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Scotland’s story has long been clouded due to a few particular
historical events. One is that little early written material about
ancient times survives due to various raids and invasions. The
earliest of these started in the 9th century with the
Vikings who often raided monasteries - the natural home for written
materials as well as the precious metals they were seeking. Later
came the invasion of the English king Edward Longshanks in the 13th
century, and the Reformation 300 years later. Edward destroyed all
documents he could find as they were sure to undermine his
opportunistic and dishonest claims to be the sovereign lord of
Scotland. What he didn’t destroy was taken south to England and
disappeared. Later the Reformation saw the unleashing of fanatical
mobs who burned books and destroyed great art under the guise of it
all being Papist. Because of this and because of the close links
between Ireland and Scotland the situation has arisen where Scottish
culture is presented as being primarily imported from Ireland
through Gaelic or from England through the medium of Anglo-Saxon
which developed into Scots north of the Border. All of this ignores
what can be clearly seen in the light of modern archaeological and
historical learning - that Scotland was inhabited by people capable
of sophisticated thinking with considerable mathematical and
engineering powers from the time of the great stone circle of
Calanais was raised about five thousand years ago.
Because of the lack of sources and the bias of historians towards
both Christianity and an Oxbridge view of the world much Scottish
folklore is ignored or misunderstood. This applies particularly to
the Goddess in our landscape.
All of the pagan religions in Europe are accepted as having come
through a Goddess phase and there is no reason to think Scotland
should be any different. In fact behind tales of witches,
supernatural females and Christian saints lies a reality that is
still manifest in our landscape - that the Goddess walked these
lands, and perhaps still does. In ancient religions it was natural
to see life itself as emanating form a female source - after all do
we not all come from our mothers - and the landscape of Scotland is
dotted with referents to the female principle in its nurturing,
life-giving sense, though we also have dark, violent females
representing the destructive aspect of the Goddess, in short life
and death.
Many of the most striking of our hills are called Paps and in Gaelic
we have the terms Cioch and Mam which both refer to the differing
shapes of the female breast. We have the Paps of Jura, the Paps of
Fife, the Pap of Glencoe, the Maiden Paps in Roxburghshire, Maiden
Pap in Sutherland and many others. There all also Bennachie
-originally Bean na Cioch, and Lochnagar was initially Beinn na
Ciochan and has its own Caisteal na Caillich, Meikle Pap and Little
Pap. There are many others but naming them after the shape of the
female breast alone is perhaps not enough to conclude that we are
seeing remnants of the Goddess and her worship. However when we find
holy wells, symbolic placenames associated with ritual and mythology
and early sacred sites around such places it seems possible that
Goddess worship was involved in the naming of such physical
features.
In
many parts of Scotland that were once Gaelic speaking, which is most
of the country, there are tales of the Cailleach, an ancient name
meaning the veiled one that used to mean the old woman or hag, but
in modern times has come to mean nun. In many of the old tales
however she is presented as the Spirit of Winter, keeping Bride, the
Goddess of Summer imprisoned till she is released by her lover. As
we shall see, the Cailleach in Gaelic tradition is matched by the
figure of the Carlin in Scots tradition. There are literally dozens
of placenames referring to the Cailleach and many such tales are
attached to mountains.
One of the oldest tales of this kind refers to Scotland’s greatest
natural wonder. This is the Corryvreckan the great whirlpool between
the Inner Hebridean islands of Jura and Scarba. Just off Scarba’s
south coast there is a huge underwater spike and when the Atlantic
waters are forced through the Sound of Jura and meet tidal surges
coming around both islands the waters start to gyrate around this
spike and the whirlpool of the Corryvreckan is formed. It is at its
most violent at the end of autumn though sailors who dare to cross
it are always in danger at any time of the year. The name of the
Corryvreckan was originally Coire Bhreacain - the cauldron of the
plaid. The term cauldron is one that is associated with Goddesses
throughout Celtic and Germanic mythology and legend -perhaps why it
is represented so widely on Pictish Symbol Stones - but here it has
a specific meaning. It was in this great cauldron that the Cailleach
washed her plaid, the traditional one-piece garment of the
Highlands. It was this washing that was said to created the
whirlpool in autumn, the sound of which can be heard for many miles
around, After washing her plaid the Cailleach lays her plaid over
the hills of west Scotland to dry. As she is the oldest being,
clearly a reference to a Mother Goddess figure, her plaid is pure
white - it needed no colour to differentiate her from other beings.
