mate might
appear in the dream offering a drink of water.

BONNACH SAMHTHAIN, the summer-bannock, more properly


Samh’s bannock, "baked on the last day of summer for the
first day of winter, the latter being the New Year (Nov. 1).”
See Samh, Samhuinn, etc.

BORAMHA, BORUMBHA, in AS. boru, tribute. An example


would be the tribute placed on the people of Leinster by the
High King of all Ireland. According to The Book of Leinster
Tuathal Teachtmhair had two daughters. Eochaid, king of
Leinster wished to marry the younger one but by law could
not as long as the elder daughter remained unwed. He
therefore assented to marriage with the oldest, imprisoned
her, and remarried his first choice. His second wife soon
found the first held captive and died of grief and
humiliation at the deception. News of this reached Tara,
and Tuathal, seeking vengeance marched against Eochaid and
forced his kingdom to tribute from that time forward. The
“cattle counting,” or boramha was seldom paid unless force
was used as a reminder. One of the most famous High Kings
was called Brian Boramha (941-1014) because he
successfully collected the tribute from his cousins.

BOTHAIN-CHAITHRIS, watch-house. A small building within


cemetary grounds where friends of the deceased watched
with him in his attendance over spirits of the dead. This
was considered necessary until a fresh funeral party
supplanted them.

BRADAN BREITH, the Salmon of Knowledge, bradan, EIR.


bratan, one who wades through water; breitham, a judge.

In the latter days of the Tuatha daoine, after they had


defeated the sea-giants, King Nuada married Ethlinn, the
daughter of Balor "of the Evil Eye." This was the same
woman who had been impregnated by Cian of Contje, giving
birth to the Tuathan hero Lugh. A granddaughter to this
tribe was Murna "of the White Neck" a member of Clan
Boscna. When this tribe was defeated by Clann Morna, Murna
was among those who took refuge in the forests of Slieve
Bloom near Dublin. There she bore a son named Demna, but
fearing the rival clansmen would find and kill him, she
fostered him to two crones of the wild-wood, afterwards
going on to become the wife of the King of Kerry. Her son
was nicknamed Fionn, the “Fair One,” because of the
whiteness of his skin and his flaxen hair. He was trained by
the druid named Finegas, who dwelt near the river Boyne.

Here in a pool under a hazel tree lived Fintann, the


Salmon of Knowledge, who supposedly attained great
intellectual powers by eating the Nuts of Knowledge which
showered his pool. It was guessed that anyone who ate the
flesh of this salmon would acquire this wisdom by direct
assimilation. Unfortunately for humans, the Salmon was
elusive, but Fionn caught it and brought it home to his
master. Finegas arranged that it be cooked for his own
consumption, but it was touched by Finn while on the spit.
He, unthinkingly, transferred his burnt thumb to his mouth,
and with this act acquired all of the knowledge of the
Salmon.

Seeing this, the druid directed his pupil to go on his


way since, "I can teach you no more." As the knowledge of
the Salmon entered his body through a tooth, (the fiacaill
na’ fios: tooth of knowledge) this became a focal point for
detecting omens of future events, and Fionn had only to
touch it with the "burnt" thumb to tap into useful visions. In
the Celtic world, especially among the Gaels, the salmon
was sacrosanct until the coming of Christianity and the
idea of "meatless Friday."

The Picts and Scots consumed no fish since many


traced their blood lines to the undersea people. Ancient
Irish kings often wore the salmon brooch and kept a royal
fish-pond. When a neighbouring prince invaded the royal
grounds his first act was the destruction of the salmon held
in his rival's pool. At present, the Duke of Argyll, his son
Lord Lorne, and the Campbells of Lochnell who are their
nearest relatives, are regarded as having the sole right to
wear silver salmons as buttons on their doublets. Salmon
fishing, when it was finally allowed, was reserved to the
Crown of Scotland, the government raising revenues by
granting charters to lands which carried piscatorial rights.

BRAIG, a chain, thus braighde, captives, hostages, pledges,


prisoners, Germ. kringel, Eng. crank. See next.

BRAIGHE, the neck, throat, the place where chains were


affixed to torques, the upper portion of anything, including
land. Seen in placenames as: Bra’id-Albainn, the Scot.
Braidalbane, Eng. Breadalbane, the upper part (north) of
Scotland. See next.

BRAIGHDEAN FIAR, a collar worn the wrong way 'round, a


Christian cleric; a term of general approbation for the
Christian church. Braighda, neck-chained, a captive, a
hostage, a prisoner; fiar, crooked, the wrong way round.

BRAMAN, BREMAS, misadventure, the nathair, the Devil; also


note the dialectic form broman. The MIr. bromda, indicates
a boorish individual, an impertinent man. The root appears
to be breun, putrid, which is closely allied with
bragatreachd, vain, boastful from the Anglo-Saxon Bragi,
which is the name of their god of poetry, rhetoric and song.

The great Bragi was a mortal god the child of Odin and
the giantess named Gunlod. In the Norse lands poetry was
entitled bragi and the scalds (bards) were named bragimen
and bragiwomen. Bragi was particularly remembered at
funeral feasts and the Yule when toasts were drunk in his
memory. Each person present was expected to pledge
himself to a deed of valour executed within the coming year.
The first pledge-makers were usually sober but those
furthest removed from the king tended to make rather far-
fetched promises, thus the English verb-form "to brag".

BRAN, obs. poor, black, Currently, the raven, Cy. bran and Br.
brenn, a crow. A further root is gra, whence the English cry
and crane. Much used in personal and river names as this
animal was the totem of the sea-people or Fomors, most
notably that of the Bafinn, the goddess of fate.

In the Welsh tale, The Dream of Rhonabwy, Owein


appears to have been given a troop of ravens to oppose
Arthur's armies. Morgwyn, or Morrigan, had the capacity to
shape-change into one of these black birds and this carrion
eater had a general association with the battlefield. These
birds were called scald-birds, or scald-crows in the Norse
lands where the expression "glutting the ravens" was used
by the scalds, or poets, to describe any wholesale slaughter.
Ward Rutherford says that "even in late times, the sight of a
flock of them wheeling in the sky was taken by armies on
the march as a presage of an imminent encounter."

This ravenous bird was also the totem of Badb, the


Gaelic warrior-queen, whose name is also written as Medb
or Maeve. In Irish legend she was a ruler of Connaught, who
contended with the Ulster Hero Cu Chulainn. In folklore she
was one of the sidh, who lived "under the hollow hills". She
is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare's Queen
Mab.

"Mrs. Gale remarks that it was a common superstition


in Ireland that if a raven hovered over the head of cattle, a
withering blight had been set upon the animals. As birds of
carrion they were supposed to be waiting for the carcases.”
Anne Ross says that “The role of the raven in Celtic
tradition at all stages, as a bird of omen, possessing
outstanding intelligence, andf as a creature particularly
concerned with the battle-field is such as to cause it to be
associated with any deity accredited with exceptional
knowledge, skill and martial abilities. In Irish references
Lugh is twice connected with the bird: Thus the hawk of
Achill tells Fintann that he has seen “full many a raven and
crow along with Lugh of the heroe’s hands.” Again ravens
are seen to fly back to this god to warn him of the approach
of Fomorian enemies.

In Brythonic myth Bran is a god of the Otherworld, a


son to Ler and the brother of Manann mac Ler. A brief
mention is made of him in the Irish Book of Leinster. A
better known Bran appears in Immrain Brain The “Voyages
of Bran,” which date from the eighth century. This Bran,
the son of Febbal, heard sweet music which lulled him to
sleep. When he awakened he found a branch of silver with
white blossoms on it at his side. That night a beautiful
woman appeared in his dreams and a sang a lay describing
the pleasures of her world at the edge of the western sea.
As she departed the silver bough sprang from his hand to
hers.

Compelled to take up an echtral, Bran sailed into the


western ocean where he met Manann mac Ler riding his
horses on the ocean waves. Eventually he passed on to Tir
mBan, the “Land of Women,” and here met the woman of his
dreams. In this place Bran and his crew remained for what
seemed a single year, but when they returned to Ireland they
found that a century of human time had elapsed. Seeing
this, Bran turned the prow of his boat westward again “and
from that hour his wanderings are not known.” When Cú
Chullain marched against his enemies it was said among
them, “the distorted one form Ireland approaches as the
raven’s promised.” The Ulster heroe’s relations with the
raven-kind was unfriendly. The hero was respponnsible for
the killing of large flocks of these Otherworld creatures.
The ravens, in this instance, were described as huge in size,
capable of swimming on the ocean, and their evil nature was
stressed. See Srub Brain.

Three similar ravens are pictured as coming to Caoilte


and his companions when they approached the sighe so that
they might be healed by them. They would not permit this
until he destroyed three evil ravens that harassed their sidh
, carrying off three boys each Samhuinn day. “It was there
that they saw three ravens in from the deeps of the sea to
the north. These animals descended to men on the tree of
special properties which stood on the green, as as they fell
they emitted sorrowful shrieks, gloomy to hear...Then Cas
Corach seized a chessman from the board (fidchell) and cast
it at one of the ravens so that it went into the mouth and
killed it. Fer Maise cast another and Caolite shot at the
third bird with the same effect.” In a similar fashion a
dreuid to king Eochaid saw this ill-omen: “I saw a great
flock of black birds coming up from the depths of the ocean.
They settled all over us and destroyed us completely. It
seemed to me that one of us struck the noblest of these
birds and cut off one of his wings.”

In later mythology there is conflict between King


Arthur’s men and Owein’s raven-followers. The most
powerful raven-goddess was the sea-born Mhorrigan. In
Gaelic parts it was noted that the crow-raven goddess was
capable of foretelling all events, the distrous outcomes of
pending battles and political encounters in particular.
Immediately after her sexual union with the Dagda the
crow-woman advised the father-god on ways of controlling
the Fomorians and suggested how she would influence the
outcome of battle between them and the Dagda’s folk.

At the victory of the Tuatha daoine the Mhorrigan


celebrated and made prophecies concerning all the evil,
disease, and vengeance which would be seen in the world
until the end of time. The goddess warned against ruin
when she appeared atop the ridge-pole of the hostel of Dá
Dearga , and she also took the bird form when she tried her
unsuccessful seduction of Cú Chullain. All these
disconnected fragments suggest a one-time belief in the
harmful power of otherworldly birds, and in particular the
supernatural abilities of ravens, a symbol of the pre-
eminent war-goddess and servitor to the gods.

Raven lore is most fully presented in the Middle Irish


codex, viz. “If the raven calls from above an enclosed bed a
distinguished older guest, or clerics, will call. If the cleric
is a lay-man the bird will say “bacach,” it it be a man in
orders the call will be “gradh, gradh.” If a warrior or
satirist is to be a guest, it is “gracc, gracc” that the bird
calls. If it makes voice from some quarter behind, then it is
from that direction that guests will come. If women come
the calls will be long. If calls come from the north-east
robbers are intent on horse-theft. If a call comes from
above the door someone from the king’s retinue is at hand. If
the call is from above the goodman’;s bed, where the
weapons are, he will travel out to his death. If he is already
abroad he will come back in safety. If a woman is destined
to die her call will come from her pillow. If it comes from
the foot of a man’s bed, his son, his brother, or a son-in-law
will soon visit. If the cry issues from a storehouse there
will be an increase in foodstuffs coming from the quarter of
the call...If the creature speaks with a slight voice as err,
err, then sickness will fall upon the household. If wolves
are expected then the sound will be carna, carna (flesh,
flesh). To eat when ravens call from the roofpole is
inadvisable, throw the food away. A call from a high tree is
the death-knell of a young lord. A call from a stone means
the death of a farmer. A call from the highest tree
prognosticates the loss of a king or heir to the throne. If the
bird flys away with you then the journey will prosper and
fresh meat will be yoours. If one follows a raven left-
handwise death or destruction pends. If the bird leads on to
an assembly there will be an uprising of those involved, if
the direction to that gathering is left-handed some will die
in the altercations. If the sound is “grob, grob,” horses will
be stolen and not recovered.”

In the Lay of the Wife of Meargach one passage says: “I


knew by the voice of ravens, each morning since you
journeyed from me, that your downfall was certain , and
that you would not return victorious.” Elsewhere: “I knew
by the flight of the raven going before you that this was no
propitious sign.”

Such omen-calling was opposed by Christians and St.


