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Archaic Nature-worship --
Deification of Water Metaphors -- Divination by Water — Persistence of
Paganism — Shony -- Superstitions of Sailors and Fishermen—Sea Serpent—Mer-folk
—Sea Charms—Taking Animals into the Sea—Rescuing from Drowning—Ancient
Beliefs about Rivers—Dead and Living Ford—Clay Image—Dunskey—Lakes—Dow
Loch—St. Vigeans —St. Tredwell's Loch—Wells of Spey and Drachaldy—Survival
of Well-worship—Disappearance of Springs—St. Margaret's
Well—Anthropomorphism of Springs—Celtic Influence—Cream of the Well.
IN glancing at the
superstitions connected with Scottish lochs and springs, we are called upon
to scan a chapter of our social history not yet closed. A somewhat scanty
amount of information is available to explain the origin and growth of such
superstitions, but enough can be had to connect them with archaic
nature-worship. In the dark dawn of our annals much confusion existed among
our ancestors concerning the outer world, which so strongly appealed to
their senses. They had very vague notions regarding the difference between
what we now call the Natural and the Supernatural. Indeed all nature was to
them supernatural. They looked on sun, moon, and star, on mountain and
forest, on river, lake, and sea as the abodes of divinities, or even as
divinities themselves. These divinities, they thought, could either help or
hurt man, and ought therefore to be propitiated. Hence sprang certain
customs which have survived to our own time. Men knocked at the gate of
Nature, but were not admitted within.. From the unknown recesses there came
to them only tones of mystery.
In ancient times water was
deified even by such civilised nations as the Greeks and Romans, and to-day
it is revered as a god by untutored savages. Sir John Lubbock, in his
"Origin of Civilisation," shows, by reference to the works of travellers,
what a hold this cult still has in regions where the natives have not yet
risen above the polytheistic stage of religious development. Dr. K B. Tylor
forcibly remarks, in his "Primitive Culture," "What ethnography has to teach
of that great element of the religion of mankind, the worship of well and
lake, brook and river, is simply this—that what is poetry to us was
philosophy to early man; that to his mind water acted not by laws of force,
but by life and will; that the water-spirits of primeval mythology are as
souls which cause the water's rush and rest, its kindness and its cruelty;
that, lastly, man finds in the beings which, with such power, can work him
weal and woe, deities with a wider influence over his life, deities to be
feared and loved, to be prayed to and praised, and propitiated with
sacrificial gifts."
In speaking of inanimate
objects, we often ascribe life to them; but our words are metaphors, and
nothing more. At an earlier time such phrases expressed real beliefs, and
were not simply the outcome of a poetic imagination. Keats, in one of his
Sonnets, speaks of
"The moving waters at their
priest-like task
Of pure ablution round Earth's human shore."
Here he gives us the poetical
and not the actual interpretation of a natural phenomenon.
We may, if we choose, talk of
the worship of water as a creed outworn, but it is still with us, though
under various disguises. Under the form of rites of divination practised as
an amusement by young persons, such survivals often conceal their real
origin. The history of superstition teaches us with what persistence pagan
beliefs hold their ground in the midst of a Christian civilisation. Martin,
who visited the Western Islands at the close of the seventeenth century,
found how true this was in many details of daily life. A custom connected
with ancient sea-worship had been popular among the inhabitants of Lewis
till about thirty years before his visit, but had been suppressed by the
Protestant clergy on account of its pagan character. This was an annual
sacrifice at Hallow-tide to a sea god called Shony. Martin gives the
following account of the ceremony:--"The inhabitants round the island came
to the church of St. Mulvay, having each man his provision along with him;
every family furnished a peck of malt, and this was brewed into ale; one of
their number was picked out to wade into the sea up to the middle, and,
carrying a cup of ale in his hand, standing still in that posture, cried out
with a loud voice, saying, 'Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping that
you'll be so kind as to send us plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground
the ensuing year,' and so threw the cup of ale into the sea. This was
performed in the night-time."
