S, sail, willow.

Seg, the hawk; sodath, the colour of fire;

April 15 until May 12. Monday.

SABH, ointment, salve, spit. Human spittle was often used

as a curative agent.

SABHD, a lie, a fable, straying, lounging. Similar to saobh,

liable to err, the root is svoibo-s, turning aside (from
truth), wavering. Cy. chwifio, to turn or twirl, the Eng.
swoop and sweep.

SABHAIL, DU THAOBH AN T-, “The Two sides of the barn.”

The “pleasant” wedding rite of singing “at the two sides of
“an sabhail.” One group consisted of the bride’s friends and
relatives, the other of the groomsman’s friends. The side
that persisted longest would end by saying, “An du-chapaill
oirbh!” This contest seems to have presaged the ruling
force in the union. Seeing a capuill, or “black mare” is
known to have predicted every unpleasantness short of
death.

SADB. The daughter of Boabd Dearg turned into a fawn by

the Dark Druid. In human form she mated with Fionn mac
Cumhail giving him the son named Osgar.

SAGAN, SAGAIN, obs. roundel, circle, the fold of a serpent,

spire. The chief symbol of druidism; indicates closure and
regeneration, sagart, a priest. art. high. This latter word
also describes a ram with missing testicles, sagatachd,
priesthood, sagartail, holy, pious. See next.
SAGART, priest, one who attends to religious or holy things.
Ram with one missing testicle. Sagartail, the Eng.
Sacerdotal.

SAGH, obs., a bitch, drink, suck, guzzle. Same as sath,

plenty, abundance, a surfeit. Saibhir, wanton; saich,
satiated; See next.

SAIBHUN, same as samhan, a female dog, bitch, horse, trout,

small-sized giant. And see next.

SAIDH, SAIGH, SAIGHTHE, SAIGHIN, (sow), a bitch. Ir. saith,

MIr. sogh, sodh, EIr. sod, she-wolf. Confers with the AS
asa-soge, a sow or female pig. Also one of the hounds that
travelled with Cromm na Cam, the Prince of Darkness. The
Mhorrigan. This lady had attachments with the ON.
Saehrimner, “a marvellous beast, slain daily by the cook and
boiled in the great cauldron. Although Odin’s guests had true
northern appetites and gorged themselves to the full, there
was always plenty of meat for all...Moreover...the boar
always came to life again before the time of the next meal.”
Compare this creature with its Gaelic counterparts under
sod, muc and muice.

SAIGHDEAN SITHE, fairy arrows. Invisible projectiles used

by the Daoine sidh against their enemies.

SAIGHNEAN, lightning, a hurricane.

SAIL, obs. the willow-tree, the letter S, a salute. Guard,

custody. See next.

SAIL-SPIROID, in current use: a guardian spirit, a bas-finn.

SAILM, an oak-bark preparation used to staunch blood;

founded on English salfe now salve.

SAIMH, SAIMHE, luxury, sensuality, obs. Entwine, embrace,

sexually couple, Ir. saimhe, luxury, peace of mind, EIr. saim,
pleasant, Eng. sweet. Cf. samhach, quiet, still, pleasant,
allied with Eng. soft and same (of a like mind, peaceful with
one another). obs. saimhin, bait, allurement. All based on the
goddess Samh, the Eng. Sum. See samhuinn.

SAIMHEACHDH, coupling. Saimhin, obs., bait, allurement;

saimhrighe, obs., lovers of pleasure.

SAINGLIU DUBH, the Black of Saingliu. The second of two

horses kept by Cúchullain. Both were born on the same night
as the hero, thus forming a human-animal triad. Their fate
was tied to his. These totems were side-forms of the
goddess Mhorrigan.

SAINNSEAL, the handsel, a gift given at New Year's or to

mark marriage or any new enterprise. From Sc. handsel, the
M. English hansell. Obs. Eng. hand-sellan, to deliver in
person. Literally, hand-sealing a bargain with another
person, or the gods, through a hand-signal. The former
generally took the form of a handshake; the latter, a
crossing of oneself or the external landscape, the first
protective, the second a crossing out or curse.

The handsel seems to have been invented by the Old

Norse and was tied to their New Year which commenced at
the beginning of the festival known as the Juul, or Yule, the
Gaelic Noll. By Old Style reckoning this holiday coincided
with "Mother Night" or midwinter, the shortest night of the
year. After that, the sun returned by degrees, as a new year
dawned. The conclusion of the Yule proper took place ten
days later on the "Night of the Bane," when the King of the
Yule (an Odin/Uller figure) was deposed and sometimes
burned. From the earliest times this was the penultimate
continental European festival, devoted to Thor, Odin and
Frey. One handsel of this season was directed at Frey. the
"patron of every joy", a god particularly invoked by married
couples who desired to live in harmony. His symbol was a
golden boar, and he was considered reincarnate in such
animals at the Yule. At this time "Frey's boar" was cut
down and eaten as symbol of the dead but regenerate god,
who was thought reborn through ingestion and digestion.
The boar’s head was always presented first at the Yule
feast, crowned with laurel and rosemary. Before it was
carved so that all could partake of the god-spirit, the head
of the family placed his hand upon it, swearing "by the boar
of atonement" that he would be faithful to his kin, and
would fulfil all obligations promised in the coming year.
Other retainers followed him, from the greatest in the
kingdom to the lowest kitchen-servant. This dish could only
be carved by a man of unblemished reputation, and wrong-
doers cringed in its presence for fear the god would strike
them dead. Men and women who had lived together for a year
in peace were awarded a portion of the remaining boar's
flesh.

Andras the Horrible and Ansel, or Hanselm represent

dialectic spellings of one name given the god-spirit of the
north wind. The celebration of Hansel is definitely known
to have come to Britain from Scandinavia. The Danish word
"handsel" means to make a gift of money (or patronage, i.e. a
bribe) to seal a bargain. The Icelandic handsala is more
reserved, suggesting only that the participants shake hands
on concluding an agreement. In the Gaelic lands. this
sassenach custom was understood to be a token gift
presented to mark the beginning of some new enterprise,
such as marriage or the construction of a new home. The
handsel was also understood to represent "earnest money"
that is the down payment, to be followed by a number of
"easy" instalments.

Handsel Monday, in Scotland, was the first Monday

after New Year's Day, a time of much hand-shaking and the
giving of small gifts to servants, tenant-farmers and
children. Although this January special day has vanished
from the calendar, it once vied with Hogamanay and New
Year's Day as the most important Scottish winter festival
in the year.

In the early eighteen hundreds, the only recognized

vacation for the working class was the annual fair at
Beltane or Samhainn and Auld Hansel Monday. This was the
day when working-people returned to their families and
"spent the close of day with a few close friends".

Servants could look forward to a hand out after the

fashion of the English "Boxing-Day", and this usually took
the form of a breakfast hosted by employers. A typical
Scottish menu consisted of sheep's head broth, followed by
goose or beef-steak pier, ending with currant dumpling or
plain pudding. Befitting this red-letter day, there was a
plentiful supply of home-brewed ale and whisky. Not all
hosts were generous and in the worst case, the "treat"
might consist of fat brose, toasted oatmeal with fat poured
over.

Old Handsel was already an institution when the

Reformation struck Scotland. When the Yule was abolished
at the instruction of the Presbyterian Church, the custom of
the handsel persisted, but when the calendar was reformed
the restrained rites were forwarded to New Year's Day, thus
sloughing off associations with what had come to be
regarded as a "Popish" if not a "pagan holiday". In the
seventeenth century, the Kirk kept a watchful eye on Auld
Handsel calling up offenders before the Sessions to answer
charges of drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

Calendar reform was introduced in Scotland in

seventeen fifty-two when eleven days were removed from
the month of September. After the change, the somewhat
conservative Scots sometimes continued to celebrate the
old dates. In attempting to place Auld Handsel in the year,
some Scots said it was taken from "New Year's Day plus
eleven days stolen". As a result most of the Highlanders
celebrated eleven days after the New Year, and in time this
was set as January twelfth. As some people preferred the
new calendar, there was "a serious lack of conformity on
the date with others celebrating Auld Handsel on New Year's
Day or upon the first Monday in January.

No matter how much Scots disagreed on the date, the

celebrations were always similar to that of Hogamanay.
The celebration officially commenced after midnight on the
day before Auld Handsel, when horns were blown and noise
makers employed to chase off the wolves or little people.
Singing and dancing, the youngsters of each community
proceeded through their village, adding to their numbers at
each home visited.

The noise made certain that all were at least made

aware of the celebration. After much marching, dancing,
drinking, and drifting, the residents assembled for a
breakfast feast and afterwards splintered to visit friends
and relatives or participate in games or sports.

The nature of Handsel Day varied. In Highland

communities the game of "shinty" was popular, but some
villages preferred football or cock-fighting. Whatever the
diversion, a "curious licence" was allowed (as at
Hogamanay) to carry out practical jokes aimed at the adult
population. In a few places, there were "disagreeable
accidents" where marksmanship involved the use of antique
rifles or shotguns.

Kirkcady had a custom peculiar in the fact that

Ravenscraig Castle was opened to the young as a place for
their games. In nearby Wymess, youngsters, bearing lighted
candles visited a cavern having a magic well in it. By the
nineteenth century the purpose of this annual visit was
forgotten, but it was said to have some link with the Yule
fire-festival.

At Dumfermline and Sterling, Auld Handsel lasted

several days and until the middle of the nineteenth century,
festivities generally took up a week of time. Kirkcaldy and
Dumfermline kept this old day longer than most
communities. Editorial opinion in both towns was in favour
of some "great national holiday" throughout Scotland, with
New Year's Day being an appropriate substitute to serve in
place of the "annual Saturnalia". By eighteen seventy, Auld
Handsel had been extinguished although a few hold-outs
formed the Auld Handsel Monday Association, which met in
the evenings for nostalgic re-unions of earlier participants.
Unfortunately, these hotel-meetings involved the middle
and upper classes and not those who were its first
supporters.

When the observance of Christmas was abolished by the

Presbyterian Church, the custom nevertheless persisted but
was now held after the New Year, thus avoiding any
association with the "popish" festival of the Yule. Even so,
the Kirk kept a watchful eye on these proceedings. In the
seventeenth century there were cases of offenders being
ordered to appear before the Kirk Session of Aberdour for
being drunk and disorderly on Handsel Monday." At that time,
Handsel coincided with the first day of January, which had
become the New Year's Day on the Gregorian calendar. A
problem arose in 1752 when the calendar was reformed by
removing eleven days from September. Many Scots refused
to recognize the new system thus some celebrated Handsel
on January 1, New Style, while hold-outs remained with
January 1, Old Style (now eleven days later on January 12).
As more people adopted the reformed calendar serious
disadvantages faded. No matter what the date, the
celebrations throughout Scotland were much like those for
the Quarter-Days. The celebrations started just after mid-
night with first-footing, the blowing of horns, general
noise-making, singing and dancing. Except that they did not
dress as mummers, young people moved from house-to-
house in the spirit of other similar festivals, adding to
their numbers with each house visit. Some of the revellers
kept busy until dawn, and there were communal breakfasts
followed by a sport’s day.

Auld Handsel Monday, set at the first Monday after the

New Year, whether reckoned by the old calendar or the new,
became the premier holiday for working people throughout
Scotland. Although it is now hardly remembered, it was in
1845, the only recognized holiday for the working classes.
In most places there was a winter fair and on Auld Handsel
Monday, servants and farm-labourers enjoyed the luxury of
spending a day with family and friends. Auld Hansel was
also the time when this group might expect a small gift or
gratuity from employers. Quite often this took the form of
the breakfast, funded by those in positions of power and
wealth. On the day of Handsel Monday the games and
pastimes varied between communities. In some places
shinty was played; elsewhere there was cock-fighting or
bull-baiting. At Callendar it was noted that the young folk
enjoyed "a curious license,"Being able to carry out practical
jokes on their elders without repercussions. At Currie,
raffles and bird-shoots were called for. At Kirkcaldy, the
youngsters were admitted to Ravenscraig Castle for formal
gaming, but in the nearby parish of Wemyss, these same folk
bore torches into a cave possessed of a "magical" well. The
exact purpose of this visit had been forgotten by the
nineteenth century but there may have been links with
earlier fire-festivals. This august holiday continued into
the last century in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, but the
buffets of the Church and confusion over the correct date
led to formal abolishment of the festival in 1870. What
traditions remained became attached to New Year's Eve,
New Style.

In some English villages this ancient custom is still

observed, although the reward is now a flitch of ham or
bacon. The giving of this gift led to the act of using the
"handsel day" to give small advantages to farm workers and
domestics. The opening of a new year was regarded as an
appropriate time to seal business relationships with a
handshake (thought to have more validity than a written
contact) and to pledge marriage or start a new business. In
both cases, it became proper for relatives and friends to
present a small "handsel" as a gift. These habits came to the
British Isles with the Norse invasions, but fit well with
traditions already in place. In Scotland, "well before the
Reformation, the giving of alms or handsel was part and
parcel of the Christmas festivities.

SAL, SAIL, SAILE, the sea, salt water, the willow, slimey,
dirty, Lat. salum, Eng. swell, Bry. c’hoalen, salt. Salach,
dirty. salann, salt, the Lat. sal, salt.
SALL, obs. lampoon, satire, invective, bitterness, singing,
harmony.

SAM, The Sun.

SAMALILIATH. sam, see next; lileadh, obs. sucking, licking

the lips. The Partholonian who introduced ale into Ireland.

SAMH, SAIMH, MIr. Sam, (sah, sow), sorrel, a clownish

individual, rest, ease, a god, a giant; also "a savage, flock,
fold, herd, a god, giant, clown, mist in warm weather," fat,
rich, productive; the smell of air in a long-closed room,
stink. sorrel. cf. obs. The Sun, The Ocean (Sutherland),
originally the goddess of Sum-mer, Samhair, “High Summer,
Samhuinn, Samhainn, Hallow-tide, the days around November
1. The month called November in the English world.
“Summer’s End,” Cf. Sc. sow, one of dirty appearance.
Confers with EIr. saim, pleasant and with saimhe, luxury,
sensuality, peace. Samhach, quiet, still, pleasant. peaceable,
serene; samhachan, a soft or peaceable person; samhan,
female dog, bitch, horse, large river trout; samhanach,
savage, giant, monster; sasmhas, delight, pleasure;
samhlach, a typical, ghostly, spectral; samhladh, a ghost,
slender person, person near death; samhlaich, assimilate;
samluth, brisk, active; samhnag, the bonfire on the eve of
Samhuinn; Samhnaich, Dead Summer, Winter; samhraichail,
belonging to summer, summer-like; bringing in summer;
Samhradh, the season belonging to Summer; Samhrag, a
trefoil, shamrock; samhuilt, a precise resemblance, an
image, apparition, slender person; Scot. sow, one who makes
a dirty appearance, a “pig.”

Precise counterparts are the Middle English summer

and the Middle Eng. summe, highest, a superlative, similar
to Fr. somme. Lat. summus, highest, the source of other
words such as super. cver and sub, under. Having two
aspects; any aggregate and from this a host, gathering or
assembly. Also the word sum as used in arithmetic. The
source of the word Summer, a goddess of two aspects;
anciently, the AS. Sumor, a compound of Sum + mer, any
female animal. the “High Bitch,” Confers with ME. somer or
sumer, Dan., zomer, Sw. sommer, Cy. haf, the warmest part
of the year, Skr. sama, year. Also note the ON. samr,
together, which is the English word same. All related to our
word sweet.

The Gaelic word "samh" has numerous European

cousins including the Old Norse samr, the Scandinavian
"samme", the Old High German "sam", the Russian "samy" and
the Sankrist "sama". Like the Anglo-Saxon word "sam",
"samh" is rarely seen disassociated from another word, and
like all the others, has the meaning of "half". Thus, the
Danish Samsoe , or island of Samme, is presumably named
for its location halfway between the mainland of Jutland
and the island of Sjaelland. The Anglo-Saxon word
"samsoden", was similarly applied to half-sodden, or half-
cooked food. The obsolete English word samdede, meant
half dead, just as samhale, indicated a person in less than
peak condition. Sammy is another abandoned word, once
used to describe a half-wit, ninny or simpleton. Samhuin is
literally half-time.

There are two periods standing on either side of any

half-time, and these were anciently identified as samhradh,
or summer, and geamhradh (geowr-ug), winter. Since then,
we have added foghar (foh-ur), autumn, and earrach (ehr-
uch), spring, but these were unknown to the earliest Gaelic
hunters and herdsmen. The Maritime seasons have been
described as ten months of winter and two of damned poor
sledding, a description of the year that may have Gaelic
roots. It is guessed that two events governed the
herdsman's year: the removal of animals from upland
pastures with the onset of winter, and their return to these
fields at the opening of summer. The two important Celtic
festivals contained no agricultural landmarks such as mid-
summer (the festival of the first harvest) and mid-winter
(which celebrated the return of the sun), happenings of
interest to "tuathanachs", or farmers.
 This goddess was Bonne, or Boyne, also called the the
Bridd, whose followers, the mortal earth-goddesses of the
Brugh na Boyne, had as their ultimate death-world, Tir na
t’Samharaidh, the “Land of Summer,” a place closer in
character to Tir nan Óg than to the dreary northern nether-
lands associated with An Domhain. The Dead Lands included
the Fomorian “winter-islands” of Dun Sciath, the “Fortress
of Shadows,” and Hy-Falga, the “Hidden Place.” Summer
Land was, or lay close by Magh Mell, the “Plain of
Happiness,” and Tir na mBeo, the “Land of the Living.” As we
have said, Samh was the goddess of the easy season, the
ritual bride to the kings of Tara, one of the Daoine sidh, who
came annually out of the Brugh na Boann to celebrate
beultainn, the “Fires of Bil.” Her name, like that of her
male associate Bil, has gathered about it the
characteristics of numerous local deities such as the bas-
finne, the “death-maidens” who the Norse called the
valkyra. Particularly allied with Samh is the Fomorian sea-
goddess known as the Mhorrigan, the youthful form of Mebd
and Macha. She is often also seen as affiliated with Aoine
and the matriarch of the Daoine sidh, the deity called Anu
or Danu, who is ultimately Domnu, the creator-goddess the
equivalent of the male Don. Her over-wintering form, the
Macha was most often referred to, less informally as the
Cailleach bheurr, or “Winter Hag,” although she was
sometimes designated as Cailleach beara, the “Bear
Woman.” She was also called Bui, the “Pale Yellow One,”
goddess of (and dominant over the male) Winter Sun. Thus,
she was the half-year mate of the enfeebled and white-
haired Lugh, in his guise as Cromm, the god of the Dead-
Lands. Because she controlled the winds of winter this
goddess was alternately called Fea the Hateful, from the
Gaelic ve, the verb “to blow.” Bui is obviously Búanann, also
seen as Boann or Boyne, the “Mother of Heroes.” In some
tales. she is spoken of as “the lady who taught martial arts
and ran a school for warriors.” The name signifies ‘Lasting
One, ’ “ but the name Boanu or Anu, is more often translated
as the “Cow-fire” goddess. Also associated was
Cathubodua, the “Warrior cow-person.” The Book of Lecan
says that she was regenerated as a virgin maiden on seven
important occasions, and married at least seven kings. She
had fifty foster children in addition to those from her own
loins, and”founded many tribes and nations.” This is quite
probably Mebd Lethdearg, of the “Red Side,” the daughter of
Conán of Cuala, a queen of Leinster. She was represented
as a goddess of sovereignty to whom it was necessary for
the king to be ritually married to be legitimized. Although
she had numerous affairs she was the legal wife to nine
high-kings, including Conn of the Hundred Battles, Conn’s
son Art, and Art’s son Cormac in a short list. Alternately
named Luain, the “Moon.” We note also occasional reference
to Samhain, “a dreaded Druid god, Lord of the Dead and
Prince of Darkness, the chap who assembled the living
dead.” He appears to be a modern invention or a male knock-
off of the goddesss.

In the well-known tale, "The Dream of Aonghas," the god fell

in love with a dream-maiden, and being certain she walked
the land of men, asked his brother Bodb Derg (Red Crow). for
magical help in finding her. The girl was finally pointed out
as Caer Ibormeith, the daughter of a side-hill dweller living
in Connaught. Aonghas enlisted the aid of Ailill and Mebd,
the rulers of that province, in persuading Ethal Anubhail to
part with his daughter. Ethal sent word that he could not
comply since his daughter was the product of a dalliance
with a swan-maiden (one of the shape-changing children of
Domnu), and she moved with her mother's kin on Loch Bel
Dragon, The Lake of the Dragon's Mouth. The father noted
that if Aonghas could identify her from among one hundred
and fifty resident swans, he was welcome to have her. Being
a god Aonghas had no trouble with this, and courted her and
won her love while he was in swan-form.

This lady thus became the bridd, the bride; a character

much honored as the goddess of love. The swan personae
was one she could not escape, and on the Samhuinn she
always reverted to this configuration and fled from Aonghas
of the White Steed. The Scots said she was no willing
wanderer but was periodically taken by the dark death god
whose name was Bel or Bile. Some held that she was a
winter prisoner within Ben Nevis, Scotland, where she
awaited annual rescue at the Beultainne. A larger number of
Celts held that her prison was somewhere in the winter-
lands of the north-west, or perhaps within An Domhain. Like
all of the mortal gods Aonghas died and his inheritance was
"the green island of perpetual summer (and youth) that
drifts about on the silver tide of the Atlantic."

There he suffered from the inevitable amnesia brought

on by other loves and occupations, but on the Samhuinn he
invariably dreamed of his Samh, and went riding out from
his western palace to find and succor her. It was sometimes
held that the Cailleach Bheur, or Winter-Hag, attempted to
keep them apart, but by Bride's Day (February 2) it was
always evident that she had failed. With the return of the
spirits of the Samh and Aonghas Og to their Brugh on
Beultainne (May 1), the rule of the Bel and his winter
cohort, the Cailleach, were seen to be at an end and summer
sat enthroned again upon the world of men. In the first
quarter, until Lugh's day (August 1), during the time
entitled, "the days of the long sun," the happy couple excised
their sunny influence from Tir na tSamhraidh, or Summer
Land. By mid-summer it was clear that the powers of love
and the sun were on the wane, and in the second quarter the
pair were less attentive to one another. With their ardor
decreased the sun became progressively more distant, cold
and lacking in life-giving powers. In the Gaelic world
summer was the samhradh, literally, the "riding out time of
Samh." Her final day of some authority was Oidhche
Shamhna, now known as Hallowe'en, but she was
memorialized in the month of November which was an t-
Samhuinn. Thus commenced a new year and "the days of the
short sun," which were given into the hands of the death god
Bel and his consort the Cailleach Bheur, also known as the
Winter Hag.

This pair was thought to live somewhere in the

northwest, the source of the most violent winds of winter.
Their summer palace, and place of exile, was perhaps the
Atlantic island of Dun Scaith, the Fortress of Shadows. The
shadow queen seems to be the Norse giantess Skadi , who
following a number of trial marriages, allied herself with
Uller, the god of Winter. The battle between the seasons is
also seen in Norse mythology where Skadi is recognized as
the shape-changed goddess Frigga, who is usually paired
with Odin. Like Aonghas, Odin had a tenancy to "lose his
place," and went wandering the earth in summer and late
fall. While he was gone his authority, and his "wife," were
taken by his "twin," the god Uller. By the first day of May,
Odin always returned to a regenerate Frigga, driving off the
unwanted suitor.

Lugh and his bride may be thought of as a

manifestation of Dagda and Danu, the patriarch and
matriarch of the Daoine sidh, and he has another dark
personae in Crom the Crooked. In some of the tales Lugh
struggles against Crom to restore summer. If the agents of
light are the land gods; those of dark are decidedly the
Fomorian sea-giants.