Columba once remarked,”I do not adore the voices of birds,
nor sneezing, nor the casting of lots...” The role of the raven
as witch-familiar is seen in the case of Iain Garbh a
member of MacLeod of Raasay. In April of 1671 when Iain’s
boat was returning across the Minch from Stornoway it was
reported that a raven was seen flying close to his boat and
that it finally settled on the gunwale. Recognizing it as a
baobh commissioned by his stepmother the man drew his
dirk and tried to kill it. He missed his mark, but his
strength was so huge that the point of the dirk parted the
timbers of the boat, so that it filled with water and all
hands were lost.

BRAN DEARG, the Red Raven or Robin. The appearance of a


robin is sometimes considered a forewarning of danger or
illness. See next.

BRANDUBH, Black Raven, the board game of the heroes and


the gods. Similar to fidchell. A battle game whose moves
had parallels in the world of men. Also branfad, the “long-
delayed raven,” perhaps referring to the length of play, but
certainly to the legend that a raven was sent out after the
World-Flood but failed to return. The Scottish form is
fidcheall.

Brandubh boards were frequently made to represent


the nathair, the primal giant of the Fomorians. Carvers
sometimes inserted a “head” at the top of the board in the
“northern” quadrant. “Hands” were inserted at the east and
the west and “feet” at the “south” (bottom) of the board. A
hole at the centre was understood to represent “the belly-
button” of the god, which was also the Cauldron of
Regeneration. The figure thus formed represents the
formidable patriarch of Donn teach, or the “House of Don,”a
creature badly treated by the rapacious gods of the land. In
the game, as in myth, the black crow stands as the totem
of the sea people, his fid, or marker, inserted at the navel
of creation.

The black raven is represented by the letter “f” in the


Ogham alphabet. As such it represents the day which we
call Saturday, the tree known as the alder, fire, the spring
season from March 19 to April 4, and all people sharing sea-
blood. The Welsh hero-king Bran was one of these and this
name for the game may remember him. On the board there
were seven by seven holes made for lesser fids. Four of
these were assembled about the raven. It was the work of
opposing fids to penetrate this guard to capture and carry
off the source of “all poetry and inspiration.” It is a
matter of history that the palace at Tara was designed
after the game: “As on the board, the King occupied the
centre. The men of Munster were on the south, those of
Connacht in the west; Ulster in the north and Leinster in the
east. In state the high king sat centrally with the four
kings of the provinces arranged about him as in gaming.

BRANFID, BRANFAD, the game board also known as brandubh


or fidcheall. Refers to the central crow-fid, a marker on
the board defended by a surround of common fids (pointed
markers inserted in holes). A game played by the gods in the
interest of maintaining order in the worlds of men and the
gods. Events on the board were seen to parallel those that
took place in reality.

BRAN FHIONN, White Raven, the storm petrel, The


counterclockwise circling of these birds supposedly
presages storm and loss of life in fishing communities
(such as those at Grand Manan, N.B.) If one such bird dove at
a fisherman and then flew away the mariner was expected
to turn his boat and follow it to safety, or perish in a
gathering of impenetrable fog.

BRAOLAID, ranting, raving, dreaming. From breisleach,


confusion, delirium, nightmare, literally the overthrow of
the mind. Considered caused by the infiltration of an evil
spirit(s) into the body of a man. The agent of dreams was
the alp, which English call the “night mare.”

BRATACH SIDE, bratach, flag, ensign, colours, "the fairy


flag." A noted relic held by the MacLeods of Dunvegan. "The
ensign is of oriental Mediterranean fabric, more than a
thousand years old and very carefully stitched in the darns...

The Fairy Flag was doubtless carried into battle


furled, by its hereditary keepers; whose bodies after death
were placed on a special grating to disintegrate...the ashes
of each being shaken through the grating to join their
ancestral ashes immediately below. The MacLeods believe
that their flag was only to be unfurled in times of gravest
peril, and then only on three occasions - and this has
already been done twice; (specifically) when Alasdair
Crouchback, eighth Chief of MacLeod (1481-1547) was
battling against Clanranald. There is also a tale that it was
unfurled to check a cattle plague. In 1799 the iron chest
containing the flag was improperly forced open out of
curiosity by a factor during the absence of General MacLeod
of MacLeod ninth twenty-third Chief), whereupon the
prophecy of the Brahan Seer was fulfilled and the chiefs
heir perished when his warship was blown up at sea. In
1938, when a wing of Dunvegan Castle was on fire, the
flames checked and ceased their destruction at the very
moment the fairy flag was carried past it on its way to
safety.

BREA. The son of Belgan. One of five Tuathans left behind in


Ulster to create dissent among the Milesian conquerors
when the Tuatha daoine were driven underground.

BREAS. BRES, see Eochaid Bres. Breas, Prince, King,


Potentate, Loud Voice, Noise. Breaslang, deceit. See
following entry.

BREASIL. BREASAL, OIr. breasal, warrior, OCy. bresel, war, a


sea-spirit, a side form of the creator god Don. Also an
island in the Atlantic due west of Ireland. Variants of the
word, as they describe the island, include Breasil, Brazil,
Brasil, Braisil, Hy Brazil, O Brazil. bras, brais, brisg (the
Eng. brisk), active, rash, hasty + ile, diverse, variegated in
appearance, tartaned, diverse in appearance.

The prefix hi indicates ownership, thus owned by


Breasal. The prefix O indicates “from away,” from “far
off.” The feminine form may be Breg, thus the land of
Breasal is occasionally referred to as Bregon or Tir Breg.
Confers with breisleach, confusion, nightmare, nightmare
creature, delirium, EIr. breslech, to “overthrow.”
Sometimes given as named for Saint Bresal but he
flourished about the year 540 and his name is clearly
derived from that of the pagan god.

As nearly as we can determine, the Island of Breasal,


Bresil, Brasil or Brazil was first indicated in a position a
little southwest of Ireland, by a Genoese cartographer
named A. Dalorto, about the year 1325. In the earliest
spellings the name is rendered as Bres-il or Breas-il or
more simply as Bres or Breas. The ending il or iol appears
to have the meaning of “many,” thus, in full, “many like
Breas,” or, perhaps, those descended from Breas. The old
Gaels used to prefix islands with words such as ud or od
(sometimes shortened to o’, “yonder,” or with i or hí ,
“she,” i.e. “belonging to her (the sea-goddess Mhorrigan).”
Thus we find O’Breasil and Hi Breasil, translated into
English as Hy Brazil, Ysle Brazil or even Y Brazil. The place
is represented in various other European tongues as Brazir,
Brasill , Bracir, Bresaill, etc. Peter Ellis says that the
island was named after Breasal, “The High King of the
World.” If so, he is none other than the creator-god Don.

It has been noted that the island is often show as


circular, or nearly circular, which makes it confer with the
circular floating land of An Domhain, the major possession
of the god Don. Ellis goes on to suggest that Breasal lived
at the time of Tuathal Teachtmhaire, “the sixth in descent
from Eochaid Feidlech, the father of Mebd.” (130-160 A.D.).
Tuathal was not a northerner as his name suggests, but of
Connaught ancestory, and it was said that he was born in
Britain, where his mother fled to avoid the effects of
the rebellion of the Daoine aithech or Aithech Tuatha , the
mythic “little people.”

Returning to Ireland he was opposed by Eochaid of


Leinster and Breasal, the builder of Barc Breasal, the “Boat
of Brasil,” a formidable fortress which was reduced to
rubble in battle. At the end of this fray Breasal was forced
to “retire” and “lived in the west where his land was known
as Hy-Brasil and sometimes as O-Brasil.”
Ellis has identified this place with the sunken lands
of which the present Arran Islands are a remnant,” but this
is conjecture, and he admits that in folklore it was rather
“a legendary Atlantic island” located far beyond the
horizon. In every version Brazil was said to be visible only
once in seven years, and it was sometimes suggested that
those who looked upon it faced certain death, and would not
live long among men.

There were several incarnations of the man-god


known as Breas, the earliest being a warrior send out by the
Tuatha daoine to negotiate with the Firbolg ambassador
Sreng. Breas suggested that the island of Ireland be divided
equally between the two opposing tribes, but the Firbolg’s
refused and the first battle at Magh Tuireadh followed, a
contest in which he was killed. In the end, the Firbolgs were
defeated and had to settled with the quarter eventually
named Connaught.

A more powerful figure is seen in the Breas who


married Bridd or Brigit, the goddess of soveranty after king
Nuada lost his hand at this same battle. A man of partial
Fomorian ancestry, Breas was deposed and this action led to
the second battle of Magh Tuireadh and the downfall of the
“giants.” It has been reported that the Tuatha daoine
captured Breas and, in return for his life, he promised to
advise his captors concerning agricultural matters,
“especially about planting and sowing.” Thus, it appears,
that Breas became an agricultural divinity much like Aod or
Hugh. Nothing is said of his ultimate destiny, but having
served his function, he may have returned to the Otherworld.

The sea-faring god Breas is perhaps the legendary


Breagha, leader of the Bregons or Bregians. Their ancient
land is noted in some places as Tir Breg, the “Fine- or
Bright Land.” A related word is brigh having “pith” or
“power.” The Bregons, were also spoken of as those “born
of Breg,”and this goddess is often given as the mate of
Dagda . The Munstermen identified Ith the son of Breg as
the ultimate patriarch of their tribe. An island dedicated to
Breas was said to be the staging point for the dead en-route
to An Domhain. It was supposed to lie off Munster in the
Atlantic, somewhat to the south-west. Breas may be seen
as the southern equivalent of the god Lugh, Donn or the
Dagda, all variously represented as care-takers of the Dead
Lands beyond the western sun.

The contributions of Breas in the agricultural realm


are not fully known, but his name became rather indirectly
attached to South America plants and the country now
called Brazil. We know that Breas bargained for his life
after losing the war with the Tuatha daoine and received it
when he told his enemies that all farming practises should
commence on Tuesday.

Donald S. Johnson thinks that the island might have


been named for the legendary Saint Bresal the son of the
first Christian king of Thormond. One of the early Christian
missionaries to the Gaels he was a contemporary of Saint
Enda of the Aran Islands, and Saint Brendan sought his
expertise before setting out on his Atlantic voyage (540
A.D.). There is a second Saint Bresal “the son of Segan and
the Abbott of Iona.” He died in 796 A.D. Considering the
weight of earlier mythology we think it unlikely that the Hy
Brazil was named after either of these somewhat obscure
Christian saints, and we don’t think that “the Promised Land
of the Saints was given his name.”

Exactly when this island appeared on medieval maps is


difficult to determine, but an entirely circular island
labelled Insula de moutonis sive de brazile appears on the
map of Angelino de Dalorto in 1325. This is the only case
where it is alternately named the “Island of Sheep.” In this
representation the island appears to lie southwest of the
embayment that holds the Aran Islands of Ireland, possibly
on a parallel with Tralee. The Angelino Delcert map of 1339
confirms this location showing the Arini (Arans) as the
closest landfalls to the northeast. In this instance the
island is represented as Insula de Brazil, the closest
landfall to the east being noted as an island called brascher.
This is probably the pagan “purgatory” mentioned earlier on.
This map shows Brazil as elongated from north to south, but
it is circular on the Catalan map of 1350.

Confusion creeps into the map-making process after


this date for we begin to see the Atlantic island of
Terceria, which is one of the Azores, given this same
appellation. At first the spelling was too eccentric or
indistinct to relate with the usual spelling Brazil but some
correspondence is seen in the Pizigani map of 1367 where it
is entitled Insol da braçir. On this same map, this same
name is applied to another island which appears to be about
one hundred miles southwest of Ireland.

To confuse matters still more a third island is shown


bearing this name, and this one stands in the Irish Sea, due
west of England. The last is more commonly named the
Insola de Man, or the “Isle of Man,” but it is located west of
the southern part of the English Channel rather than in the
Irish Sea. The latter name finally stuck with the present
Isle of Man which does lie between Ireland and England, but
Terceira maintained the name Braçir, finally emerging as
Insulla de Brazil on the Pareto map of 1455. This island has
now lost its original name but the designation remains in
Monte Brazil, a volcanic peak on its southern coast.

Johnson’s contention that Hy Brazil finally became


associated with an island closer Ireland and became a
geographic constant in this location is not so. Bristol
merchants were certain that they recovered Brazil in North
Atlantic waters, and most historians link the place with
Cape Breton Island. In the last quarter of the fifteenth
century the people of the English outport were engaged in a
wide-ranging trade with Ireland, Spain and Portugal. On the
route to Cathay, long before Columbus “discovered”
America, they made serious efforts to locate the mythic
island, thinking it would serve as a useful base for their
trade with the Far East. In 1480 a ship “of 80 tons burthen”
sailed out of Bristol to examine the waters west of Ireland.
The instructions to the captain were that he should not
terminate his voyage short of shores of Brazil.