Sailors and fishermen still
cherish superstitions of their own. Majesty is not the only feature of the
changeful ocean that strikes them. They are keenly alive to its mystery and
to the possibilities of life within its depths. Strange creatures have their
home there, the mighty sea serpent and the less formidable mermen and
mermaidens. Among the Shetland islands mer-folk were recognised denizens of
the sea, and were known by the name of Sea-trows.
These singular beings dwelt
in the caves of ocean, and came up to disport themselves on the shores of
the islands. A favourite haunt of theirs was the Ve Skerries, about seven
miles north-west of Papa-Stour. They usually rose through the water in the
shape of seals, and when they reached the beach they slipped off their skins
and appeared like ordinary mortals, the females being of exceeding beauty.
If the skins could be snatched away on these occasions, their owners were
powerless to escape into the sea again. Sometimes these creatures were
entangled in the nets of fishermen or were caught by hooks. If they were
shot when in seal form, a tempest arose as soon as their blood was mingled
with the water of the sea. A family living within recent times was believed
to be descended from a human father and a mermaid mother, the man having
captured his bride by stealing her seal's skin. After some years spent on
land this sea lady recovered her skin, and at once returned to her native
element. The members of the family were said to have hands bearing some
resemblance to the forefeet of a seal.
"Of all the old mythological
existences of Scotland," remarks Hugh Miller, in his "Scenes and Legends of
the North of Scotland," "there was none with whom the people of Cromarty
were better acquainted than with the mermaid. Thirty years have not yet gone
by since she has been seen by moonlight sitting on a stone in the sea, a
little to the east of the town; and scarcely a winter passed, forty years
earlier, in which she was not heard singing among the rocks or seen braiding
up her long yellow tresses on the shore."
The magical power ascribed to
the sea is shown in an Orcadian witch charm used in the seventeenth century.
The charm had to do with the churning of butter. Whoever wished to take
advantage of it watched on the beach till nine waves rolled in. At the
reflux of the last the charmer took three handfuls of water from the sea and
carried them home in a pail. If this water was put into the churn there
would be a plentiful supply of butter. ,Sea water was also used for curative
purposes, the patient being dipped after sunset. This charm was thought to
savour strongly of the black art. Allusion has been made above to the rising
of a storm in connection with the wounding of a sea-trow in Shetland.
According to an Orcadian superstition, the sea began to swell whenever
anyone with a piece of iron about him stept upon a certain rock at the Noup
Head of Westray. Not till the offending metal was thrown into the water did
the sea become calm again. Wallace, a minister at Kirkwall towards the end
of the seventeenth century, mentions this belief in his "Description of the
Isles of Orkney," and says that he offered a man a shilling to try the
experiment, but the offer was refused. It does not seem to have occurred to
him to make the experiment himself.
Among the ancient Romans the
bull was sacred to Neptune, the sea god, and was sacrificed in his honour.
In our own country we find a suggestion of the same rite, though in a
modified form, in the custom prevailing at one time of leading animals into
the sea on certain festivals. In the parish of Clonmany in Ireland it was
formerly customary on St. Columba's Day, the ninth of June, to drive cattle
to the beach and swim them in the sea near to where the water from the
Saint's well flowed in. In Scotland horses seem at one time to have
undergone a similar treatment at Lammas-tide. Dalyell, in his "Darker
Superstitions of Scotland," mentions that " in July, 1647, the kirk-session
of St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, resolved on intimating publicly `that
non goe to Leith on Lambmes-day, nor tak their horses to be washed that day
in the sea.'"
A belief at one time existed
that it was unlucky to rescue a drowning man from the grasp of the sea. This
superstition is referred to by Sir Walter Scott in "The Pirate," in the
scene where Bryce the pedlar warns Mordaunt against saving a shipwrecked
sailor. "Are you mad," said the pedlar, "you that have lived sae lang in
Zetland, to risk the saving of a drowning man? Wot ye not, if you bring him
to life again, he will be sure to do you some capital injury?" We discover
the key to this strange superstition in the idea entertained by savages that
the person falling into the water becomes the prey of the monster or demon
inhabiting that element; and, as Dr. Tylor aptly remarks, " to save a
sinking man is to snatch a victim from the very clutches of the waterspirit—a
rash defiance of deity which would hardly pass unavenged."