The Cailleach, the ruler of the three months of the

graine lugha, or failing sun, is described as one-eyed and
hairy, “like the seals of the ocean.” From this last
characteristic, she was also known as Mag Moullach, the one
with the Hairy Hand. She was also given as the Beire, or
Bear. Various Anglo-Saxon tribesmen identified her as the
Old Sough, Gyre-Carline, The Storm-Wife or Gentle Annie.
The death goddess was said to have a local seat within the
Scottish mountain called Ben Nevin, and came forth from it
on or about the time of the New Year (November 1), to wash
her great plaid in the whirlpool of Coire Bhreacain, the
"Cauldron of the Plaid." "Before the washing it is said that
the roar of a coming tempest is heard by people on the coast
for a distance of twenty miles, for a period of three days
until the cauldron boils. When the washing is over, the plaid
of old Scotland is virgin white."
The Cailleach was represented in lore as a hag, the mistress
and guardian of wild animals, but no friend to men. In her
season she went about brandishing her magic staff, blasting
the vegetation and the beasts of men with bolts of
lightning. At the peak of her bad temper, which came at
mid-winter, she rode before the storm-winds, her packs of
ravaging animals seizing and carrying off the souls of the
dead. Sometimes the withering winds also carried away the
bodies of those not yet dead.

The Reign of the Winter Hag ended nominally at the

Imbolg, which we now term Groundhog Day (Februrary 2).
The latter is a perfect remembrance of the Cailleach since
she was a Bear, Grund Hogge, or Earth Beast. The Imbolc was
also called Bride's Day remembering that this was the day
when Lugh chanced upon his lost bride. According to one tale
the Samh was kept imprisoned during the "short months," a
guest within Ben Nevis; but there is more general agreement
that Lugh had to travel to the An Domhain, or the dark
islands of the west, to recover her. While Lugh sought to
carry her off on his white stallion, the Cailleach made every
effort to hold her, and in this interest raised the storms of
spring. In the week known as A Chailleach she still still
makes her best effort, her final overthrow coming after the
day that bears her name, Latha na Cailleach, the Auld Hag's
Day, March 25. The complete failure of the powers of the
winter deities was symbolized in the celebration of Beltane
(May 1).

It would seem that Lugh and Bil, and the Cailleach and
the Bride are not really contending personalities, but
components of a single god and goddess. Some of the old
tales reinforce this by saying that the Cailleach retreated
annually to the Island of Youth, far out in the western sea,
on the Oichche Bridd, or Eve of the Bride. In the center of
woods in that place (as in An Domhain) there was once a
fountain of perpetual youth. "There at the first glimmer of
dawn, before any bird has sung or any dog barked, the hag
drinks of water that emerges from a crevice of a rock, and
having renewed her youth, emerges as Bride, the fair young
goddess at the touch of whose wand the dun grass turns to
vivid green, starred with the white and yellow flowers of
spring." Of course, the transformation of Beul to Lugh and
Cailleach to Samh was only made fast on the first of May,
and in the interval from Bride's Day to Beltane
schizophrenia (and mixed weather) prevailed, as it does to
the present. , or failing sun, is described as one-eyed and
hairy, like the seals of the ocean. From this last
characteristic, she was also known as Mag Moullach, the one
with the Hairy Hand. She was also given as the Beire, or
Bear. Various Anglo-Saxon tribesmen identified her as the
Old Sough, Gyre-Carline, The Storm-Wife or Gentle Annie.
The death goddess was said to have a local seat within the
Scottish mountain called Ben Nevin, and came forth from it
on or about the time of the New Year (November 1), to wash
her great plaid in the whirlpool of Coire Bhreacain, the
"Cauldron of the Plaid." "Before the washing it is said that
the roar of a coming tempest is heard by people on the coast
for a distance of twenty miles, for a period of three days
until the cauldron boils. When the washing is over, the plaid
of old Scotland is virgin white."

Her season, extending from May 1 until October 31,

was entitled the samhradh (saur-ach). The celebration at
the end of her reign was the samhainn (tav-inn) a name also
applied to the month we call November. The Gaels were a
cattle-people, who recognized two seasons based on
happenings in the herdsman's year. The first of these was
the removal of animals to lowland pastures, a duty
completed by the first day of winter. May Day marked the
date by which they had returned animals to the upland
meadows. The most important festivals of their year
contained no agricultural landmarks such as mid-summer
and mid-winter, these holidays being added when farming
peoples joined their ranks.

Sir George James Fraser thinks that the Samhainn was

the more important of the two festivals. He has noted that
new fires were kindled at this, the beginning of the Celtic
New Year. Divination was given attention, and the spirits of
dead ancestors were welcomed, while evil spirits were
discouraged through ritual magic. This was the time when
the baobhe (witches) were at large and the sidh loosened
from their magical binding. Alexander Macbain has noted
that samhuinn may derive from the same root as the
English word same which is also the basis of the English
assembly. He also says that the gathering at Tara took
place "on 1st November while the Ceit-shaman, our Ceitein
was the first feast held on 1st May." Mary L. Fraser has
noted that "The druidical feast of Samh'in, the second great
event of their (pagan) year, was coincident with Hallowe'en.
On this day they killed the sacred fire and discharged
judicial functions with which superstitious usages for
divining the future were intermingled...(eg) the eating of a
salt cake before retiring in the hope that one's future
husband might appear, with a glass of water, to the thirsty
dreamer...the only day on which Satan was unchained..."

At the Samhuinn Maritime Canadians once placed

candles in every window (to drive off evil spirits and serve
as a beacon for spirits of the welcome dead). "On this day
the old people used to carry, personally, food to their
poorer neighbours. There seems to be something quite pagan
about the injunctions given and carried out by careful
housewives on All Soul's Night not to throw water out of
doors for fear of harming the spirits..." Fraser further
indicated that Samh was a moon goddess; and noted the
local superstition that crops and animals only fatten during
the increase of the moon; and that animals were not killed
on the wane lest they lose body weight. Human hair was
similarly only cut on the wane, "otherwise it would grow
too fast".

Observing the summer moon (which personified Samh)

over the left shoulder was thought to invite bad luck; so
men were careful to observe it over the right shoulder.
Wishes made on the new moon came true, provided an object
was held in the left hand and the cross signed with the
right. Changes in the phase of the moon used to be carefully
watched as it was observed that "a change in the moon
always brings a change in the weather." Some of our
ancestors held that "The prevailing weather at the time of
the change would be the weather for all of the following
quarter." Some went further than this suggesting that the
weather that came with the change would continue until the
cycle was complete. Mariners also noticed that the sea was
usually calm for about twenty-four hours before and after
the full moon; but at the full moon "there is generally blowy
weather." It was also said that both the new moon and the
full moon brought "a swell on the water" and my grandfather
Guptill used to say that "fish will rally at that time." "The
tide runs fastest then, fish follow the bait better on the run
and the hook is best set at that time."
Men also noticed how the incarnate Samh sat in the
sky. When she was seen with her tines up it was noted that
"the moon holds water" and a dry period was expected in the
next few days; otherwise she was thought to be "spilling
water" and rain was anticipated. If the moon was close to a
high-magnitude star it was observed that fine weather was
in the offing since "the star is trolling a long painter (tow-
line)." If an intense tow-star was seen at a distance it was
assumed that the long lead was needed in anticipation of
stormy seas. A "star-dogged" moon was the worst omen;
this rarity was supposedly a star within the inner tines of
the moon, a physical impossibility. Whatever was observed,
this was supposed to suggest the worst possible weather
since the tow star was within the mother-ship.

The old-world Gaels said that the sun and the moon-
spirits were pursued in the sky by the wolves or dogs of the
under-sea world, who (at the time of eclipses) came near to
devouring her. Maritime Canadian seamen said that the sun
as pursued by sun-dogs; the moon was considered at hazard
because of pursuing dawfish (dawnfish or dogfish) which
are a species of shark. Although these sharks are too small
to be a hazard to men they were always considered ominous:
"A ship followed by a shark is due for bad luck." The cloud
formation known as the sharks mouth is infrequent enough
to be remarkable. When it occurs the clouds are seen to
arrange themselves in parallel rows (like sharks teeth).
These rows usually fan out from two points on opposite
horizons and are most expansive directly overhead. "When
the shark's mouth is seen, wind will come from one of these
quarters."
SAMH, sorrel. Plants with a sour taste because of their
oxalic acid content. Oxalis is a noted member of this group.
Poisonous when consumed in quantity.

SAMHADH, a congregation of folk.

SAMHAIL. SAMHUIL, likeness, alike, things of the same kind,

similar, Cy. hafal, Corn. haval, avel, Nry. haual, Lat. similis,
Eng. same. A characterization of those who gathered for the
Samhain.

SAMHAILDANACH, “skilled in all the arts.” An epithet first

applied to the Irish god Lugh (sometimes regarded as the
consort of Samh).

SAMHAINN, SAMHUINN, (tav-inn), Cape Breton pronounced

sah-oo-yan), November, Ir. Samhna (souna). See following
entries. A brother of Cian Contje bore this name. According
to some tales this little red-haired boy had charge of the
Glas Gaibhleen, while his brother was having a weapon
forged. Balor of the Evil Eye tricked the child into parting
with this magic cow thus inspiring Cian’s voyage to Tory
Island. Ellis says that the Samhain festival is named after
this poorly defined Gaelic god.

Samhuin has been described as "a Celtic feast of the

departing sun" but it was also the beginning of a New Year.
Sir George James Fraser thought it was more important
than the beultaine, as new fires were rekindled then,
divination of the future was attempted, the spirits of dead
ancestors were welcomed home, and evil spirits were
discouraged through ritual magic.

The nature of the samhuin is reflected in related

words such as the Cymric, or Welsh "swm", the colloquial
Scottish or northern English word "sam" and the Sankrist
"sam" all indicating a collection of people or things
gathered in one place. The obsolete English "sam" is related
to the Anglo-Saxon verb "samman", "to collect, or gather,
unite, join, or consort with". The English word "samed", "to
be together at one time", is no longer used but the word
same, a synonym for alike, has survived as have derived
words such as similar, some and shame. It is obvious that
the Samhuin involved large scale public rites.

One man's shame is another's religious practise and

the nature of the Samhuin is approached even more closely
in the Sankrist word "samadh", which is defined as "an act
of profound meditation, where a god-like state is
approached through self-immolation, cremation or burial."
In ancient India, where the Indo-European languages
(including Gaelic) are thought to have originated, such acts
were usually limited to holy medicants, who had shrines
erected over their dead bodies. These religious fanatics
were referred to as samans, or shamans, and their trade
was called shamanism. The "holy-men" were not always on
the up-and-up for the word sham is derived from their
name. Apparently they became adept at illusion, trickery
and cheating, which allowed them to establish more than
one shrine. At first, the shamans were Indian beggar monks,
but their name and reputation was passed to itinerate
magicians in northern Asia and Europe. The shamans were
mediums who claimed that the gods, demons and spirits of
the dead were only accessible to ordinary men through their
paid intervention. They represented a very early
development of a professional priesthood, which became
popular throughout the world. Shaman is now applied very
loosely to
people who act as tribal magicians or medicine men and has
become particularly attached to North American Indian
spiritual advisors.

The Sankrist or Samkrist people spoke Samskrit,

words combining "kyta", "made perfect", with "sam", "by
combination". As Sankrist was a collective, the word san,
or sam, used alone was taken as descriptive of individuals,
and might identify a lord or lady of high rank.

SAMHAN, female dog, a bitch, corresponding with the

English summer, a horse, large river trout, a smaller-sized
giant; also the savin or savine-bush AS. savine, MEng.
saveine, Lat. sabina. Commonly called the juniper. A plant
found in Asia, Europe and northern North America. “the
druids, also, use a certain marsh plant that they call the
samolus, this must be gathered with the left hand, when
fasting, and is a charm against the diseases of cattle. But
the gatherer must not look behind him, nor lay the plant
anywhere except in the drinking trough (of afflicted
animals.” (Pliny, Natural History, XXIV, p. 104). This plant
has bitter acrid tops used in human medicines as an
abortive compound, and it also considered for the relief of
gout. The North American red cedar is within this group of
plants.

SAMHANACH, SAMACH, from samh, still, pleasant, EIr. sam,

at ease, at rest, quiet, allied with Eng. soft, the OHG.
samfto, softly, Goth. samjan, please.
a wooden handle, a spirtle, a magical staff; also for the
people named for the goddess Samh also known as Summer.
The name of the goddess confers with the Skr. gramana,
beggar-monk, one devoted to the gods, from which the
people of the Ural mountains obtained shaman, a
practitioner of magic. These were invaders of the British
Isles whose arrival was foretold by Lugh and Nuada: "After
the Feadarlaich shall come the Samhanach tribes, the
Arrogant Samhanaich, the Despot Samanaich, the Rancid
Samhanaich. these savages shall destroy the civilization of
wise men in every land they visit." (The Hebridean
Connection p. 464). The exact identity of these unwelcome
intruders is not known.

To save members of the community the bother of

treating individually with the creator-god, specialists in
magic took up the business of communicating with him. The
most capable of these were able to convince fellow
tribesmen that they were in on close terms with the
Oolaithir by developing the crafts of sleight-of-hand,
ventriloquism, augury, and the "silver tongue". The priests
who were most intelligent knew that there was an element
of make-believe in their profession, but many came to
believe their own propaganda.

Shamans, priests and successful war-leaders,

relieved of field-labour, had time to devote to becoming
"gods". The pagan religions always assumed that men, being
fractions of the creator-god, could aspire to godhood, thus
the old Scottish saw: "Men are born above their station!"
The magicians knew that men were exposed to impersonal
forces which might spoil their rise to power, but they
believed that humans and gods could be manipulated through
spells and charms. In ancient Egypt the magic-makers said
they controlled even the highest gods, and demanded their
obedience on threats of destruction. Similarly, in India, the
Hindu trinity was regarded as submissive to sorcerers, to
the extent that it was said: "The universe is subject to the
creator-god; the gods are inferior to the mantras (spells) of
the Brahmans; therefore, the Brahmans are our gods."

It is not surprising that the Celtic druids exercised

their power over men by claiming to influence the spirits of
nature, but it is shocking to note that some Christian
priests used magical-rites as a power-base. In France, not
many decades ago, Sir James George Fraser said that, "the
majority of peasants still believe that the priest possesses
a secret and irresistible power over the elements." These
men had little possibility of becoming kings among men, but
their pagan counterparts often managed to become persons
of great importance through the awe inspired by their
elaborate ritual acts. The most impressive magician in a
tribe could rise to wealth and power, and use these as
levers to the kinship.

SAMH-DAIL, Summer Dale, Saddall, located ten miles north

of Campbellton, Scotland. Sometimes given as ON sandell,
a sandy dell, but the former seems more appropriate, a
“quiet or peaceful valley.” The Somerled of the Macdonalds
is buried here. The monastery here was inhabited by the
Cisterian Order, monks who had, in all 13 monasteies
throughout Scotland. Exempted from paying tithes (because
of their great piety) they became wealthy. Taken in by their
own press they became a drain on the surrounding
communities and were suppressed at the Reformation. It is
claimed that the monastery was established by an
individual who had done in a near relative. Haunted by his
spirit he applied to the Pope who granted him absolution on
a promise he would establish a church.

SAMHLADH, a ghost, a spectre, slender person, an antitype

or pattern of reality.

SAMHNA, SAMHNAG, SAMHNAGAN, Samh-na-aigeannach,

spirited Samh, meditative Samh, "the fires of Samh;"
aigeach, a young horse; aigeann, the deep, IIr. oician, the
English ocean. The Samh was a sea-giantess, and her kind
were often referred to as "the flames of the sea," from the
phosphorescence of the waters. The name given the fires of
the Quarter-Day eve before the first day of May. There were
individually the teine-iotoiche:, or “fires of the night.”
Anciently, the Night of Samhain, it became All Saint's Eve,
All Souls Eve or Allhallow's E'en in Christian times, and this
was contracted to Hallowe'en in English-speaking places.
This holiday was termed Hogmanay in Anglo-Saxon-lowland
Scottish communities. "On the last day of autumn (October
31) children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the long thin
stakes called gainisg (sedge), and everything suitable for a
bonfire. These were placed in a heap on some eminence near
the house and in the evening set fire to. The fires were
called "Samhnagan." There was one for each house (although
probably a single communal fire in the earliest times) and
it was an object of ambition who should have the biggest.
Whole districts were brilliant with bonfires, and their glare
across a Highland loch formed an exceedingly picturesque
scene. In the parish of Callender, they still blazed down to
near the end of the eighteenth century. When the fire had
died down, the ashes were carefully collected in the form of
a circle, and a stone put in, near the circumference, for
every person interested in the bonfire. Next morning, if any
of these stones were found to be displaced or injured, the
people (were sure) the persons represented were known to
be fay or devoted and could not live twelve months from
that day (earlier on, this may have been a means of
selecting sacrificial victims)...In villages (of the northeast)
the boys went from house to house and begged a peat,
usually with the words, "Ge' us a peat t' burn the witches!"
When they had collected enough, they piled them in a heap,
together with straw, furze, and other combustible
materials, and set the whole on fire. Then each of the
youths, one after another, laid himself down on the ground
as near as he could without being scorched, and thus laying
allowed the smoke to roll over him. The others ran through
the smoke and jumped over their prostrate comrade (who
surely represented a victim of the fires in earlier days?).
When the heap was burned down they scattered the ashes,
vying with each other to see who should scatter them most."
(The Golden Bough, p. 736). The beneficent effect of smoke
is noted in all accounts of these fires. With this one, in
particular, two flames were frequently kindled, and the
cattle driven between them so that they might be relieved
of evil-spirits and the diseases that attended them. In
point of fact, the heavy smoke was probably a serious
bother to external parasites, which were either killed or
dropped free on the ground. In the hag-ridden years, the
ancestors of these first pyromaniacs set similar fires in
their fields to bring down witches in flight.

Once the treats had been collected at the Samhain and

the tricks enacted, the ritual of torching the Hallowe'en fire
was set about. At Balquidder, in the last century, the fires
of Samhainn were described as "a custom chiefly observed
by children." Fraser noted that "The fires were lighted on
any high knoll near the house; there was no dancing around
them." This was not the case in northeastern Scotland
where it was said that "Villagers and farmers alike must
have their fire."

In our provinces the urge to fall pyromania was

extreme, and I well remember flying (courtesy of Trans
Canada Airways) over a Hallowe'en landscape where the
grass-lands seemed entirely aflame. Spring and summer
used to be the seasons of burning. More specifically, we had
a childhood habit of roasting potatoes wrapped in tin-foil in
a Hallowe'en bonfire of leaves. Perhaps more significant
than this was the communal fire which the adults arranged
each fall for the tidal flat standing before Blackhall's
Beach, at Oak Bay New Brunswick.

In the 1940's tuberculosis and "infantile paralysis"

were periodic scourges which frightened the entire
community. In an attempt to escape these diseases those
who had the means fled from the towns to summer
"cottages" in the less crowded countryside. Blackhall's
Beach was rented on ninety-nine year leasehold from the
Anglican Church and was the site of numerous rudimentary
buildings that housed a full-time population of women and
children and an overnight and Sunday influx of male adults.

These people provided their own evening

entertainment, chief of which was "the beach fire"
invariably scheduled for one of the last warm weekends in
October. Ostensibly this fire was set to clear the beach of
driftwood and other debris "before winter". Afterwards my
grandfather painstakingly raked the black shale beach.
Whatever the adults said, it was obvious to the children
that these end-of-summer rituals had nothing to do with
actual housekeeping since the winter ice invariably undid
all these efforts.

The day-long collection of beach wood took place on a

Saturday and was reminiscent of similar activities which
used to take place in Buchan shire, Scotland: "When they had
collected enough peats, they piled them in a heap, together
with straw, furze, and other combustible materials, and set
the whole on fire." In our case, the fire was not made on a
height of land but far out on the tidal flat where flames and
sparks could not endanger the surrounding fields or forest.
Aside from driftwood, the materials included dried
seaweeds, beach grasses, fallen logs and parts of rotted
wooden lawn furniture. The communal supper was not
obtained by threat, flounders for a fish chowder coming
from the sea and clams from the mudflats, everything timed
to the demands of the tide, which had to flood sometime
near midnight. The cooking of food took place over modest
beach fires, the clams being steamed between layers of
seaweed. The whole evening is remembered as having the
bittersweet sense of that time of year when "autumn to
winter resigns the pale year." After "the feed" time was
given to singing, fiddle and accordion entertainments, many
of the men wandering away from the fire for a drink from
their private stock or their own whispered rituals.

The bonfire which was kindled was massive, smoky

and filled the air with embers, and surely resembled the
"Coel Coeth" of northern Wales. In that place, people
watched as the flames died and then threw into the ashes a
white stone, bearing individual identifying marks. Having
said their prayers, they paraded three times around the
expiring light and went to bed. "Next morning, as soon as
they were up, they came to search out the stones, and if any
one of them was found missing, they had a notion that the
person who threw it would die before he saw another
Hallowe'en."

Our custom was more like that of the Perthshire

Highlands, the colour of the "omen-stone" being of little
importance, compared with their placement in a circle at
the edge of the fire. These were hefty rocks rather than
pebbles and were chosen for heat resistance, for their
fragmentation due to heating and sudden cooling was taken
as a bad sign. They were partially buried in sand by
individuals interested in future events and were left to the
broad sweep of the tide, whose waters soon overcame the
last sputterings of flame. Each rock supposedly represented
the "befind" of the individual who positioned it and if it was
seen to be missing or damaged in the morning this was
taken as a sign that the person was "devoted" and probably
destined to die within the year. If the rock was moved by
the water this was taken as evidence that person would
travel, the distance being proportionate to the
displacement.
 Snakeskins were sometimes posted on cottage walls
to protect against lightning and accidental fires, but if one
was not found in the season, cottagers might carry away a
burnt stick from the "clean-up fire" to serve the same
function. The very name of this fire ties it to the old pagan
custom of burning away the various evils of the land,
although no reference was ever made to doing this to
prevent the baneful influence of witches or fairies, Satan,
the Morrigan or Aod. In an older days, all fires were
extinguished throughout the Gaelic countryside and "new
fire" was taken to each hearth from the "samhnagan", an act
symbolizing the "taking to earth" of evil and new beginnings.

Hallowe'en was often referred to as All Soul"s Eve

from a common belief that ancestral shades sought out the
new fire. Mary L. Fraser noted that candles were set in the
windows of Antigonish County homes to guide souls of the
departed to their former places of residence. She also said,
"There seems to be something quite pagan about the
injunction given and carried out by careful housewives on
All Soul's Night not to throw water out for fear of harming
the spirits." Sir James George Fraser says that this time
was one "when the souls of the departed were supposed to
revisit their old homes in order to warm themselves by the
fire and to comfort themselves with the good cheer
provided for them in the kitchen or the parlour by their
affectionate kinfolk. It was, perhaps, a natural thought that
the approach of winter should drive the poor shivering
ghosts from the bare fields and leafless woodlands...Did not
the lowing kine not then troop back from the summer
pastures? and could the good-man and the good-wife deny
the dead the welcome which they gave to the cows?

While men spoke of the dead in the hours after the

fires had died, they sometimes made attempts to divine the
future of those who were alive. On Hallowe'en men had best
access to their befinds or guardians and might see through
their eyes events to come.

SAMRACH, SAMHRADH, Summer, (sah-oo-rug), literally, "the

bringing out time of the Samh."belonging to Sum, bringing
summer, EIr. samrad, Cor. half, M. Br. haff, Br. hanv, Skr.
sama, the year, English Summer. summer. Bry. Samonios,
thirty days, corresponding in all cases with the month now
called June. It will be noticed that raidh also appears in
geamhradh, literally the season of the game-keeper. "Raidh"
has the same sense as the Anglo-Saxon "rad", or ride; thus
winter can be thought of as the time for the ride of the
game-keeper, while the Samhradh was the riding-time for
whatever spirits controlled the other half of the year. The
samhradh commenced officially with the "feis", or feast
called beultaine, or bealtaine (Ir. G. b'aulhin'i), the English
Beltane, which took place on the first day of the month of
May. This season began and ended with a ritual fires, the
first on May eve and the second on Samhuin eve. When
Christianity gained an edge over the pagan "dawn-religion"
of the Gaels, the evening before Samhuin became known as
All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en, while Samhuin proper was
renamed Hallowday or All Saint's Day. Seumas MacManus
has noted that while the Scots still lived in Scotia Major, or
Ireland, their "great Feis was held at Samain (Hallowday).
It lasted for three days before Samain and three days
after..."

SAMHRADH. Samh’s quarter. See radh for details. Summer,

the month of May.

