The Religion of the Ancient Celts Part 31

[895] Brand, i. 390; Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, ii. 437; _Stat. Account_, xi. 621.

[896] Hazlitt, 297-298, 340; Campbell, _Witchcraft_, 285 f.

[897] Curtin, 72.

[898] Fitzgerald, _RC_ vi. 254.

[899] See Chambers, _Mediaeval Stage_, App. N, for the evidence from canons and councils regarding these.

[900] Tille, _Yule and Christmas_, 96.

[901] Chambers, _Popular Rhymes_, 166.

[902] Hutchinson, _View of Northumberland_, ii. 45; Thomas, _Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel._ x.x.xviii. 335 f.

[903] _Patrol. Lot._ x.x.xix. 2001.

[904] _IT_ i. 205; _RC_ v. 331; Leahy, i. 57.

[905] See p. 169, _supra_.

[906] The writer has himself seen such bonfires in the Highlands. See also Hazlitt, 298; Pennant, _Tour_, ii. 47; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 515, _CFL_ i.

225-226. In Egyptian mythology, Typhon a.s.sailed Horus in the form of a black swine.

[907] Keating, 300.

[908] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 556; _RC_ x. 214, 225, xxiv. 172; O'Grady, ii.

374; _CM_ ix. 209.

[909] See Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forschung._ 333 f.; Frazer, _Adonis_, _pa.s.sim_; Thomas, _Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel._ x.x.xviii. 325 f.

[910] Hazlitt, 35; Chambers, _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 261.

[911] Chambers, _Book of Days_, ii. 492; Hazlitt, 131.

[912] Hazlitt, 97; Davies, _Extracts from Munic. Records of York_, 270.

[913] See p. 237, _supra_; _LL_ 16, 213.

[914] Chambers, _Med. Stage_, i. 250 f.

[915] Cormac, _s.v._ "Belltaine," "Bel"; _Arch. Rev._ i. 232.

[916] D'Arbois, ii. 136.

[917] Stokes, _US_ 125, 164. See his earlier derivation, dividing the word into _belt_, connected with Lithuan. _baltas_, "white," and _aine_, the termination in _sechtmaine_, "week" (_TIG_ x.x.xv.).

[918] Need-fire (Gael. _Teinne-eiginn_, "necessity fire") was used to kindle fire in time of cattle plague. See Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 608 f.; Martin, 113; Jamieson's _Dictionary_, _s.v._ "neidfyre."

[919] Cormac, _s.v._; Martin, 105, says that the Druids extinguished all fires until their dues were paid. This may have been a tradition in the Hebrides.

[920] Joyce, _PN_ i. 216; Hone, _Everyday Book_, i. 849, ii. 595.

[921] Pennant, _Tour in Scotland_, i. 291.

[922] Hazlitt, 339, 397.

[923] Hone, _Everyday Book_, ii. 595. See p. 215, _supra_.

[924] Sinclair, _Stat. Account_, xi. 620.

[925] Martin, 105.

[926] For these usages see Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, ii. 439 f.; Sinclair, _Stat. Account_, v. 84, xi.

620, xv. 517. For the sacramental and sacrificial use of similar loaves, see Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, i. 94, ii. 78; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ iii.

1239 f.

[927] _New Stat. Account_, Wigtownshire, 208; Hazlitt, 38, 323, 340.

[928] See Miss Owen, _Folk-lore of the Musquakie Indians_, 50; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, ii. 205.

[929] For notices of Beltane survivals see Keating, 300; Campbell, _Journey from Edinburgh_, i. 143; Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen_, ii.

439 f.; _Old Stat. Account_, v. 84, xi. 620, xv. 517; Gregor, _Folk-lore of N.E. of Scotland_, 167. The paganism of the survivals is seen in the fact that Beltane fires were frequently prohibited by Scottish ecclesiastical councils.

[930] Meyrac, _Traditions ... des Ardennes_, 68.

[931] Bertrand, 119.

[932] Ibid. 407; Gaidoz, 21; Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, 514, 523; Brand, i. 8, 323.

[933] Mannhardt, _op. cit._ 525 f.; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, iii. 319.

[934] P. 234, _supra_.

[935] Frazer, _op. cit._ i. 74; Brand, i. 222, 237, 246, 318; Hone, _Everyday Book_, ii. 595; Mannhardt, _op. cit._ 177; Grimm, _Teut.

Myth._ 621, 777 f.

[936] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, ch. v.

[937] Frazer, i. 82, ii. 247 f., 275; Mannhardt, 315 f.

[938] Martin, 117. The custom of walking _deiseil_ round an object still survives, and, as an imitation of the sun's course, it is supposed to bring good luck or ward off evil. For the same reason the right hand turn was of good augury. Medb's charioteer, as she departed for the war, made her chariot turn to the right to repel evil omens (_LU_ 55).

Curiously enough, Pliny (xxviii. 2) says that the Gauls preferred the left-hand turn in their religious rites, though Athenaeus refers to the right-hand turn among them. _Deiseil_ is from _dekso-s_, "right," and _svel_, "to turn."

[939] Hone, i. 846; Hazlitt, ii. 346.

[940] This account of the Midsummer ritual is based on notices found in Hone, _Everyday Book_; Hazlitt, ii. 347 f.; Gaidoz, _Le Dieu Soleil_; Bertrand; Deloche, _RC_ ix. 435; _Folk-Lore_, xii. 315; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, iii. 266 f.; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ ii. 617 f.; Monnier, 186 f.