This is of course a mythological explanation for the first snows of
the year linked to the greatest physical event in the landscape of
Scotland and her surrounding waters. Some scholars specifically link
the Cailleach to Ben Nevis our greatest mountain and like many of
our hills it has an Allt-na-Cailleach, stream of the Old Woman.
This is essentially the same Old Woman located in different parts of
the landscape of Scotland and one other striking example is Caillich
na mointich. the Old Woman of the Moors whose form lies in the hills
to the south of the great standing stone circle of Calanias which we
shall look at later.
Time and again we find the Cailleach associated with mountains and
on a clear day as the weather changes it is easy to see why. I
recall standing on a hillside in Glen Clova looking north to
Lochnagar in early autumn on a bright day with a few clouds high in
the sky. As I watched clouds began to form around the head of
Lochnagar and as the sky darkened clouds began to stream out from
the mountain. The Goddess of course creates the weather as well as
the planet and all its beings and it seems only natural that she
should be located on our mountain tops. The harsh black figures of
the Cailleachs associated with Bein Bhreac in Lochaber, Ben Wyvis in
Easter Ross and many other Scottish mountains seem particularly apt
creatures to be associated with Scottish winters - which every year
exact a toll of sacrifice from among the walkers and climbers who
venture amongst them.
One of the strongest associations of the Cailleach is the deer and
Jura, mentioned above, means the Deer Isle from the Norse Dyr -ey
and the Cailleach there, the Cailleach Mhor nam Fiadh, the Big Old
Woman of the Deer is said to have no remorse in killing any non-Jura
man who set foot on her island. This is very close to the notion of
the Goddess representing the land and links with the ancient Celtic
notion of the new king marrying the female representation of the
land, thereby attaining sovereignty. Many Cailleachs are mentioned
as helping deer hunters who approach them the right way.
Ben Cruachan which soars over the north side of the road between
Dalmally and Oban has its own Cailleach story. Here the Cailleach
was the guardian of a well on the summit of the mountain. Every
evening she had to cover the well with a large flat stone and every
morning take it off again. One night she was tired out after being
out all day with her herds in Connel and fell asleep by the side of
the well. Night fell and still she slept. Up came the waters of the
well and flooded out over the land, rushing down the side of the
mountain to the south. As the flood began to rage it broke through
the Pass of Brander with a great roar and the Cailleach sprang
awake. Try as she might she could not cap the well and the torrent
flowed free drowning many a man and beast caught in its path. This
is how Loch Awe was formed and it is said the Cailleach was so
ashamed that she turned to stone and the stone still sits among the
rocky ruins overlooking the Loch.
Here as with the Corryvreckan we have the Cailleach being
instrumental in the formation of the landscape and the same story of
the overflowing well is given for the origin of Loch Ness, and
others. It is no surprise that tradition also tells us that the
Cailleach formed the Hebridean islands when an apronful of stones
she was carrying for the making of Scotland accidentally fell!
Many mountains and glens in Scotland have stories of the Cailleach,
always associated with the local landscape, for the stories were
always told in such a way as to find an easy reception amongst their
audience. Placenames and associated tales put her all over our
landscape .
On
Mull there is the Carn na Caillich where again the Cailleach dropped
a load of stones when the strap of the creel she was carrying the
stones in broke. Here she was said to have been trying to build a
bridge over the Sound of Mull and intended putting chains across the
Sound of Islay to stop ships passing. The stones where these chains
were to be fixed used to be pointed out on Jura.