SAMHUINN, Hallowtide, the period about Hallowe'en. Ir.

samhain, EIr. samuin, samain, sam-fuin, the ending time for
Samh, "Summer's end." The root may be som, like or same,
similar to the Latin simul, from which the English
assemble. This was the time for the annual fire-festivals,
held to mark the beginning of each new year. The summer
counterpart was Cet-shamain, now entitled simply Ceitein,
"the first feast" held May 1 of each year. This holiday was
termed Coel Coeth, “Blackened Wood,” on the Isle of Man,
and was the festivity the Anglo-Saxons remembered as
Hogmanay. In Christian times it became All Soul's Eve, All
Saint's Eve, or Allhallows Eve, contracted to Hallowe'en.
SAMTRUSC, trussed up, “twisted by Summer.” damaged by
the will of the gods. Leprosy, a disease thought spread by
spirits abroad at the Quarter-Days.

SANAS, augury, a whisper in private, advice, warning,

knowledge, science, an understanding of word-magic, a
glossary, a dictionary, word-magic, after san, obs. holy.
Sanasan, a glossary, etymology. a whisper, private hint,
warning, Sanasaiche, an etymologist or word-smith.

SAOBH-AORADH. superstition, saobh, to charm, infatuate, to

err, to go the wrong way.

SAOBH-SGEULACH, idle tale, fiction. The telling of such

stuff.

SAOGHAL, the world, an age of the world, life, from Lat.

saeculum but allied with Cy. hoedl, life.

SAOI, a good and generous man, a scholar, a warrior, EIr. sai,

a sage, from the root vat, faith. Cf. saoihhir, rich, from the
added root bher, to bring.

SAOIBHAGEUL, a fable.

SAOR, a sawyer, a carpenter, a freeman, free, derived from

the root su + viro + s, “good-man.” literally one “free of
fear,” i.e. free of sai, trouble, pain, the Lat. servus. Thus
names such as Gobhan Saor. See sar.

SAOTHAIR AN DAOI, the “devil’s work,” applied to any

landform whose origin is or was unknown. In English terms
such as the Devil’s Dike, the Pict’s Wall, The Roman Wall
are substituted. Saothair, punisher, torturer, diseased man,
false-land; that which appears as land at low tide but is
within the inter-tidal zone and deluged periodically.

SÀR, oppression, Lat. sperno, Eng. spurn. See above and note
below.
SÀR, excellent matchless, noble, brave, a hero, Cy. hoer,
positive in outlook, stubborn, assertive, thus an oppressor.
This word appears in Ogam in names such as Netta-sagru,
Sagarettos, Sagramni, based on seg, strong, fast, victorious,
mighty, the Skr. sahas, might.

SÀR EUN, an “excellent” or “oppressive bird.” Individual

symbols of the deities of the pagan Gaels. The eagle is
sometimes identified with Lugh but, otherwise, has a
surprisingly small role in cult mythology. The crane is more
persistent. Usually it is represented as a shape-changed
woman, often the possession of a god. It was disliked in
folklore even after this connection was lost. Its flesh was
tabu in Ireland and it was believed to have the power of
bringing death to anyone who ate it. It became attached to
Christian churchmen once it ceased to be regarded as a
servant to the old gods. The raven, the crow, the owl and the
goose were similarly “honoured” Otherworld birds. They
were once conceived as messengers of the deities, servants
of the gods, and as the gods, or goddesses, incarnate. They
were, at times, signs of evil, bringers of luck, or
harbingers of death.

SAS-MHORT, murder.

SATHURNA, SATHUIRN, SATHAIRN, DI-, (je sa-ern-e),

Saturday. H.A. Guerber says that this day remembers Satere,
the "thief in the night", another name for the Norse god
Lokki. The older spelling is Sathuirn. Confers with sàth, to
stab, pierce, thrust, to transfix, plenty, great, abundance,
enough meat and drink, a surfeit, saith. ba + uir, earth; the
ON. aurr. The fast-breaking day. "Saturday is good for
changing one's residence if going from south to north (Lokki
was the god of the south-wind), but it is not right to spin on
a Saturday night. A woman who once did so had her spinning
fingers joined together." (Celtic Monthly, p. 162)

SCADABHAGH, SCATHACH, SGATHAGH, EILEANAN, the Island

of Sgatha, the Isle of Skye, named after a baobh woman-
warrior who hired out to train Gaelic fighters. See entry
below.

SCÉIL, boasting, prattling, a story. In OIr. sgéal. Often

transcribed as sgal, a howl, a shriek, to give tongue; MIr.
scal or skall, to sound a cry, similar to the ON. sköll, a toast
at drinking parties. The stories of the Gaels were of two
varieties: the primhsgal and the fosgal, the “important
stories” and the “lesser stories.” The categories under
“prime tales” included battles, voyages, tragedies,
adventures, cattle raids, military exploits, courtships,
elopements, concealments, destructions, sieges, feasts and
slaughters. The “under tales” consisted of pursuits, visions,
exiles or banishments and the eruptions of lakes from the
underground.

SCEOLAN. The faithful hound and nephew of Fionn mac

Cumhail. Its brother was Bran. These two dog-children were
born to Fionn’s sister Tuireann while she was magically
altered as a bitch by the jealous mistress of her husband
Ullan.

SCETNE, the landing place of the Fomorian host when they

came to oppose the Tuatha daoine in final battle. The
Fomorians included “their king, Balor of the Strong Blows,
and Breas, one-time high-king of Ireland. Also present were
Indech mac De Domanann, Elathu mac Lobos, Goll and Ingol,
Octriallach mac Indech and Elathu mac Delbaeth. Lugh sent
his father Dagda to spy out their camp and delay them while
he rallied the men and gods of Ireland. The Fomorians
thinking they could make sport of this land god invited him
to take porridge with them for he had a reputation as a
great lover of that meaty broth. They filled the Cauldron of
the Deep with twenty gallons of new milk, and stirred in
equal quantities of fat and meal. In this they placed the
carcasses of pigs and sheep and boiled everything together.
They poured this into a great eating hole in a rock and said
he could he could take his fill so that they might not be
reproached for showing poor hospitality. They, nevertheless,
warned him to leave nothing uneaten, “For we will make an
end of you if you do!” So the Dagda took the wooden ladle he
carried with him and ate until the soup “bowl” was empty.
When it was gone he actually scraped the gravel for
remnants. The Fomorians laughed at his huge belly, but after
he had slept the god took his leave without suffering
anything more than threats.

SCHIEHALLION, sidh, the little people; ON, hall. The sith-

hill found in Robertson country (Athol)

SCHIEHALLION MOR, the “Great-hall of the Sithe", found on

the western side of the Island of Handa in Mackay country
(Sutherlandshire). It is now partially lost to the Atlantic
Ocean.

SCIATHBHREAG, the Bregians, members of the Féinn,

carriers of the Salmon or “speckled shield.”

SCOTA,obs. SGOTAI, SGODAI, Ir. Scott, pl.n. Scuit, earlier

Skuit, d. Scottaib, an Irishman, later a Scot. Lat. Scotia,
Ireland (Adamnan), Scoti, the Irish. Scoti Britanniae, the
Scots living in Britain, those in Dalriada, Scotland. Another
form of the Latinized Scota or Scoticus. The root is usually
given as ON. skatt, the English scathe, hurt or cut. Some
authors suggest they were the “cut-” or “tattooed-men,”
but the word more likely refers to their hostile nature.
Note that the word is allied with the Goth. skatts, money,
the Germ. schatz, treasure, or holdings in cattle, wealth,
“masters, owners.” The ultimate source is perhaps found in
the winter-goddess Skadi, who had a falling out with the
Scandinavians and moved her stock to Scotland. Note the
Gaelic sgiot. scatter, cut, from Norse skjota, shoot.

The termination “air” is obsolte but used to indicate a

territory or region. The word also suggested controversies
over land, the inheritance or possession of property. A herd,
A Cow.

Skadi, the matriarchal goddess, may have given her

name to the Kingdom of the Scots, later named Scotland or
Skotland. According to other accounts, Scota was the
daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Cingris. She became the
wife of Niul and the mother of Goidheal, the progenitor of
the Gaels. There was a third lady of this name, the supposed
daughter of the pharaoh Nectanebus, the wife of Mil. She
was killed warring with the Tuatha daoine and is buried at
Scotia’s Glen, three miles from Tralee in County Kerry. See
Sgatha.

SCOTRAIGE, Eir., a vassal sept listed in the “Book of

Ballymore.” Their geographical position was unstated. The
form Scott is certainly a contraction. The modern G.
Equivalent may be Scottaib, originally a dweller in Ireland,
currently a resident of Scotland. During the four centuries
of Roman withdrawal from Britain the Scots invaded Dal
Riada in Alba from northern Ireland. This was about the year
500 A.D. about the advent of Celtic Christianity in nearby
Northumbria. Adamnan classified the mainland Scots as
Scoti Britanniae and said they consisted of genus Gabran
and genus Lorni. The latter may have been mercenaries
similar to the Feinn of Ireland.

SEABHAG, SEOBHAG, (showag), same as seaghd, a falcon.

SEAC, to wither, EIr. seccaim or secc, to shrivel, Cy. sychu,

to dry from Lat. siccus. The G. searg, wither, is the same
word. This is the OSax. swercan, to become gloomy, and is
related to the G. seasg, barren, dry. at the root is the Celtic
sit, dry. The chief effect of “witchcraft,” anciently called
“withercraft.”

SEACHD-MHIOS. The ”seventh month.” In spite of the literal

meaning. this is July.

SEACHD-SIONA, the seven elements, i.e. fire, air, earth,

water, ice, wind and lightning.

SEAGH, sense, esteem, Ir. seagh, high regard, esteem,

strength, seaghdha, learned, Mir. seg, strength, Gaul sego-,
pith, filled with spirit, ON. sigr, victory, the Indo-European
word segh, to hold. This word has reference to the
mythological Daoine sidh, or “side-hill folk.” The next word
confers and shows additional linguistic connections.

SEAGHDH, Shaw, anglicized as Seth, sometimes aspirated in

Gaelic as Ay. Formerly Siach, Schiach, Scheach, Scythach,
Sithigh. Represented in The Book of Deer as Sithech, the MIr
sidhach, wolf. The same word as sithich or sith, one of the
side-hill people; the direct descendants of the Daoine sidh,
who "went to earth" following their defeat by the Milesians.
The feminine personal name Sitheag, anglicized as Shiak or
Shihag. The southern Shaws of Ayrshire and Grenock are
descended from the Teutonic de Shaw of England, but their
name influenced the northern spelling and pronunciation, the
latter having once been "shee." Moncrieffe says that Shaw
was aspirated to create the Gaelic Clan Ay or Ha.

SEALBH, possessions, cattle, luck, EIr. selb, OIr. sel, take by

force, Cy. helw, possession, ownership, Eng. sell and self

SEALBHAG, sorrel, the “bitter herb,” cf. Eng. sorrel perhaps

from the word sour.

SEALG, a hunt, OIr. selg, Cy. hela, to hunt, Bry. Selgo-vae,

now known as Solway, the “Road of the Hunt.” the root sel,
to capture, as in sealb, possessions, cattle, good luck.
After the ON. goddess Hel, the Gaelic Cailleach bheurr.

SEALGAR, a hunter. The Gaels of the western highlands were

only gradually weaned from hunting and herding after the
great Caledonian Forest was chopped away by Norse ship-
builders and deliberately burned to eliminate "wolves"
(sidh) and "bandits". Agriculture was a poor substitute on
this rainy coast and cropped failed regularly every second
year. Noticing that his tenants were starving on their
oatmeal diet, Clanranald, the proprietor of South Uist
imported potatoes from Ireland in 1743. Clanranald
actually had to imprison some of his farmers before he
could convince them to plant spuds, and even after they
were harvested, people refused to eat them. In the most
barren lands of the far north, the clans took work as
military mercenaries, thus gaining their daily bread second
hand.

SEALLADH, sight, view, vision, dream, supernatural sight.

See an-dara-sealladh.

SEAMH, SEIMH, good luck, chance, prosperity, mild, peaceful;

also a charm used to make one’s friends prosper. See next
entry. Resembles samhach, quiet, still, pleasant. Possibly
allied to Eng. soft. See the goddess Samh.

SEAMHAS, good luck; also seannas, good chance and

seamhsail, lucky, from the English chance. It was said that
men would receive as many blessings as curses in a
lifetime, thus the wise Scot sought to avoid surfeits of
either good luck or bad.

SEAMLACH, a cow that gives milk without her calf being

present, an impudent or silly person, Scot. shamloch, a cow
that has not calved two years in succession.

SEAMSAN, hesitation, delay, quibbling over a point, a sham.

Northern English sham, a trick. a cecit, similar to shame.

SEAN (shawn), old, OIr. sen, Cy. & Bry. hen, Gaul. seno, Lat.
senex, Goth. sinista, oldest, Eng. seneschal, an elderly
advisor, Skr. sanas. Seanagar, old-fashioned. knowing,
seanair, the “high old-one,” a grandfather.

SEANACH, crasfty, lucky.

SEANACHAS, conversation, a story, a tale, history,

genealogy. Hence senachaidh, a reciter of ancient lore.

The priests who arose to gather and periodically

reiterate the rules of human conduct used myth as the
backbone of the ethical and moral edifice we call religion. A
problem with myth has always been the fact that it
essentially verbal rather than recorded history. The
scientist and the historian place great reliance on ideas
magically embedded upon paper for future retrieval. It is an
irony that the invention of writing is usually credited to the
gods, in the case of the Celts, Ogma, of “the silvered-
tongue.” The Old Norse said that their runes were given to
them by Odin. Magazines such as “National Enquirer” make
it clear that the printed word is not essentially truthful
simply because it seems to have more persistence than the
spoken word. The printed word often preserves unintended
errors or even deliberate lies in our history and science.
The old senachies among the druids were at least held to an
oath:

It is my duty
To preserve inviolate the history of the
fathers,
To pass it along without bias by
instruction,
From mouth to mouth, from knee to knee,
The witness and the heritage most
precious
In the power of the free, as opposed to the
unfree,
Without injury to any person or thing,
Without twisting the truth, in opposing
deceit,
Without strengthening evil, without
weakening justice,
So long as the blood is warm, and breath in
the body...

As far as we know, excepting the Hippocratic Oath,

there is no promise of veracity in the modern arts and
sciences, and fable is probably more often immortalized
now than it was in times past. Speaking to the question of
truthful accountings, Irish historian Seumas MacManus has
said: “the ancient myths of Ireland are far from baseless
myths. The Irish people cling to tradition. Not only were
the great happenings enshrouded in their memory forever,
but even little events are seldom forgotten. We know that
away back to the remotest antiquity , the senachie and the
poet were honoured next to the king because of the
tremendous value the people set upon the recording and
preserving of their history. The poet and the senachie
following the fashion of the time, took advantage of their
artistic privilege to colour their narrative to an extent that
to the modern mind would seem fantastic. But it was the
details of the story that were granted this liberty. The big,
essential facts had to remain unaltered. The things of
importance no poet of repute could or would dare to
falsify.”

SEANACHAS, tale, story, narration, conversation, discourse,

talk, speech, language, tradition, chronicle, history, a
history, antiquities, genealogy, biograohy, old stories.

SEANAIR, high and old, a druid, elder, older relative, member

of parliament etc.

SEANFHACAIL, sean, old; facail, strife, proverbs, wise

sayings. The wisdom of the elderly.

SEANMHAIR, sean, old; marach, big and ungainly; a

grandmother or grannie. “Bordering on the supernatural
were stories told of the “grannies” or healing women. They
were last in a line of women who had been more numerous
in the days before the rise of the medical profession...From
generation to generation, the grannies had passed on the
mysteries of their healing arts, an essential element of
which was the “charm” - the secret word or words which
helped in the healing process. For example, if the grannies
were told that someone had something in his eye, as long as
it could move, she could take it out (even if the person
happened to be at a distance) provided she had his full name
and baptism, and knew which eye it was in. This was done
by taking a special bowl to the spring where the charm was
repeated and the water was dipped three times. No matter
where the person was, the offending object would leave the
eye. This charm had come from Scotland. It was probably
Gaelic but since secrecy was essential for the efficacy of
the charm, nobody but the granny knew this for
certain...Unfortunately this charm was lost (on Pictou
Island, N.S..) when the last grannie died over on the
mainland, before she could pass it on to a successor who
also had the “gift.”” (Pictou Island Nova Scotia, pp. 15-16).

SEARBHADAIR - M'ILLEATHAIN, Maclean's Towel, searbant,

from the English servant; mac Gill' Sheathain (Iain), the
“Servant-lad of the sith named Iain.” A seat of the
Macleans is Ardgour, a Gregorian home at Allt Coire, above
Loch Clunie. Behind it stands "Maclean's Towel," a waterfall
which is closely watched since it has been predicted that
the Maclean's will only hold their lands until this rivulet
runs dry.

SEARBHAN, “Eastern Declivity,” Trees, being rooted in the

underworld, were regarded as influenced from above, but
guarded from below. Thus a one-eyed Fomorian named
Searbhán had charge of a magical tree, squatting at its
foot by day and sleeping in its branches at night. Of terrible
appearance, he turned back the powerful warriors known as
the Feinn. During the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne, the
pair made friends with this sea-giant and persuaded him to
hide them among the leaves (i.e. in the Otherworld). there
were safe there from pursuing enemies but when Grainne
grew hungry and began to nibble the berries (was sexually
active with him) and Diarmuid had to kill him.

SEARG, wither, OIr. sercim, illness, Osax. swercan, to be

overtaken by gloominess. English sear. One of the arts of
the boabhe. See next.

SEARGACH, the act of withering, to cause withering, to

cause decay, blistering, fading or pining away; the blasting
(of corn), scorching a crop. See next. Searmonaiche, a fire-
and-brimstone preacher

SEASG, barren, dry, EIr. sese, Lat. siccus, dry, situs, thirst.
From this seasgair, literally the “high-and-dry one,” a
person in comfortable circumstances, cosy, one who is
warm and quietly disposed. From this also seasgann, a fenny
country, a marsh, i.e. a place devoid of normal plant life, a
“barrens,” cf. with Eng. sedge. Seasgach, causing barreness.

SEIC, a sac. A meal bag made of rushes or hide. A

satisfactory container for magical relics. Peritoneum.

SEID, swelling of the body due to excessive food. Surfeit,

voluptuessnesss. To blow, as the wind, breathe upon, as in
witchcraft, pant, puff, flatter, inflate, prompt another to do
evil, seidean, quicksand, seidir, lazy inactive person,
seidrich, hissing of serpents, asthmatic. See next.

SEIDEAN SIDE, SIDE GAOILE, GAOT SIDE, the sithe-wind,

seid, to blow; the sidh gale, the "fairy" blast. A sudden
gust, or whirlwind, of air said caused by, or surrounding,
the Daoine sidh as they travelled (see also, faet fiala, the
cloak of invisibility). Wise men seeing this breeze, bowed
to it, wishing the "little people" bon voyage. Those that
failed to slow good manners were often injured with dust or
a sprig blown into an eye. The Daoine sidh sometimes
guarded treasures and those who sought to steal it away
were often lifted out of this world on the siden side. When
this wind appeared under a gray sky it was the signal of the
passing of a soul from the world of men; on a sunny day it
was an omen for good haying weather.

SEILEACH, a willow, EIr. sail, genetive saileach, Cy. helyg,

willows, Corn. heligen, the salix, Brey. halek, willows, Lat.
salix, Eng. sallow. A cult-tree useful in creating homes and
coracles as well as magic.

SEILE-SGANN, placental membrane. a seal, the placenta of

an animal, used as the focus for witchcraft. Considered a
sign of Fomorian attachments if found positioned over the
head of a human at birth. If kept it was proof against
drowning and death by fire.

SEIRC, love.

SEIRM, sound, a musical note, a musical noise, as the ringing

of a bell, Celtic root sver, song, Skr. svara, sound, music,
Eng. swear, answer, Lat. sermo, a speech, Eng. sermon, Cy.
chwyrnu, hum, snort, the Eng. chirp. Seist, the melody of a
song, a ditty,

SEISE, pleasant to the senses, a match, equal in abilities, a

comrade, companion. A more powerful partner was
considered likely to tap, and draw off, the vital energies of
a less powerful mate or co-worker, seiseachd, sensuality,
noisiness, a treat.

SEMION MAC STARIST. The progenitor of the Firbolge.

SEOD, SIOD, a jewel, a hero, same as seud, a treasure, Lat.

sentis, a real presence, a being.

SEONADH, SEONIADH, augury, sorcery, druidism. Also

identified as a water-sprite of Lewis propitiated with a cup
of ale. On an annual basis, the folk of the isle came to the
church at St. Mulway. Each family campoed there and used
malt to brew ale.One representative of each family group
then waded into the sea up to the waist carrying a cup-full
of brew. There he cried out Seonadh, I give thee this cup of
ale, hoping that you will send the seaware to encrich our
ground in the copming year.” The ale was then thrown to the
water. This ceremony was performed at night and
afterwards residents went back to the church where a
candle had been lighted before the altar. The congregation
stood respectfully before the flame which was suddenly and
deliberately extinguished. After that the parishoners
retreated to their make-shift camps in the field s where
they made good use of the surplus of ale. In the morning all
the islanders returned home expecting that their crops
would flourish in the coming year. This word confers with
seun, a charm for protection.

SEUDAG, a charm, jewel.

SEUN, a charm, also to defend using a charm, EIr. sen, good

luck, a blessing, a sign from a god, Cy. swyn, a charm and
swynor, a magician. Related to the Latin signum, the "sign
of the cross." This device was used to ward off evil long
before Christianity. In Scotland tailors were approached
for remedies against evil-spirits in much the same way
that cobblers were considered in England. A story is told
that a tailor, in the north, was once "troubled" by a baobh
who came to him seeking embers to start her fire. The
tailor's wife was busy at her churn when the witch-woman
entered and the crafts-man said, "Keep busily at it." He gave
the visitor every thing she required but took one ember and
muttered words over it, thus creating a charm, which he
then dropped into a tub of cold water. When this happened
the witch-woman's fire went out and she came a second and
a third time looking to renew her fire. The woman saw the
third ember dropped into the water, and seeing it muttered,
"Let my hand away!" indicating she now found herself bound
in place. The tailor assured her he would not unless she
promised never to raise her arts against him again. She did
this and then showed her hand which was seen bruised as
with strokes from the churn paddle. All through this the
tailor's wife had continued to churn, and the tailer
explained that the baobh had felt every blow of the paddle.
When the lid was taken from the churn there was, however,
nothing in it except three perfectly churned lumps of
butter." (Celtic Monthly, p. 220).

SEUNADAIR, a charmer, one who uses charms and

enchantments, conjurer, a defender against magic,
seunmhor, one who has powers of enchantment, enchanted,
using such power, seunsail, risky, in danger of enchantment,
seuntas, seuntas, a charm, an enchantment, magical power,
state of defense against magic, propitousness in
supernatural matters, denial, concealment, stench.

SEUN, SEN NEMED, a “charmed grove.” After Nemed the

leader of an early colonial attempt on Ireland. Sometimes
considered the ultimate ancestor of the British folk. There
is only one Irish place of pagan provenance bearing this
name. This is Nemed on Sliab Fuait in what is now the
Fewer Mountains. The Christians did, however, borrow the
idea of sacred groves from the pagans, and Saint Patrick had
sen nemed, an “ancient sanctuary” at Dunpatrick. There was
one fidnemed on the Isle of Lemnos and the gaels were
praised when the held their forces from entering ni ra-chill
na nemed or “sanctuaries.” Violation of such places was
punishable by a fine. In Scotland, which was much later
Christianized there are plenty of reminders of Nemed. There
was Medio-nemeton, or “Mid-Shrine” standing on the line of
the Roman Wall between Forth and Clyde. And one ancient
gloss says that Patrick himself was born at Nemthur
somewhere in northern Britain. Dumbarton stands in a
district referred to as Neved. There is also Navitie Hill near
Loch Leven in Fife and it was hear that Christians
established the Convent of St. Andrews.

SEUNAN, SINAN as in breac-sheunain, freckles. “Fire spots,”

considered a mark of association with the dreaded Fomorian
sea-giants.