Folklore thus brings us face
to face with beliefs which owe their origin to . the primitive worship of
the sea. It also allows us to catch a glimpse of rivers, lakes, and springs
as these were regarded by our distant ancestors. When we remember that,
according to a barbaric notion, the current of a stream flows down along one
bank and up along the other, we need not be surprised that very crude
fancies concerning water at one time flourished in our land.
Even to us, with
nineteenth-century science within reach, how mysterious a river seems, as,
in the quiet gloaming or in the grey dawn, it glides along beneath
overhanging trees, and how full of life it is when, swollen by rain, it
rushes forward in a resistless flood! How much more awe-inspiring it must
have been to men ignorant of the commonest laws of Nature! Well might its
channel be regarded as the home of a spirit eager to waylay and destroy the
too-venturesome passer-by. Rivers, however, were not always reckoned the
enemies of man, for experience showed that they were helpful, as well as
hurtful, to him. The Tiber, for instance, was regarded with reverence by the
ancient inhabitants of Rome. Who does not remember the scene in one of
Macaulay's Lays, where, after the bridge has been hewn down to block the
passage of Lars Porsena and his host, the valiant Horatius exclaims
"O Tiber! father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray;
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day?"
Then with his harness on his
back lie plunges headlong into the flood, and reaches the other side in
safety.
In Christian art pagan
symbolism continued long to flourish. Proof of this bearing on the present
subject is to be found in a mosaic at Ravenna, of the sixth century,
representing the baptism of Christ. The water flows from an inverted urn,
held by a venerable figure typifying the river god of the Jordan, with reeds
growing beside his head, and snakes coiling around it.
In our own country healing
virtue was attributed to water taken from what was called a dead and living
ford, i.e., a ford where the dead were carried and the living walked across.
The same belief was entertained with regard to the water of a south-running
stream. The patient had to go to the spot and drink the water and wash
himself in it. Sometimes his shirt was taken by another, and, after being
dipped in the south-running stream, was brought back and put wet upon him. A
wet shirt was also used as a Hallowe'en charm to foretell its owner's
matrimonial future. The left sleeve of the shirt was to be dipped in a river
where "three lairds' lands met." It was then to be hung up overnight before
the fire. If certain rules were attended to, the figure of the future spouse
would appear and turn the sleeve in order to dry the other side. In the
Highlands the water of a stream was used for purposes of sorcery till quite
lately. When any one wished evil to another he made a clay image of the
person to be injured, and placed it in a stream with the head of the image
against the current. It was believed that, as the clay was dissolved by the
water, the health of the person represented would decline. The spell,
however, would be broken if the image was discovered and removed from the
stream. In the counties of Sutherland and Ross the practice survived till
within the last few years. Near Dunskey, in the parish of Portpatrick,
Wigtownshire, is a stream which, at the end of last century, was much
resorted to by the credulous for its health-giving properties. Visits were
usually paid to it at the change of the moon. It was deemed specially
efficacious in the case of rickety children, whose malady was then ascribed
to witchcraft. The patients were washed in the stream, and then taken to an
adjoining cave, where they were dried.
In modern poetry a river is
frequently alluded to under the name of its presiding spirit Thus, in "Comus,"
Milton introduces Sabrina, a gentle nymph,
"That with moist curb sways
the smooth Severn stream,"
and tells us that
"The shepherds at their
festivals
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils."
Lakes have always held an
important place in legendary lore. Lord Tennyson has made us familiar with
the part played by the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian romance. Readers of the
Idylls will recollect it was she who gave to the king the jewelled sword
Excalibur, and who, on the eve of his passing, received it again. The
wounded Arthur thus addresses Sir Bedivere:-
"Thou rememberest how,
In those old days, one summer morn, an arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword—and how I row'd across
And took it, and have worn it, like a king."