One of the reasons that mythology developed was to give an
explanation of the physical world in human terms. A tale told all
over the Highlands at least concerns the Cailleach and Bride. In
this tale the Cailleach, a great, black-faced Hag has Bride, the
Goddess of Summer imprisoned and in some versions she is called her
daughter. During the Winter while Bride is imprisoned the Cailleach
goes around the country hammering the land with her great hammer and
thus freezing it. Bride is given the impossible task of washing a
brown fleece white while the Cailleach is out and about. Far off in
the Land of Eternal Youth, Angus Og dreams of the beautiful maiden
harshly imprisoned and resolves to come to her rescue. Bride herself
manages to escape on the 1st of February for three days
but is soon recaptured. This is supposed to account for the three
days of good weather that were said to happen at the beginning of
February called lathan Bridean
Meanwhile Angus Og is searching everywhere for Bride and with the
help of a mysterious male figure eventually locates her. He frees
her and they are initially pursued by the Cailleach. But with
Bride’s release Spring has come and the Cailleach’s powers fade
quickly. At last she gives up the chase in disgust and throws her
hammer under a holly bush - which is why nothing ever grows there.
Bride and Angus Og are married and rule together over the Summer
months till once again the Cailleach’s time comes round.
This tale comes from long before the calendars were changed at the
end of the 16th century so it is perhaps surprising how
often a short spell of weather does occur at the beginning of
February. Or did the new calendar simply put things back in balance?
On
the east of Scotland, much of which has been Scots-speaking for
almost as long as Gaelic has been spoken in the west there is a
figure which is a clear match for the Cailleach. This is the Carlin
who like her counterpart has left traces in the landscape. The Paps
of Fife were mentioned above and on the western side of the Lomond
Hills, of which the Paps form part is the narrow gap known as
Glenvale. Here stood a striking pillar of stone known as Carlin
Maggie, which sadly has now fallen. The tale is that this was the a
haunt of witches and Carlin Maggie was their leader. One time seeing
Satan approach carrying a load of rocks she took a stand on Bishop’s
Hill and preceded to flyte him - insult him in rhyme. He dropped
his load of rocks and chased her coming close enough to turn her
into stone at this spot overlooking Loch Leven. Here we have a
representative of the old, pagan religion going against even the
Christian Devil! In the surrounding area there are records of
fertility rituals associated with a nearby bore hole through rock
called the Maiden Bore, old wells and even an early Christian fish
sign carved in the living rock on West Lomond Hill. The clustering
of such sites strongly supports the idea that such names were given
in honour of the Goddess and that the area was one of considerable
sanctity.
The Carlin who crops up in Scots medieval literature was the subject
of one early anonymous poem, the Gyre-Carling, in which she is said
to have farted out North Berwick Law! The poem was said to have been
a favourite of James V. This is a bit different from the other tales
here but still links her directly to the creation of the physical
world and it is interesting that one of our most famous groups of
witches gathered in the shade of North Berwick Law. The name
Gyre-Carlin means something like the biting or ravenous old woman
which is very like the meaning of the Cailleach Bheur, a name that
crops up often in Gaelic traditions. It is clear that the idea of
the Hag of Winter is common to the Germanic and Celtic speaking
traditions in Scotland and this might suggest we are dealing with an
idea that comes from a time before either of these two languages had
developed. This is impossible to prove but it is known that some
aspects of Scottish tradition like the association of these female
figures with deer, were common in other parts of Europe over 5,000
years ago.
The Gyre-Carolling in the poem is also remarkably like the idea of
the Cailleach presented in the poem The Manere of the Crying of Ane
Playe by William Dunbar, the great 15th/16th
century poet where, telling of her as the wife of Fionn ,”She
spittit Lochlomond with her lips; Thunner and fireflaucht flew fae
her hips.” Fireflaucht is lightning and this may be reference to her
role as the source of storms and bad weather. The similarity between
the Cailleach and Carlin here is absolute.