A contemporary account of this voyage was written by


Willelmus Botoner, who explained that the expedition was
headed by John Jay Jr. and Thomas Lyde “the most expert
seamen in all England.” Botoner said that these captains
abandoned their quest after nine months on storm-tossed
seas. An expedition organized in the following year involved
two ships, also sent “to serche & fynde a certain isle called
the Isle of Brazil.” It is conventional wisdom that neither
of these voyages were productive, but Samuel Eliot Morison
has argued that these men were the true discoverers of
America, disguising their findings to maintain a monopoly
over the fishing grounds they found off the banks of
Newfoundland.

One thing is certain, the ships that went out for the
second round carried full holds of salt, an indication that
they were headed for a fishing ground. There were similar
expeditions by other Bristol mariners through the next
decade and John Cabot, who lived briefly in London, was one
of those who commanded ships purportedly looking for
Brazil in 1491 and 1492. Pedro de Ayala, a Spanish envoy to
London in 1498, told his government that the Bristol
merchants were strangely interested in the empty ocean,
sending out two to four ships a year “in the seven years
just past.”

In 1498 Cabot made his last voyage, taking with him


five ships and three hundred sailors. A chronicle of the time
tells us that Cabot went out again “in serche of an Iland
whereyn (he) surmysed to (find) great commodities.” John
Cabot and his ship is known to have been lost somewhere
north of Conception Bay, Newfoundland, but survivors of the
expedition did return to England and it was assumed that
Brazil had been recovered. The earliest explorers of the
“Newly Found Land,” took back wood which they termed
brazilwood. King Emmanuel of Portugal later gave the name
to Brazil a place below the equator when a similar yellow
wood was discovered to dominate the forests. That wood
was found to be abnormally hard and throughout the world
brasilwood became synonymous with any hard material, and
thus we find the word extended in use with iron pyrites ,
for example, being termed brasil.

It is, perhaps, coincidental that the two largest


bodies of water cutting the heart of Cape Breton Island are
Great- and Lesser Bras D’Or Lakes (Arm of Gold). Bras is
the French equivalent of breas. A close correspondence may
also be seen between the Gaelic breg and the French
brasier, bright, a fire, an inferno. Bras has multiple
meanings aside from “arm.” It may also indicate the flipper
of a sea-animal or a brace, for example oar-locks. In the
plural it may be read as the “jaws” (of death). and early on,
the estuaries of the lakes must have been regarded as
something akin to a gateway to the Dead Lands. This is
especially interesting when linked with the fact that the
Micmacs named Cape Breton Boo-sal, the “place where red
ochre is found.” This pigment was used in archaic times to
paint the bodies of corpses before internment. These words
also match the Old Norse brasa which is sometimes taken
as the root word, and it means “a live coal,” conferring
with our verb to “braize,” or solder.

From the earliest times, Cape Breton is described as


a place where explorers detected fire and smoke. In
addition, it is recorded that the English king was the
frequent recipient of gifts from North America, some made
of brasil woode. We know that the Norse transported maple
from the New World to the Old, and at least one sixteenth
century explorer of New England took back birch logs. The
species that was brazil-wood is not certainly known, but it
was said to be a plant with a bark useful in dyeing objects
yellow or red. The name was said given the wood from its
colour, and when explorers found a similar looking species
in a portion of South America that place became known as
Brazil. It is not difficult to picture old Cape Breton in terms
of both light and darkness. From the earliest days it was a
“Land of Smoke,” often the product of man-made forest
fires. It was also one of the beginning places in Micmac
mythology, the focus being Kelly’s Mountain which is on the
north side of the Grand Passage into the Bras D’ors. Some
say that the culture-hero, Glooscap, came first to this
promontory, guiding his stone canoe down from the moon. It
is also argued that he will return here to clear the land of
the white intruders. Not far distant is the prime residence
of Glooscap and the mikumwees , the fay-people who were
his favoured companions, a race not unlike the Daoine sidh.

Glooscap, like Breas was said to be a giant and there


were others of his kind who were boon companions, notably
the woman who was usually termed Grandmother, and a man
named Earthquake. The latter provided pyrotechnics for the
man-god when he made public appearances and
disappearances. The woman was a shape-changer named
Oona.. There is a strangeness in this name for the ancient
Irish kingdom of Ulaidh was pronounced “oola,”a name
which was attached to the soveran-queen of that place. In
the early Irish form this word is ulad from the root ul, a
cover. It has been suggested as resembling the Latin alvus,
a “belly (filled with things), and from this supplementary
meanings such as “a treasure” or a “charnel-house,” or
“house of the dead. It is hard to resist equating Micmac and
Celtic myths: This woman Oona is not represented as
Glooscap’s mate, but he certainly felt she would miss him,
and for this reason he passed a cloak of forgetfulness over
her before leaving the world of men. With this act it was
said that she ceased to exist as the Muin Wapskwa ,
becoming instead a youthful beauty, the full equal of the
Gaelic Samh. Here again the life-giving, and taking-,
propensities of the summer-winter goddess are seen as
inextricably mixed.

While the location of Hy Brazil seems to have been


generally known for a few decades before and after the
fifteenth century that name did not persist; Cape Breton
was, for a time, charted as X ozarcade. This Spanish word
indicates the place of “hidden coves for the furling of
sails.” The importance of this landfall was suggested by
Sebastian Cabot in 1544 when he described it as prima
tierra iusta, the “first (or perhaps primordial) land of
justice.” This may have been a political comment, but it
may have been intended in the sense of “a beginning place,”
a landfall serving as a guide, or more literally as the
“source of all things,” along the lines of the Celtic An
Domhain or the Old Norse Ginnungugap..

Whatever the case, Brasil was reinstated on the


Zalterius map in 1565 and was located southeast rather
than southwest of Newfoundland. Mercator represented it in
1569 but renamed it Y: de Juan Estevez. In 1593 Planicus
pushed it back across the Atlantic to its earlier location
southwest of Ireland. In the seventeenth century. Leslie of
Glasslough, County Monaghan, Ireland managed to convince
the authorities that he had rediscovered I-Breasil, and they
believed him to the extent of issuing a royal patent of
ownership conditional on the disenchantment of this
mystical place.

According to Ruairi O Flaithearta a boat out of the


port of Owles, Ireland was blown into the west one night
and the next day “about noon” spied land “so near they could
see sheep grazing on shore.” Realizing that no islands were
known in those waters the voyagers showed great caution
and “dared not touch the shore, imagining it to be O’Brazil.”
These seamen found that it took two days of swift sailing
to come back to their home port. In 1636 a man identified
only as Captain Rich came back to an Irish port noting that
he had seen an island off the western coat replete with “a
harbour and headlands,” but when he made an attempt to
land, “it vanished in the mist.”

Similarly, in 1644 Boulage Le Gouz said that his ship


had come within three miles of this phantom island, close
enough to observe “trees and cattle.” In his book Irish
Minstrelsy, Hardiman reprinted a letter from a Mr. W.
Hamilton of Derry, dated 1674. Addressed to a friend in
London is advised of the discovery,”a few weeks before,” of
this island in the Atlantic. Hamilton insisted that a cousin
named Mathew Calhoon, “a wise man and a great scholar,”
had requested that Charles I grant him a patent of
ownership as he believed that the island “has been fully
discovered...and the enchantment (on it) broken.” Hamilton
went on to explain that the practical recovery of Breasil
and its incorporation into the British Empire was now
imminent the place having been charted by the captain of a
Killybegan schooner named Captain John Nisbet. In
September, 1674, Nisbet had filled several vessels with
tallow, butter and hides and sailed to France where he
landed and brought back French wines. Nearing the coast of
Ireland on his return passage, he came, near sunrise, upon “a
terrible thick fog,” which persisted for three hours. As
suddenly;y as it had fallen this pall lifted and the sailors
found themselves “dangerously close to the land, with rocks
not far off.” This place was an unfamiliar port and they
sounded and anchored in three fathoms of water. Four of the
eight crewmen rowed ashore and at their landing they
investigated “a pleasant green valley “filled with many
cattle, where horses and sheep were feeding.” They saw
what appeared to be a fortress and went there hoping for
information, but their knocks at the door went unanswered
and they heard nothing from within. They spent the rest of
the day surveying the island but with night approaching
returned to the shore where they spent the night before a
roaring fire. The next morning directly after sunrise they
heard “a hideous noise.” that seemed to reverberate from
all parts of the island, but appeared centred on the “castle”
The seamen remembered older accounts from Hy Breasil
which had spoken of men and women imprisoned in such a
place by “the diabolical art of a great Negromancer.” It had
been suggested that he had cursed the island making it
invisible and unproductive for mortal men. As a fire had
been kindled on the beach, the seamen guessed that “the
spell of enchantment” must now be broken, “and the wicked
time expired.” Captain Nisbet and his men sailed home
taking with them samples of gold and silver which they
claimed were given to them by those freed from
imprisonment.
Three days after Nisbet returned Alexander Johnson
went out on the western ocean to see if Brazil was
recovered or not. He came home again saying he and his crew
had been royally entertained by the residents of a distant
western island. Hamilton’s account was purely
circumstantial in detail and seemed to involve the claims of
the Leslie family as he asked his friend in London to inform
“young Leslie” of the good news telling him that the place
had been found “a few weeks before.”

The place obviously went lost again for in his book


Iar Connacht O Flaitheara says that “There is now living
(1684) Morrogh O’Loy who imagines himself recently in
O’Brazil - he went there from Aran - and came back to
Galway, 6 or 8 years ago and began (as a result of what he
learned) to practise both chirurgery and phisick, and so
continues ever since to practise, tho’ he never studied or
practised either all his life time before, as all we that
knew him as a boy can aver.” Hardiman said that it was
rumoured that Molloy brought back a book of magical spells,
the Book of O’Brazil on condition that he would make no use
of it for seven years.

A French chart, from the year 1755 pictures the


island as west of the Feeros (which are themselves north of
Scotland), at 5°W, 29°N latitude. Brisa is a form of Brasil,
and interestingly where it is represented on early maps, the
location is usually far westward on a island which could be
either Mount Desert, in Maine, or Grand Manan, in New
Brunswick. There is at least one variant on this theme. On
a map designed by Ortelius in 1570 the island of Brisa is
either the present-day Scaterie or perhaps Isle Madame,
both close by Cape Breton. Until Rotz noticed the Canso
Strait in 1535, Cape Breton (Cape of Breas’ dun, or
fortress?) was not understood to be separate from Nova
Scotia, and its presence as an island was rarely noted until
the following century. This being the case, it was not
usually given a separate name although Rotz did call it Cabo
Bretos, the “Cape of the Britons (or Bretons),” presumably
after a southeastern cape which bore this designation from
the earliest times. It appears as Mar Descubierto par
Ingleses. on the Juan de la Cosa map of 1500). This is the
“Sea of Cape Breton (so named) by Englishmen,” a fraction
of the wider coast which De Cosa described as “discovered
by the English.” The original intention of the wordsmiths
was something on the order of “The Sea by the Cape of
Britain.” This idea seems to be reinforced by the Vopell
map of 1545 which shows a medieval knight standing on the
Ca d. terre dos bretois, his shield emblazoned with St.
George’s cross. From this word we have the Scottish place-
names: Donibrysell and Donybrisle, this last formerly
dunadh Breasail.

BREATAAN, Ir. Breatain, EIr. Bretan, noun plural Bretain, the


Britons, Cy. Brython, Cor. Brethon, Br. Breis, re. Brittany,
Latin Brittania, Britanni, Britons. The root Greek form is
believed to be cruth, a picture, "pictured men", "painted
men." Earlier forms are the Cy. Prydain and the EIr. Cruithne,
a Pict, translated into Latin as Cruithii or Cruithini.
Perhaps from the Gaelic cruithneachd, wheat. Thus, the
Cruithne, or Picts, the inhabitants of a large block of
Britain until 300 B.C. Who gave their name to present-day
Britain. Other anglicized forms of this name include
Bratton, Brittan and Britton. More antiquely the Picts, who
are considered to have given their name to all the Celtic
races of Britain, about the year 300 B.C. The alternate
lowland name, Picti is said the same as the Gaullish Pictavi
(as currently used in Poitiers). If so, Macbain suggests it is
not of Greek or Latin origin, and does not correspond with
the Latin pictus, their word for painted. Origianlly a
Briton, a resident of Wales, the Strathclyde of Scotland or
Cornwall as distinct from the the Albainn. A term used in
pre-Roman times. Possibly from a shortened Latin form of
Britannius. In Gaelic there was a noun Britt, meaning
British which used to be restricted to these people. From
this we have the Celtic Breiz, Brittany. The Gaelic plural
was Breatain. They must have spread rather widely, for
there are “ridges, duns, and fortresses of the Britons”
throughout all of the island of Great Britain.
BREATANN CORNN, the Irish form, in Anglo Saxon
Cornwealas, “Strangers (Welsh) of the Horn,” from which
Cornwall. Horn indicates a promnnotory, which is the case
with Cornwall. There were other horn-like bends in the map
receiving this name.

