Scottish Folklore

A pamphlet published with support from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Museums Service. A limited edition of 100 copies was printed.

The printed version comes with an erratum slip:
Page 3, line 3: For 'fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries' substitute 'sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries'.

This is a dissertation submitted for the taught postgraduate degree of MA from Memorial University of Newfoundland, awarded in 1990. It combines findings from fieldwork, library and archival sources to review the impact of the traditional culture of the Scottish Borders on the work of Scottish writer James Hogg, 'The Ettrick Shepherd', and considers the ways in which he is remembered in the traditions of Ettrick.

The Legality of the Supernatural: Scottish Fairy Trials One of the greatest and most inescapable questions regarding any of the European witch hunts is why anyone would confess to such fantastical happenings when it meant their certain death, and was likely only provable with a confession. The usual answers are torture and mental illness. Another possibility may sound counter-intuitive at first; that the accused confessed thinking they could escape their fate. As Lizanne Henderson argues that Scottish cases like Bessie Dunlop (1576), whose case this paper will analyse closely, likely drew upon folktales the accused knew. 1 Having in no way experienced what they were relaying, they likely gave these confessions on the belief it might save them from execution. Both Dunlop's prosecutors and Dr.

A consideration of the use of folkloric elements in the 1973 film 'The Wicker Man'. This first appeared in 2009, in Henderson, L. (ed.) Fantastical Imaginations. The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture. John Donald: Edinburgh, pp. 212-221. ISBN 9781906566029

Lauchie MacLellan (1910-1991), carpenter, farmer, and woodsman, was one of this century's outstanding Scottish Gaelic singer-storytellers. MacLellan, part of a Scottish family with an extensive Gaelic oral tradition who emigrated to Canada early in the nineteenth century from Morar in the Western Highlands, helped keep this tradition alive. In his native parish of Broad Cove, Cape Breton Island, such centuries-old songs and stories, supplemented by more recent compositions, have been the primary form of self-expression and entertainment.

Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kindto be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps.In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)

Scotland, a nation of something over five and a quarter million, has three main languages. Of these, English is the only one accorded oficial status by the government, although the other two, Scots (a Germanic language associated with the Lowlands in the south) and Gaelic (belonging to the Celtic language group, associated with the Highlands to the north, and supported by the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of 2005) are recognised as Lesser Used Languages bythe EU. Both ofthe indigenous languages, but Gaelic especially, are heirs to a wealth of oral traditions that have miraculously survived, albeit often in an attenuated

http://www.shimajournal.org/issues/v12n2/e.-Young-Shima-v12n2.pdf
C. 1798 and then again in 1809 a mermaid was seen at Reay on the very northern coast of Scotland. These two mermaid sightings were both described in letters in 1809 and afterwards the letters were, without the authors’ permission, printed in an Oxfordshire newspaper. The story created a national sensation in late August 1809 and the Reay
mermaids became perhaps the most famous mer-folk to emerge from 19th Century Britain. In this article, I look at how the Reay mermaids were treated by the press and how the case can help us to exploit other mermaid encounters in 19th Century newspapers.

The prophecies attributed to Thomas of Erceldoune are all but impossible to study in isolation. Their borders with the broader English prophetic tradition are extremely porous, and there exist a significant number of texts whose relationships, influences, and

This article considers the most famous Scottish sacred tree, the Fortingall Yew, which is claimed to be one of the oldest trees in Europe.  This remarkable tree dominates a site associated with the beginnings of Christianity in Scotland and dedicated to St Coeddi (reputedly the Bishop of Iona from circa 697 to 712 CE). ‘Fortingall’ is believed to be derived from the Gaelic fortair (stronghold) and cill (chapel or church), and there are prehistoric monuments in the vicinity of the churchyard that suggest humans have inhabited this part of Perthshire for at least five thousand years, a period often claimed as the age of the Yew itself.