SGUABADBH NAN TUINNIDH, sguab, a broom or besom; badbh,

witch; nan, of the; tuinnidh, hard firm, similar to
tuinneasach, deathful. Euphemistically entitled, "Wave-
Sweeper," the blazing ship of Manann mac Ler, especially
when piloted by the Cailleach bheurr. It is believed to be a
galley that passes once in seven years between the Isle of
Man and the Hebrides. Some say that these tours represent
Manan's inspection of his land realms, but others insist that
he gathers the souls of dead men for transport to Tir nan Og
or An Domhain. This ship is also entitled the Teine thall, or
“Tall Fire.”

SGAD, a loss, mischance from the Scot. skaith, the Eng.

scathe, the Germ. schaden, to hurt, from the ON. goddess
Skadi. Confers with the Eng. scatter. See Sgaitheach, the
Gaelic equivalent of this lady.

SGADARTACH, a group of ragmuffins, anything scattered

about in a haphazard manner, cf. the Eng. scatter.

SGAIL, a shade, a shadow, MIr. scail, OBry. esceilonn, a

curtain, a dividing line, the root ska as in sgath. See next
entries.

SGAIN, burst, rend apart, with the root in skad, to rend,

divide, cut, Skr. skadate, to split. Sgainnir, scatter, make
scarce, the Eng. scatter and squander.

SGAIRNEACH, a heap of loose stones sited on a hillside, also

the sound they make in falling, cf. Scot. scarnoch, a crowd, a
tumult, noise.

SGALG, a servant, husbandman, rustic, EIr. scoloca, said

taken from ON. sklalkr, a gille or servant, a slave, Goth.
skalks, Germ. schalk, a knave, Eng. marshal, seneschal.
Sgallis, insult, contempt, mockery. Allied with sgal, a
shriek or howl, the crying of a dog, cf. sqel, to hit, to split.

SGAOG, a foolish or giddy female, the Scot. skeich, Eng. shy

and skittish. Sgaoim, skittishness.

SGAOIM, a fright, a start due to fear, skittishness. EIr.

scingim, I start, Skr. khanj, limp.

SGAP, to scatter, from skhad, divide, the ON. goddess

Skaddi, the “Disperser.” Similar to Eng. scape and escape.
Also note sgar, sever, separate, sunder, Eng. shear. See next.
SGATHEACH, SGAITHEACH, SCATHA, SGATHA, sometimes
SCATHACH, a shade, a shadow, Cy. ysgod, Cor. scod, Br.
skeud, English, shade, shadow. Uncapitalized sgatheach is
sharp, edged, cutting; sgait, a prickle, a chip of wood
beneath the flesh, from sgath, to lop off. Allied with Eng.
scatter. Also allied with sgar, sever, separate. The root may
be sker, put asunder, the Eng. shear, or seq, cut; both
related to the Gaelic sgeir, a skerry, i.e an “island” cut off
from the mainland, “a rock in the sea,” all from the ON.
goddess Skulld often represented in the giantess Skadi. She
confers very closely with the Bafinn often being identified
as the third of the Norse fates. She is perhaps remembered
in the named Scatland or Scotland and Skraelingaland, the
ON. name for a portion of Atlantic Canada. in Skadi was a
giantess (the Cailleach bheurr) the goddess of winter,
whose father was the ugly frost-giant, inadvertently killed
by Odin's people. She came to Asgardr expecting
compensation and some say Odin married her to keep the
peace. Others say she was allowed to choose from among
the gods the one she wished to marry, judging their worth
from their legs alone. In this unusual beauty-contest she
selected Niord, a god of the sea. They lived together but
were incompatible and Skadi finally teamed-up with
Uller/Odin, the god of winter. After a time she tired of him
and moved her animals across to the western islands, where
she remained. This mistress of battle was also called
Sgathach nUanaind, the Horrible and Sgathach Buanand, the
Mercenary, and she was said to be the daughter of Ard-
Greimne (the High Sun). The suffix uanaind can be
interpreted as “(one) having a fixed purpose,” and it was
often written alternately as buanna, a “mercenary,” This
corresponds with Búanann, an alternate form for the
goddess Boann or Boyne, who is allied with the Mhorrigan
and the various sea-deities of the west. She is said to have
been a daughter of Árd Greimne (High Stronghold) and she
dwelt in the fortress of Lethra (on the Other Side). The
island of Sky was named after Sgathach, and there she
conducted a military academy. Her most famous student
was Cúchulainn, who she trained for a year and a day. She
gave him the formidable weapon known as the gae bulg.
Sgathach’s daughter Uathach became Cúchulainn’s mistress
and bore him the son named Conla. Similar to Mhorrigan. See
sgithe.

SGÀIL, SGATH, SGAITH, shade, shadow, a ghost of things

living or dead. See Sgaitheach and Bafinn.

SGAIPEAN, a ninny, a dwarf, sgad + peanas, mischance +

punishment; from Scand. skaith, the English scathe, from
the ON goddess Skadi or Skulld, the third goddess of fate,
the lady given the task of cutting the threads of life for
men and the gods.

SGANRADH, dispersing, terror, similar to sgainnir. to

scatter.

SGARBH, a cormorant, the Hebridean island of Scraba, from

the ON. skarfr, a cormorant, the N. Scot. scarf; cf. ON.
skarfva, to cut out in order to join together, scara, to clinch
the planks of a boat, the Germ. schharben, to cut small, chop
into bits, thus Eng. scarf, to cut away in channelled strips,
as the flesh of a whale. Also scarf-skin, the epidermis.
Gaelic sgar, to sever, separate, OIr. scaraim, Cy. ysgar, to
separate, OBry. scarat, same, the Celtic root sker, part,
sunder, the Germ. scheren, shear, cut, the Eng. shear, a
skerry, a rocky island or islet, all conferring with scar, by
all implications, a dangerous place. Thus, “Among the many
Sudereys (southern isles of the Hebrides) the island of
Scarba, alone, can outmatch the coast of Glamorgan (Wales)
for its clamorous walking-dead. Resembling a dolphin in
shape Scarba is lofty (1500 feet) with awe-inspiring cliffs.
Located north of Jura “it ranks among the most haunted
islands in the world,” This is not surprising as the place
was the land base for the “Winter Hag” known as the
Cailleach bheurr. She was actually seen personified in the
adjacent whirlpool of Corryvreckan which unversed tale-
tellers speak of as “the lair of an enormous sea-beast and
the headquarters of powerful Celtic sea gods.” These latter
are no less than Lugh and Manann mac Ler. The “ship of the
dead,” piloted by one of these deities begins its annual run
into the Atlantic from this whirlpool. The beginning of
winter is announced in northern Scotland when the Cailleach
begins her “washing” and moans are heard from this place.
“Few fishermen, even today, will venture near Scarba’s
shore after dusk, for many a rumour tells of the dreadful
cries echoing across the sea from Scarba, and of the strange
eerie forms seen flitting along the shore in the light of the
moon. Here there are certainly more sinister phantoms than
ordinary ghosts and spectres. Legend states that sailors
who have been most evil in mortal life come here for
penance after death and have to walk Scarba’s cliffs
forever; some to be chased eternally by the famous Grey
Dog, drowned between Scarba and Longa, which belonged to
Prince Breacan of Lochlarn. As they run from the dog’s fangs
the phantom sailors must recite their crimes in a loud
voice.” In Celtic art the cormorant is sometimes
represented as having three horns, the crest representing a
central horn. This creature is often illustrated as chain-
bearing, indicating its links to a triad deity. Note also sgor ,
sgaith, and nem-ban-more .

SGEACH, SGITHEAG, the hawthorn berry, EIr. sce, gen. sciach,

Cy. ysbyddad, the hawthorn, Bry. spezad, fruit, a currant.

SGÉANN DÂN. the Shandy Dann, a witch, in person or effigy.

Also known as the Shony. Sgéan, a sudden fright or start, a
wild facial expression, sgeann, a stare, gazing long upon a
thing’ dân, fate or destiny, after the bafinn. Note sgaiteach,
sharp, an edged tool, cutting, from sgait. the Eng. skaith, a
curse; scathing, a prickle, a chip of wood lodged under the
skin. Has correspondence with the goddess Danu. AS.
sceand, shame; note also the English shandrydan, a rickety,
time-worn vehicle from the horse-and-buggy era, “a
witches’ trolley.” Dr. George Henderson identifies her with
Sjofra, one of the goddesses mentioned in the Eddas. In any
case, the word is probably Norse by way of the Isle of
Lewis. The ancient practise of “Torching the Shandy,” was
preserved as late as the reign of Queen Victoria, when it
was a part of the Hallowe’en rites at Balmoral. In those
days an effigy known as the Shandy Dann was kept in effigy
on a shandrydan and hauled about by a torch- bearing
procession of townsmen. She was transported to an already
stoked fire in the town square and there papers were read
by an advocatus diaboli suggesting why she should be spared
death by fire. This advocate being considered an unreliable
witness of character she was, of course, condemned, and
she and her sledge went up to the skiers amidst the skirl of
bagpipe music. Her human attendants sprang from her
blazing car at the last possible moment. “All of the
residents at the Castle enjoyed this curious rite and none
more heartily than the head of the Empire herself.” The Rev.
J. M. McPherson saw this curious rite as a communal
business, “the destruction of a witch as representing the
powers of darkness.” See Samhuinn for more details. It
seems clear that the witch is the sea-goddess Mhorrigan or
Samh for the inhabitants of Bragar used to sacrifice to a
sea-deity named Shony “at the Hallowtide.” A special ale
was brewed at this season, and some chosen representative
of the community waded into the sea and poured out a
libation, saying: “Shony, I give this cup of ale, hoping you
will send us plenty of sea-ware (seaweed) for enriching our
grounds in this coming year.”

SGEILM, boasting, prattling on, a thin-lipped mouth, a

tattler’s mouth, from the root skel as in sgal, howl, shriek.

SGEINNNIDH, twine, flax, hemp thread, Ir. sgainne, a skein or

clue of thread. Scot. skiny, probably from Eng. skein. The
chief material used in witchcraft.

SGEIR, a rock in the sea, a skerry, from the ON sker, whence

the English scaur or skerry, a place “cut off” from the rest
from the G. root sgar, “sheared.”

SGEUL, a tale, OIr. scel, Cy. chwedl, the root seq, to say, Lat.
inseque, this say I, I tell, Germ. sagen, Eng. say.

SGEUN, dread, disgust, a look of fear, Ir. sgean, fright, a

wild look, from skeng, to start or spring, ON. skaga, jutt out.

SGIAMH, beauty, OIr. sciam, cf. Goth. skeima, a light,, AS.

scima, ON. skimi, a gleam of light, Eng. shine and shimmer.

SGIAN (skane), a knife, EIr. scian, Skr. cha, to cut off. Lat.
scena, the knife of a priest, Eng. section, saw.

SGIATH GAILBHINN, the Storm Shield, ON. skith, firewood, a

billet of wood, a tablet, a shield made of wood. At the
battle of Magh Tuireadh, Lugh struck the head from Balor of
the Evil Eye after he had killed him with his sling. He hung
the venomous head in the forks of a hazel-tree and the
leaves were shed from that tree because of the poisonous
vapours that came off it. For fifty years nothing frequented
that tree excepting ravens and crows. At the end of this
time Manann mac Ler approached and bade his men dig u p
the tree for its wood. As they did some a poisonous vapour
arose from the ground, and nine men got their immediate
death from the radiation. Nine more men died at a later date
and none others were permanently blinded. Nevertheless,
Luchtaine the Carpenter made a shield and a set of
chessmen out of the wood for Manann, and he passed these
relics to Tadg mac Nuada, who deeded them to his grandson
Fionn mac Cumhail.

SGEUL, a narrative, a tale, OIr. scel, from a root-word, "I

tell," sgeulachdan, narrative tales. John Shaw says that
oral mythology, embodied in the long narrative stories, was
the province of male tale-bearers: "Occasionally women
recited from the body of historical and legendary lore and
more frequently they were the custodians of songs (with
their associated stories, musical traditions, charms and
various other branches of oral tradition. Joe McNeil does
not recall any instance of Fenian tales being recited by
women in his own district though the area boasted a good
number of women story-tellers. (Tales Until Dawn, p. xx).
"The druids, highly educated as they were, preferred to
transmit their lore orally to chosen disciples; to record it
would have lessened its magic. They did not want too
familiar a congregation; the less available the mysteries
the more potent their effect." Scientists have tended to
dismiss myths as relics of a past where allegory was taken
literally because science was in the hands of amateurs who
liked truth less than comfortable theology. Even
wordsmiths, who are clearly of the Celtic
druidic tradition, are uncomfortable with myths:
“traditional stories of unknown
authorship, ostensibly with an historical basis, serving to
explain some phenomena of nature, the origins of man, the
customs, institutions, religious rites, etc.” The word
“ostensibly” makes it clear that Mr. Webster, and his
lexicographers, wanted to disassociate themselves from the
old world of myths. The truth is, modern men is
neurotically attached to explaining everything he sees while
the ancients were often content to record natural
happenings as they observed them.

Perhaps each new generation can only exists in this

unpredictable, uncontrollable world by thinking themselves
less child-like and inept than those who came before?
Mythology is now seen as fable, untruths meant to explain
the terrors of the night and create ghostly terminators able
to scare an essentially amoral group into observance of the
few basic rules, without which civilization is impossible.
The priests who arose to gather and periodically reiterate
the rules of human conduct used myth as the backbone of the
ethical and moral edifice we call religion. A problem with
myth has always been the fact that it essentially verbal
rather than recorded history. The scientist and the
historian place great reliance on ideas magically embedded
in paper for future retrieval. It is an irony that the
invention of writing is usually credited to the gods, in the
case of the Celts, Ogma, of “the silvered-tongue.” The Old
Norse said that their runes were given to them by Odin.
Magazines such as “National Enquirer” make it clear that
the printed word is not essentially truthful simply because
it seems to have more persistence than the spoken word.
The printed word often preserves unintended errors or even
deliberate lies in our history and science. The old senachies
among the druids were at least held to an oath:

It is my duty
To preserve inviolate the history of the
fathers,
To pass it along without bias by
instruction,
From mouth to mouth, from knee to knee,
The witness and the heritage most
precious
In the power of the free, as opposed to the
unfree,
Without injury to any person or thing,
Without twisting the truth, in opposing
deceit,
Without strengthening evil, without
weakening justice,
So long as the blood is warm, and breath in
the body...

As far as we know, excepting the Hippocratic Oath, there is

no promise of veracity in the modern arts and sciences, and
fable is probably more often immortalized now than it was
in times past. Speaking to the question of truthful
accountings, Irish historian Seumas MacManus has said: “the
ancient myths of Ireland are far from baseless myths. The
Irish people cling to tradition. Not only were the great
happenings enshrouded in their memory forever, but even
little events are seldom forgotten. We know that away back
to the remotest antiquity , the senachie and the poet were
honoured next to the king because of the tremendous value
the people set upon the recording and preserving of their
history. The poet and the senachie following the fashion of
the time, took advantage of their artistic privilege to
colour their narrative to an extent that to the modern mind
would seem fantastic. But it was the details of the story
that were granted this liberty. The big, essential facts had
to remain unaltered. The things of importance no poet of
repute could or would dare to falsify.”

Ignoring these myth limits us to recorded history

which reaches back about 6000 years into our past. Some
anthropologists say that men have walked the planet for as
much as 4 million years, and this leaves us with no
knowledge of about 3,994,000 passes of summer and winter.
To ignore this wealth of material the observational and
deductional powers of ancient man have to be dismissed out
of hand, and we are forced to presume that, for generation
after generation, the past was never witness to anything
more exciting than the occasional incursion of a hungry
predator into the caves of men. This is a very doubtful
interpretation, although we would never pretend that myths
and legends were all duly attested eyewitness accounts,
unencumbered by artistic flourishes. When bad things
happened to “good” people, in the course of three million or
so years, we think that ancient men noticed even if they
didn’t commit the memories of catastrophic terror to clay
tablet, papyrus, wood or paper.

Vine Deloria, author of Myth and the Origin of Religion

(1974) guesses that creations stories might not be fables
but “collective memories of a great and catastrophic event
though which people came to understand themselves and the
universe they inhabited. Creation stories may simply be the
survivor’s memories of reasonably large and destructive
events.” Of course there may have been repeated times of
destruction and construction, so that the world’s cultures
were forced to reinvent tales of global disaster and rebirth.
There may not be a racial-memory as such, but some
rattling good tales have been handed down to us, and we can
be assured that they have some central truths. The
alternative to this view is a colossal impertinence, which
is almost racial in its overtones. Admittedly, some of our
forbearers had smaller brain cases ( but some had larger),
and we would guess that they were far more intelligent and
accomplished than is generally supposed. Samuel Noah
Cramer says there are mythologists who think that myths
are “trivial superstitious fairy tales of little intellectual
and spiritual import...” Opposed to them are others “who
believe that the myths represent the most profound
achievements of the human spirit, the inspired creation of
gifted and unspoiled minds, uncontaminated by the
scientific approach, and therefore open to profound cosmic
insights...” In addition, there are schools of thought which
suggest that myths are spoken forms of rite and ritual and
those who insist that ancient myths have an etiological
character, being tales invented for the purpose of
explaining the nature of the universe, the destiny of it, and
the origin of the customs, beliefs and practises of men.
Cramer thinks that the origin, character and significance of
myths is a separate matter from their veracity: He says
that it would not seem unreasonable to expect that folklore
might be “based on the written texts of the myths as
contained in the written documents of the ancients, and not
on the versions surmised and improvised, transformed and
recast by some modern enthusiast with an axe to grind and a
point to make.” He is one of those who assumes that the
printed word has extra power or implicit magic.

SGIOBA, a ship’s crew, from ON. skip, a ship.

SGIODAR, splashing about in a bog through muck and mire,
diarrhoea, related to the Scot. scutter and skitter.

SGIOGAIR, a jackdaw, a buffon, a mocker. See above.

SGIOLC. to slip in or out without being seen, a form of

witchcraft. The Eng. skulk.

SGITHE, MIr. Skeith, rhyming with neith. Nom. Scia; genitive

Sceth, dative Scii. The Isle of Skye. Sgithe is later. Same
as Sgath. The nominative is now an t-Eilean Sgiathanach.
Compares with the Norse Skith.

SGIUNACH, a bold and shameless woman, a charm for getting

all the fish in the waters into one's own boat to the
annoyance of one's neighbours.

SGLEAP, ostentation, to flatter, to stare open-mouthed at a

person one wishes to impress.

SGLEO, boasting, romancing, Ir. scleo, boasting, the use of

“high (magical) language.”

SGLEOGAIR, a troublesome fellow, an unwelcome guest, cf.

sgleog, snot, phlegm, a knock at the door. Sgleoid, a silly
person, a slattern or whore.

SGLAIM, wealth acquired by questionable (i.e. magical)

means. See glam.

SGOD. conceit, error, defect, blemish, trailing, dragging, ,

corner of anything, airiness, coqetry, foppery, undue pride,
lordliness, command, rule, disposal. Allied with the next.
Same word as sgot, having a small property at the corner of
nowhere, a piece of land cut off from the rest, a small farm,
a small flock, a small villegae, thus also sgoth, a concealed
hut, a shaded shelter for sportsmen, a son, the choicest part
of anything, overhanging cloud, steep rock, abrupt hill.
Confers with sgotai.
SGOIL BANN. What the boabh did for a living would later be
termed craft by the Anglo-Saxons, and magic in the tongue
of the Normans. Among the Tuatha daoine, these people
were probably members of a priviledged class, which the
Milesians described as the "aes dana" (people of poetry).
The phrase actually embraced a much wider variety of
skills, including musicians, bards, singers, historians,
jurists, physicians and those who worked with metals. The
skills of any of these might be "sgoil-dubh" (black art) or
"sgoil-bann" (white art) depending on whether they were
used to damage or aid an individual. Any poorly developed
craft was labelled sgoitechd, which is to say silliness or
quackery. The basic kinds of Gaelic "magic" involved
divination, or sooth-saying, employing an da shealladh (the
two sights) and wonder-working, which carried ordinary
crafts to god-like heights.

SGOIL DUBH, "the black arts," sgoil, school, literally the

black school. In Celtic Britain there were no witches. The
hagges and wights, the ancestors of the witch, arrived with
Anglo-Saxon sea-rovers, who did not "trouble" the island
kingdoms of Britannia and Hibernia until the middle of the
fifth century after Christ. It is a misnomer to speak of
Celtic witchcraft, and it is equally improper to speak of
druids, witches and bhaobhs as if they were all equal
participants in the "sgoile-dubh", or black-arts.

The "sgoil-dubh" was anciently considered the

business of the "bhaobh", or "baobh". This word is retained
in the Gaelic tongue to describe "a hag, a male or female
practitioner of magic, or a carrion crow." It used to be
thought that the baobhs were capable of assuming the form
of the crow and the word "druid" has, similarly, been
preserved in Gaelic to indicate another black bird commonly
called the starling or thrush. When Englishmen found
themselves in an awkward situation, they spoke of being
caught "between the devil and the deep blue sea." A Gael
with few options would say that he stood, "eadar a'bhaobh 's
a' bhuarach", which is, "between the magician and the staked
cow." The latter tended to get surly from standing in the
 sun, and there was "a superstitious fancy" that men nudged
by the horn of a tethered cow would afterwards be
childless. 1

SGOILTEACHD, silliness, quackery, teachd, boasting; the

boasting school. Christian view of the sgoil dubbh. See
above.

SGONAICHEAN, scones, the lowland form for bonnach, or

unleavened bread.

SGÔR-SGRAIDEAG, SGÔRR-SCRIÂD, SGEIR-SCRIÂD, a sharp

rock in the ocean, the ON. skaerr, Eng. scar, a cliff, also
shore, the AS. score. Confers with ON, sker, G. sgeir, a rock
in the sea, Eng. skerry, seaur, “cut off,” similar to shear.
The last word, a diminutive woman, a hag, witch or crow, an
old cow; an “island of witchcraft.” All from the ON.
skratta-sker, a wizard or troll skerry.

There are three prominent skerries in Scottish

waters: The one off the extreme northwestern coast is
represented on current maps as Sula Sgeir, the “Gannet
Skerry,” but is noted on a 1611 sea-chart as pfouil Skarre,
the “fell or “foul Skerry.” The Skellig Rocks off
southwestern Ireland, also entitled St. Michael’s Skerry,
seems an equally unlikely spot for human habitation but we
are assured that a thousand years ago between 500 and 800
monks of the Celtic Christian Church considered this a
monastic centre. The island still preserves the beehive huts
and oratories used by those holy men. Like monasteries
elsewhere these passed into ruins after raids by hostile
Irish tribes and the Vikings.

This word may have its ultimate root in Kari, the Old
Norse god of the upper air, an elemental whose “brothers”
were Lokki and Hler. His feminine counterpart is perhaps

1See Thomas M. Murchison, Prose Writings of Donald Lamont,

Edinburgh, 1960. Notes, #10, p. 172. He says: "Baobh is applied to several
female supernaturals of very evil omen."
Skati, the goddess of the winter winds, the Gaelic Cailleach
bheurr. These sea-islands had the benefit of fresh air, thus
the MEng. schere, pure and bright.

Notice that the Grecian hero Odysseus fleeing from

Calypso’s mid-Atlantic retreat, was carried on a “swim-
bladder” to Scheria an island kingdom which appears to have
been dominated by the Phoenicians, and was perhaps an
outpost of that ancient Mediterranean civilization. The
natives of this place may have been the Nemedians who fled
the Fomorian giants of Ireland. It is noted that the
Scherians had once lived on the islands of the Cyclops (one-
eyed-giants) but had fled from the oppressions of these
savages. Again, they resemble the Tuatha daoine being
described by Homer as “god-like, fearing no man.” They
were said to be extremely wealthy and lived in such
remoteness they were “undisturbed by the alarms of war.”
It is recorded that they had no need for bows or arrows and
that their chief joy was oceanic navigation.

Like the ship of Manann their craft were fast cutters

apparently driven by an intelligence that required no pilots.
It was said that their trade ships knew “every bay
intimately,” and that they had the fortune of being governed
by a king who was “a just man and a beloved sovereign.”
This classical island is reminiscent of the “northern isles”
where the Tuatha daoine gained their learning in the
magical arts, for it is said that although this island was in
a northern location it had a courtyard near the palace which
was “four acres in extent.” Within the confines, the
visitors noticed pomegranate, pear, apple, fig and olive
trees and saw that these plants were magically touched
since “neither winter’s cold nor summer’s drought arrested
their growth.” The vineyards were equally prolific and there
were garden-borders “of all kinds blooming the year
around.” Surprisingly, there are such “summer isles,” off
the northwest coast of Scotland, places where semi-
tropical plants are commonplace.