BREIG, BREG, breug, soothe, amuse, flatter, pacify, cajole,


entice, the “Bright one,”a triune goddess whose remaining
forms were Meng (Whey) and Meabal ( Abusive; probably a
form of Mebd). Often confused with Boann, since she is
mentioned as the mate of Dagda. Breig, fine. Her people
were the Breaghda or Bregians, dwellers in Tir Breg. She is
the Cailleach bheurr, the mid-winter collector of souls of
the dead, the huntress and gamekeeper of the northern
lands, a creature who had a youthful counterpart in the
Norse goddess Skadi. Breg is noted as the wife of Dagda. A
feminine form of Breasil. It is thought that a line of water
courses connecting the Humber and the Mersey constituted
the southern boundary of Brigantia in present-day England.
The northern limit of this ancient place was probably the
Rivers Tyne and South Tyne perhaps connecting westward
with the River Irthing. It was approximately the six most
northern counties of England and was dominated by those
who worshipped the heights on which bright fires were
kindled. This name is found in Cy. brenin,a high one or
“king,” and the goddess is frequently commemorated in
river names, as: Braint in Anglesey and Brent in Middlesex.
Her counterpart is the Gaelic Bridd, daughter of the Dagda,
the patriarch of the Tuatha daoine. She was long worshipped
as a spring and river goddess and as a goddess of war. They
were noted metalworkers and their craft was unearthed
among votive offerings at Anglesey. It was guessed that
they were brought there by some Brigantian priest attending
an annual religious function. See Bridd. The next word
confers with this one.

BREATHAS, frenzy, extremy fury, flaming wrath, berserker


rage, infatuation. A drug-induced fury created by drinking
the “blood” of potential enemies. See cro and related words
for more detail.
BREGON. Confers with breug, “enticing, flattering,” The
Liar.” Possibly allied with breacan, plaid; wearing a plaid. A
son of Mil, the father of Bile and Ith. He built a tower in the
Land of the dead and from it was the first to spot Ireland,
which was afterwards invaded and conquered by the
Milesians. Also an alternate name for Hy Breasil.

BREIGLIDH, obs, violating, "burrowing", treasure-seeking.


Digging in the earth was once considered dangerous and
reprehensible. Note above entries.

BREMAS, mischief, mishap, fire-like, an inferno, the


nathair, the Devil. A form of braman (which, see). The
dialectic form is broman, a boor, an impertinent person.
The root is brag relating to breun, putrid. Bragi was the
Norse god of poetry and was represented on earth by the
scalds or bragimen and bragiwomen, who sometimes "rose
above their station."

BRENG, BREUG, BRIAG, OIr. brec, a lie, Skr. bhramca, a loss,


deviation. One of the names visited on the Dagda’s wife, the
others being Meng and Meabel.

BREIS, Brittany. The name used by the Britons to describe


their Brythonic-speaking kin-folk, who moved from their
island-based lands into France during the fifth and sixth
centuries. This Celtic speaking tribe may have been named
for the mythic Breas. See following entry.

BRENDAN, “Dun of the Raven,” a seafaring Irish monk who


founded monasteries in all the parts of Britain as well as in
Brittany. The saga of his voyage to North America is not
dismissed as an fiction. Sean Kelly says that the “Promised
Land of the Saints,” the terrestrial paradise he discovered,
was in the tropics, but it has also been charted in North
Atlantic waters, southwest of Newfoundland. The written
record of his trip(s) says he and his men sailed the western
ocean for seven years in a hide-covered boat. meeting
mermaids on the the open water, and visiting with a hermit
who identified himself as Judas Iscariot.

BRES, BREAS, see Eochaid Bres. The Tuathan-Fomorian


"hero" who displaced King Nuada after he lost his hand in
battle. This led to the Tuathan-Fomorian wars described
elsewhere.

BRIAN. The oldest of the three sons of Tuireann


(Thor/Hercules) by the goddess Bridd. He and his two
younger siblings killed Cian, the father of the sun-god Lugh.
In recompense they went on echtral seeking three apples
from the Hesperides; a magic pig skin from Tuis, king of
Greece; a spear from Pisear of Persia; two horses and a
chariot from Dobhar, king of Siogair; two pigs from Easal,
king of the Golden Pillars (Tartessos in southern Spain); the
whelp-hound of the king of Ioruiadh and the cooking spit
possessed by women in the undersea kingdom. Their voyage
corresponds somewhat with that of Jason and his argonauts.
While they survived all this their victory shouts from the
Hill of Miaodchaoin attracted implacable enemies and they
were killed.

BRIAN MAC CENNÉIDIGH, Brian Mackenna, a chieftain residing


in Clare. He was born in 941 and became known to history
as Brian Borumna after the tribute levied on his town of
Bórime, located on the bank of the Shannon. He was the
youngest of twelve Irish warriors, all but one killed in
battle against the foreigners.

Brian’s eldest brother was Mathghamhain, who


succeeded his father as ruler of Munster, the old Fomorian
redoubt. In 976, this king was betrayed to the outlanders by
an Irish prince and Brian became king at the age of thirty-
five. In 980 his greatest rival was the king of Meath and
disputing him, he sailed up the Shannon and raided Meath and
wasted Connaught. For a few years after there was a show
of friendship between these two, with Maélsechlainn
designated as the northern ruler and Brian as the monarch
in the north.
In 999 they formed a military alliance and defeated
the Dubliners “with great red slaughter.” In 1002, Brian
violated his treaties with the northerner and afterwards
proclaimed himself Emperor of the Irish. Brian Boru
attempted to extend his royal prerogatives beyond Ireland
and in 1005 fitted out a fleet manned by mercenary
Norsemen from Waterford and Wexford. He pillaged the
shores of northern Ireland, the West Isles and Britain and
levied tribute. Observing that it was impractical to banish
the Danes he treated them with leniency bordering on
favouritism. To further his policy of peace through kinship,
he gave his own daughter by his first wife to a former
enemy, the king of Dublin. He in turn took, as a second wife,
Gormlaith, an Irish queen who was on her third matrimonial
voyage. It was said that she was the fairest of all women,
and very gifted but a tattle-tale and trouble maker.

One day in 1013, the Leinster prince Maolmordha, who


was Gormlaith’s brother. was bringing three large ships of
pine lumber to Brian at Cincora. In a minor incident on that
voyage Maolmordha lost a silver button from a tunic given
to him by the high-king. He took the repair job to his sister
but she threw the clothing into the fire saying he should be
ashamed to wear this symbol of subjection. This taunt
stung Maolmordha and led him to make ill-advised
statements in front of Brian’s sons. Brain tried to placate
his brother-in-law with gifts but this was taken as a
further attempt at insult. Seeing the source of the trouble
Brian put Gormlaith aside with even worse results. She
was able to call on Sigurd, earl of the Orkneys, who was her
mother’s kin, and she promised to make him king of Ireland
through sovranty when Brian was dead. Clearly the high-king
could do nothing that would regain his samh and a stable
realm.

The forces of “darkness” came to include various


enemies: the O’Neills, O’Rurarc and Sitric of Dublin, who
defeated Brian’s allies in battles fought a few miles north
of Dublin. Sitric had help from two viking brothers who
lived on the Isle of Man. Ospack was a heathen and Brodar a
Christian, but a defrocked cleric, a druidic magician. “He
was a very tall man with long black hair tucked in under his
belt and he was clad in mail no steel could bite.”

In 1014, King Brian was seventy-four years of age,


and too infirm to meet the great host that assembled
against him, and so the actual war-leader for his side was
his son Murchadh. On the night before battle it was claimed
that the old Norse god Odin appeared on his dappled grey
horse, riding in to consult with his champions. There were
other favourable omens, the day of battle being Good Friday,
which it was observed would fall against the Christian
high-king. Although the battle actually went well for the
Irish, a traitor pointed out the position of Brian’s personal
encampment, and a Norseman named Broadar went there and
killed the king. The heir-apparent was also lost and
Ireland’s glory-days were at an end, for although the
foreigners were driven out, no later monarch was able to
find a centre for his power. The imrama of Aod an Athair
took place during the time of this monarch.

BRICRIU, nicknamed Nemthenga, the “Poison Tongued.” A


son of Carbad, an Ulster champion noted for his double-
dealing. He organized the great national festival known as
Bricriu’s feast as a cynical means of creating distrust,
dissention and war among the men and women of his
province. For his feast Bricriu found it necessary to
surround himself with eight mercenaries to guard against
assassination. In spite of his reputation, few people kept
their distance from his annual parties. One year Bricriu
spoke privately to the three beautiful wives of the chief
heroes saying that the first to enter the festival hall would
be declared queen of the province for the coming year. This
overt lie was believed, and created a pile-up of ladies and
their attendants at the gate, and a great shebang among the
men who came to their rescue. At the end of the Tain war,
Bricriu retained enough status to be asked to judge which of
two fighting bulls was best. As he went to the Plain of Aei,
this ne’er-do-well was trampled by the ravaging animals.
BRIDD, BRIGIT, BRIGID, OIr. Brigit. Leader and matriarch of
the Brigantes, "high or noble people." Brid, obs., a bridle,
also the modern brid, to whisper; from the root brg, high.;
Germ. berg, a mountain, confers with Gaelic fride, a dwarf,
English, burgh, Skr. brhati, high. May confer with the
goddess Breg as well as with Bragi, the Norse god of poetry.
All confer with the Gaelic goddess Brigit. She is also quite
probably the Teutonic Berhta, or Bertha, who is said to
correspond with Frigga the wife of Odin. Gaelic briodal,
lover’s language, caressing, flattery; related to brionn, a
lie, a dream. Also brinneall, a beautiful young maiden or
matron. Brioghas, in a passion; briollag, an illusion;
brionglaid, confusion or dream; brionnach, pretty.

The patroness of the hearth-fire and


domesticity, including married love. She
was also considered the proponent of
smithcraft, poetry, and female wisdom. A
daughter of Dagda she was first married
to the half-Fomorian warrior named
Breas, but later consorted with Tuireann
(Fire & Thunder) to produce the people
known as the Brigendo or Brigantia among
the Gauls. She was the matriarch of the
tribe known as the Brigantines. These
pre-Celtic (or Celtic) invaders of
Britain,penetrated as far west as Ireland
by way of central England.

In Scotland, Abernathy was the most


sacred place of the Picts, "probably
dedicated to the goddess-spirit Brigid." In
Christian times a monastery was set up to
replace the old orders, a branch of Clan
MacDuff serving as hereditary abbots.

Traditional fare for Bride's Day (Feb.


1) was bonnach Bridd, more recently
referred to as Saint Bride's bannock or
Saint Brigit's bannock. Originally baked with a silver ring
(or rings) in place, a means of selecting "devoted ones" for
the Quarter-Day fire. In the latter days, this inclusion
became a symbol of imminent wedded bliss. In the most
recent incarnation of this rite a few silver charms were
added to the batter, each wrapped in grease-proof paper.
The charms were typically shaped as a ring (foretelling
marriage); a button (bachelorhood); a thimble
(spinsterhood); a coin (wealth); a wish-bone (heart's
desire), or as a horse shoe (general good luck) or a thimble.
This has since devolved into offering a few silver coins, or
even coppers, baked into the bannock.

In Ireland, "Saint Brigid" was supposedly born in


Ireland about the year 450 A.D., the daughter of a pagan
chieftain and a Christian bondswoman. As a young, and
beautiful girl she rejected a rich suitor by disfiguring her
face, and afterwards took the vows of the Church, at which
her face was restored. Along with seven companions, Brigid
asked for land in County Kildare. The local king at first
refused to grant this until the lady suggested she would be
content with the acreage her cloak might cover when spread
on the ground. Much to everyone's surprise the cloak
magically managed to encompass what is now the largest
unfenced tractable land in Ireland. If Brigid did build a
convent, as some historians have suggested, there is no
remain of it or the ten thousand nuns said to have been in
residence. Even the Christian historians admit that "she
may have chosen a place of heathen worship" for her see.