A
striking suggestion of ancient worship and ritual comes from Loch
Carlingwark in Dumfries. Here in the loch was found a great
collection of votive gifts - gifts put into wells, rivers or lochs
accompanying prayers to the goddess, or perhaps other divinities.
Among the collection form Carlingwark, to be seen the Museum of
Scotland, is a great cauldron, echoing the relationship between many
early goddess figures and the actual source of food for family and
communities. Water, the source and support of all life has long been
central to pagan religion and accounts for the long association of
prayer and ritual with wells, as we shall see later.
Calanais
The stone circle of Calanais laid out on the ground in the shape of
a Celtic Cross over 5000 years ago is truly one of Scotland’s
wonders. Its use in lunar observation is now accepted and in the
hills along which the moon “dances” at the end of its 18.6 year
cycle we can see how important the notion of the goddess in the
landscape must have been. In these hills to the south of the
Calanais complex the outline of a reclining human figure can be
seen. Though it is only recently that archaeologists have
rediscovered the lunar associations of this magnificent megalithic
site, local tradition has preserved at least one memory of the
sanctity of the area. The term for the human figure reclining in the
hills to the south in the Cailleach na mointich - the Old Woman of
the moors. In this sense Old Woman can be seen as referring to the
Goddess, here present to underline the importance of the complex of
megalithic sites round Loch Roag.
One tale that occurs in several locations tells how on the morning
of Beltain the ancient tribal Feast to greet the summer, the
Cailleach went to a holy well. Taking a mouthful of water just as
the sun rose she drank and was magically transformed into the Summer
Goddess, Bride, the forerunner of St. Brigit who has long been
revered in the Western Isles. Here we seem to have a portrayal of a
Goddess who corresponds to the old notion of the year being split
into two main seasons- the Time of The Big Sun and the Time of the
Little Sun. These seasons were separated by the great feasts of
Beltain and Samhain. Although the other great quarter-day feasts of
Imbolc (1st February) and Lammas(1st August) were
undoubtedly important they are clearly overshadowed by the other
two. Imbolc itself is the Day of Bride and was linked to the start
of lambing .
Bride survives in Gaelic tradition as the birthmaid of Christ and
many prayers were made to her. As we shall see later there are many
Bride’s Wells in Scotland and the number of Kilbrides shows the
extent of churches once dedicated to her. However there are other
Bride names that suggest a strong connection to the earlier Goddess
figure.
In
Glen Clova in the Angus foothills of the Grampian mountains there is
a pool by the roadside just east of the Gella bridge called Bride’s
Coggie. A coggie is an old Scots term for a wooden bucket and this
pool is said to be stone lined. In the same area there are
placenames which refer to women which might give weight to the idea
of a goddess site here. There is Clachnabrain which comes from the
Gaelic Clach-na Mnathan -the stone of the women and Braeminzeon
which is Braigh na Mnathan, hillside of the women. Near Bride’s Bed
in the shadow of the Craigs of Lethnot was the first location of a
church in the glen. In a story that is repeated throughout the
country we are told the stones of the church were always moved
overnight from the selected spot till the site itself was changed.
As we shall see one of the symbols of Bride is the serpent, or in
Scottish terms, the adder. It is therefore worth noting that in this
section of the glen, adders are regularly seen. In a glen just a few
kilometres to the east, Glenesk, there is another Bride name , which
this time is Bride’s Bed and might refer to an ancient man-made
circular depression below Craigmaskeldie at the head of the glen.
Also in Angus, near there is Bride’s Ring which is the remains of a
prehistoric defensive structure.