Scottish lochs form a
striking feature in the landscape, and must have been still more fitted to
arrest attention in ancient times when our land was more densely wooded than
it is now. Dr. Hugh Macmillan, in his "Holidays on High Lands," alludes to
the differences in the appearance of our lochs. "There are moorland tarns,"
he says, "sullen and motionless as lakes of the dead, lying deep in sunless
rifts, where the very ravens build no nests, and where no trace of life or
vegetation is seen—associated with many a wild tradition, accidents of
straying feet, the suicide of love, guilt, despair. And there are lochs
beautiful in themselves and gathering around them a world of beauty; their
shores fringed with the tasselled larch; their shallows tesselated with the
broad green leaves and alabaster chalices of the water-lily, and their
placid depths mirroring the crimson gleam of the heather hills and the
golden clouds overhead,"
Near the top of
Mealfourvounie, in Inverness-shire, is a small lake at one time believed to
be unfathomable. How this notion arose it is difficult to say, for when
soundings were taken the depth was found to be inconsiderable. In the parish
of Penpont, Dumfriesshire, about a mile to the south of Drumlanrig, is a
small sheet of water called the Dow, or Dhu Loch, i.e., Black Loch. Till
towards the end of last century the spot was much frequented for its healing
water. A personal visit was not essential. When a deputy was sent he had to
bring a portion of the invalid's clothing and throw it over his left
shoulder into the loch. He then took up some water in a vessel which he
carefully kept from touching the ground. After turning himself round
sun-ways he carried the water home. The charm would be broken if he looked
back or spoke to anyone by the way. Among the people of the district it was
a common saying, when anyone did not respond to the greeting of a passer-by,
that he had been at the Dow Loch. Pilgrimages to the loch seem to have been
specially popular towards the close of the seventeenth century, for in the
year 1695 the Presbytery of Penpont consulted the Synod of Dumfries about
the superstitious practices then current The Synod, in response to the
appeal, recommended the clergy of the district to denounce from their
pulpits such observances as heathenish in character. There were persons
still alive in the beginning of the present century who had seen the
offerings, left by the pilgrims, floating on the loch or lying on its
margin. To the passer-by, ignorant of the superstitious custom, it might
seem that a rather untidy family washing was in progress.
The Church of St. Vigeans, in
Forfarshire, is well known to antiquaries in connection with its interesting
sculptured stones. An old tradition relates that the materials for the
building were carried by a water-kelpie, and that the foundations were laid
on large bars of iron. Underneath the structure was said to be a deep lake.
The tradition further relates that the kelpie prophesied that an incumbent
of the church would commit suicide, and that, on the occasion of the first
communion after, the church would sink into the lake. At the beginning of
the eighteenth century the minister of the parish did commit suicide, and so
strong was the superstition that the sacramental rite was not observed till
1736. In connection with the event several hundred people took up a position
on a neighbouring rising ground to watch what would happen. These spectators
have passed away, but the church remains.
St. Tredwell's Loch in Papa-Westray,
Orkney, was at one time very famous, partly from its habit of turning red
whenever anything striking was about to happen to a member of the Royal
Family, and partly from its power to work cures. On a small headland on the
east of the loch are still to be seen the ruins of St. Tredwell's Chapel,
measuring twenty-nine feet by twenty-two, with walls fully four feet in
thickness. On the floor-level about thirty copper coins were found some
years ago, the majority of them being of the reign of Charles the Second. At
the door of the chapel there was at one time a large heap of stones, made up
of contributions from those who came to pay their vows there. Mr. R. M.