Additionally there is the "curiosity" of "Brigid's


sacred fire" located "in a hedged enclosure outside the
church, kept burning day and night and always guarded by
twenty nuns, including the prioress. After Brigid's death,
the nun who watched on the nineteenth night would cry out,
"Brigid guard your own fire, the next night belongs to you.
This fire burned until it was ordered extinguished in 1220
by Henry de Loudres, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Dublin.
Later it was rekindled, and finally quenched forever upon
the Dissolution (of the monasteries)."
If Saint Brigid existed, her personae became totally
confused with that of the Bridd, who is clearly central to a
pagan fertility-cult. Whatever her office, it would appear
that someone did set up a complex at Kildare, devoted to the
healing arts, and craftsmanship in fibre and metals.
Although Brigid did not marry (befitting a cult-figure) "she
never eschewed the company of men." One of these became
co-governor of the community, and this bishop gathered the
metal-workers including Conleth, who was styled, "Brigid's
brazier."

Since the saint was supposedly born sixty-six years


after the death of Patrick, the rumours of a physical
alliance with him is probably untrue, but a drunken Saint
Mel did consecrate her as full-fledged bishop. She
sometimes changed bath-water into ale to uplift the spirits
of her thirsty clerics, and at dusk would hang her damp
cloak on a sunbeam to dry, the obliging ray of light
remaining in place through the night. She once taught a fox
to dance and periodically made military manoeuvres
difficult by making the opposing armies invisible to each
other.

The tomb of the saint at Downpatrick was looted by


the English during the reign of Henry VIII, but one of her
cloaks is said preserved in Belgium, while her head was
transported to Lisbon. Sir David Lindsay has mentioned that
one Scottish church of his time contained an image of
“Sanct Bryde weill carvit with ane kow.” He also noticed
that the local folk consulted this pair to ensure the saftety
of their calf and know.”

Note that the title “Great Bride of the Horses” was an


alternate for the pagan-goddess Mhorrigan. The Pictish
Chronicles claim that Nechtan Morbet, dispossessed of his
kingdom by his brother Drust, pettioed the saint to pray for
his cause. She not only assented but came to Britain to aid
him. As a result he dedicated Abernathy to her order and
reigned from 457 until 481 A.D. As the Saint Brigid was
only five years old when Morbet came to power this tale is
questionable. This goddess was worshipped in the Roman
Empire as Februa, the mother of Mars. See bruidean, imbolc.

BRIDEACH, BRIDEAG, a mortal wind-spirit, the banshee of


the Fergussons of Glenshellish in Scotland and abroad.
Gaelic, bridd, bride+ eag, eagid, fear, both feminine. Also an
image of Saint Brigit carried by on the saint’s eve by
unmarried women. Used to identify a potential husband. Obs,
dwarf, bride, virgin, a grub. Confers with brigh, the essence,
substance or essential meaning of a thing, and briagha, adj.
fine or beautiful. Confers with brideach, a dwraf. The root
word may be brg, high, after Brighde, whose name
translates as Brigit, Brigte, Brigtae, Brgnti, or Bride, after
the old Gaelic goddess of married and filial love, poetry, the
heath, andhome.

Her tribe was the Brigantes, who supposedly came to


Ireland from Belgium by way of Britain. Her name was
diminished as "bridey", a working woman and she was the
keeper of perpetual fires used in the smelting of metals.
Her day was known as Brighdfeas, or Brigit's festival, also
called Imbolc, celebrated on the eve of February 2. She was
acquisitioned and became the best known female saint of
the Celtic Church.

Confers with the Anglo-Saxon, bridd, a young bird or


chick and with the German berg. a hill. Confluent with
Bragi, the Old Norse god of poetry and drink. Her Teutonic
name was Bertha. Brigit may have become a saint, but Sir
George James Fraser has correctly identified her as "an old
heathen goddess of fertility, disguised in a threadbare
Christian cloak." The older Brigit gave her name to a tribe
of Brigantines who settled northern England and southern
Scotland as well as parts of northern Ireland.

She was said to be the daughter of Dagda and Boann, a


sister to Ogma, Lugh and Midir, all gods of the sidh-
underworld. She was the goddess of household arts and
crafts, a guardian of the hearth, and the patron of married
love. At birth her deity was noticed in a corona or holy
flame that passed from her head into the heavens. Her first
accolates captured this fire and used it to create a
perpetual forge-flame. In her first human incarnation,
Brigit created a religious cult which guarded her sacred-
flame for many centuries. The virgins of the flame probably
took part in the annual "rites of spring" which involved a
ritual pairing of some maiden with a god-king.

Brigit supported hostels at various places in Britain,


and the craftsmen who assembled there specialized in the
forging of metal tools and weapons. Others in these saintly
communities were skilled in the use of herbs, thus the
shrines became known for the practise of medicine. When
the Christian missionaries arrived and converted the people,
they did not at first extinguish the "sacred-fires" but gave
them to the keeping of cailleachs, or nuns of their church.
They were finally put out, but the church fathers built their
sanctuaries over the dead embers. One of these still stands
at Abernathy, Scotland where Columbian monks deliberately
sited their church on "the most sacred place of the (pagan)
Picts, one dedicated to the goddess-spirit Brigid." Clan
Macduff were hereditary abbotts at this place.

We know little of the rites of Imbolc, but can guess


that they were bloody since this Celtic word corresponds
with the obsolete English word "imbolish", which
approximates "abolish". In parts of Atlantic Canada a little
of the old rites survived as they did in Scotland: On Bride's
Eve, the mistress of each household used to fashion a "bride
doll" from a local grain, or grains, dressing it women's
apparel. The doll was placed in wicker basket and a wooden
thorn-stick placed at its side. As dusk fell the mistress
and any of her servants stood at the door shouting, "Bride is
welcome!" three times over. When they rose in the morning,
all the members of the family went immediately to the open
hearth, looking for signs that the spirit of Bride had
animated the doll during the night. If the ashes there were
undisturbed this was taken as a bad omen, but numerous
scratchings on the hearth were supposed to signify
prosperity in the year ahead.

It is very likely that there were once ritual marriages


of the Bridd and Bridd-groom and fires like those of the
English Whitsuntide. Bruide was represented in the form of
a beast-man known locally as the the slue. This is the
Lunenburg spirit known as the zwoog or swoog. While the
slue was active on Bridd's Day, the zwoog saw action on
Dak's Day, both celebrated on the second day of February. In
Atlantic Canada, Groundhog Day is an unassuming festival,
but remember that the bear can be a "groundhogge", the
"hogge" being a sexually active yearling of any mammalian
species. In Scotland the "groundhog" was the bear, and it is
this animal that shuffled forth from its cave to see whether
the sun was up in the sky or not. If the bear saw his shadow,
this was taken as an omen of misfortune, and in our country
that mishap involves six additional weeks of winter. The
German "dak" or "dach" had a meaning very close to the
Anglo-Saxon "hogge", but it is identified as the badger. The
second day of February was entitled Saint Brigit's Day in old
Scotland, and in Ireland. In the latter country, she was
sometimes identified as Sheelagh (a sidh maiden), the
companion of Saint Patrick.

As the briddeag, Brigit acts as a banshee, a female


mourner for the dead, or near dead. It is not uncommon for
tombstones to bear a disembodied head supported by a pair
of wings, a symbol of the guardian angel of each soul. The
clan Fergusson insists that those on their memorials depict
the briddeag, "a bat with a human face that flutters eerily
at the window when a Fergusson of Glenshellish is about to
die, thus warning him of his impending doom."

Iain Moncrieffe confirms that "This spook's name is


interesting because the Fergussons link their brideag to the
spirit of St. Brigid and thence to the pagan goddess Brigid.
The present writer believes the Pictish royal throne-name
of Bruide...represented the male manifestation of this
mighty British goddess." 44 The briddeag may have been a
bat, but the photographs of stones we have seen are more
suggestive of an owl with a human face, certainly the wings
are feathered.

Our local candidate for this spirit is the common barn


owl. This bird has been described as "highly nocturnal." It
spends the daylight hours "well concealed, often in a hay-
loft in a barn, where it sometimes makes its nest." Robie
Tufts has said that, "Because its facial expression is
thought by some to resemble that of a monkey, it is locally
called the monkey-faced owl." One may presume that these
birds are sometimes activated by the projected spirits of
dying men but thir limited eyesight may be enough to cause
collisions with window-panes.

In the most remote mythology, this spirit is


described as the daughter of Dag, matriarch of the Milesian
race. She and her brother Eoghan "were instructed by their
mother in every branch of knowledge and wisdom." As
adults they travelled the earth "teaching experience and
understanding to all people." Eventually their duties were
placed in the hands of the druids of Mil. She also confers
with Bridd or Bridget the old fertility goddess, who is
sometimes associated with the Celtic Brigantine tribesmen.
She may confer with Bolg, the lightning-goddess of the
Firbolge people. The brideach was said to appear at the
windows of Fergussons destined for imminent death. The
male equivalent of Bridd was Brudd, a frequently used
throne-name for members of the Pictish royal family. Her
holiday was February 2, the ancient Imbolg, one of the four
Quarter Days of the Celts. On the eve of this date a straw
figure representing the "maiden" Bridd was placed before
the hearth along with a club representing the male phallus.
Female maidens called for Bridd to come visiting and in the
morning divinations were read from the hearth ashes. If
they were undisturbed this was taken as a bad omen for men
and the land. If they were marked "by the club" it was

44Moncrieffe, Iain, The Highland Clans, New York (1967), p. 103.


assumed that the maiden was fertilized and that all would
be well throughout the region.

The perpetual fires of the Bridd, or bride, protected by


virgin nuns of the Christian church, burned well beyond the
pagan years. Bride's Day was formerly considered the time
when Cailleach Bheurr, or “Winter Hag,” who was the
guardian of that season, emerged from her burrow in the
form of a bear. If she saw the sun, and her shadow, she
reacted badly increasing the length of the cold season, but
if the landscape were overcast she retired without taking
further action against men and the land. In Scotland and
Ireland, the Imbolg was sometimes informally called the
Bear's Day and among Anglo Saxons it was the Badger's Day.

In North America, it is still variously celebrated


(albeit tongue-in-cheek) as Dak's Day or Groundhog Day.
This is a pagan remnant of rites similar to that at the
Samhuinn (which see) and the Christians attempted to
disguise its nature by renaming this holiday Saint Brigit's
Day. This name also identifies one of two Milesian “gods”
approached by Banba, Fodla and Eriuto assume control of
Ireland.

BRIDEACH, dwarf, bride, virgin, a grub; brideag, a little


woman, a kern-maiden.

BRIDE, FRIDE NAM BRAT, Bride of the Holy Mantle. Like gods
of the sea the Bride was frequently represented as golden
haired and clothed in a blue mantle. She is seen in this form
in the Hebrides. See above entries.

BRIGH, miracle, essence, substance, wealth, sap, energy,


mountain, valour, price, rarely, a tomb. See next.

BRIGHDE. hostage, pledge, security. A source of wealth.

BRILLEAN, the clitoris. breall, a knob, the female glans


mentulae. Brealleanach, lewd.
BRIN, a dream, brindeal, obs. a picture, brindealhadair, a
painter (of dreams), a soul-robber, a sculptor, brinneach,
also obsolete, hag, woman, mother, a practitioner of this
form of magic, brindealbhadh, badh, any ravenous creature;
liming, portraying, disguising, painting, brinnichte, hag-
ridden, followed by evil sp[irits.

BRIOC. Like many sixteenth-century Celtic monks, Brioc


commuted across the English Channel, between towns which
were ultimately given his name; thus the town of Saint
Breock in Cornwall and that of Saint-Brieue in Brittany. A
charitable man he was regarded as the patron of purse-
makers.

BRIOCHD, witchcraft, wound, art, trade, secrecy, colour,


complexion, beauty. Brib, one who is bribed or paid a small
sum of money for services rendered. Briochdaic, a magical
amulet.

BRIODAL, lover’s language, sweet talk, caressing or


flattering talk, possibly based on brionn, a lie, a dream. MIr.
bnrinneall, a fair young woman, elderly or no. In Arran brid,
whispers. See above entries.

BRIOG, cut, thrust, Eng. prick. Briogadaich, avarice,


meaness, sordidness, spiritless, briogaid, elderly woman,
morose old hag; briogaire, miser, briolag, an illusion,
brioghas, the mmomentary passion of sex, dalliance,
briollair, whoremonger, pimp, one afflicted with urinal
overflow, briogach, mean-spirited, rapacious, brioghas.
wrapped in passion,briollan, a stupid fellow, quarter-day
fool, chamber pot, urinal. the Cy. brywus, vigorous. See
briollag.