SGOR-SGRAIDEAG DUBTH, the “Black Skerry,” also known as

“The Black Skerry of MacPhee.” Note that Mac-Phee denotes
“Son of the Sith,” thus an individual with supernatural
assets. The last of the MacPhee lairds at Colonsay being
defeated by the MacNeils was forced to take shelter in a
cave at Urkaig Beag. This cave has an entrance from the land
and another towards the sea. The chief placed his three
guard-dogs at the sea-entrance, and positioned himself at a
place in the cavern where the cave contracted so that a man
could only pass on his hands-and-knees. When MacPhee saw
theshoulders of an enemy poke through he beheaded him, and
dragged his corpse inside. When five or six foes went
missing, the remainder decided to dig down into the cave
from above. hearing them decided to flee through the sea-
entrance which was now below the tide. He started the mile
swim across Kiloran Bay, and had nearly escaped when he
was spotted. A lucky arrow lodged in his hip and he was
forced to land on a rock in the stream. There he extracted
the arrow and completed his swim. The cave where he
harboured is today known as MacPhee’s Cavern while the
rock where he stopped is the Black Skerry.

SGRAB, write, erase, scratch, sgrabach, rough, and the

writers or scratchers, “an sgraid” an old hag, also an old
cow or mare. Sgraideagach, puny, diminutive, ugly.
Sgraingeag, surly woamn, sullem woman, niggardly woman.
See next.

SGREAGAG, shrivelled old woman, penurious or mean old

woman; greagair, an old man of the same sorts. SGOTH, a
boat, a skiff, a Norwegian skiff, from Scand. skude, ON.
skuta, a cutter.

SGRAIDEAG. a small morsel, a diminutive woman, the Ir.

sgraideog, a hag, an old cow or mare. Cf. Sc. cradyn, a puny
sickly child, skrat, a puny person and skratti, a wizard, a
goblin, "Old Scratch", a pagan god, the Devil. See Sgatheach.

SGRÀL, host. A huge force consisting of many individual

units. Formerly, an individual having the power of life or
death over a hostage, or guest. Also, the pack of animals
and souls of the living and the dead that trailed the winter-
deity, as he or she swept south, seeking new recruits at
mid-winter. This was the crowd referred to in the lowlands
as the "Unsely (unsilly, not funny) Host."

In the Old Norse communities this band was labelled

the Asgardreia, or “Asa's Pack” after the god Asa, or Odin.
Alternately, these soul-collectors were entitled the "Raging
Host, Gabriels Hounds, Woden's Hunters," or simply the "Wild
Hunt." The leader of all this in Scotland and Ireland was the
Gaelic Cailleach bheurr, their Nathair or the Norse Odin, who
was sometimes reckoned as the “Lord of the North Wind.”
In this guise Odin rode out upon a jet-black steed, that had
eight legs. His pack travelled on anticyclones of wind and
souls were swept away on the storm, supposedly riding
forever in the upper air, upon gusts that whirled in an
endless counter-clockwise array.

As the leader of disembodied spirits the Death-lords

(or -ladies) were in charge of hunting hounds, and men of
earlier times fancied they heard the barks of these
monsters and the beat of horses-hoofs in the rush and roar
of the winter wind. In Scotland, as elsewhere, it was
thought bad business to mock the host by repeating the
storm noises. It was reported that those who did were
often snatched away before their allotted time on earth was
ended. The few who wished the wind-god good hunting,
sometimes found themselves possessed of a haunch of meat
thrown down from a thunder-cloud. In some cases, this
"meat" turned to a pile of gold overnight.

If the death-god left a household with a small black

dog, it was understood that this hound was a stray and had
to be well-kept until the winter-clouds gathered again
unless it could be exorcised or frightened away. In the
middle ages, when the old gods had become a memory,
northern folk still dreaded winter-storms for their spirit-
sapping effects. In Christian times, when Odin was no
longer known, men still remembered the host, and could only
guess that the leader was some human criminal, thus
leadership passed variously to King Arthur, Charlemagne,
Frederick Barbarossa, or other notable sabbath-breakers,
supposed to have been given this duty as punishment for sin.
As the winds blew most fiercely during the days of the Yule
(Yell), peasants were careful to leave a measure of grain in
the fields for the passing host. The leader of this gang in
Gaelic parts was the Nathair or the Cailleach bheurr.

SGRÂL, AN, The Host. again a whole made up of many

individual parts. Conferring with sgriothail, sgrios, destroy
or break up into minuatæ. The ultimate root is sgar, to
severe, separate or cut away. This is the OF. graal, the F.
gréal, Lat. gradalis, referring originally to a vessel or
container cut up into compartments for different kinds of
food. Possibly a terraced structure as gradus, stepped, the
San Gréal or Sainted Grail, more often referred to as the
Holy Grail of the medieval Romances. Conferring with ON.
skrá, dry shedding skin, a parchment; the Gaelic sgreag, dry,
parched, the Eng. scraggy, shrunken, possibly referring to
the solid part of the host. This last confers with
sgreataidh, disgusting, horrible, which relates to the ON.
skratti, a monster, wizard or goblin, and to skrat or
skraeling, a puny individual, a dwarf. The name skratti
relates to skatti, a tax-payer and to the Eng. Old Scratch,
the Devil.

Again, the Gaelic sgrios, destroy, and sgreubh, to dry

up or crack because of drought. The ultimate reference is to
the mortal-goddess Sgratheach who the Norse called Skatti
or Skadi, whose name is given Skatiland or Scotland. A
variant of this name was also visited on a portion of North
America discovered by the Old Norse during the first
century: Skraelingaland.

From her, the Gaelic sgàth, a shade or shadow, and

Sgratheach is the “cloaked one,” the shaded one. Skadi is
their goddess of winter; the Shandy-Dann of Scottish
folklore. She was nicknamed the Cailleach bheurr, or
“Winter Hag,” and corresponds with the Gaelic Danu, Anu or
Boann who is also the triad goddess known as the Bafinn.
 In Scandinavia the goddess of fate was known as Nornr
and one of her three parts was Skulld, who is said to confer
with Hel, the warder of the underworld known as
Nifhelheim. The English Holy Grail is an interesting concept
as the Anglo-Saxon halig, or holy has direct reference to
Hel. In English a grail was a vessel, chalice or cup perhaps
taking note of the LL. gradalis, a vessel used for liquids.

In Christian mythology the expression The Grail or

Holy Grail was reserved for a legendary platter from which
Christ is said to have eaten his Last Supper, and in which
Joseph of Arimathea caught his blood at the Crucifixion. It
was sometimes, erroneously, described as the wine glass,
or chalice, which he used at that supper. The Grail was
supposedly brought to England and there preserved for many
centuries by the knights of the Grail. Its bad reputation was
in its reaction to imperfect individuals. Eventually it
overlooked too much evil and vanished from human sight.
Some of the knights of King Arthur’s court quested after it,
but those tainted by impiousness or impurity were barred
from finding it. In the end the perfectly pure triad of Bors,
Percivale and Galahad viewed this “Christian” relic and
were immediately assimilated into the Otherworld. Norma
Lorre Goodrich says some of the medieval writers identified
the grail as “a cup or a chalice; some thought it was a
platter, or a monstrance, or a brilliant gemstone. All
associated it with a dazzling white light...”

The “rehistorian,” Michael Bradley noticed a loose

similarity between the medieval San Greal and the modern
French sang real, and interpreted the word as “blood royal.”
His esoteric arguments led to the conclusion that the True
Grail was the physical bloodline of descendants of Jesus
Christ secretly preserved and protected in Europe and
Canada by descendants of the Knights Templar (see Holy
Grail Across the Atlantic). The only problem with this is the
fact that The Grail is older than Christianity and has the
patently pagan connotations noted above. The Grail is the
pagan Coire Dagda or, the “Dagda’s Kettle,” or Cauldron of
Abundance, which appears in both Gaelic and Cymric
mythology. This Coire Mor , or “Great Kettle,” has been
identified as a metaphor for the Atlantic Ocean, its plant
and animal life providing all that men might need. The “pigs
of the sea” which gave the Fomors and the Tuathans
immortality may represent these resources.

It was, also, a talisman of god-spirit, the source of

abundance and reincarnate life in Celtic mythology. In the
Welsh legend of Bran it was taken from Ireland where it
was returned as part of the dowry of his sister Branwyn. In
Taliiesin’s poem it is represented as part of the spoil from
Annwan, or Hades, brought out of the western ocean by
Arthur. In this case it is to have been deposited in the
Castle of Pwyll at Caer Pedrywan in Wales. It had a rim of
pearls at the edge and was tended by nine virgin maidens
who fanned the fires beneath it with their breaths and
refused food to any man who was “forsworn.”

This is similar to The Gaelic conception except that

the Dagda placed it, for safe-keeping, with the goddess
Mhorrigan, the daughter of the creator-god Don, rewarding
her duplicity in allowing them within the gates of An
Domhain. Most remotely it is said that the Cauldron
represented the sun itself, a kettle pouring forth light, heat
and accompanying fertility upon the earth. Lugh was the
Gaelic god of the sun, and the Ocean was often referred to
as “Lugh’s Kettle,” as it was seen that he passed into it
each day at dusk. In the early myths of the “Rape of the
Deep,” it is said that many treasures were taken away, and
sometimes the Cauldron is spoken of as a “Stone of
Abundance.” As we have noted Lugh was entitled Lugh “of
the Long Arm,” because he was invariably seen carrying the
“Spear of Creation,” and this “lightning weapon” was
equated with the male sexuality and abundance. Following
this concept back into Indo-European myths we encounter
the lightning-lance of the thunder-god Indra, which seems
to be translated into Norse mythology as the hammer of
Thor and the lightning-staff of the goddess Bolg or Bolt, the
Gaelic Boann. Notice that the sword of Tyrr was said
fashioned by dwarfs from “a stone that fell from heaven,”
and this was similar to the sword of Nuada which was
struck against the spear of Lugh to fashion the worlds.

However it happened to be represented, this source of

inspiritment, symbolized the tendency of the world toward
chaos and the restoration of order in the seasons by some
divine instrument and/or champion. This centre of all being
was also consulted to bring an end to end famine, war and
pestilence. We know that the pagans fashioned mock-
cauldrons into which they dripped the blood of enemies from
lance-point. Some Christian poet, in a flash of inspiration,
transformed the ancient Cauldron into the cup of the
Eucharist, and then Chrestien de Troyes launched the idea
in European literature under the title Conte del Graal. This
was the tale of Perceval and that itself is significant in
the fact that the Welsh per is the Irish coire, a “kettle.”
Notwithstanding, the graal or “grail” is represented it this
tale as “a blood-dripping lance.”

Twenty years later, Wolfram von Eschenbach

reformed the graal describing it as the sustenance of the
guardian knights of Grail Castle: “It is called lapsit exillis,
or the Gral.” The term lapsit excillis breaks down into lapis
ex celis, the “blue-stone from the ceiling (i.e Heaven). It is
significant that the mythic sword of the Old Norse god Tyrr,
which was named Tyrfing (Tyrr’s finger), was similarly
made of meteoric iron. This Gral was said deposited at
Anjou, France, by a flight of angels. Its power for good was
renewed by a dove that alighted on it on Good Fridays. Its
repository was the Castle of Montsalvat where it was
guarded by four hundred knights, all vowed to virginity,
excepting their king, who was commanded to reproduce in
order to support the order. The Grail was said to speak to
men through messages which appeared on its face. It was
said that sick or wounded men did not die as long as they
gazed on this amulet of Heaven and its servitors, like the
Tuatha daoine, never wearied or grew old as long as they
were within sight of it. he The knights saw it daily
transformed into bread and wine, and upon this magic
foodstuff they lived individual lives in excess of two
hundred years. Each man found in it the taste he most
desired, thus it was noted that the food was a son gre, or
“custom tailored.”

The connection of this food with Manann’s “sea-pigs,”

which were eaten and then regenerated themselves
overnight seems obvious. A stone of Abundance is seen in
the Welsh “Peredur.” It was guarded by a black serpent
(Mhorrigan’s stand-in) which Peredur slew, afterwards
giving the amulet to a friend named Etlyn. The final
transmutation of the Grail recreated it as a cornucopia or a
drinking vessel with all the magical properties of the
Cauldron of the Deep preserved in full. The word grail has
been said derived from the Low Latin cratella, “a small
vessel or chalice,” but that word may be derived from
Celtic models rather than the reverse.

It will be recalled that the Dagda’s cauldron and

Lugh’s spear, were the chief treasures of the Tuatha daoine,
but they also possessed Nuada’s sword and the Lia Fail, or
“Talking stone.” Interestingly, these are the very objects
which folklore and literature place in the Grail Castle.
Wolfram also included there the notion that the Grail could
only be touched by a virgin maiden, and said that it was
invisible to pagans, who could not benefit from its powers.
It is, perhaps, a sad comment on Christian morality that the
knights who protected the artifact were finally corrupted
to the man. See An domhain, muc, samh and saigh.

SGREATAIDH, disgusting, horrible. Cf ON. skratti, a

monster, the Devil, "Old Scratch." See above entries.

SGREUCH, dried up, parched, cracked by drought from Sc.

scrae, a dry withered elder, skratti, the Devil, Eng. Screw,
the Devil. Note the Samhain rite of “Fathoming (Embracing)
the Screw:” “In Shetland a small stack of bere (barley) was
set aside for Broonie (Brownie). One went blindfold into the
courtyard and fathomed the screw three times sunwise and
three times widdershins, and at the last turn embraced the
shade of the future spouse. Elsewhere an undedicated screw
sufficed.”

SGRID, last breath of life, thought to carry with it the

spirit of the deceased.

SGROB, scratch from the Lat. scrobis, a ditch, and scrofa, a

pig, a “scratcher” in the dirt. Eng. scrape and grub. Another
collective name for disenfranchised pagan gods or the Devil.
See muc.

SGRIOB AN TUIRE, “the boar’s rayk.” the course gollowed by

this mythic animal to its death; having reference to a famed
boar-hunt and rights of passage. Thus we have in
Sutherlandshire The Tongue, one of the places where
Diarmaid’s final hunt has been located. In the Legend of
Saint Andrews it may be noted that King Hungus granted
Cursis Apr, “the boar’s course,” as a right-of-way, “to God
and St. Andrews.”

SGUIT, SCUITE, wanderer. Particularly a resident of the

Western Isles of Scotland. Macpherson’s scuta from which
he derives Scotti and the ON. Scotti-lande. See also Sgath.

SGULANACH, flippant, evil-tongued. After the ON. goddess

Skulld.

SHELAGH, anglicized spelling, originally SIGHLAG, "the

pretty sidh." Eng. Sheila. Also seen as Sheelagh, the
"englished" form of the Gaelic sith, one of the side-hill folk,
or little people; those the English call elfs or fairies. The
pronunciation is "shee" in Ireland and "shaw" or "shay" in
Scotland. + lag, weak or hollow, curved, and thus laghach,
pretty. Similar to the Latin electus, chosen over others and
the English election. Similar to the Irish Gaelic sidh, a
fairy hill and their word sigh, a fairy. Siabhrach, siobrag
and siochair are a few of the equivalent names in the
Scottish Gaelic. There are numerous other local forms of
the word in both Ireland and Scotland, all derived from the
Old Irish side, those the Romans recognized as the "dei
terreni," or "gods of the earth." Their dwellings were the
sid and side was the ancient name for their magical powers.
The last two words are similar to the Greek sed, a dwelling
place, seat or abode. The Romans learned of these "people
of peace" and introduced into the theology at Rome as the
novensides, the "new (British) gods." Finally we have
sithean, literally "the peaceful home", a green fairy knoll.
Sidh is sometimes translated as wolf, or as venison, the
feed of wolves. A generalized name for any female leader
of these sigh would be siabrach-laghach, which may be
anglicized as sheelagh.

The earliest Sheelagh was the daughter of the Celtic

god Dagda, variously represented in folklore and literature
as the May Queen, Mebd, Morgan, Samh or Bridd. See mhorga
and Cailleach bheurr which are also synonymous. In the
Christian mythology of Ireland Saint Bridd, Brigid, or Brigit,
is considered the female equivalent of Saint Patrick, who
died in the year 460. She is supposed to have been born in
450 to a chieftain named Dubhtach (the Dark One) of Fang
and a Christian bondswomen living in County Louth.
Dubtach's legal wife was not fond of the child and so Bridd
(the Bride) was fostered to a druid, in nearby Faughart.
Interestingly, this is the site of the ford between northern
and southern Ireland, where the northern hero Cuchulainn
single-handedly beat off the armies of the wolf-witch
queen Mebd or May.

Brigit adopted her mother's religion rather than the

druidic traditions and supposedly founded "a convent" at
Kildare. Some have guessed that she chose this site
because it was easy to gather the recently converted at
such well-known places. What is not so easy to explain is
her establishment of "a sacred fire in an enclosure outside
the church." The flame was kept perpetually alight and was
guarded by twenty virgin nuns. This does not sound like
anything remotely connected with Christian creed, but the
fire burned on until it was ordered extinguished by the
archbishop of Dublin in 1220. At that, it was rekindled and
only went dark at the time of the Dissolution of the
monasteries and nunneries.

The warmth of Brigit's personality was sufficient

that she gathered 10,000 converts to her convent. Those
were the days before such places were unisexual retreats
and it was noted that while Brigit "had no interest in
marrying, she never eschewed the company of men." As the
abbess became more powerful she invited bishop Conlaeth
to come to Kildare to serve the interests of the males in her
community. He was a fine artificer in gold, silver and iron
and the community began to specialize in the production of
metal objects for religious and secular use. Some of the
nuns worked with the men in the forges and design shops
but others specialized in weaving, dyeing, cloth work and
medicine. Four years after the birth of Saint Columba, in
the year 525, Brigit died and her remains were placed "in
one tomb with Patrick at Down."

She was clearly a woman of mythic dimensions

described (long after her supposed time) as "the prophetess
of Christ; the Queen of the South; the Mary of the Gaels."
Irish historians have rebelled at the suggestion, but there is
obvious merit in Sir James George Fraser's idea that, "St.
Bride, or St. Bridget, is an old heathen fertility goddess,
disguised in a threadbare Christian cloak. Probably she is
no other than Brigit, the Celtic goddess of fire..." Anciently,
a tribe known as the Brigantines were known to have
crossed from Belgium to northern England and to have
migrated from there to northern Ireland, the seat of St.
Brigit's power. They are sometimes compounded with the
Tuatha daoine (northern people, or people of the goddess
Danu). Folklorist T.W. Rolleston supports Fraser, noting that
"Dana also bears another name, that of Brigit, a goddess
much honoured by pagan Ireland. Her attributes were in
great measure transferred in legend to the Christian St.
Brigit of the sixth century." The name of the older goddess
was also found in Gaul (France) where she was inscribed as
Brigindo. In Greater Britain (England) she was worshipped
as Brigantia.
 Her father/husband was sometimes given as Dagda
(father of the day) and their grandson was Ecne (pronounced
Yeo-hee) whose name means "knowledge" or "poetry". Dagda
and Danu, or Brigit, represent the source of the Tuatha
daoine, "the gods of the earth", and she was identified as
"the mother of the Irish gods." The Tuatha daoine were
eventually defeated and "driven to earth" by totally human
invaders who have been identified as the Milesians, or sons
of Miles. They had insignificant magic as compared with
the Tuathans but they had the advantage of ultra-sharp iron
weapons. It was after the Tuathans were driven to the
hinterland, and to refuge beyond the sea, that they were
contemptuously dismissed as the Daoine sidh, or side-hill
people.

The pre-eminent female leader among these defeated

people was Mebd, the "wolf-queen" who took residence under
Sliab Cruachan in the southern province of Connaught. She
was definitely curvaceous, and pretty, and elected to office
by her Irish peers. On the other hand, she was hardly as
generous with her enemies as her incarnation in Saint Brigit
would suggest and she was definitely more than casually
interested in men. Brigit, herself, was a superior
horsewoman, being represented in a contemporary hymn as
the "cailleach", or nun, who used her chariot to "range the
Curragh" behind two spirited horses. The same was said for
the southern "queen of the May" but she did more than spread
the word of God, being a warrior of the highest order. She
cut down Cuchullain's pal, Cethern in armed combat.
Complaining of this unknown assailant Cethern noted: "As I
stood a tall, long-faced woman with soft features came at
me. She had a full head of yellow hair and two golden birds
stood strangely silent on her shoulders. She wore a purple
cloak folded all about her and had five hands of gold
decorating her back. She carried a light, stinging, sharp-
edged lance, and held her sword in a woman's grip over her
head. Truly she was a massive, frightening figure of
womanhood."

Hearing this Cu chullain smiled wryly: "You are lucky

to remain alive for that was certainly Queen Mebd of
Cruachan. This character is Sheila, the personification of
storm at sea. Like the ocean she is a shape changer: she is
often pictured as a hooded crow, or a dark haired warrior-
woman. This is also the case with mermaids who were seen
at the surface as having golden hair but it became seaweed-
coloured when they were in their deep-water homes. It is
on record that Mebd was as generous as Brigit with her
friends, but enemies were beyond the pale.

While Cuchullain and his friends believed in fair play,

Mebd felt no similar constrains. At the onset of war, she
abandoned the north, and visited a curse on the men of
Armagh, promising them monthly stomach cramps not unlike
those of the female menstrual cycle. They might not have
survived the initial invasion except for the help of the off-
shore hero Cuchullain, who came to them from the Island of
Scathach, off the western shore of Scotland. He held the
pass (where Brigit was born) until his allies recovered their
strength. Mebd is a personification of the voracity,
willfulness and ambivalence of the ocean. On one occasion,
Mebd suggested wiping out friendly tribesman fearing their
eventual attachment to the northern cause. Her consort
Ailill condemned this suggestion as "a woman's thinking"
and said it was "an evil concept."

Mebd, the mhorrigan, said candidly that she never

slept with a man unless another stood in his shadow ready
to do duty. She was always willing to use her sexuality to
cement alliances, thus she said she would sleep with the
warrior Fergus if he would march against Cuchullain. When
that failed to inspire him she offered wealth and marriage
to her daughter. Ailill had a great deal to forgive, but did so
saying, "I know much about queens and women and I lay all
fault in marriage with the strange swellings within a
woman';s breast and with her natural lust." Cuchullain was a
repeated target of Mebd's alternate bursts of lust and hate.
At one "truce", the lady sent six armed warrior against
Cuchullian but he cut them down.
 Next the queen suggested a one-to-one meeting,
promising she would come accompanied by her unarmed
maids-in-waiting. Cuchullain's charioteer was doubtful of
her honesty and advised his co-adventurer: "Mebd is a
forceful woman; if I were you, I'd watch for her hand at my
back." Thus advised, Cuchullain took along a hidden sword,
and it was just as well, for the accompanying maidens
turned out to be fourteen armed men in disguise. Even after
that, Mebd appeared to her nemesis as a beautiful, although
shape-changed woman. When she propositioned Cuchullain,
he said something to the effect that he was too busy and
tired to bother. At that she became truly annoyed, revealed
her real identity, and promised evil times.

At their next meeting, she fought him in serpent form,

worried him as a wolf, and tried to trample him after she
shape-changed into a ravaging herd of cattle. Eventually,
Cuchullain fought the black queen to a draw, but she had the
last laugh. When the hero was an older man, she approached
him as the three old crones (the hags written into
Shakespeare's Macbeth). By subterfuge, these fates
convinced Cuchullain that he should share a stew with them.
Unfortunately, it contained dog-meat, which was his "geis",
or taboo. As a result, he was paralyzed on one side, but
even then he and his stallion held off enemy warriors for
three days and nights.