Fergusson, in his "Rambles in the Far North," gives the following
particulars about the loch:—"In olden times the diseased and infirm people
of the North Isles were wont to flock to this place and get themselves cured
by washing in its waters. Many of them walked round the shore two or three
times before entering the loch itself to perfect by so doing the expected
cure. When a person was engaged in this perambulation nothing would induce
him to utter a word, for, if he spoke, the waters of this holy loch would
lave his diseased body in vain. After the necessary ablutions were performed
they never departed without leaving behind them some piece of cloth or bread
as a gift to the presiding genius of the place. In the beginning of the
eighteenth century popular belief in this water was as strong as ever."
Superstitions had a vigorous
life last century. Pennant, who made his first tour in Scotland in 1769,
mentions that the wells of Spey and Drachalday, in Moray, were then much
visited, coins and rags being left at them as offerings. Nowadays holy wells
are probably far from the thoughts of persons living amid the stir and
bustle of city life, but in rural districts, where old customs linger, they
are not yet forgotten. In the country, amidst the sights and sounds of
nature, men are prone to cherish the beliefs and ways of their forefathers.
Practices born in days of darkness thus live on into an era of greater
enlightenment. "The adoration of wells," remarks Sir Arthur Mitchell in his
"Past in the Present," "may be encountered in all parts of Scotland from
John o' Groats to the Mull of Galloway," and he adds, "I have seen at least
a dozen wells in Scotland which have not ceased to be worshipped."
"Nowadays," he continues, "the visitors are comparatively few, and those who
go are generally in earnest. They have a serious object which they desire to
attain. That object is usually the restoration to health of some poor little
child—some 'back-gane bairn.' Indeed the cure of sick children is a special
virtue of many of these wells. Anxious mothers make long journeys to some
well of fame, and early in the morning of the 1st of May bathe the little
invalid in its waters, then drop an offering into them by the hands of the
child—usually a pebble, but sometimes a coin—and attach a bit of the child's
dress to a bush or tree growing by the side of the well. The rags we see
fastened to such bushes have often manifestly been torn from the dresses of
young children. Part of a bib or little pinafore tells the sad story of a
sorrowing mother and a suffering child, and makes the heart grieve that
nothing better than a visit to one of these wells had been found to relieve
the sorrow and remove the suffering." Mr. Campbell of Islay bears witness to
the same fact. In his "Tales of the West Highlands" he says, "Holy healing
wells are common all over the Highlands, and people still leave offerings of
pins and nails and bits of rag, though few would confess it. There is a well
in Islay where I myself have, after drinking, deposited copper caps amongst
a hoard of pins and buttons and similar gear placed in chinks in the rocks
and trees at the edge of the `Witches' well."'
A striking testimony to the
persistence of faith in such wells is borne by Mr. J. R. Walker in volume v.
(new series) of the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,"
where he describes an incident that he himself witnessed about ten years ago
on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Mr. Walker writes, "While walking in the
Queen's Park about sunset, I casually passed St. Anthony's Well, and had my
attention attracted by the number of people about it, all simply quenching
their thirst, some probably with a dim idea that they would reap some
benefit from the draught. Standing a little apart, however, and evidently
patiently waiting a favourable moment to present itself for their purpose,
was a group of four. Feeling somewhat curious as to their intention I
quietly kept myself in the background, and by-and-by was rewarded. The crowd
departed and the group came forward, consisting of two old women a younger
woman of about thirty, and a pale sickly-looking girl—a child three or four
years old. Producing cups from their pockets, the old women dipped them in
the pool, filled them, and drank the contents. A full cup was then presented
to the younger woman and another to the child. Then one of the old women
produced a long linen bandage, dipped it in the water, wrung it, dipped it
in again, and then wound it round the child's head, covering the eyes, the
youngest woman, evidently the mother of the child, carefully observing the
operation and weeping gently all the time. The other old woman not engaged
in this work was carefully filling a clear glass bottle with the water,
evidently for future use. Then, after the principal operators had looked at
each other with an earnest and half solemn sort of look, the party wended
its way carefully down the hill."