BRI LEATH, brig, a heap, a pile of peats, leathan, broad; the


underground palace of Mider, king of the underworld.
Located in County Longford, Ireland it was one of the few
side-hills successfully stormed by the Milesians.

BRIOLLAG, an illusion from the Ir. brionn, a dream or


reverie, a lie. Somewhat related to the ScG. brionglaid, a
confusion of thoughts and ideas, a "wrangling". It was
thought that sleeping individuals passed their souls into the
care of invisible spirits known as the befinds. These
guardians, runners, or cowalkers, travelled the night in
other dimensions. Men and women who were gifted could
see their dreams in full and explicit detail, but common folk
could not perceive their dream-worlds except as an ill-
conceived illusion. See below.

BRIOLLACHEAN, BROLLACHEAN, the unfortunate offspring of


a fuath and a human. Eng. brollachan. Although this creature
was normally equipped, it lacked a skeletal structure and
thus had no definite shape. Possessed of eyes and a mouth
the brollachan could only articulate mi-fhein and thu-fein,
in response to questions. This creature moved with the
banshees, these being its female kin. In Sutherlandshire the
latter were described as dressing quite beautifully in green
silk, “the sleeves curiously puffed from the wrists to the
shoulder.” From a distance thaey seemed normal and even
desirable to men with their ripe corn hair, but on nearer
inspection it was seen that they lacked noses.

BRION, obs. fiction, a lie, brionach, obs., a liar. Currently,


dissatisfaction, disquietude, briondath, obs., a counterfeit.
Brionglaid, a dream, a reverie, brionnach, flattering, lying,
pretty, comely, fair, the Eng. Brinded, now written as
brindled, shining, glittering, fair but false. Brionnachd,
falsehood, glitter.

BRIOSG, a witch, a sorceress, brios, mockery, derision,


partly intoxicated, briosagnaicdheachd, sophistry, one
morer interested in outward display rather than reasoned
argument; briosaid, witch, sorceress, one having a belt or
girdle, briosarguin, sophistry, also when a verb, start, leap,
jerk, move suddenly, quicken, crumble, quiver. Related to
the next.

BRIOT, BRIOTAL, chit-chat, chatter, a person who stammers,


flattery,, situation where everyone speaks at once; root ber
or bar as seen in Eng. barbarian, allied with the idea of one
incapable of speaking fluently. Thus the G. Breatnaich, a
Brython or Briton, one showing “clipped” patterns of speech.

BRIS, break, fracture, splinnter, become insolvent, burst,


break forth, AS. brestan, break, the Eng. burst. Similar to
brisg, brittle and brisk. Confers with the ancient god Bres
who presumably had a spirited if unfortunate nature.

BRITAN. A Nemedian, who fleeing Ireland and the Fomorians,


settled in present-day England giving it the name Britain.
See Nemed.

BRITHEAMHAIN, the gen. of britheamh, a judge. Hence M’A’-


Bhriuthainn, the Eng. Mac-brayne. The word confers with
the AS brun, our word brown, perhaps identifying the former
wearing apparel or complexion of this social caste. The
Morrison chiefs were once hereditary “judges” of Lewis.
Their Gaelic name was anglicized to brieve. Neither term is
pagan, both deriving from Latin forms within the Christian
Church. Nevertheless the arbitrations of these men were
based partly on the old Brehon laws and partly on the Old
Norse deems (dooms or judgements) which pre-dated
Christianity. The first Morrison brieve had the given god-
name of Uisdean generally “barbarized” as “Hucheson”.

BRIUN MAC BETHAR. The inventor of the tathlum. or “sling-


shot” used by Lugh to take our Balor’s eye in the battle at
Magh Tuireadh.

BRO, obs. old, ancient, antique, champin, quern or grinding


stone.

BROC, broc, gray, round towers. Brochach, bad-smelling,


dirty, odious, brocair, a destroyer of vermin,, brochlaid,
trash, a mi=xture of meats, thus brochan, porridge.

The Iron Age was a time of great turmoil and unrest


throughout Europe. A succession of tribes moved in one
each other crowding the relatively empty lands bordering
the Atlantic. The Celts were at least involved in this
restlesss stirring of peoples. In one of the waves which
was generated at Britain, a people who were security
conscious arrived in the outer islands and built the round
towers known as brochs (from the Gaelic broc, grey in
colour). These were defensive, conical, double-walled
outposts, standing near the sea, on heights of land,
stretching all the way from here to Ireland They may be the
work of Celtic-speaking builders and perhaps a thousand
brochs have been discovered as circular piles of rubble.
Some, like the Broch of Mousa, in the Shetlands, is
essentially complete at a height of 43 feet,

Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing whether


these strange structures were put up by Milesians, or
Tuathans or by the Picts, and it is not clear who these
people feared. Whoever they were, they seem to have
retreated from these islands as low-pressure weather
systems brought almost continuousrain and snow to the
northlands. Any who remained were certainly put to the
sword in viking times, the only exceptions being the Celtic
inhabitants of the Hebrides, who mastered the Norse
warlords until the year 1266 A.D. The Old Norse became a
skilled sea-faring people, but they were traditionally
agriculturists and hunters and might never have turned to
the sea except for the sight of Celtic trading craft in their
harbours. The wooden ships of Britain served as their first
models for their first ungainly ships, which later evolved
into the famed dragon-ships. See next.

BROCHD AGUS OLC, a common expression, “badgers and evil


creatures,” broc, a badger, the “grey one,” “biter,”
“gripper.” olc, bad, same as Eng. ulcer.

BROGANTA, a “lively old woman,” another name for the


cailleach bheurr or Winter Hag. Brog, obs. House, sorrowful,
and now, as a verb, to spur, stimulate, goad. Brogaidh, a cow
that goads men with her horns, broghach, obs., excessive,.

BRON, obs., perpetual, now, sorrow, grief, mourning,


wailing, the equipment used in wakes. Bronadh, obs.,
destruction.

BROTH, BROGH, BROT, a ring around the moon; a lunar halo.


Bruthainn, sultriness, heat. A circle around the moon was
thought to indicate imminent storm. Rings were regarded as
entry points for beings from the unseen world, and the
generation of weather was their preogative.

BRU, belly, womb, pregnant with chilkd, bulge, formerly but


now obs., hind, country, bank of soil. From this bbruach,
brink, edge, brim, a surly fellow, a person who hovers about,
a lounger, brudadar, a dream, vision, brudarach, a visionary
or seer. Bruan, stab, wound, thrust.

BRUADAR, BRUADAL, a dream, Ir. bruadair. Eng. fraud.


Dreams were considered a reflection of the alternate
reality as seen through the eyes of cowalkers. Bad dreams
were thought caused by the sleep-time invasion of a human
body by an alp.

BRUGH, BRU’, a large house, a tumulus, tower, fortified


town, mound of the Daoine sidh, tumulus, cave, house half
under earth; note sith-brugh, a fairy hill. EIr. brug, mrug,
land, a holding, a mark, Cy. bro, the source of the Welsh
word Cym-mro, a Welshman and the plural Cymmry, Gaul,
Brogi-, AS. mearc, a border, the English march.

The people of Danu were a considerable host having, a


branch of Nemedian survivors who "lived in the northern
isles of the world (Greece), learning lore and magic and
druidism and wizardry and cunning, until they surpassed the
sages of the arts of heathendom." Nevertheless, they were
not technologically advanced, and when the Milesians sailed
against them from bases in Spain, they had only bronze
weapons to meet the newly formulated iron spears and
swords of the enemy. As a result they were defeated and
afterwards regrouped athe Brug-na-Boann (the mouth of the
Boyne) There they consulted with the Fomorian, Manaun Mac
Ler, and pledged allegiance to Ler, god of the sea. In
exchange they received cloaks of invisibility, and some
removed themselves to "hollow hills" of Ireland and
Scotland while others sailed for Tir nan Og.

This may sound far-fetched, but archaeologist Sean P.


O'Riordain says that artificially built caves, or souterrains,
are a very common feature of the Irish landscape, especially
in the north. He thinks that "some souterrains must have
been used as dwelling places and not merely as refuges." He
adds that the number of such residences cannot be
estimated as few have been found but thinks that "the total
is very large". Souterrains also occur in Scotland where
they are referred to as weems, wags, or earth-houses. One
in Shetland dates to the Early Iron Age while others in
Scotland have stones from Roman buildings incorporated
into their walls. There are similar structures in Cornwall,
France and Iceland but not in Wales and England.

It is said that this move to the mounds was made


necessary after the Milesian judge Amergin, divided Erinn
between the two contenders in a shrewd example of
technical justice - giving his race control over all exposed
land and the Tuathans deeds to the underground and all
islands beyond the horizon.

The survivors who fled to the hills were barred from


participation in the arts, crafts or politics of the land, and
were forced to subsistence farming, thus the Tuatha daoine
(pronounced tootha dannan) became the "tuathanach",
farmers, and the word is still used in Gaelic to identify a
rustic. Those who fled to sea-retreats were called the
"daoine mara" or sea-people, while the hill-residents came
to be known as the "daoine sidh", or people of the side-hill.

The Dagda, the Father of the Gods, ruled for eighty


years before the coming of the Milesians but he fell in
battle and the High Kingship went to his son Bhobd Derg (the
Red Crow), who took residence under Sli-na-mban. Others
of the sidh followed Ochall Oichne to the mount called
Roscommon but the most famous home of the sidh in Ireland
was Brugh na Boann, ruled by Lugh, the god-king who had
killed Balor of the Evil Eye. Cu Chullain's mother was from
this place, and his invincibility was due to the fact that he
could call two sidh from this barrow to fight at his side in
times of need. After Lugh's time the Brugh was under the
command of Angus Og, the Tuathan god of Love and Youth,
who protected Dermott and Grania from the jealousy of Finn
MacCaul.

According to O'Riordain the Brug na Boann has never


been excavated although the place is known to house
chambered tombs and "a fine fort like structure". This place
was still hallowed ground when Cormac MacArt died and
requested that he be buried at Ros na Riogh. He was a
convert to Christianity and requested that he should be
buried facing east toward the tomb of Christ rather than
west at Brugh na Boann, with the other pagan kings, who set
their sights on reincarnation in Tir nan Og.

Cormac was only the fourth Christian king of Ireland.


Before that time, the Brugh na Boann had been regarded as a
inviolate sanctuary. It was thought that the sidh
inhabitants, the spiritual descendants of Mhorrigan and her
kind, were representatives of the ultimate creator-god,
women who insured agricultural increase and whose office
was the performance of fertility rites that promised an
unbroken line of kings and prosperity for the land. The sidh
lived in the Brugh and from it came the bride's of the kings'
annual ritual marriages to the Mhorrigan or Samh.

BRUGHAID, (brewys), farmer, burgher, “ox of the house,” a


steward. In ancient times people were too poor, and
travellers to many, to demand private hospitality,
therefore, bruideans (breens) or hostels were constructed
to serve this communal function. The chiefs of these houses
were the brughaids. A hostel was invariably built at the
junction of several roads and had opened doors facing in all
directions. Futher, men were stationed on the way to make
sure no stranger passed unattended. The brughaid was the
local magistrate and his home was the assembly point for
all elections within the district. The six major bruideans
of the ancient world were places of ultimate refuge, but
there were more than four hundred in Ireland alone. This
official had a local equivalent in the uaithne, or “pillar,” a
man whose function was the support of the very old and the
destitute who had no kin.

BRUGH NA BOYNA, BRUGH NA BOINN, BRUGH NA BOYNE (broo


na boyna), brug, a tumulus, a large house, a land-holding;
boyna, the goddess Boann. A hill located near Stachallen
Bridge in Leinster, northern Ireland. The location of the
hollow hill of Dagda, which was deeded to Lugh and later to
Aonghas Og. The source of the virgins who legitimized the
kingship of Ireland through ritual sex with the king (or his
stand-in) at the time of the Samhain.

“The most notable things here were the Hall of


Morrigu (the Mhorrigan,, who was the Dagda’s mistress), the
Bed of Dagda, the Birthplace of Cermait (Ogma) the Honey-
tongued, and the Prison of the Grey Macha that was
afterwards Cuchulainn’s horse. And there was a little hill
by the house called the Hill of Dabilla, that was formerly a
little hound belonging to Boann (the Dagda’s wife). And the
Valley of Mata was there, the Sea-Turtle that could suck
down a man in armour. It was likely there

that the god had his coooking-oven, made by Druimne


mac Luchair of Tara. Here too was the Cauldron of the Deep,
which some say was purloined from the Undersea Kingdom
of the Fomors. In spite of this the Dagda claimed that the
vat was one he cast “for his daughter Ainge, but she was
not satisfied, for it never stopped dripping while the ocean
was in flood, though it never lost a drop at the ebb-tide. She
gathered twigs and cast her own cauldron, but Gaible mac
Nuada of the Silver Hand, stole it from her and later cast it
down at Gaible’s wood where a beautiful forest grew and
covered it.”