Not long after, Mebd was herself killed when an

enemy shot a fruit-stone into her forehead with a sling-
shot. Mebd may therefore be seen as the alter-ego of Brigit;
the former an adherent of the dark forces; the latter a
representative of light, wisdom and knowledge. Actually,
the matter is more complex than this, as the supreme
goddess, Befind, was known to be a triad. The Befind
resemble the Roman Fatii and the Scandinavian Nornr; each
group consisting of three women who were responsible for
the fates of the gods and men. The goddess of the past was
the sheelagh, pretty, vivacious, quixotic and sexually
active, and most often called Mhorrigan, or Morgan. She is
alternately Samh or Brigit or Danu, the matriarch of antique
times. Her mature counterpart, the goddess of the present,
was usually said to be the warrior-queen Mebd, Maeve, or
Badb (the last translates from Gaelic as witch, wizard, hag
or carrion crow). The crone of future events was entitled
Macha. While these spirits might be encountered
individually it has to be understood that they were each
components of the larger Befind. The woman adherents of
Befind became the befinds, the spirits given to men and
women as guardians at their birth.

In Atlantic Canada the "line storm" is sometimes

alternately called "St. Patrick's storm" or "Sheila's storm".
This event is usually a snow-storm that comes about the
time when the sun seems to cross the equatorial line at the
time of the vernal, or spring, equinox. Sometimes
parallelling the equinoctial gale, Sheila's storm was
expected "a little before or a little after" Saint Patrick's
Day (March 17) and was expected to be one of the most
difficult storms of the year. It is noted elsewhere that the
sigh (shee) controlled the weather. Those that dwelt in the
underworld were the daoine sigh, while those who lived
beneath the ocean were the daoine mara, and the latter
controlled the face and force of the waters.

In Gaelic parts of the Atlantic Canada folklorist Mary

L. Fraser has noted that any spontaneous assembly of women
is guessed to be an omen of storm. She says: "This may be a
survival of the Old Celtic myth of Cailleach Bheurr (The
Winter Hag), a giant woman who brought the storms of
winter." This woman is, obviously the "horse-faced hag"
who the early Irish called Macha, the third form of the
Befind.

In ancient Ulster Macha was said to have assumed the

sheelagh form and to have taken residence with a young man
named Crundchu. He impregnated her, but noticed that even
encumbered she could outrace the deer of the forest. Being
addicted to gambling, he bet that she could outrace the
king's horses. At the race-course, she pleaded with the men
who were assembled to put off the running until she was
delivered, but the men of the north had no pity. "Then bring
on the horses," said Macha, "I will certainly beat them but
my curse will fall upon you for this infamy." She did as
promised, but fell immediately afterwards and gave birth to
twins. Arising she held the boys aloft and faced the men
saying, "Men of Ulster! From this hour, for nine times nine
generations, you will be as weak and helpless as a woman in
childbirth for five days and four nights of each month, your
spirit robbed when it need be strong." Thus the goddess of
fate abandoned the northerners, and blighted them with "the
Debility of the Ultonians". This caused them to call for the
services of Cuchullain, who was unaffected by the curse
since he was in Scotland at that time. It was, of course,
Queen Mebd (another form of the Befind) who opposed this
northern hero.

It is significant that North Americans remember

Ground-hog Day (in Luneburg County, Nova Scotia it is called
Dak’s Day, or Badger's Day). This informal holiday is
celebrated annually on the second day of February when men
look to see if the groundhog sees his shadow. If he does, six
additional weeks of winter are expected. If the day happens
to be cloudy it is supposed that the back of winter is
broken. In Scotland, men considered bears to be their
"ground-hogs" and looked to their emergence, after
hibernation, with similar interest. Interestingly, the
Micmac tribesmen shared this concept: "The second of
February was regarded as a turning-point in the seasons,
and sun seen on that day was not hailed with delight. There
is the Indian wise saw that goes, "If the bear can see his
shadow on February second, he goes back to his den for more
sleep." Anciently, this was a pagan quarter-day which the
Gaels entitled the "Imbolc", "Imbolg" or "Imbolt." This is
another two part word, derived from "im", once every
twelfth-month, periodically + " "bolt", a welt. This refers
to certain religious practises that need not be examined in
this context.

The time was also called "Bridd's Day" which was

renamed St. Bride's Day or Candlemas. Even after
Christianity was established in Britain, rural men and
women thought it practical to consult the spirit of Bridd in
the highlands of Scotland. There, the beginning of February
was seen as the time for the emergence of mean and
animals from their winter of hibernation or inactivity. It
was also the time for the real or ritual deflowering of the
"oigh" or virgin animals of every species. It is of interest
that the Gaelic word for virgin resembles "og", any young
animal, and "oighre", ice.

Thus, the Imbolc was held at the revival of vegetation

and was a fertility festival. One of its intentions was to
melt the ice of the Cailleach Bheurr and return the fertile
summer-queen Sheelagh to the land. Sir James George
Fraser tells us that some of the old customs were still
practised in the Hebrides in the last century: "The mistress
and servants of each family take a sheaf of oats and dress
it up in women's apparel, put it in a large basket and lay a
wooden club by it, and this they call Bridd's bed; and then
the mistress and servants cry three times, "Bridd is come;
Bridd is welcome." This they do before going to bed, and
when they rise in the morning they look among the ashes (on
the hearth) expecting to see the impression of Bridd's club
there; and if they do, they reckon a good crop year, and the
contrary they will take as an ill omen." Another
commentator says that "one or more candles are left
burning nearby all night long." The interpretation of this we
leave to the individual, but it has obvious sexual overtones.

Spring is much later appearing in Maritime Canada

than in Britain, nevertheless the old weather lore that
surrounds the Bride's Day is well known in parts of our
region. Fraser tells us that people in Antigonish County,
Nova Scotia, referred to February as "the wolf month". This
is understandable since "Faoilleach" is the old Gaelic month
extending between what is now mid-January and mid-
February. The month derives its name from "faol", anciently
a name for the winter sea, but is now that given "a wild
dog" or "a wolf." In Irish Gaelic "mi na Feile Brighde", the
month of the Wolf-Bride", is used to name February; in
Scotland "am Faoilteach" is the modern form for January.
According to local myth, the Cailleach sent her "wolf-
storms" out into the world all through "wolf-month." It was
her spirit (she was, after all, the "bear-woman") which
emerged from the winter darkness of her cave on February
2. She was content if the skies remained grey on her day;
but the appearance of sunlight, and the reminder that her
powers were fading, was always sufficient to cause her to
vent her fury on the land. As Fraser has noted, the first
three days of the third week of February were "the shark-
toothed days", a time when the "sea-wolves" were joined
by "biting, stinging east winds."

Then came "Feadag", the "plover-winged" time, marked

by three days of swift, fitful blasts of rain - bringing winds
that killed the sheep and the lambs." "Fead" indicates a
flute, whistle, blast, or breath of air. In Scotland "an
Gearran" is the entitlement for the month of February, but it
used to be a period of time following that of the plover or
wind-bird. In any event it was a four week interval,
beginning as late as March 15, and was perhaps at first,
thought dependent on the whims of the Old Bear Woman. The
meaning of "gerran" is "gelding", any young but sexually
mature animal. Related words are "gearr," the sexually
precocious hare; "gearrach", any flow of bloody fluids, and
"gearraidh," pasture-land between the shore and the moors.
This time was always invariable followed by "Cailleach",
the Old Woman's week, which was characterized by horrid
weather. What followed was the time called "Oisgean," the
three days given to the birthing of the "Ewes." Finally,
there was the month of "Mart" (the Cow), or March, and
Sheila's Storm, sometimes called Sheila's Broom, the very
last gasp of the Winter-Hag, near the time of the vernal
equinox. At this, the Cailleach Bheurr threw her hammer
"beneath the mistletoe" and became reincarnate as Samh,
the goddess of summer.

The Cailleach Bheurr, known as Mother Night, or

Mother Gode, in Scandinavia, was considered at the height of
her power at Yule eve, and her ascendancy was celebrated in
the twelve days of Yule, which ended January 5. As a
consequence, here as in Europe, "it was commonly held that
the weather on each of the twelve days between Christmas
and Epiphany indicated what might be expected of the
corresponding twelve months of the year. Consequently
(fishermen and farmers) drew weather calendars on this
basis; the early hours of December 25th, for example,
indicating the weather for the early part of January, its
later hours proving what the close of the month would be
like." Weather forecasters watched the midwinter solstice
with a great deal of interest for it was suggested that "the
way of the wind and weather (on the day) when the sun
crosses the line will be reflected in conditions during the
following three months." A seaman explained the effect in
this way: "Last December, remember that the sun crossed
with the wind south and thick o' fog. Then, afterwards, we
had a very mild winter. Irrespective of this, it was always
held that, "If Candlemas (Brigit's Day) be clear and true;
there'll be not winters one, but two!" Another version of
this homilie goes: "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will take another flight." Another version says: "If
Candlemas day be fine and fair, The half the winter's to
come, and mair (more)." At the time of Sheila's storm, near
the spring equinox, the wind was watched with equal
interest for it was said that "when the wind happens from
the west fine weather will follow." The other quarters
carried their own predictions following this little verse:

When the wind is in the north

Dare the mariner not go forth.
When the wind is in the south
Blows the bait in the fishes' mouth.
When the wind is in the east
Venture not, nor man nor beast.
But when wind is in the west
Then the weather's always best.

Creatures unrelated to water-goddess always sought

cover when Sheila was at large. Thus it was stated that
"when hens run for cover, it is a sign of storm. Cats and
hares, which were an animal-totem of Sheila acted very
differently, running, jumping and frisking like the wind
itself. It is another local belief that loons are particularly
plaintiff just before an easterly gale. The wind that was
particular to Sheila originated in the north; and was that
which she rode when her host travelled the Yule-tide sky
seeking the souls of the dead. Hereabouts, that wind was
sometimes called "the stepmother's breath." Sheila's last
gasp was sometimes referred to as Sheila's Broom and this
storm usually came in mid-March at about the time of the
vernal equinox. That storm is often the worst of the winter
in these parts and is alternately identified as the line
storm, or the Saint Patrick's Day storm.

SI, She, see I. Note next word which confers.

SIABHRACH, SIOBHRAG, SIBHREACH, Ir. siabhra, EIr. siabrae,

saibur, a ghost, one of the wee-folk or Daoine sidh. Cy.
hwyfar. Confers with siab, blowing into drifts, similar to
the ON. sveiper, the English sweep. Note also siaban, the
Gaelic for sea-spray or drifted beach-sand. Siabhas, a
futile or useless act. Also seen as sheelagh, the
"englished" form of the Gaelic sith, one of the side-hill folk,
or little people; those the English call elfs or fairies. (The
pronunciation is "shee" in Ireland and "shaw" or "shay" in
Scotland). In this case the form is sith+ lag, weak or
hollow, curved, related to laghach, pretty. Similar to the
Latin electus, chosen over others, and the English election.
Similar to the Irish Gaelic sidh, a fairy hill and their word
sigh, a fairy. Siochair is an equivalent name in the Scottish
Gaelic. There are numerous other local forms of the word in
both Ireland and Scotland, all derived from the Old Irish
side, those the Romans recognized as the "dei terreni," or
"gods of the earth." Their dwellings were the sid and side
was the ancient name for their magical powers. The last
two words are similar to the Greek sed, a dwelling place,
seat or abode. The Romans learned of these "people of
peace" and introduced into the theology at Rome as the
novensides, the "new (British) gods." Finally we have
sithean, literally "the peaceful home", a green fairy knoll.
Sidh is sometimes translated as wolf, or as venison, the
feed of wolves. Sheelagh was the daughter of the Celtic god
Dagda, variously represented in folklore and literature as
the May Queen, Mebd, Morgan, Samh or Bridd. See mhorga and
Cailleach bheurr which are also synonymous.

In Atlantic Canada the "line storm" is sometimes

alternately called "St. Patrick's storm" or "Sheila's storm".
This event is usually a snow-storm that comes about the
time when the sun seems to cross the equatorial line at the
time of the vernal, or spring, equinox. Sometimes
parallelling the equinoctial gale, Sheila's storm was
expected "a little before or a little after" Saint Patrick's
Day (March 17) and was expected to be one of the most
difficult storms of the year. It is noted elsewhere that the
sigh controlled the weather. Those that dwelt in the
underworld were the daoine sigh, while those who lived
beneath the ocean were the daoine mara. The latter
controlled the face and force of the waters. Creatures
unrelated to the water-goddess always sought cover when
Sheila was at large. Thus it was stated that "when hens run
for cover, it is a sign of storm. Cats and hares, which were
animal-totems of Sheila acted very differently, running,
jumping and frisking like the wind itself. It is a local
Maritime Canadian belief that loons are particularly
plaintiff just before an easterly gale. The wind that was
particular to Sheila originated in the north; and was that
which she rode when her host travelled the Yule-tide sky
seeking the souls of the dead. Hereabouts, that wind was
sometimes called "the stepmother's breath." Sheila's last
gasp was sometimes referred to as Sheila's Broom and as
we have said this storm usually came in mid-March at about
the time of the vernal equinox.

SIAN, storm, rain, foxglove, a charm, same as seun. The

source of digitalis which slows the pace of the heart, and
stills it in an overdose. This was one of the plants “most
favoured by witches,” and its bell-like flowers were
entitled “witches’ thimbles.”
SIAN A BEATHA BUAN, charm for a lasting life. The first
word has been given as “a local occult agency, supernatural
power used to ward away injury. When MacLeod of
Bearnasdale was on his way to the battle at Culloden in
1745 he went first to a baobh on the island of Skye who
chanted a protective charm for him. At the battle it was
claimed that although he was pelted with bullets he escaped
unharmed. Afterwards it was discovered that his coat was
filled with bullet holes but not one metal pellet had
penetrated his invisible shield. The incantation sought the
intervention of the gods or God seeking that “no spear shall
rive thee; no sea shall drown thee; no woman shall wile
thee, and no man wound thee.”

SIAN CHRIOS FHAGLAIN, prophetic weather belt; an

enchanted belt used to increase the strength of the wearer
or allow him to predict future weather or events. Known to
have been possessed by Lugh and the Old Norse god Thor.
This artifact was also used by the Micmac Indian folk-hero
Glooscap.

SIANACH, a monster, screeching, screaming, yelling,

roaring, storminess; sian, a storm.

SIANAN, BREAC-SHIANAN, freckles, denoting a possessor of

the two-sights. Possibly from sian, foxglove, which has a
spotted flower. Another form of the first word is, sianan,
derived from seun, a charm. Freckle-faced people were
thought related to the Fomorian sea-giants.

SIAR, westward, aside, from s-iar. The s is a contraction of

suas, under and iar is the west. From this siaranachadh,
languishing, and siarachd, melancholy, the effects of travel
in the forbidden Atlantic. In each of these words the effect
is that of “going backwards,” i.e. “against the sun.”

SICIR, wise, steady, cf. Scot. sicker, MEng. siker, Lat.

securus, which persists in Eng. sure and secure.

SID, SIDE (sheej), weather, peaceful weather following a

storm, tide. From the root sed. to sit. Ir. use side in the
sense of “a blast of air.” Also note tid which seems allied
with ON. tith, the Eng. tide. Allied with the sithe, the little
folk and siochair, the "people of peace." The chief work of
the boabhe and bodache was the creation of weather on
demand.

SID-BUIDB. The side hill of Len Linfiaclach the smith of the

fay-people.

SID-CHAILLINN, SCHIEHALLION, SIDH-CHAILLEANN, "hall of

the little people." The hollow-hills of the sithe, variously
located in Scotland, Ireland and eastern North America.
Each god was allotted an individual hill before the leave-
taking of Manann mac Ler. These included: Sidhe
Fionnachaidh, occupied by Ler; Sidhe Bobd, the retreat of
Bobd Dearg; Sidhe Bri Lith, the place of Midir; Sidhe
Airceltrair, that of Ogma; Sidhe Rodrubai, Lugh; Sidhe Eai
Aedha Ruaidh, in which was built the palace of Ilbreach, the
son of Manan; and Brugh na Boinne, coveted by Dagda but
finally acquired by his son Aonghas Og. There were many
lesser sidh-hills. The most famous in Scotland was
Sidchaillinn Mor, the “Great Hill of the Sithe,” in the
northwest in Mackay country. Note also Sidh-Chailleann, the
Grampian peak knowe by the Scot. Schiehallion, or as “The
Fairy Hill of the Caledons.” Others of note include: Tom na
hurieh, Invernesshire, the Fairy Hill of Aberfoyle, the Calton
Hill, near Edinburgh, and the one in the Elidon Hill where
Thomas the Rhymer had his encounter with a Fairy-Queen.
“It is doubtful if a parish in Scotland did not once possess
at least one fairy hill, although these are gradually being
forgotten; and in addition there was in every region a larger
hill (mot) where fairies from far and wide foregathered on
the eve of the Quarter Days and other high occasions.”

SÍDH DUMAHAIL, DÒMHAIL, the “Bulky Side-hill.” Near

Leyney, Connacht, Ireland. Here the sithe were harassed by
“pirates from overseas,” and sought the help of a former
Feinn named Ceolta. With his help the “fairy-folk”
prevailed but the hero was left wounded. The wee-folk, in
recompense, predicted that Ceolta would live seventeen
years and die by drowning in a pool near Tara. They offered
him eternal life, but the man refused knowing this would
compromise his soul.

SIDH ERCMAN, Ireland. “When Ena Nemed, son of Nama,

reigned over the Gaels, he had two horse reared for him in
the Sidhe Ercman of the Tuatha De Danan, and when the
horses were let loose from the Sidhe, a bright stream of
water burst out after them, and the foam spread over all the
land for a great length of time, and it was there until the
end of the year, so that the water was called Uanib, that is
foam on the water, and it is still Uanib today.”

SIDHE NECTAIN, “Nechtan’s Side-hills. the Hill of Carberry,

County Kildare, Ireland. The god Aonghas allied himself
with Ogma and the Dagda in the pillage of An Domhain and
the execution of the proto-giant known as Oolathair. After
the Tuatha daoine were themselves routed by the people of
Mil, the Dagda had the responsibility for allotting the sidhe,
or “side-hills,” to those of his folk who wanted to remain
within Ireland. Aonghas was not given a hollow-hill as his
father thought that he should personally inherit the family
“homestead” on the death of Boann. Aonghas, however,
extracted a promise that he would be allowed to spend “the
last long day and night of all time,” at the Brugh. The
Dagda , never a great intellect, failed to realized that he
had promised his son occupancy throughout eternity. Since
“the twelfth of never,” never arrived Aonghas became the
defacto owner of this place which is now equated with
Newgrange. Newgrange is not a fabulous place but a real
passage grave, consisting of two side chambers and an end
chamber, in the form of a cross, all buried within a
sweeping mound of stones. Sean O’Riordain says that “the
excellence of the work and the height (20 feet) makes the
Newgrange roof an impressive feature of this great
monument.” This place was originally the site of the
fortress of Nechtan, an early water-god often identified as
the legitimate husband of Boann. Sidhe Nectain is the
traditional location of the Well of Segais, the source of all
the world’s knowledge.

SIGH, (shee, shay, shaw), the daoine sidh, the side-hill folk
devoted to the goddess Danu. Sigh is a contraction of
siabhrach, siobhrag, sibhreach (the spelling varies between
districts) which appears to derive from the Old Irish Gaelic
siabra. The word confers with the Welsh hwyfar which is
used in such names as Gwenhwyfar or Guinevere, in each
case a fairy, elf or fay, one of the wee folk. Hence: siaban,
sand drift or sea spray; siab, a dish of stewed periwinkles
(Hebrides); siabhas, a useless ceremony. The siochair gave
the impression of malformation even where visual defects
could not be seen.

Keightley says they are separate from the liosalfar

and the svartalfar, the light and dark elfs, "the more usual
appellation for them being troll or trold (the Scottish trow).
Like the dark elfs and the sidh, the siochair were
represented as living in caverns, and from this were
sometimes termed the bjergfolk, or hill-people. They were
extremely rich living "in fine houses of gold and crystal",
and were obliging and neighbourly; freely lending and freely
"borrowing". Keightley says that they had "a sad propensity
to thieving, not only to stealing provisions, but women and
children." The most noteworthy characteristic of this tribe
was their dislike of noise, particularly the chant of
Christian psalms and the ringing of bells. Those who were
plagued by them knew the remedy! They had properties of
invisibilty and shape-shifting, the ability to foresee the
future and reward their friends. They had not much personal
beauty being possessed of humped backs and long crooked
noses.

The daoine sidh were generally regarded as the

descendants of men. When the Tuatha daoine were defeated
by the Milesians they were left no recourse but to swear
allegiance to the Fomorian sea-gods and take refuge beneath
the hollow hills of Ireland and Scotland, or join the Fomors
in Tir Nan Og. In exchange for their complicity, Manann mac
Ler gave the sidh their cloaks of invisibilty, the magic diet
against aging, and access to "the pigs of Mannan" who were
a reincarnate source of never-ending food. The sidh
resembled the North American little men in all but their
size and social habits.

The sidh were "wee folk" in the old sense of the word,
"tall and thin" rather than small or diminutive. It was said
of them: "Their attire is green, their residence the interior
of hills. They appear more attached than their neighbours
(the elfs and fairies) to monarchical government, for the
fairy king and queen were recognized by law in Caledonia
(northern Scotland). They were more mischievous than the
southrons, and less addicted to dancing." King James VI of
England suspected their might be a "jolie court" composed
entirely of these "seed" people, but felt their reality was
not something that should be "believed by Christians."
Questioned why the Crown burned witches for having
"congress" with the completely fabulous sidh, James was
unable to answer.

Tradition says that the elfs, fairies and sidh fled

Greater and Lesser Britain "by the reign of James or
Elizabeth at the fartherest." A little after this the entire
clan was found landed in North America. As some Gaels
considered the sidh descendants of the Firbolg settlers of
Ireland and Scotland (those bearing the prefixes Mc, Mac and
O') they were nicknamed the mickeleens (sons of the little
ones).

We have seen this name applied particularly to a group

of little people at Seabright, Nova Scotia, but the English
"fairy" is more often seen than either this designation or
"sidh". This is a cause for confusion, but there is no doubt
of the identity of the race that settled the Shean (Gaelic
Sidhean, sidh hill) which is now the land upon which the
town of Inverness, Cape Breton, sits. Mary L. Fraser says
that: "In this district there was a small hill, shaped
something like a large haystack, where the old people
(colonials) used to see "little people" in the thousands."
Before they moved in to develop the area, the Scots would
not walk in that place after dark. The few who tried to
approach the sidh found that they vanished from sight
exactly like the elusive mikumwees.

Nova Scotia historian Will R. Bird thought that the

"pixies" at Mother Cary's Orchard Indian Burying Grounds, in
the Kejemukujik Lake region of Nova Scotia, might have
predated white settlement, but the stories of their
residence caused a neighbouring body of water to be named
Fairy Lake. There was another well-known hill within the
present city of Dartmouth, one in the Dagger Woods at Beech
Hill, Antigonish County, and a fifth within Sugar Loaf
Mountain in Cape Breton. At the Beech Hill location a man
was abducted although "returned in good condition.” Again,
in New Hampshire, it was reported that fay-folk were in
resident as early as 1720 having come to that place with a
Irish Presbyterian emigrant. While he flourished, they died
out “after lingering a few years ina very melancholy and
desolate way...”

They were supposedly last seen in New England about

the year 1816 when a testy temperance man spoiled the
hospitality of his New Hampshire inn. The landlord’s wife,
stout, buxom and never fazed, patronized the liquor agents
when he was not about and thus maintained her “own heart
whole.” It was now rumoured that the little people had
taken permanent residence at the inn, and in spite of the
landlord people on the road began to drop by to observe this
curiosity. The “folk” were never seen but guests were
invited to listen to their chatter in “Yankee-Irish dialect”
from oine of the back rooms. The Inn benefited from this
blessing and the landlady had less time to visit with her
gin-bottle. As the novelty of this situation began to wear
thin, customers disappeared and it was whispered that the
voices were witch-inspired or those of a ghost. The little
visitors provoked by this disbelief left and some say they
retreated to Old Ireland.

These folk are often confounded with English elf or

fairy, but they were never a true little-people, the word
indicating sigh indicating a seed-like, or enduring race.
These aristocrats of the realm of faerie were said to be
beautiful to look at, and in the latter days were seen to be
of great age and potential power. It was noted that the sidh
lived ordinary lives if left undisturbed, caring for their
animals, drinking whisky, and raising children. If seriously
molested they could react against "men" with great
violence. Their touch was seen to sicken or madden humans,
who were similarly afflicted by their breath and their "elf-
arrows" which caused paralysis that often led to death. It
was guessed that the bog-people kidnapped those who
disappeared from Gaelic villages as slaves or concubines.
Any visit among them saw time pass in an attenuated way
and those who escaped from their underground quarters
were invariably morose, insane, afflicted with a sexual
disease, aged, or possessed of strange divining or healing
arts.