Agricultural improvements,
particularly within the present century, have done much to abolish the
adoration of wells. In many cases ancient springs have ceased to exist
through draining operations. In the parish of Urquhart; Elginshire, a priory
was founded in 1125. Towards the end of last century the site was converted
into an arable field. The name of Abbey Well, given to the spring whence the
monks drew water, long kept alive the memory of the priory; but in recent
times the well itself was filled up. St. Mary's Well, at Whitekirk, in
Haddingtonshire, has also ceased to be, its water having been drained off.
Near Drumakill, in Drymen parish, Dumbartonshire, there was a famous spring
dedicated to St. Vildrin. Close to it was a cross two feet and a half in
height, with the figure of the saint incised on it. About thirty years ago,
however, the relic was broken up and used in the construction of a
farmhouse, and not long after, the well itself was drained into an adjoining
stream. In the middle ages the spring at Restalrig, near Edinburgh,
dedicated to St. Margaret, the wife of Malcolm Canmore, was a great
attraction to pilgrims. The history of the well is interesting. There is
reason to believe that it was originally sacred to the Holy Rood; and
tradition connects it with the fountain that gushed out at the spot where a
certain hart suddenly vanished from the sight of King David I. Mr. Walker,
in the volume of the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland"
already referred to, throws out the suggestion that the well may have had
its dedication changed in connection with the translation of Queen
Margaret's relics about 1251, on the occasion of her canonization. With
regard to the date of the structure forming the covering of the well, Mr.
Walker, as an architect, is qualified to give an opinion, and from an
examination of the mason marks on it he is inclined to think that the
building was erected about the same time as the west tower of Holyrood Abbey
Church, viz., about 1170. The late Sir Daniel Wilson, in his "Memorials of
Edinburgh in the Olden Time," gives the following account of the structure,
which, however, he by mistake describes as octagonal instead of
hexagonal:—"The building rises internally to the height of about four and a
half feet, of plain ashlar work, with a stone ]edge or seat running round
seven of the sides, while the eighth is occupied by a pointed arch which
forms the entrance to the well. From the centre of the water which fills the
whole area of the building, pure as in the days of the pious queen, a
decorated pillar rises to the same height as the walls, with grotesque
gurgoils, from which the water has originally been made to flow. Above this
springs a beautifully groined roof, presenting, with the ribs that rise from
corresponding corbels at each of the eight angles of the building, a
singularly rich effect when illuminated by the reflected light from the
water below. A few years since, this curious fountain stood by the side of
the ancient and little frequented crossroad leading from the Abbeyhill to
the village of Restalrig. A fine old elder tree, with its knotted and
furrowed branches, spread a luxuriant covering over its grass-grown top, and
a rustic little thatched cottage stood in front of it, forming altogether a
most attractive object of antiquarian pilgrimage." The spot, however, was
invaded by the North British Railway Company, and a station was planted on
the site of the elder tree and the rustic cottage, the spring and its Gothic
covering being imbedded in the buildings. Some years later the water
disappeared, having found another channel. The structure was taken down
stone by stone and rebuilt above St. David's Spring, on the north slope of
Salisbury Crags, where it still stands.
In cases like the above, man
interfered with nature and caused the disappearance of venerated springs.
But it was not always so. In the parish of Logierait, in Perthshire, there
was a spring that took the matter into its own hands, and withdrew from
public view. This was the spring called in Gaelic Fuaran Chad, i.e., Chad's
Well. An annual market used to be held close by in honour of the saint, on
the 22nd August. The spring was gratified and bubbled away merrily. The
market, however, was at length discontinued. In consequence Fuaran Chad took
offence, and sent in its resignation. In one instance, at least, the belief
in the efficacy of a spring survived the very existence of the spring
itself. This was so in the case of a healing well near Buckie, in
Banffshire, filled up some years ago by the tenant on whose farm it was
situated. So great was its fame that some women whose infants were weakly
went to the spot and cleared out the rubbish. Water again filled the old
basin, and there the infants were bathed. While being carried home they fell
asleep, and the result was in every way to the satisfaction of the mothers.