Abstract : The ‘Return Song’ theme (ATU 974 ‘The Homecoming Husband’) is most widely known from its oldest recorded variant: Homer’s Odyssey. Its numerous variants are widely distributed throughout the cultures of Europe and central/western Asia. From the mid-20th century, one view advanced is that the type is inherited from a common Indo-European tradition. However, according to Viktor Zhirmunsky’s (1966) comprehensive comparative study, the story more likely originated in Central Asia near the Altai. In his analysis Zhirmunsky identifies two main varieties: an older ‘heroic’ version in Asia and ancient Greece with mythological content; and a more recent ‘romantic’ version that characterises medieval and modern European variants. This paper aims to identify and interpret additional ‘heroic’ variants appearing in northwestern Europe and attempts to place them in a wider comparative context. Brief comparative summaries of the Odyssey and the Central Asian epic Alpamysh are provided, and a re-examination of the Scandinavian variants from the Middle Ages brings to light ‘heroic’ versions from Norse saga literature heretofore not considered by comparatists. Further west, from its content and structure a Gaelic hero tale, with probable origins in Ireland, is revealed to be an additional example of the ‘heroic’ version in Europe. For this tale, influences from the literature of the Odyssey, as well as transmission through Norse-Gaelic contacts are shown to be unlikely. Interestingly, the Gaelic hero tale contains structural features and mythological content present
in the Central Asian epic but absent from the Greek Odyssey. We conclude with a discussion of what the evidence may reveal concerning the geographical and historical questions raised by the presence of the older ‘heroic’ variants in northwestern Europe.

Le thème de la « Chanson du Retour » (ATU 974 « The Homecoming Husband ») est principalement connu par sa plus ancienne variante enregistrée : l'Odyssée d'Homère. Ses nombreuses variantes sont largement répandues dans les cultures d'Europe et d'Asie centrale/ occidentale. À partir du milieu du xx e siècle, une opinion avancée est que le type est hérité d'une tradition indo-européenne commune. Cependant, selon l'étude comparative complète de Viktor Zhirmunsky (1966), l'histoire est plus probablement originaire d'Asie centrale, près de l'Altaï. Dans son analyse, Zhirmunsky identifie deux variantes principales : une version « héroïque » plus ancienne en Asie et en Grèce antique avec un contenu mythologique ; et une version plus récente « romantique » qui caractérise les variantes européennes médiévales et modernes. Cet article vise à identifier et à interpréter d'autres variantes « héroïques » apparaissant dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe, et tente de les placer dans un contexte comparatif plus large. De brefs résumés comparatifs de l'Odyssée et de l'épopée d'Asie centrale d'Alpamysh sont fournis, et un réexamen des variantes scandinaves du Moyen Âge met en lumière des versions « héroïques » au sein des saga noroises, jusqu'alors non considérées par les comparatistes. Plus à l'ouest, de par son contenu et sa structure, un conte héroïque gaélique, avec de probables origines irlandaises, se révèle être un exemple supplémentaire de la version «héroïque» en Europe. Pour ce conte, l'influence littéraire de l'Odyssée, ainsi que la transmission par le biais de contacts norrois-gaéliques sont peu probables. Fait intéressant, le conte héroïque gaélique contient des caractéristiques structurelles et un contenu mythologique présents dans l'épopée d'Asie centrale mais absents de l'Odyssée grecque. Nous concluons par une discussion sur ce que ces faits peuvent révéler concernant les questions géographiques et historiques soulevées par la présence des variantes «héroïques» plus anciennes dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe.

After a remarkable career as one of Scotland's most distinguished Gaelic scholars and folksong collecton, John Lome campbell died in Apljll 1996 ar a monastery near Fiesole, Italy. Campbell's family had long been established in Atgyll and his first years were spent there. His variery of interests became evident early on: during his years at Oxford what was to be a lifelong interest in Gaelic aspects of the Highlands was established and rapidly developed under the direction of the Celticist ProfessorJohn Fraser, and in 1930 he was awarded a Diploma in Rural Economy which was to serve him well in later liG. Within a very few years Campbell established himself in the world of scholanhip with Highland Songs of the Forty-Fiue (7933), still regarded as a major work, which for the first time made widely available through song texts and translations the internal Gaelic view of this dramatic and crucial period, and called the views of conventional historians into question.