When they were seen it was noted that they were thin,
up to six feet in height, handsome and young-looking in
spite of their suspected great age. Befitting an ephemeral
race, their forms appeared shadowy, and it used to be said
that they could only materialize within view of a human.
Their skin was observed to be soft, their hair long and silky
and their essential clothing of sun-drenched white linen.
Their speaking and singing voices were seductive, but their
way with the single pipe, bagpipes and harp was unrivalled
among men. They dressed well until the tax-men came to
call; thus the Tain Bo Cuailgne says: "They all wore green
cloaks with four crimson pendants to each; and silver
cloak-brooches; and kilts with red tartaned cloth, the
borders or fringes being of gold thread. There were
pendants of white bronze threads upon their leggings and
shoes, the latter having clasps of red bronze. Their helmets
were ornamented with crystal and white bronze and each
had a collar of radiant gold about his neck, with a gem the
worth of a new-calved cow set in it. Each wore a twisted
ring of gold about the waist, in all thirty ounces of this
metal. All carried white-faced sheilds bearing
ornamentation in silver and red bronze. There were ferrules
of silver upon their spears and the had gold-hilted swords
carrying coiling serpent forms, gold and carbuncles. This
astonished all who saw their parade."

SIFIR, a male of the Daoine sidh.

SIGEAN, diminutive person, a silly person, one with a

pleasant face. Like the Daoine sidh.

SIGHIDEACH, spectre, “fairy,” pereson accried off by the

Daoine sidh.

SIMON BREAC. The son of Starn. After the defeat of the

Nemedians by the Fomorii, this man and his followers fled
from Ireland. Arriving in Thrace they were enslaved, but
escaped to become the Firbolge.

SINE, a teat, also a personal name, often rendered

phonetically as Sheena, Sheenagh, Shennah, Shena, Sheena or
Shiona. Eng. Jane, Jayne and Jaine being sometime variants.
A female of the Daoine sidh. Norse, spani, a teat, Scot.
spain, to wean from the teat. A feminization of Iain, the
Eng. Ian or John. “One of the common folk.” Seonaid or Janet
is a diminuation of this name. Scottish nicknames include
Jess, Jessie, Jessy. Jennie, Jenny. Netta and Nita which also
occur as independent names. Note also the related Janice,
Joan and Jean.

SINEACH. a “stretched out horse,” a sea-serpent. See

muirdris. One of the characteristics of kelpies, tangies and
other “monster-horses” was their ability to stretch out
allowing any number of riders.

SINNSEAR, ancestors, EIr. sinser, elder, ancestor, from sean,

old

SIOCHAINT, peace, from sigh or sith (which, see).

Siobhalta, civil, peaceful, mild, polite.

SIOCHAIR, SIOCHDAIREAN, one of the Daoine sidh, a "fairy."

MIr. sidheaire, a host of little people, EIr. sithchaire, from
sith, an individual of this race.

SIOCHARRA, “fairy” darts.

SIOGAIDH. sion, unpredictable; gad, a switch; gadhar, a

“lurcher (dog).” a word applied to the motion of a snake.
Music is described thus when it magically twines and coils
about the heart.

SIOL, a seed, OIr. sil, semen, rooted in Celt. se, a sow, the
AS. surname Sile, anglicized as Sheila or Sheela, one of the
Daoine sidh, or “seed people.”In Christian mythology the
name becomes Cecilia supposedly remembering the blind
saint who was a patron of music and those without sight.
Celia is a diminuation of this name. Cecil is the male form
in English.

SIONADH, obs. lord. The root is perhaps sion, the source of

unpredictable things, something, anything, weather, from
sian. Note also sen, the Lat. senior and the Eng. sir.

SIONAN. The daughter of Lodan mac Ler. She went to the

Well of Knowledge, or Cauldron of the Deep, which lay at the
headwaters of the Shannon. As with Boann, the water rose
against her and she was drowned in the seas of the west.
Some said that the river was a pursuing sea-monster and
the river was named after her.

SIONN, phosphorescence, sunlight, also seen as teine-sionn-

achain, playing about with light. The appearance of the mer-
people when seen after dark.

SION NANSAR, “Heroes' Heaven,” the equivalent of the Old

Norse Valhalla, usually identified with Tir-nan-Og and
others mythic islands of the western Atlantic.

SIOCALL, Gaelic for for the Eng. circle.

SIORRITE, SIRITE, the English soiree, evening festivities;

siorruidh, eternal, sior, long, continual, OIr. sir, a
comparative from sìor-rad, eternity. The “eternals,” the
first word conferring with sithe, the little people. The
ending ite indicates a feather or wing; a flying fairy.
siorruidh, eternity, eternal.

SIOTHLAGH, a sheelagh or sheila, siota, a blackguard, a pet,

related to the Scot. shit. Also SIOTHLAGH-NA-GIG, gig,
small, diminutive; figurines carved of stone which are
explicitly sexual. The male figures show an erect penis,
while the females typically show a vaginal opening held
apart with the two hands. It is presumed that these
figurines had magico-teaching functions in communities
where men and women were often too tired from manual
labour to "preform." Perhaps because of their lingering
power, the sheilas were picked up by Christian church-
builders and placed within the walls of their structures,
often in seemingly inappropriate locations. The early
fathers do not seem to have been disturbed by these images,
or if they were, felt no sense of sin. Remember that the
Culdee priest were not celibate! The medieval church of
Rodil on the island of Harris was once filled with these
extravagant representations of how to do it. The Clan
MacLeod of Dunvegan seem to have been liberal with respect
to preserving their interesting heritage, but in the
nineteenth century, the island passed to Murrays of Atholl.
The then Earl of Dumore discovered the sheila-na-gigs
shortly after he built Amhuinnsuidh Castle. Lady Dunmore
either disapproved, or was too deeply moved by the
figurines, for she routinely instructed her gamekeeper to
use his shotgun to blast away the private parts of these
stone sithe. (Highland Clans p. 22). In Ireland siothlagh na
bhoga, the “sheila of the wetlands,” a whore. Compares with
the Scottish Gaelic corr, a “crane” or a “whore.”

SIR, (the vowel is short), to search, from sper, to “foot it,”

i.e. till the soil, the ON. syr, a pig, one who “roots in the
earth,” a farmer. Not an inferior craft, see saigh and muc.

SITEARN, Latin cithara, a stringed instrument somewhat

like the lyre. The musical instrument of the sithe, "harp". .
Said to have been a five-stringed instrument somewhat like
the classical lyre. It was among the instrument proscribed
by Christian missionaries as an instrument of dark forces.
In the end the bagpipes of the peasant class were almost
the only ancient musical instruments to survive. See next
entry.

SITH, long-striding, quick-paced, to dart, to shock, to gnash,

bite, span, grasp. A determined position.

SITH, SIGH, SIGHEOG, plural, SITHE, SITHICH, SITHICHE,

peace, quietness. tranquility. Rest from war, reconciliation,
a truce; also one of the Daoine sidh. Spiritual. Having a long
quick stride, to dart, sudden attempt to bite or grasp, taking
a determined stance. Ir. sidh, a "fairy" hill, OIr. side, the
"earth-gods", whose dwelling was a sid. Side, the
collective magical powers of the little people The root
word appears to be sed, a place of worship, a temple.
Similar to the classical sed, the "seat" of a god. In Latin
there is reference to these Gaelic earth-god who were
imported to Rome as the noven-sides or noven-siles, i.e.
"the new gods." Note also the Latin sidus, a constellation,
"the dwelling place of the gods." The Gaelic sidhean is
similar to the English side-hill, thus these were the Tuatha
daoine, defeated by the Milesians, and banished to the
British countryside as the Tuatha daoine, i.e. "northern" or
"rustic-people." Note also sithionn, literally sithe-flesh,
also termed venison. The little people were shape-changers
who often travelled as deer. “The most active spirits of
Highland mythology.”

SITH BHEATH, immortality.

SITHCHENN, a druid, seer or smith. Niall of the Nine

Hostages and his four brothers consulted one of these folk
to determine their futures. He fired up his forge and placed
items within it to see what each would attempt to rescue.
One took out a sledge hammer, another a pail filled with ale,
a third bellows, one a spearhead, another dried sticks, but
Niall rescued the anvil, betraying the fact that his destiny
was greater than that of his brothers. He eventually became
the most powerful High King in Irish history.

SITHEIN, the sithe-hill at Bailanduin, behind the

Cloichfoldich mansion housen Strathtay, Scotland.
Consisting of a dun, a circular mound twelve feet in height
and fifty feet in circumference. On this is a stone with
score-marks said made by fairies sharpening their blades on
this natural whet-stone.

SITHEIN ATH-LEODAIR, a sithe-hill , "a Kiln under a Dung-

heap." The residence of the Bafinn, the Gaelic goddess of
fate on the island of Uist in the Hebrides. She supposedly
retired here "at the end of the big world (the Golden Age of
Celtdom)," and has been instructed to refuse her favour to
men for a period of three thousand years. "Once the old
woman of the son of Iodhagan was out upon the slopes. It
was a hot day and the lambs were grazing. On the fairy hill
of Ath Leodair she sat down. At last she lay down and fell
asleep. Between waking and sleeping she became conscious
of a muffled muttering as if people were arguing with one
another...She heard them clearly agreeing on one thing, and
that is that they would carry the worldly one to the Fairy
Bower as soon as she would wake up. But the old woman
(hearing this) jumped to her feet before they noticed. She
then ran with might and main, shouting at the top of her
voice, "When the forest withers, when the forest withers!"
Indeed, she frightened the fairies for a brief while so that
they took up her cry. Before they collected their wits, the
worldly one had made them look like silly asses and they
retired into the hill, still arguing savagely among
themselves." Later the sithe were seen by two girls of a
neighbouring village, who claimed they all had "the faces of
hornless sheep." Among them was a orator, who addressed
his fellows while standing on his head. To scatter them one
of the girls made brief mention of several Christian
dignitaries including Mary, "the mother of God" and Saint
Columba.
SITHEIN, SITHEAN DRUIM MHAC BHRANDUIBH, “the fairy knoll
of the ridge of the son of Bran the Black.” naera Onich,
Argyll, Scotland.

SIUBHAL SITHE, siubal, walking, moving, stirring, similar to

the English swimming. The sithe-wind, their mode of
passing invisibly from place to place. Also known as the
slidean side, its power was personified in the wind god
Myrdynn (see gaoth) who the Norse knew as Ve. Odin was
often given as the god in charge of the north wind and in
Scotland this duty was given to the Cailleach bheurr or
Balkin, Lord of the Northern Mountains, all supernaturals
who led the host of the dead.

The baobhe and mentally "challenged" people were

known to be able to call upon the sibuhal-gaoth, or
“traversing-wind,” to move instantaneously from place to
place: "Mrs MacMullin came out from Scotland and settled at
the rear of East Bay (southwest of Sydney, Cape Breton),
with her only child, an idiot boy. She had left behind her in
the old country a set of horn spoons that she prized very
highly, but never expected to see again. The idiot boy
formed the habit of leaving the house every evening at
nightfall. He would go out even in the teeth of the storm,
and would not return until daylight. His mother never knew
where he was, nor did the neighbours. But one morning he
returned bringing one of his mother's much prized horn
spoons. A little later he brought another, then a third, a
fourth, a fifth, until all the spoons were returned to her.
His mother and the neighbours believed that on account of
his idiocy, he had the power of travelling through the air,
and that in his nightly disappearances, he had crossed the
seas, and brought back his mother's treasures." (Folklore of
Nova Scotia, p. 110).

A member of my own family claimed that the baobhe

had no power of their own to subvert time and space, but
used their forked-sticks and brooms to pass from ground
level, up a chimney, to the level of the rooftops. There they
were met by the "wind-bucks" who, for consideration,
carried them where they wished to go. Incidentally "strong
wishing" was once considered a sinful act. It was a popular
belief among Celts that if you wished yourself anywhere at
night (whether you were a practising witch or not) you were
sure to travel (spiritually if not corporeally) to the desired
location. This was not, in itself, a dangerous business, but
the "earth-spirits" were certain to demand payment for the
transport, and it was never certain what they might require.

Any individual who thoughtlessly wished himself in a

new place after dark was advised to hedge saying aloud, "I
wish I was at..., from the bottom of my soul I wish this, but
not on this night." In Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, two
families living on adjacent farms had children who were
friends. When they were adults, Malcolm remained at home,
but Mary moved to Montreal. Soon after her departure,
Malcolm arose one night as if assailed by an ailp, or
"nightmare" creature. He felt a great pressure on his chest
and awoke to see a shadowy figure very like that of Mary
kneeling on his chest, an open umbrella over her head.
Amazingly she closed the umbrella and began pummelling
him about the head and chest. He seemed caught in a dream
and only exorcised her wandering spirit with great mental
effort. The next morning he was physically black and blue
and too ill to work. When he was again up and about, he
wrote Mary enquiring what she had been doing on the night
of his encounter. Amazingly she wrote back saying she he
had been very lonely at that time, and had walked the
streets of Montreal, blaming him for allowing her to leave
for the big city. She said it had been drizzling all that night
and she had been carrying an umbrella. She had wished
herself back in Nova Scotia with Malcolm and seems to have
been granted her heart's desire with a vengeance. (Folklore
of Nova Scotia, p. 53).

Again, at Antigonish Harbour, a young man named

William was awakened on a stormy night by the voice of his
brother who was not present in the area, but far away at
sea. Nevertheless, Dan heard his familiar tread on the back
stairway, and saw his figure dressed in sea-oils, enter his
room. "Is that you Dan?" questioned the land-dweller. "Yes."
was the reply. "I've come a long weary way, walked here
from Cape George (eighteen miles)," At that the travelling
brother undressed and took his place in the bed. Seeing that
his brother was settled, William turned down the lamp and
slept. In the morning, he awakened to find that Dan had
already gone about the day's business, or so he thought.
When it became apparent that no one else in the family had
seen his brother, and that he was nowhere on the premises,
William had to conclude he had encountered a substantial-
seeming spirit of the night. A full fortnight later, this was
confirmed when William arrived home in the body. Asked
about the stormy night he said, "Yes, I remember, our
schooner was just rounding cape George, the waves were
mountains high, and I wished with all my heart and soul that
I might be home." (Folklore of Nova Scotia, pp. 54-55).

SIURSACH, a prostitute, a whore, from Eng. with G. feminine

termination.

SLABHCAR, a sloucher, a taunter, from ON. slokr,m a

slouching fellow, hence the Eng. slouch.

SLACHDAN DRUIDHACH, slachdan, a beetle, a rod, related to

the verb slachd, to thrash or beat. Similar to slacc, a
sword. The Eng. words slash and slay. + magician, thus a
magician’s rod. In a tale from the West Highlands, a king set
on adventure entered an old castle where he was met by an
old crone “whose looks were evil, but whose words were
smooth and pleasant.” When he crossed her threshold she
drew the slachan druidhach on him and he fell, dead. Three
sons went to avenge the father, and only the last had the
sense to insist that the witch woman go before him across
the stoop. He attempted to kill her with his sword, but she
seized it and caused it to adhere to one of the stone walls.
In a wrestling match, the man seized the magic rod and
knocked off her head with it. In an inner room he found the
bodies of his two brothers and revived them with a touch of
the rod.
SLÀN, healthy, whole, Lat. salvus, solidus, firm, Eng. solid.
This is the Eng. silly, the Scot. sely, from this last the
family name Seely, etc. Originally a “wholesome” name
conferring with Germ. selig, blessed (if naive). Skr. sárvus,
whole, all in one piece. WBr. holl, Lat. sollus, whole, all. Not
one of the Daoine sidh or the dead, the latter comprising the
Scot. unsely host. Possibly after Slan, Slaine or Slainge the
son of Partholan, the first Gaelic physician. His grave is at
Dinn Righ, which is also known as Duma Slaine, “Slan’s
Grave.”

SLAN MAC DELA. A Firbolg ruler of Leinster who fought

against Nemed.

SLAT, a rod, a twig, similar to the English lathe. An

implement used in acts of magic. A magical extension of
the human arm used as a conduit of power. See also
piseralas.

SLATAN DRUI’ACHD, the druid’s rod. MIr. slatt, Cy. llath, Br.
laz, MEng. latt, AS. laetta. Perhaps cognate with iubhar, the
yew. This tree was the preferred wood for wizard’s rods. In
former times there were many tree cults it being believed
that the gods and men originated as the spirits of trees and
that they could become reincarnate within them for periods
of time. An important yew-tree cult formerly existed on
the island of Iona, which some render in Gaelic as Tom-na-
a-Iubhraich, the “Knoll of the Yew-wood trees.” This druidic
sect was wiped out by Saint Columba. Iona itself is said to
be a side form of Iubar, translated as “The Place of Yews.”
A Well of the Yew was formerly located at Easter Ross, but
the ancient tree associated with it was cut down in the last
century. The best-known extant yew is that at Fortingall,
Perthshire. It is known to have stood at the time of Christ
in the Glen Lyon, and is currently protected by a wall and
iron gratings around its roots. See bha firid, aige beoir. “The
Highlanders retain a tradition of the slatan drui’achd, which
they say was a white wand.” (James Logan). Note that in
Atlantic Canada it was once commonplace for unmarried
girls to seek “the stick” of their husband-to-be. This
phallic symbol was considered to possess the
characteristics of the future mate. Thus a slender stick
brought a thin man not overly endowed, while a stout stick
gave way to a robust mate. Where a woman proved
overparticular in her judgement of marriageable men, it
used to be said that she would surely end “married to some
stick in the woods.” If a woman married badly it was agreed
that “when she danced through the woods she picked up a
crooked stick!”

SLAT N’ NATHAIR, rod of the Dark Lord, who was the alter-
ego of the sun-god Lugh. The magical extension of the arm
of Cromm the “Crooked.”

SLAUGH, the “aerial host,” Also, people, folk, an army, a

multitude, the spirit world. O slaugh!, a cry for succour
from the Daoine sidh. Slaugh-ghairm, Equivalent of the
signal for a gathering of clansemen; usually a distinctive
clan war=cry. Scottish”Unsely (un-silly) Court.” Members of
the Daoine sidh and the human dead in counterclockwise
flight. Confers with their leader Lugh. “

One day an old man of North Uist was walking along by

the seashore when he was impelled to look up, and what
should he see approaching him through the air but a great
spirit-host; and in the forefront were the shades of men,
hawk on wrist and hound straining at the leash, whom by the
beauty and nobility of their countenance he knew to be
Oscar and Finn and the great heroes of old; and they were
moving swiftly westward toward Tir nan Og. The old man
stood spell-bound until the vision had passed, and even
after he reached home, he could for a time find no speech,
so overcome was he by the wonder of what he had seen.”
These packs of the dead were usually assembled under Lugh
or the Cailleach bheurr at the Yule and frequently included
men of less heroic proportions. “The Slaugh may not be
unrelated to a natural phenomena - a whirlwind that raises
dust on the roads and is known in the North East (of
Scotland) as “a furl o’ fairies ween.’ (a whirl of fairies’
wind).” J.G. Campbell guessed that “these eddies are
amongst the most curious of natural phenomena. On calm
summer days they go past, whirling about straws and dust,
and as not another breath of air is moving at the same time,
their cause is sufficiently puzzling. In Gaelic the eddy is
known as oiteag sluaigh, “the people’s wind,” and its motion
as falbh air chuiseagan treorach, “travelling on tall grass
stems.” By throwing one’s left shoe at it, the fairies may be
made to drop whatever they may be taking away - men,
women, children or animals. The same result is attained by
throwing one’s bonnet, saying, Is leat-sa so, is leam-sa sin!
“this is your’s, that is mine!” A naked knife will do the
same as will earth from a molehill.” See oiteag slaugh. See
sloc and saigh.

SLEAGH, a dart, a spear; EIr. sleg, to hurl or sling. The blunt

end was referred to as cnap-starradh, a bronze or brass ball
filled with stones. In the field it was shaken to maintain
contact between allies, to dissuade evil spirits, and to
demoralize the enemy by suggesting a larger force than was
actually present.

SLEAGH AN LAMH LUGH, Lugh's spear, sometimes described

as “the Spear of Life"; integral to the Gaelic creation story.
In the tale Lugh is represented as the sun and Nuada, as his
twin, the moon. Bored by their existence in chaos, the two
decided to create the universe. In a play at battle Nuada
brought his irresistible sword against Lugh's immovable
spear, creating the sparks that are the stars of the universe
and ultimately the stuff of life. Like Odin's spear, Lugh's
spear was a magical extension of his arm, the wood being
derived from his own spirit. In the war between the
Fomorian giants versus men and the gods, Lugh used this
“dart” to blind and kill Balor of the Evil-Eye.

SLEAMACAIR, a sly person, cf. ON. slaemr, bad.

SLEMUIN. The “bull” possessed by the goddess Mhorrigan.

See Odras.

SLIAB, SLIABH. SLAIB, mire, a moor, a mountain, root slib,

to slip or glide down a slope. Norse sleipr, slippery. Similar
to Eng. slab but regarded as native Gaelic.

SLIABH BALOR, Balor’s mountain. When the Cauldron of the

Deep was removed to the land it was placed in the
geographical centre of Ireland a site first called Sliab
Balor, which was named after the hero of the Fomors. That
name was no longer appropriate after the land-gods killed
him and purloined his spirit. He is clearly another model
victim for seasonal sacrifices and his hill became Sliab
Uisneach, The “”Hill of Huis,” or Hugh the Horse. We have
already indicated Hugh’s connections with all of the “good”
gods of war and agriculture. The “navel of Ireland” was
located at the place where the four ancient provinces had a
common boundary. The idea of an genius astral, or land-
spirit, with a base at a particular location came long before
the New Age concepts of sacred sites and “power points.”
Mountains or hills are quite frequently given as places for
spectacle and unexpected movement, and indeed the laws of
physics exclude much action on a level plain. The mountain
of Labna in south America was one of these sites during the
Mayan Late Classical period, but Nantai San, in Japan, is
still climbed by pilgrims seeking enlightenment. There are
similar locales world-wide, the Micmac version being Blue
Mountain on the central uplands of Nova Scotia.

SLIAB CALAD, “Slieve of the Mooring Place.” MIr. calad, a

harbour, bay, cove. Some say that the Gaelic is borrowed
from the Romance languages, hence It. calata, and the Fr.
cale, cove. The underlying Celtic root appears to be qel, to
hide, as in the Eng. hoth, a hole. hollow or cave. Perhaps
related to clad, a ditch. Midir is perhaps the antithesis of
Aonghas or Lugh. Often referred to as “Midir the Proud,” he
was the son of the Dagda who “went to earth beneath Slieve
Callery west of Ardagh, County Longford.

His first wife was Fuamnach and his second Étain who
is sometimes seen attached to Ogma. He is said to have
been chosen as a foster father to Aonghas, which may
explain why this god is not shown taking an active role
against him in the troubles that followed. Midir confers in
many ways with the Welsh Myrddin, the Anglo-Norman
Merlin who the Romans called Merlinus. This god-hero is,
in turn, reflected in the earlier Welsh underworld deity
named Gwyn, “who was a great hunter, the one who conducts
the souls of the dead to Annwyn.” His antagonist was the
magician called Gwydion, “a friend of mankind and giver of
the arts of civilization; he wars against the underworld
deities.”