Several examples of the rituals associated with Bride and St Bridget
have been described in the past. In the Western Isles where
Bride’s importance is emphasised in her title as Handmaiden to Mary
or Birthmaiden to Christ there were intricate procedures followed at
Imbolc, the feast of Bride on February 1st. Old women
would make up an oblong basket in the shape of a cradle, which they
call leaba Bride, the bed of Bride. They would then take pains to
decorate it with primroses, daisies and other flowers that open
their eyes in the morning of the year. These would have been
gathered from sunny sheltered valleys around. After that they would
take a sheaf of corn and fashion it into the shape of a woman which
they would then dress up with brightly-coloured ribbons, sparkling
sea shells and bright stones from the hill.. This figure is called
Bride. When it was all dressed and decorated, one of the women would
go to the door of the house and, standing on the step with her hands
on the jambs, call quietly into the darkness," Bride's bed is
ready." Another woman behind her would reply," Let Bride come in.
Bride is welcome." Then the woman at the door would again address
Bride," Bride come thou in, thy bed is made. Preserve the house for
the Trinity.” With great ceremony the women would proceed to lay
the figure of Bride in the bed. A small straight white wand ( the
bark being peeled off) would then be placed beside the figure.
These wands were generally of birch, broom, bramble, white willow
or other sacred wood. The women would then level the ashes on the
hearth, smoothing them over carefully. The following morning the
whole family would make a close examination of the ashes. If they
found the mark of the wand of Bride they would rejoice, but if
what they found was lorg Bride, the footprint of Bride, they would
have cause for great celebration, for this was taken to mean that
Bride herself was present in their home during the night. This was
widely believed to mean that there would be increase in family, in
flock, and in field in the coming year. If there were no marks on
the ashes, the family would be disappointed for they thought that
this was a sign that Bride was offended and had not hear their call.
They would then make offerings to try and propitiate her. This is
clearly nothing to do with Christianity, even if Bride was the
Birthmaid of Christ.
Within Gaelic tradition there is one association with Bride that
stands out as a particularly strong echo of pre-Christian thought
and that is her association with the serpent. The serpent in
Christian terms is of course evil but several rhymes survive showing
that Bride, was directly associated with this unlikely creature. In
Scottish terms particularly the association is specifically with the
adder as that is our only indigenous snake. It is also of course a
creature strongly linked with various traditions regarding those
most romantic and insubstantial figures, the Druids. McNeill gives
this version of a hymn to the adder which was believed to emerge
from its hibernation on Imbolc, St Bride's Day February 1st,
"Today is the day
of Bride
the serpent shall come from the hole
I will not molest the serpent
Nor will the serpent molest me"
This has been commented upon as a relic of serpent worship by
several commentators but it is probably truer to say that the
serpent/adder is a symbol associated with the Mother Goddess and the
serpent in many cultures has been seen as a symbol of knowledge. The
creature’s habits of shedding its skin and of hibernating
underground both make it a good symbol for the ideas of regeneration
and rebirth. In ancient times when prayers were said to try and
ensure the harvest for the coming season the serpent’s association
with the earth itself was also significant. There are scholars who
think that our ancestors prayed to those who had gone before them to
work magic on the seeds in the earth to ensue harvest the following
year. This makes sense and the serpent as a being that appeared to
cross into the underworld was a powerful symbol. The appearance of
a variety of serpent/adder representations on Pictish Symbol Stones
strongly suggests they saw it as a powerful religious symbol and it
is at least possible that they associated it with Bride herself.
We
should be remember that these practices are recorded as happening in
communities that had been ostensibly Christian for over a thousand
years and this underlines the hold that the idea Bride, an aspect of
the Mother Goddess, continued to have on both community and
individual until very recently. Just as Bride is associated with
the serpent, the Cailleach is associated with the cauldron, another
symbol found on the Pictish Symbol Stones. As the passage above
illustrates there were also rituals associated with such figures -
rituals that might come from as far back as the Stone Age, another
point to which we shall return. |