In: Fenton, A. and Mackay, M.A. (eds.) Scottish Life and Society: Compendium of Scottish Ethnology 1: An Introduction to Scottish Ethnology. Series: Scottish Life and Society, 1. John Donald Publishers: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 446-461. ISBN 9781906566067

Oudaer, Guillaume, “Le ‘teind to hell’: un écho écossais d’un mythème irlandais”, in: Hily, Gaël, Patrice Lajoye, and Joël Hascoët (eds.), Deuogdonion: mélanges offerts en l’honneur du professeur Claude Sterckx, Publication du CRBC Rennes 2, Rennes: Tir, 2010. 513–525.

Le sujet de cet article est l'étude de la tradition écossaise du "teind to hell", le tribut versé par les fées écossaises aux forces de l'Enfer, par rapport à des traditions irlandaises équivalentes où un tribut humain est donné aux forces maléfiques.

‘Serpent stones’ have been credited with medical efficacy since antiquity. Likely hav- ing their root in ancient traditions from India, accounts are now widespread across much of the world. Serpent stones are known by many names and descriptions of their appearance and medical uses are diverse; however, they commonly have a legendary association with serpents and are most frequently considered efficacious in the alexipharmic treatment of snakebite. This work presents and details five broad categories of serpent stone: a round white stone (thought to be extracted from the head of a dragon), a smooth lens-shaped black stone (purported to be taken from the head of a snake, but artificially manufactured of burnt bone or horn), ammonites (the fossilized shells of extinct cephalopods), glass or vitreous paste in the form of rings or beads, and serpentinite.

Short article looking at the herbal remedies for mental health concerns like melancholy, mania, hypochondria and anorexia in Robert Sibbald's Scotia Illustrata (1684). This latter text has now been published as "The Wild Plants of Scotland and The Animals of Scotland".

The medicinal uses of the snakestone bead within the British Isles are surveyed and considered for the first time. The snakestone beads of the British Isles - often annular beads formed of glass or paste, but also other items similar in form - were employed against a variety of ailments, including several of the most deadly childhood diseases of the nineteenth century: teething, whooping cough and ague. In addition, they were used in the treatment of livestock and as a remedy for eye diseases. The eighteenth century saw the snakestone beads conflated with the hag-stone and employed as an amulet against witches and evil spirits.

The Scottish solo dance tradition is peppered with stories attached to specific dances which appear in Highland Games and performance programmes, and today commonly also on the internet, These, range in content from:

    The sword dance appearing in the eleventh-century with Scottish King Malcolm Canmore dancing it;
    Wilt thou go to the Barracks, Johnnie? being used as a dance to recruit soldiers for the Scottish regiments;
    The Highland Fling as imitating the strength and agility of a leaping or ‘curvetting’ stag;
    Various dances with connections with the 1745–1746 Jacobite Rising and its aftermath;
    The Seann Triubhas being linked to 1746 Dress Act prohibiting the wearing of tartan; and
    Flora MacDonald’s Fancy devised in honour of the Jacobite heroine Flora MacDonald.

Most of these stories suggest an origin for a dance anchored in a distant past, but they may also form some level of meaning-making. Are they even true? In many cases not at all. It could be that they were created to help dancers perform certain dances with particular images in mind.

This work questions whether there is any actual truth to the stories by taking some of the facts apart. The main questions are: What function did the story have for dance teachers and dancers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Why was it necessary to validate the dances by setting them in antiquity? Are there still purposes served by these stories if and when they are applied today? Also, is it now, or even, was it ever, necessary for dancers to have a certain image, or story, in mind to help them perform these dances in character? By outlining and deliberating on historical references on some of the best-known Scottish solo dances, this overview places these associated stories against a contextual and historical framework. The analysis set out equally to investigate what was, and is currently, the meaning-making behind these stories.

We first take a detailed look at several stories of suggested meaning-making related to the three main dances of the Highland dancing repertoire of today—Highland Fling, the Seann Triubhas and the Sword dance. Each of these has at least one story, that on some level, has lived on into common knowledge among practitioners of Highland dancing today. Three dances with stories relating to the Jacobite rising of 1745–1746 are discussed next, where we ask if they have any real connection with this historical event. After that, I explore ten ‘miscellaneous’ dances (including Blue Bonnets, Highland Laddie and Wilt thou go to the Barracks, Johnnie?) each of which have stories unrelated to each other, but which are in some way used to explain the purpose of the dance or the step pattern or style in which the dances are thought to have been danced. Next, I discuss two Character Dances found in the Scottish solo dance repertoire, the Irish Jig and the Sailors’ Hornpipe, which, both have particular sets of storylines associated with them. Lastly, it is also worth examining one group dance, the Reel of Tulloch, closely associated with the competitive solo dance scene in the last 100 years or so. The Highland Reel, in its many manifestations[i], was at one time the most common dance of Scots and does not seem to have any stories attached to it at all, with the exception of the later and specifically named form, the Reel of Tulloch, mentioned above.

Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies, 500 AD to the Present, (ed) Simon Young and Ceri Houlbook. 1 ‘Fairy Queens and Pharisees: Sussex’, Jacqueline Simpson; 2 ‘Pucks and Lights: Worcestershire’ Pollyanna Jones; 3 ‘Pixies and Pixy Rocks: Devon’, Mark Norman and Jo Hickey-Hall; 4 ‘Fairy Magic and the Cottingley Photographs: Yorkshire’, Richard Sugg;5 ‘Fairy Barrows and Cunning Folk: Dorset’, Jeremy Harte; 6 ‘Fairy Holes and Fairy Butter: Cumbria’, Simon Young; 7 ‘The Sídhe and Fairy Forts: Ireland’, Jenny Butler; 8 ‘The Seelie and Unseelie Courts: Scotland’, Ceri Houlbrook; 9 ‘Trows and Trowie Wives: Orkney and Shetland’, Laura Coulson; 10 ‘The Fair Folk and Enchanters: Wales’, Richard Suggett; 11 ‘Pouques and the Faiteaux: Channel Islands’, Francesca Bihet; 12 ‘George Waldron and the Good People: Isle of Man’, Stephen Miller; 13 ‘Piskies and Knockers:Cornwall’, Ronald M. James; 14 ‘Puritans and Pukwudgies: New England’, Peter Muise; 15 ‘Fairy Bread and Fairy Squalls: Atlantic Canada’, Simon Young; 16 ‘Banshees and Changelings: Irish America’, Chris Woodyard. Beware of British and Irish fairies, they are back with a vengeance! They have very little to do with the well-meaning Disney-style tutu-clad butterfly-sized magical creatures that sprinkle fairy dust. Rather they are part of a Tolkienien parallel world of blood-sucking, bed-hopping magical folk that is dangerous for adults and, surprisingly, still believed in to this day. This is the first major study of British and Irish fairies in almost half a century, prompted by the wealth of new material on folklore revealed by the digitization of local papers and printed local ephemera in Britain and Ireland. They even reached the Canada, New England and the Irish in middle America.

This one-day symposium explored the work of James Hogg, "The Ettrick Shepherd" (1770-1835), an influential Scottish song-maker, folklore collector, novelist and poet. Inspired by Robert Burns, colleague of Walter Scott and friend of Lord Byron, Hogg played a major role in creating and promoting Scottish culture, within Scotland and internationally. Widely read in 19th century America, he is best remembered for his novels, including "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" (1824) and his folksong collection "Jacobite Reliques" (1819). This symposium, for the first time, compared his work with that of more recent American performers and collectors, who also served as intermediaries between the worlds of folk, popular and literary culture.

- Adrian Hunter is senior lecturer in English studies at the University of Stirling, in Scotland. His edition of James Hogg's "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" is widely adopted on North American university courses. He is currently preparing a collection of Hogg's contributions to magazines and newspapers across the Atlantic world, to be published in 2020.
- Valentina Bold is a leading expert on Scottish literature, stories and song. She is currently undertaking consultancy work for the University of Stirling, as part of "James Hogg 250," a year-long literary anniversary projected for 2020. Her groundbreaking book, "James Hogg: A Bard of Nature's Making" (2007) was the first critical study of the Ettrick Shepherd's poetry.
- Billy Kay was born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1951, and educated at Galston High School, Kilmarnock Academy and Edinburgh University. His company, Odyssey Productions, produces documentaries on Scottish cultural history for BBC Radio Scotland. He is a passionate advocate of the Scots language and author of the classic work "Scots: The Mither Tongue."
- Sheena Wellington, one of Scotland's leading traditional singers, was born in Dundee into a family of singers who gave her many of the songs which she sings today. She sang "A Man's a Man for 'a That" at the opening ceremony of the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years in 1999.

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