Certain characteristics of
water specially recommended it as an object of worship in primaeval times.
Its motion and force suggested that it had life, and hence a soul. Men
therefore imagined that by due attention to certain rites it would prove a
help to them in time of need. What may be called the anthropomorphism of
fountains has left traces on popular superstitions. The interest taken by
St. Tredwell's Loch in the national events has been already alluded to, and
other examples will be noticed in future chapters.
One point may be mentioned
here, viz., the power possessed by wells of removing to another place. St.
Fillan's Spring, at Comrie, in Perthshire, once took its rise on the top of
the hill Dunfillan, but tradition says that it quitted its old site for the
present one, at the foot of a rock, a quarter of a mile further south. In
the article on Cowrie in the "Old Statistical Account of Scotland," the well
is described as "humbled indeed, but not forsaken." A more striking instance
of flitting is mentioned by Martin as having occurred in the Hebrides. In
his account of Islay, he says, "A mile on the south-west side of the cave
Uah Vearnag is the celebrated well Toubir-in-Knahar, which, in the ancient
language, is as much as to say, `the well has sailed from one place to
another'; for it is a received tradition of the vulgar inhabitants of this
isle, and the opposite isle of Colonsay, that this well was first at
Colonsay until an impudent woman happened to wash her hands in it, and that
immediately after, the well, being thus abused, came in an instant to Islay,
where it is like to continue, and is ever since esteemed a catholicon for
diseases by the natives and adjacent islanders." Perhaps the instance that
puts the greatest strain on credulity is that of the spring dedicated to St.
Fergus on the hill of Knockfergan, in Banffshire. Tradition reports that
this spring came in a miraculous manner from Italy, though how it travelled
to its quiet retreat in Scotland we do not know. There must have been some
special attraction about the well, for a market known as the Well-Market
used to be held beside it every year. On one occasion a fight took place
about a cheese. In consequence the market was transferred to the
neighbouring village of Tomintoul, where it continues to be held in August,
under the same name.
In his "Romances of the Weat
of England," the late Mr. Robert Hunt puts in a plea for the preservation of
holy wells and other relics of antiquity, though he allows "that it is a
very common notion amongst the peasantry that a just retribution overtakes
those who wilfully destroy monuments, such as stone circles, crosses, wells,
and the like," and he mentions the case of an old man who altered a holy
well at Boscaswell, in St. Just, and was drowned the following day within
sight of his house. Mr. Hunt is speaking of Cornish wells; but the same is
doubtless true of those north of the Tweed. Springs that can fly through the
air and go through certain other wonderful performances can surely be
trusted to look after themselves.
In hot Eastern lands,
fountains were held in special reverence. This was to be expected, as their
cooling waters were there doubly welcome. In accounting for the presence of
the cult in the temperate zones of Europe, we do not need to trace it to the
East as Lady Wilde does in her "Ancient Legends of Ireland." "It could not
have originated," she says, " in a humid country . . . where wells can be
found at every step, and sky and land are ever heavy and saturated with
moisture. It must have come from an Eastern people, wanderers in a dry and
thirsty land, where the discovery of a well seemed like the interposition of
an angel in man's behalf." In our own land there are no districts where
well-worship has held its ground so firmly as those occupied by peoples of
Celtic blood, such as Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the
Scottish Highlands. A curious instance of the survival of water-worship
among our Scottish peasantry was seen in the custom of going at a very early
hour on New-Year's morning to get a pailful of water from a neighbouring
spring. The maidens of the farm had a friendly rivalry as to priority.
Whoever secured the first pailful was said to get the flower of the well,
otherwise known as the ream or cream of the well. On their way to the spring
the maidens commonly chanted the couplet
"The flower o' the well to our
house gaes,
An' I'll the bonniest lad get."
This referred to the belief
that to be first at the well was a good omen of the maiden's matrimonial
future. It is a far cry from archaic water-worship to this New-Year's love
charm, but we can traverse in thought the road that lies between. |