The Dagda’s household steward at this place was


Dichu and his smith was Len Linfiaclach. His forge cast
showers of molten metal east as far as Indeoin na Dese and
these have been collected as “precious stones of a pure
purple.” Corann was the harpist here and he afterwards
went into service with Diancecht mac Dagda.. The Dagda
was tricked out of his residence by his son Aonghas Og but
took no revenge, although he had a quick temper. Some say
he made his final stop in the hill beneath Tara but here he
found great misfortune, so that this place became entitled
the Hill of Aileac, the “Hill of Sighs and Stone.”

The divine race arose from the Tuatha daoine, who


were skilled magicians but possessed bronze weapons
where the Milesian invaders carried iron. When they were
finally defeated in battle at Taillte, the newcomers
shrewdly deeded them all lands beneath the earth and
beyond the horizon. History suggests that many of them
fled to the largest island of Britannia (Great Britain), while
others took residence among the "giants" on the mythic
island of Tyr-na-N'Og, the Land of Youth, somewhere in the
western Atlantic (possibly America). Celtic myths suggest
that the rest "vanished" into the very real souterrains of
Ireland and Scotland. The occasional reappearance of these
cave-dwellers may have led to stories of the "sidh", or
side-hill people, who were censored for their riotous life-
style, but feared because of their god-like magic.

The individual women of the Brugh of Angus were


virgins until each was required to perform her public
mating with the King of Tara at the time of the Beltane.
When their function in ritual sex was forgotten, the caste
remained, and in King Cormac's time (276 A.D.) there still
existed, "at Tara, a house of virgins who kept constantly
alive the fires of Bel, or the sun, and of Samain, the moon."
These beansidh, sidh-women, also called banshees,
correspond with the Anglo-Saxon "wael-cyridge", who are
better known under their Scandinavian title: the "valkyrie",
literally "the choosers of those who are to be slain." The
valkyrs were "attendents upon Odin their chief being
Valfreya, the female counterpart of the sun-god Frey. These
were also adherents of the goddess called Norn, leader of
the fates, and they supposedly remained immortal and
invulnerable under the shields of their virginity.

The Norns were sometimes referred to as the Valas,


the latter name suggesting a diviner or prophetess. In parts
of Germany they were known as the Idisces, Disces, or
Hagdises. From the latter we have our modern word hag, a
synonym for witch, which is also confluent with the Danish
word Hex. While the Valkyrs were known for organizing
religious rites they were also an small host in all invading
armies. Riding in the midst of men they urged warriors to
victory, and when the slaughter was complete they would
often cut "the bloody-eagle" of Odin on the body of captives
and bleed them to death over great tubs. H.A. Guerber says
that "the Disces plunged their naked arms up to the
shoulders, previous to joining in the wild dances with which
the ceremony ended...It is not to be wondered that these
women were greatly feared. Sacrifices were offered to
propitiate them, and it was only in later times that they
were degraded to the rank of witches, and sent to join the
demon-host..."

Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore


(1972), that the Gaelic "befind", sidh "who predict the
future and endow it with good or doubtful gifts" are
"parallel beings" to the Norns or Valkyrs. The first Norns
are supposed to have been daughters of Wyrd, the goddess of
fate. The eldest of these was Urth, goddess of the past;
Verdhandi, the present and Skuld, the future. These are the
same "weird sisters" that Shakespeare resurrected to play
roles in Macbeth. They were more traditionally located in
homes at the base of Odin's world-tree where they were
perpetually at work weaving the fates of men and the gods.
The Celtic triad of goddesses included Morrigan, Baobh or
Badb, and Macha who had similar jurisdictions. These three
sisters were identified as the daughters of Ernmas of the
Tuatha daoine, who was either the granddaughter or wife of
King Net.

The youngest of the trio was Morrigan, Morgain, or


Morgan, identified in the medieval Romances as Morgan le
Fay (the fairy), the half-sister of King Arthur. Her name
translates out of the Celtic tongues as "born of the sea" or
"sea-woman" and continues in the Scottish Clan Morgan,
which corresponds with Clan Mackay. King Arthur Pendragon
shared the raven, or carrion-crow, with Morrigan as a
totem-animal, and the goddess has something of the evil
reputation of this animal. The Morrigan was a youthful,
promiscuous, raven-haired woman, who retained her
virginal magic through an ability to reincarnate her
maidenhood. She empowered the men she favoured by
inviting them to lie with her, but appeared as a goddess of
war before those who refused her.
BRUGH SLIEVENNAMON. A hill located in Torach, in the north
of Ireland. Here the Féinn lost in a snowstorm followed a
fawn into the Underground, a great self-illuminated brugh.
Their host was Donn, son of Midir the Proud. This hollow-
hill had contained twenty-eight thousand warriors, but had
been at war with the other Daoine sidh so that their
numbers were so reduced they sent their maidens out as
fawns to catch the attention of these human heroes.
Always ready to tussle, the Fiann joined the brugh in its
war and finally compelled the enemy to make peace. As a
result, these side-hill pagans became Christians.

BREUIGHEANN, obs. A palace or royal residence. A hill of the


Daoine sidh.

BRUIDE, torturer, oppressor, brute, beast. The male


equivalent of Bridd or Bride. The throne name of Pictish
kings, the reincarnate male manifestation of this spirit. In
modern parlance a groom.

BRUIDEAN, BRUIDHEANN, BRUIDHINN, (breen), talk,


conversation, a place of hospitality, an inn, a fairy hill.
After Bridd, the mortal-goddess who was the first to
establish these way-station/hospitals for travellers, the
indigent and the poor. Note bruid, captivity and bruid, stab
or goad, which takes note of the fact that latter-day guests
were often hostages. From their reputation we have the Ir.
bruighinn, scolding speech, a brawl. EIr. bruidin, a hospital,
a place of refuge, a sanctuary. Similar to the English word
board.

To honour the tenants of Gaelic hospitality men often


banded together and built these common houses which were
meant to offer their collective hospitality. The official
hosteler was entitled a brughaid (brewy), and his place was
traditionally set at a junction of six roads. The hostel had
open doors to each road and a man stationed on the road to
make sure that no traveller passed without entertainment.
A light burned on the lawn all night long and a full cauldron
of food always bubbled above the hearth-fire. The bruidean
was the place of assembly for local elections, and the
keeper had the force of a magistrate as far as civil law was
concerned. Each inn was required by law to keep at least a
hundred grazing animals and servants, but some places had
double or triple these resources. Whatever the size, each
bruidean was expected to provide the "three cheers" for
strangers - "the cheer of ale; the cheer of servitors of food;
and the cheer of the gaming room. There were six major
hostels in Ireland, but there may have been four hundred
over the entire countryside. See above entry and Bridd.

BRUIDIN, Ir. bruidne, place of refuge, sanctuary, a circular


post-built hut about 20 feet in diameter with a conical
thatched roof. Thought to have originated as temple shrines
built to protect a wood or stone idol. The Ballachulish site
in Argyllshire has turned up traces of a thatched roof shrine
hung on a wickerware frame. Within there remained
evidence of a pagan idol. See above entry.
BRUINIDH, tbruin, obs. Cauldron, kettle, belly, a “kettle-
watcher,” a domestic sigh, the brownie of southern
mythology, spectre, a hobgoblin, the hearth-sidh. The
invisible, largely benevolent household elf, whose name is
taken from his skin colour, brown. Bruinceach, pregnant,
productive, bruine-ard, having high and prominent breasts.

This creature is considered the weregild of certain


families living at Glenlochie, Scotland. Comparable to the
northern bodach. This spirit may confer with the Norse
svart-alfar (dark elfs) the adherents of Svrtr, the fire-
giant, who is a form of Lokki, the god of underground fire.
These spirits were said to have been created by Odin from
maggots infesting the corpse of the proto-giant Ymir, who
was killed by the gods. The lios-alfar (light-elfs) proved
politically reliable and were installed in Middle Earth at
what is now Upsala, Sweden, but their soot-covered cousins
were suspected of treason and were committed to the
underworld. Keightley says that "The Nis, Kobold, or Goblin
appears in Scotland under the name of Brownie...a personage
(typically invisible) of small stature and wrinkled visage
wearing a mantle and hood." King James I of England says of
him: "The spirit called Brownie appeared like a rough old
man and haunted divers houses without doing any evil, but
doing as it were, necessarie turns (chores) up and down the
house; yet some are so blinded as to believe that their house
was all the sonsier (better) as they called it, that such
spirits resorted there."

BRUINIDH CARA, the “Brownie Friend,” a guardian to the


MacDonalds of Largie when they lived on a the islet of Cara,
a little south of Gigha, Scotland. Like all of his kind this
brownie lived on offerings of milk and cream. In earlier
days the MacDonald had occupied the Castle of Largie on the
Kintyre shore. When they deserted it for Cara their “astral
genius” followed. The Cara Brownie was chiefly involved
with airing and making beds for guests, taking care of
dishes in the dark-hours, and seeing that the dogs were let
out and tied in their kennels. He stumblerd over water-
stoups left about at night as hint against untidiness. People
who were untidy about the house or their own person were
likely to get a pinch or a slap from the meticulous little
man. Once when a herdswoman delaying going after the
cattle, she could not locate them. After hours of futile
search she returned home to find them already tied in their
byres. Once this brownie showed attitude toward a visitor
by raising him from his bed, leaving him standing stark
naked before the fire as he aroused himself from sleep.

BRUINNE, oibs. fine, same as BRUIN, obs. belly, cauldron,


waist, chest, front, breast, still, bruinneach, a nurse,
mother, glutton, quarter-day fool (male). Bruinteach, obs.,
great with child.

BUABHALL, a unicorn; Cym. bual, the Lat. bubalus whence


buffalo. The chief work-animal of the Gaelic gods. Bual, a
buffalo horn, a bugle, a trumpet. Bu is the same as bo, a cow.
Also see as bua, another name for the cailleach bheurr, and
buabh, both forms little used.

BUADHGHALLAN, ragwort, literally “the virtue-bearing


wort,” probably divisible into buaf-bhallan, “toad-wort,”
from buaf, toad, reptile. In the Cymric language this plant is
the “serpent’s weed.”

BUADHNAT. “ little triumph, little virtue.” A healing stream.


Aberbuthnot, Scotlland, is named for its stream. Similarly
the stream running by the church of Loch Carron is
Buadhchag, which is known to have healing powers. The Bow
River, Abhainn na Buaidhe, in Ireland is similarly blessed.
Here, they used to drive cattle through the waters on May
Day. Loch Ness also has the ability to cure cattle of
disease. The name may have been personal, identifying
some ancient water goddess.

BUAF, any venom filled creature, a toad, bufa, a serpent,


bufachd, poison. Buaifg, antidote.

BUAILE NA GREINE, fold or cow-pen of the sun. Loosely


translated as “Hell’s Gate.” An entrance to the Dead Lands
of the Otherworld, Lugh being the god of the sun. One of
these is upon the route to Lochgoilhead in Campbell country,
Scotland, and is a steep-sided defile “approved by the
Macfarlanes of Loch Lomond, and others with small love for
the Campbells, and said to be a good place for practising
ambuscade.”

BUAIN, reaping, cutting down the corn, mowing, harvest, of


value, shear, pluck, tear up by the roots, Buainiche, a reaper,
a harvester.

BUAIR, bu + air, the “high-cow.” tempt, allure, provoke,


annoy, disturb, distract, a madden, alarm, make muddy, ,
enrage, buaireadair, tempter, disturber, buaireas, anxiety in
the mind, dismay, terror.

BUAL, obs. A remedy, urine, physic, water.


BUAN, lasting, durable, tedious, lassting, an idle person who
lives on the best his neighbours can afford. Similar to
buanna, obs., a mercenary, a billeted soldier; bnuannachd,
profit, related to buain, to reap. See next.

BÚANANN, (bow nan), “ancient cow,” buanna, obs. A billeted


soldier, idler, straggler, mercenary, foreign soldier, buan, a
child, cf. Boann and Danu, goddesses of the Tuatha daoine.
“The mother of heroes.” An amazon, skilled in the martial
arts, who ran a school for warriors. Sometimes
characterized as “The Untiring One,” or “The Eternal
Reaper,” suggesting her role as death-goddess in the Bas-
finne. Noterd for her wit, keen observations and rapid fire
movements, she was the matron of slight-of-hand
craftsmen and women.

BUARACH, BHUARACH, buar + acharradh, cattle + spirit;


cow-fetter, the horse-hair tie. Early feeding of the cows, a
slovenly person, obs. Early in the morning..

From this the expression eadar a' bhaobh 's a'


bhuarach, "Twixt the witch and the cow-fetter." The cow
fetter was a hobble placed around the back legs of cows
while they were being milked. Any difficult situation,
similar to the English "Caught between the Devil and the
deep blue sea." Nicolson (Gaelic Proverbs 1881) has noted
that "if a man got struck by the bhuarach he would
thenceforth be childless." Also known as the snaithean
(which, see). Usually constructed of black wool and hidden
on all animals at their sale to protect them from the
effects of being "overlooked." "It is not right to lose the
buarach, that is the horse-hair tie that goes about cow's
feet at the milking-time, because anyone getting it could
"torradh" (which, see) your cattle. One notices the care
with which, after milking, there ties are carried home and
hung up in a certain spot.”

“Once a year a drover came (to the Outer Isles) from


the mainland to buy cattle. He used to stay with a certain
farmer, from whose daughter this story comes. He was
accustomed to abundant fare, but one year no cheese was
forthcoming. "It is not, ": said his hostess, "that we have
not plenty of cows, but for some reason we can make no
cheese." Early next morning the drover rose and looked out.
On coming in, he asked for "bent" grass (i.e. shore-grass),
and made as many buarachs, and asked the women to put
them on the cows, three times around each, and then to let
the herd go where it would. This was done and the cows
rushed off wildly and never stopped till they reached a
certain crofter's house, where they climbed on the roof and
began to tear at the thatch to the great astonishment of the
owner. "They are wanting what belongs to them," said the
drover in explanation; and when the women of the house
happened out with an armful of cheeses the cows
surrounded her and drove her ahead of them back to the byre
from which they had come. This happened a second and a
third time until all the "torradh" that had been filched was
restored." (Celtic Magazine, p. 195).

BUCCA, bucach, boy, young male. Cornwall was formerly the


land of the he-bucks, or goats. In Cornwall the "Devil" of
the Quarter-Days wore the head-dress of a horned goat and
was entitled Cernu, the “Horned One". See boc and related
words.

BUI. BOI, yellow. One of the names given the Winter Bear or
Winter Hag. She is frequently described as the off-season
“wife” of the sun-god Lugh. Perhaps from her dried and
yellow skin. See Cailleach bheurr, Dige, Morgan, Samh.

BUIDHE, yellow, golden, grateful, agreeable, lucky. Because


it is symbolic of the Sun this colour is regarded as a Gaelic
emblem of propitiousness and beauty. Thus: latha-buidhe, a
“yellow-day,” i.e. A lucky day. Buidheachd, satiated,
“yellowed” in the mind. Am bhuidheachas, the “yellowness,”
a blessing pronounced over food. But, excess of food, drink
or sex was said to end in a’ bhidheach, “the yellowes,” or
jaundice. See above.

BUIDHEACHAS, a time of thanksgiving, gratitude, a state of


gratitude. Buidealaich, a blaze of fire. Buidh, grateful,
thankful. Buidhe, yellow, golden, sun-lit, thankful, lucky.

BUILLE AON-RANNACH, buille, blow; aon, one; rannach,


undeserved. Unexpected ill-use at the hands of one's befind,
or the fates in general.

Men who prospered, or failed, in great measure were


though imbued with lots of god-spirit. Evil and good were
seen as evenly distributed among the gods and men by the
creator-god. At any given time, it was thought than a
person had a 50-50 chance of falling upon good or evil
circumstances. It was also held that there was an
"levelling" principle at work, so that men should not hope
for great good luck, which invariably led to a run of
disappointing circumstances.

All disease and discomfort was credited to evil


spirits,and it was said that curses, spells and blights could
only fall upon a deserving victim. Because of this the baobhe
sometimes had to re-direct spirits against a second,
sometimes uninvolved, party. It was held that any charm
"set upon the air" had to fall upon some individual within a
seven year span. If it failed to do this, the spirit, gathered
its full wrath and vented it upon the witch rather than a
victim. Thus, fate came rather willy-nilly to the sons of
men, who routinely received the blessings or curses
intended for others. Whatever the situation of the moment,
the Gaels held that good or evil spirits were persistent,
thus: "the evil influence, once put on track, takes complete
hold. There is an aphorism in Gaelic - "When a man is tried,
he is tried completely."

At that, men did what they could to avoid the


consequences of "sympathetic" magic. It was believed that
things once in contact remained in contact and might
influence one another after separation; that the elements of
a former union maintained a spiritual "sympathy." It was
also held that things that appeared similar in form, colour,
taste, touch or smell were essentially similar and
psychically involved. This explains why witches scavenged
nail clippings, hair, the spit and the urine and faecal matter
of an intended victim. They believed that incorporating all
these ingredients in a representation made of wax gave
them power over the original possessor of these leavings.

Similarly men avoided taking black coloured objects


aboard a ship because it was reasoned that this attracted
the spirits resident in storm clouds. In some cases the
attachment between things, or ideas, is exceedingly
abstract, "thus, it is not lucky to own a boat that has
carried a coffin. A woman in one of the islands died lately,
and her relatives who had two boats, carried the corpse
across in a small one, quite unfit for such work in such
weather, rather than use the boat that did service for
fishing." Another example: "...if a dog kill a sheep, the luck
of the flock is lost to the owner, and the rest will follow
(die) by some means. Also if a person dies who has been
lucky in accumulating flocks and herds, the beast will
follow him shortly (Celtic Magazine, p. 164).

BUILE SHUIBHNE, (bwe la swee ny), Sweeny’s blow. The


“travelling men” of Leinster and Argyll are said descended
from this one-time warrior of the dal Riada.. He was
considered the first human master of claochlu or shape-
shifting. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Moira
but he arose from the dead, refusing to accept residence
“under the hills.” As an effect he was compelled to wander
restlessly through the wild lands being incapable of
attaining peace of mind. In his wanderings The Sweeny did
find a oneness with plants and animals and became a
shaman of the wild places. The term “Travelling People” is
now applied to tinkers but once referred more to forest-
folk, those who were at one with nature.

BUINEAGEAN, buin+eagean, belonging to, originating with+


gam, winter; the winter-goddess. The so-called “witch-
balls, ” green in colour, one of the chief possessions of the
baobhe. McNeill says she handled these artifacts and notes
that they were still used “with dire effects in the period
between the two Wars (WW I and WW II).” Balls of yarn, the
so-called “blue clews of witchcraft.”

BUISDEAR, BUITSEAR, “high witch,” a wizard, a wicked


fellow. See following entries.

BUITE, a firebrand, buiteach, a threat, buitich, threaten;


buitse, icicle, see following.

BUITSEACH, BUITICH, BUITICHEAN, a witch, a wizard; buit +


each, as above; each, horse-like, a brute, coarse. In writing,
these may be distinguished according to sex by the end
letter, thus: Is buitseache, “He is a wizard;” while Is
buitseachi, indicates that “She is a witch.” The word may
also indicate a “witches curse or a threat.” This is thought
to lean on boid, a vow, hence, “those who have taken vows.”
The word has evolved directly through SIr. from the English
word witch.

This word derives in turn from the AS wic, a resident


by the sea-side and is the same as the obs. Gaelic uic,
bayside resident, and the ON vic, a wizard, magician,
pirate, hence viking; cf. wit, a sage and witan, an advisory
council to the king. The Whitsunday, was formerly held
about 15 days after the pagan holiday still called Easter.
Together with Martinmas in Winter (Nov. 11) it constituted
two of four English Quarter-Days corresponding with the
Gaelic Beltane and Samhain. It was presided over by a
whitsunlord and whitsunlady, who were clearly Woden and
his wife Frigga incarnate. This god corresponds with the
Teutonic Wuotan and the Scandinavian Odin, and his name
corresponds linguistically with wode, wood, weather,
wicker, whither, and Wednesday.

Belief in the existence of ghosts, or spirits, changed


world history in the period between the Middle Ages and the
eighteenth century. This was because witches, baobhs or
hagges supposedly controlled these supernaturals. That was
a time which belonged to the dark side: its saga was one of
grotesque actions by those accused of withcraft and brutal
reactions by those who chased them down. It has been
estimated that continental Europeans killed nine million of
their citizens following the biblical command: "Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22.18). The paranoia was
a little later arriving in Britain, where it became tied to
political causes; as a result only one thousand English and
Scottish witches went to their death between 1542 and
1735. The English laws against witchcraft were lifted in
1736, but in 1842, "The New Statistical Account of
Clackmannshire" claims that one last victim was burned at
Gloom Hill in the Ochil Mountains of Scotland.

There were even victims in the New World, the best known
being the sixteen executed at Salem Massachusetts. Like
most people of our century, folklorist Helen Creighton
preferred to believe that the Maritime Provinces had "no
history of witch burnings, drownings, or hangings" although
she admitted that "enemies real or imagined have often been
dispatched through torment by sympathetic magic." A well
documented case of death by magic occurred at Belleisle
Bay, N.B., when an accussed witch named Mrs. Tennant was
ritually harassed to death by her neighbours in the early
seventeenth century. Unfortunately, we did have a death by
more direct means during the French colonial period; which
explains why a peninsula near Charlottetown was
afterwards called Pointe de Flamme.

The first witch-women appear to have been the nornir,


alternately known as the vala, valkyra, fylgiar, druses,
idises, disces or hagedises, anciently, the battle-maidens,
who governed the fates of men and the gods, and who later
officiated at forest shrines as prophetesses of the god Odin.
They often rode before troops of warriors inspiring them to
effort in battle, and afterwards took over the business of
sacrificing captives. They were, in the Christian era,
degraded to the rank of minor evil-spirits and sent to join
the demon hosts already resident on such mountains as
Brocken and Blockesburg. Like the others the witches were
only allowed freedom of movement on Valpurgisnacht,
which corresponds with the Gaelic eve of Samhain. These
are the bafinne of Gaelic myth and correspond with the
human and inhuman baobh e(which, see).
BUITSEACHAS, BUITSEACHAIS, the craft of a witch. Magic,
enchantment, conferring with buitich, threaten. Gillian
Tindall may be correct in saying that deliberate witchcraft
was probably the product of a pagan religion that had gone
sour. "...whereas the old cults had been concerned with
making crops grow and women bear, a major preoccupation
of the witches was blighting and making barren. Sterility
replaced fertility as the goal, but the ritual remained the
same." Even in the old order the god-king had to be wary of
the "forked stick" in the belly of his goddess-queen, for she
was overwintered while he was cut down with the corn.

BUITSEACHASD, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment.


BUITELACH, buite, a firebrand; a place where a large fire is
placed, hence “a big fire,” based on buit and the OIr. bot,
fire. Thus the reference to various islandfs termed Inis
boit, an “isle of fire,” as these were the sites for signal or
bale-fires. Compare with Eng. bute, a flat-topped peak, a
“fire-place.” Dereived from beo, full of life, “living.” This
is connected with Ebudae, a classical name given the
Hebrides. Notice that a Buteman is termed in Gaelic a
bodach and that Baile Bhoid, the “town of Bute,” is now
Rothesay, Scotland.

BUN-NOS, foundation custom, ancient mode of doing things,


traditional. Bun, root, stock, stump, bottom, Eng. Bum. Nos,
knowledge, white, pure.

BUNNSACH, BUNNSAG, a magic rod, osier-twig, divining rod,


a place where alders grow, a sudden rush of air, water etc.
Bunneamach, shrewd, sensible, in control, deeply discerning.

BURDAN, obs., a chorus. Same as durdan. Burdanaiche,


libeller.
BURGAID, a noisy fellow, an awkward fellow,m a clown.

BURR, great, sulky-mouthed, clownish, burraidh, fool,


blockhead, simpleton, surly, morose, fellow,
burraghlasachd, rapacious, burrait, beastly, burral, howl of
grief, burralgaireachd, brutality, Fury. Confers with
cailleach bheurr, the “pointed old woman.”

BUS, the pouting of the lips in anger, a kiss, mouth, lip,


snout of an animal, mouth with prominent lips, cheek.

BUTA, PUTA, a clown a puck, surplus, a lucky penny.

BYANU, the mother goddess, mate of Bel. Another name for


Boann Anu or Danu, the matriarch of the Daoine sidh.See
Buannnan.
1.Rollestone, T.W., CEltic Myths And Legends (London) 1990,
p. 132.

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