Linguistically Midir boils down to “a cave

threshold,” or “an eye in the earth,” and it may be
significant that the country called England was once
referred to as Myrddin’s clae, which is to say “Merlin’s
enclosure.” Additionally, one of the wonders of the ancient
world was Merlin’s cave, located somewhere in central
Britain, and referred to as “The Cave of the Winds,” from
the perpetual breeze that blew up from the depths of the
earth. Some said that this was an entry point to other
worlds and guessed that the wind was one which travelled
“between the worlds.” It was also agreed that the World
Flood commenced with waters which gushed up through this
opening and that the cave’s location was lost beneath the
silts that covered it when the waters subsided. Looking
carefully at this myth leads to the conclusion that this
place was one of the power-points of the elder world, one
of the mysterious “navels” so often referred to in early
literature. Remember that the Oolathair was either
dismembered or relieved of his belly-button, and this was
sometimes given as the cause of the Great Flood! Remember
also that Misgarth, the great Norse “Middle Garden” was
constructed of reorganized bits of the dead proto-giant.
Midir may confer with Norse word, and represent the earth
in a male configuration. In this case, the concept of rushing
waters may be seen as part of a vaguely defined
fertilization process. The name Fuamnach identifies Midir’s
first wife with underground “noise,” and perhaps this is
why he tired of her company and took Étain, the “kerna

l” of all things, a lady who surely confers with Samh,

the goddess of “Summer.” It is said that the expression “as
fair as Étain” still identifies any Gaelic beauty whose
charms are without question. Fuamnach the Cold One was
very jealous of this rival and used the magic she possessed
to turn Étain successively into a pool of water, a worm and
a fly. While Étain was in this last form the witch-woman
raised a storm that lifted the fly out of the underground and
buffeted her for seven years in the skies of Ireland. In all
this time Midir and Aonghas sought the seemingly lost lady,
but nothing could be deduced from her disappearance until
the long period of storm ceased and the fly settled within
the Brugh na Boann. Being no novice at magic, Aonghas
immediately recognized the enchanted Étain but had no idea
how he might raise the spell. While he was working on this
question Fuamnach tracked down Midir’s love and raised
more winds which blew her away. This time her fly body
fell into the drinking glass of a chieftain’s wife, and thus
she was impregnated with this goddess of the Daoine sidh.

When Étain was reborn she had no memory of past

events. This was the time of the high king named Eochaid
who being wifeless discovered the beauty known as Étain,
the seeming daughter of the Milesian lord named Etar. The
king wooed her and brought her back to Tara as his wife.
There the high queen became troubled with dreams of one
who claimed to be her husband in a past life, and before long
the underworld king appeared before her to invite her to
rejoin him in his side: “...that marvellous land, full of
music, where none says,”mine” or “thine,” where white
always are the teeth, and black the brows of men and
women. Their eyes always flash with many-coloured lights
and the hue of foxglove is on every cheek. Pleasant it is
true is the plain of Ireland, but these are deserts compared
with the Great Plain which lies beyond. It is a wonder of
this place that youth never surrenders to age, and that there
men are all fair and without blemish, and women conceive
freely without taint of sin...O lady, come with me to this far
land and the purest gold will rest on thy head, thy meat will
be the swine’s flesh all unsalted (the pigs of Manann); new
milk and mead shalt thou drink, and live forever.” In spite of
this persuasive argument Étain was not ready to accept a
pig in a poke, “a stranger without name and lineage.”To
remedy this, Midir revealed his background, and spoke of his
wife’s 1,012 year incarnation following her birth in the
Land of Youth.

Ultimately Étain accepted her fate, but only on

condition that the Eochaid agree to some form of annulment
of their marriage. Having to be content with this, Midir
approached the king on the Hill of Tara knowing that his
weakness was gambling. After playing a number of games
of fidchell in which Midir was the consistent loser, the
king was led to propose a final game the stakes to be at the
pleasure of the winner. Thus Étain was demanded after
Midir revealed his true prowess at the game, and Eochaid
was bound to honour his word. An hour was set when the
queen would be “reclaimed,” but Eochaid set a trap for his
rival, surrounding his castle with a host of armed warriors.
As it happened this was a useless preparation. As the king
sat feasting, Midir suddenly materialized at his table next
to Étain. Holding out his right hand he caught the lady about
the waist, and the two rose away from the assembly
straight up and out through a roof window in the palace.
Angry and bewildered the king and his men followed to the
out-of-doors, where they observed two white swans
circling and moving toward the side of Slievenamon.

Not an ready loser, Eochaid summoned his chief druid,

who tried to regain the queen through magic. Not much of
use was accomplished through this except that the ogham
written upon three wands of yew revealed where Midir and
Étain were located. This allowed the king to assemble his
forces and mount a campaign against the Otherworld. In
this he had the support of some of the Daoine sidh: When
Boabd Dearg had been elected high king of that tribe, Midir
had supported the opposition led by Ler and Manann mac Ler,
and those of the old “gods” who were on the opposite side
now supported king Eochaid.

This combined force spent nine years digging up one

souterrain after another, but while the diggers slept, the
people of the sidh repaired the damage. At that, the men
finally came upon the inner stronghold, the “gate” to the
Otherworld. Seeing that this was indefensible, Midir
offered to compensate Eochaid ard-righ for his loss by
sending him fifty beautiful handmaidens. When the high king
refused, he sent Étain to the surface-world,along with the
maidens, each shape-changed in her image. It is said that
the queen gave some intimate sign which allowed the human
king to recognize her, and thus she was returned to the
world of men, and lived with Eochaid for ten years before
his death. In that time she bore him a daughter who was
also named Étain.

This daughter, distinguished from her mother as Étain

oig , the “younger,”married Cormac, the king of Ulster and
from their line came Ireland’s most famous high king, the
man named Conaire mor. This was the last major war
between men and the “gods.” Those of the Daoine sidh who
allied themselves with men were absorbed into the large
gene pool. The sithe were not decisively defeated, but they
withdrew further into their underground retreats, and
followed the sun westward into the sea, becoming at last a
people unknown outside folklore. Eochaid was not quite
home free for he offended the tribes of Tethbai ( a district
comprising parts of Westmeath and Longford) by demanding
statutory labour to build a road across the Bog of Lamrach.
The foundations for the road were laid with the trunks of
trees, but the people resented the task and on the eve of
Samhuin set their ritual fires about Eochaid’s palace while
he was inside. As a result, the causeway was never
completed.

SLIABH MIS, anglicized as Sleemish, County Kerry. Here

was found the fortress of Cu Roi which very much
resembles An Domhain. The entrance to this place could
never be located after dark, and the owner could chant a
spell that caused the fortress to rotate like a millstone.

SLIAB MONAIDH, a mountain range The Gaelic word is though

borrowed from the Picts, OBry. monid. In modern Gaelic
monadh indicates hilly ground. Once used more generally as
a territorial or district name, implying particulaly the
mountainous parts of Scotland. Some of the rulers of the
land were entitled “The Bear of the Mountain.” The
“Mountain Slab” proper sometimes implied the Grampian
Range. Then there was Sliab monaidh in of Findchad, from
which an Irishman purloined “fairy-cattle.” Note than dun
Monadh was described as baile righ Alban, “the king of
Alba’s stead.” It was to this residence that Cuchullain came
when he was in quest of Emir his wife-to-be. The Fian were
once involved in the taking of this place, and the sons of
Usneach probably stayed here for they were termed as being
from dun Monaidh. This may have been Dun Add, the old seat
of the Scottish kings, but the reference was likely applied
to any seat of the king.

SLIAB NAMON, a famous underground palace located at

Tipperary. Fionn stood here and gave himself to the Irish
maiden who first reached the top. Grainne won him with
disastrous consequences.

SLIDEAN SIDE, sithe-wind, the whirlwind used for transit by

the Daoine sidh. See slaugh.

SLIGHE AORAIDH, “the way to worship.” See slaugh, which is

related. Aor, worship, but formerly, “a curse.”

SLINNEARACHD, slinnean, a shoulder blade, shoulder, OIr.

slind, a tile, smooth and sharp, Eng. sley and slay (with a
weapon). A means to divination. In this rite, meat was
cleaned from a shoulder blade without using a knife. The
diviner inspected the transparent part of the bone and from
the disposition of spots on it predicted events in the future.
At feasts or marriages a “bard’s portion,” usually the
rump, was delivered by chance to some individual. This
person was expected to compose an extemporaneous verse
in honour of the event.

SLIOCHD The mythic "ard-righ" (high king) called Ard-bheur

(the high bear), or Arthur led an mythic assembly known as
the sliochd a company of bears. The word is similar to the
Gaelic slighe, a path or way through the woods. In the
English language we have the similar word slew, a host of
people or animals; in particular the devils of the Devil. The
Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English says that a slew
or slough is "a hollow in an uneven or snow-covered road
that causes a vehicle such as a horse-drawn sleigh to lurch
sideways." In the past these obstacles may have been
created by the slue for it is said that this species "lay at
roadside jumping up to frighten or waylay strangers." The
slue were exactly like the sea-going soughs, or sows, in
fact the two words have the same root in the Anglo-Saxon
tongue. Confers with the Anglo-Saxon sleuth, sloth,
sloucher, slaughter and slought, to cover with mire. Also
similar to the word slew, a large number, as, "a slew of
people." A multitude, a host, the host of the Devil, or of
devils.

Local dialectic forms for this creature include zwoog,

swoog or sow, all pronounced sough. The former use is in
Prince Edward Island, the word being derived from the
Middle English swough, or sough. The zwoog is a creature
that can be called to tranport a cowalker from one place to
another. In this, it corresponds exactly with the Lunenburg,
Nova Scotia, guy's buck. When lowland Scots settled
Deer Island, N.B., they found an Indian water-demon resident
off the south-western shore, a spirit that occasionally
materialized as the world's second-largest off-shore
whirlpool. This they named the Auld Sugh (since corrupted
to Sow). Sugh also corresponds exactly with the Middle
English swough, which derives from the Anglo-Saxon
swoogan. This is similar to older Teutonic words which
mean to sigh or whistle. It is confluent with the Old Norse
suugr, a rushing sound, like that of moving wind or water,
and confers with the English word surf. The Old Sough was
a place of hollow mummers, moans and sighs, as well as a
salt-water drain (a secondary meaning of seugh, sewer or
sough). Elsewhere we refer to the Gou Gou and the Woods-
whooper, beings who seem to be particularized forms of
this creature. Both produced uncanny sounds which had the
capacity to frighten men to death.

The fishermen of our waters still listen for the "rote"

as a guide to their position on the water, particularly when
they travel in fog. This word is the Anglo-Saxon "ryn", the
Old Norse "rauta", to roar, and defined any sound heard in
nature, whether produced by the sea, winds, thunder or some
unidentifiable agency. When Henry Hudson made his voyage
into Canadian waters, he was keenly aware of everything
within hearing and in his diary we read: "Wee heard a great
"rutte" or noise with the Ice and Sea...We (therefore) heaved
our Boat and rowed to towe out our ship farther from the
danger." A Sable Island fisherman once explained that he
was "listening for the "rote" as "the surf breaks with a
different sound all along the shore."

Unfortunately not all sounds on land and sea were as

easily placed as to source. In our own century, scientists
have been puzzled by cannonades of high intensity sound
that appeared along the eastern coast. At first it was
assumed that these were due to the after-shocks of jet-
aircraft breaking the sound barrier, but it was later shown
that there were no crossings of airplanes in the places
where these noised occurred. It was finally decided that
these were "moog sounds." By chance, the word is
phonetically associated with "zwoog" and "sough." We are
not sure that science has eliminated spirits as a source of
these noises, since these are the rumbles and thunders and
creakings of the moving earth as it stretches across its
plates. Long ago the Indians of Connecticut chose
Machemoodus as a spiritual gathering place because of the
"earth music" they heard there. The name means "place of
sounds" and has been shortened to "Moodus". The Wangunk
Indians suspected that the bear-like growlings which they
heard at this location were gods breathing from the caverns
of the earth. The phenomena is lived with on a daily basis
by residents who describe the effects as ranging from the
sounds of corks popping from champagne bottles to the rush
of a cavalry at full charge. Whatever the intensity, from
light popping sounds to the sensation that the bottom of the
feet are being hit with a sledgehammer, the "thunder
underfoot" is almost unceasing. Actually such noises occur
from time to time in all kinds of locations and are due to
minor earthquakes along faults. Most faults are deeply
seated and the sound is generated to far from the surface to
carry to the ears of men. The Moodus quakes are noisier
than most because they the faults there go down a mere
mile (as compared with an average of six to nine miles).
The Moodus movements do not lose their voice, and the
overlying rock is a particularly good conductor of sound.
Since the town is located between two nuclear power plants
residents have shown more anxiety about the integrity of
these buildings than with the general effects of quakes
which constantly juggle their dishes in the pantry.

The fay people were often described as "being of the

smallest size and uniformly habited in green." On the other
hand, they were recognized as shape-changers, able to alter
their size and appearance at a whim. After "threshing the
corn, churning the butter, drinking the milk &c," one
goodfellow was observed "lying before the fire like a great
hurgin bear." Keightley noticed that "picklehaaring" (hairy
sprite), the German term for the zany or merry andrew,
seems to have resembled the English puck-hairy, a creature
very like the sliochd, one that "wore a vesture of hair or
leaves, thus making it rough like the brownie and kindred
beings." "From bug also comes bugbear, and bugleboo, or
bugaboo. They owe their origin probably to the ho! ho! ho! (or
boo! boo! boo!) given to puck or robing goodfellow, as well as
to the Devil (or Pouke) in the Mysteries. Bull-beggar may be
only a corruption of bugbear or bug-a-bear." The Scottish
pawkey and the Gaelic bogle are both related to these
creatures, who were reputed to lay at the roadside jumping
up to frighten or waylay strangers.

In general, the maliciousness of this slough-dweller

was in proportion to the wetness or dryness of his
countryside, the dryer the surround the less dangerous the
sidh may be only a corruption of bugbear or bug-a-bear."
The Scottish pawkey and the Gaelic bogle are both related
to these creatures, who were reputed to lay at the roadside
jumping up to frighten or waylay strangers. In general, the
maliciousness of this slough-dweller was in proportion to
the wetness or dryness of his countryside, the dryer the
surround the less dangerous the sidh.

Our ancestors, in Atlantic Canada, had some trouble

with the eastern panther, which was perhaps a projection of
the woods-whooper, but they had more difficulty with pigs
and bears, the first our mythic sows, the other our slue.
Pigs were not native to the Maritime Provinces and the first
settlers turned them loose to make their own way during
the warm months. Unfortunately they developed tusks and
were very much like wild boars, so that they could only be
brought to the dinner plate after being shot in the head. In
Pictou County, Nova Scotia, notice was taken of a bear
driven to a stump by enraged domestic pigs, which finally
got him off balance and gored him to death. We have
mentioned the caution with which aboriginals treated the
Old Bear Woman, and white men had were equally careful
with her offspring. Even so they were casualties and as
late as the year nineteen hundred, Amos Wite of
Memramcook was reported eaten by a bear while he was in
the woods picking berries.

Even Christian ministers considered recall of the

bear-spirit a potent curse. When the Hansons and Turners of
Bocabec Cove, New Brunswick refused to leave their woods
work to bury the "old man" of their tribe, the Presbyterian
minister promised them a visit from "a great bear who will
tear you with jaws of iron." At Cocaigne, on the north-
eastern shore, a child was born with bear-paw marks,
brown spots covered with hair, "on account of a fright the
mother received from a bear." The sidh-bheur or slue were
however more often heard than seen. Invisible bears
created noise, but no physical damage,in Nova Scotia at Glen
Haven and Tantallon.

On the other hand a "real" bear was constantly sought

at Hoyt, New Brunswick, after it killed sheep and farm
animals and smashed a milk shed. They trapped it and
followed the slue on an obvious trail through the woods, but
the trail was never traced to an end and neither animal or
trap was recovered.

When lowland Scots settled Deer Island, N.B., they

found an Indian water-demon resident off the south-
western shore, a spirit that occasionally materialized as
the world's second-largest off-shore whirlpool. This they
named the Old Sugh (since corrupted to Sow). Sugh also
corresponds exactly with the Middle English swough, which
derives from the Anglo-Saxon swoogan. This is similar to
older Teutonic words which mean to sigh or whistle. It is
confluent with the Old Norse suugr, a rushing sound, like
that of moving wind or water, and confers with the English
word surf. The Old Sough was a place of hollow mummers,
moans and sighs, as well as a salt-water drain (a secondary
meaning of seugh, sewer or sough).

Our ancestors had frequent run-ins with corporeal

bears; it is reported that the son of Amos White was eaten
by a bear while berry-picking at Memramcook, New
Brunswick, in 1900. It is not surprising that they
incorporated this ravaging animal into their legends. For
the most parts ghost-bears were the source of inexplicable
noises in the woods, but left little sign of their night-time
visits. One exception was the mythic New Brunswick
creature known as Old Shan who left, "a path through the
woods like a bull-dozer might make today..." It was formerly
believed that the spirit of a bear might be projected on the
unborn within the womb. Thus it was noted at Cocaigne,
New Brunswick (1878) that a child had been born with what
appeared as brown spots "covered with bear-like hair" on
its body and these were blamed upon "a fright the mother
received from a bear." There were, apparently, bear-like
creatures in the Hell: When the Hanson and Turner boys of
Bocabec refused to come out of the winter woods to bury
their patriarch, a local minister cursed them in public.
Afterwards, a ballad was written promising that they would
each meet their death beneath "jaws of iron and teeth of
steel." It is said that latter day members of these clans
have been pursued in their dreams by bear-like wraiths.

SLIGHE, a way, EIr. slige from the root sleg, I strike (with
an axe). Ro sligstear ro selgator rotu: They hewed out ways.
Confers with slachd, thrash or beat, strike; the Eng. slash
and slay. The Celts were the first road-builders and land-
developers. This word is related to the next. See slaugh.

SLIGHEGALLION, Slievegallion. Something of Cúchullain’s

troubles with the side-hill folk is preserved in the tale
known as “The Chase of Slievegallion: Here we are again
introduced to Culann the Smith, who is often taken as the
human form of Manann mac Ler or his father Ler.

He was said to reside within the sidh of

Slievegallion, the “Hewn Out Way of the Stranger.” It was
this ”god-giant” who had his guard dog strangled by the
young Setana who was afterwards nicknamed Cúchullain. In
the Fenian version of the tale this Tuathan-Fomorian
divinity had two daughters, Aoine and Milucra , both in love
with Fionn. As Ellis has said “Aine has been identified with
Anu, mother of the gods, as well as with Mhórrigán, goddess
of battles.” The youthful Aoine once admitted that she had
no interest in white-haired men and her sister saw this as a
means of having Fionn for herself.

According to this tale, the Fionn were at the hunt

when they came upon a doe near the Hill of Allen, and ran it
northwards until it was forced onto Slievenamon, the “Holy
Hill,” a veritable focal point of Tuathan magic, a place very
similar to Hugh’s Hill in legendary lore. Fionn alone saw
the doe disappear into the mountain-side, and it was he who
encountered the weeping Lady of the Mountain. She claimed
to have lost a golden ring in a nearby lake and asked Fionn to
find it for her. He tried and at last succeeded, at which the
lady plunged into the lake and disappeared. Fionn then saw
that the waters of the lake had been magically charged
against him for his youth had fled, and he was so feeble and
ancient that his hounds failed to recognize him.

When the chase party caught up with Fionn his voice

was so weakened he could barely whisper his identity.
Fionn said he thought he recognized the perpetuator of his
misfortune as Milucra of Slievegallion. The Féinn,
therefore, placed their leader on a litter and carried him to
that side, where they began to dig. Like others before them,
they eventually penetrated the gates of the Otherworld,
where they were met by a maiden carrying a drinking horn
of red gold. She was Aoine, the goddess of love and youth,
and the first “drink from her cup” restored him, but left his
hair white. It is said that Fionn’s hair colour would have
been returned with another sip, but he was content to be
young again and went his way with prematurely grey hair.

Fionn’s failure to accept the second draught from the

drinking horn was tantamount to having other love
interests, and the fay-woman were exceptionally jealous
beings. At Slievegallion there is an antique standing stone
on the mountain-top, which the locals used to avoid as the
dwelling place of the Baobd or “Witch” of the Lake.
Although the place was not often visited a mysterious
beaten path, worn by inhuman feet, is still seen to lead
from the lake-side up the mountain to the standing-stone.

SLIOCHD, posterity, a tribe, MIr. slicht, a trace, track, a

vestige (of the past), root. sleg as seen in slighe. Similar to
Germ. geschlecht, race, lineage. Confers with sluagh, people,
the OIr. sluag. The ard-righ (high king) called Ard-bheur
(the high bear), or “Arthur” led an mythic assembly known
as the sliochd a “company of bears.” The word is similar to
the Gaelic slighe, a path or way through the woods. In the
English language we have the similar word slew, a host of
people or animals; in particular the devils of the Devil. The
Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English says that a slew
or slough is "a hollow in an uneven or snow-covered road
that causes a vehicle such as a horse-drawn sleigh to lurch
sideways." In the past these obstacles may have been
created by the slue for it is said that this species "lay at
roadside jumping up to frighten or waylay strangers." The
slue were exactly like the sea-going soughs, or sows, in
fact the two words have the same root in the Anglo-Saxon
tongue. All confer with the Anglo-Saxon sleuth, sloth,
sloucher, slaughter and slought, to cover with mire. Also
similar to the word slew, a large number, as, "a slew of
people." A multitude, a host, the host of the Devil, or of
devils. Maritime Canadian dialectic forms for this creature
include zwoog, swoog or sow, all pronounced “sough.” The
former use is in Prince Edward Island, the word being
derived from the Middle English swough, or sough. The
zwoog is a creature that can be called to tranport a
cowalker from one place to another.

In this, it corresponds exactly with the Lunenburg,

Nova Scotia, guy's buck. When lowland Scots settled
Deer Island, N.B., they found an Indian water-demon resident
off the south-western shore, a spirit that occasionally
materialized as the world's second-largest off-shore
whirlpool. This they named the Auld Sugh (since corrupted
to Sow). Sugh also corresponds exactly with the Middle
English swough, which derives from the Anglo-Saxon
swoogan. This is similar to older Teutonic words which
mean to sigh or whistle. It is confluent with the Old Norse
suugr, a rushing sound, like that of moving wind or water,
and confers with the English word surf. The Old Sough was
a place of hollow mummers, moans and sighs, as well as a
salt-water drain. A secondary meaning of the Eng. seugh, ie.
a sewer.

SLINNEARACHD, from slinnean, a shoulder. A method of

divination involving the examination of meat cleared from
the shoulder of a cow or lamb. This had to be done without
the help of steel implements and the diviner was chiefly
interested in the transparent portions of bone. From the
disposition of patterns seen there he could presage what
might happen to any person from whose flocks the animal
had been taken.

SLIOGACH, sly, sleek, fawning, sligtheach, sly from Scot.

sleek, ON. slikr, slick, smooth, Indo-European sleig, to glide.
See sliabh.

SLOC. a pit, a slough, root, slug, to swallow whole, AS. slóh,

Germ. schlucht, a hollow, a ravine; slup, lubricus. See next.

SLOINN, surname, OIr. slondim, name, Cy. ystlyned, kindred.

SLUATH, SLUAGH. People, multitude, host, army, Ir. sluag,

slog. Implies a servant. Dwellers in or along a slighe or
slough. Related to the Gaelic sloc which is the German
schlucht, a hollow ravine. Dwellers in the outback. Also
confers with the Samh and with the Eng. “Summer,” slop and
sow, The common rabble, the main elements of the Gaelic
sgral, or host, which, see. Sluadh, the host of the dead. In
Maritime Canada the form of this word is slew, sloo. slue or
sow, and is used to describe a hollow in an uneven or snow
covered road. The Old Sow, the world’s second largest
whirlpool, is located southwest of Deer Island in
Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick. Confers with
Sgatheach and slaugh, which see.

SLUGADH, SLUDACH, that which swallows. The act of

swallowing, engulfment, absorption, devouring, gluttony. A
curious spring in the parish of Cromarty, Scotland. It gushes
with undiminished volume until it shuts down, suddenly,
each summer. In the autumn it bursts forth from it side-hill
in undiminished strength. It supposedly took on this
character after a seventeenth century happening involving
two residents of nearby farms. One, a tacksman, and no
friend of the other, made haste to drink first from the
spring. He then muddied the waters and noted, “Now it’s
ready; drink your fill!” At this an offended spirit reacted,
causing the water to boil and dry up. On the opposite side of
the frith, a new jet of water appeared where there had been
none before. The tacksman, uncouth though he was, could not
suffer the evil-eyes of his neighbours and went to a seer
for help. The wizard suggested he clean the stream with a
linen towel, lie in the vicinity of the former fountain, at the
hour of the offense, and await the justice of the stream. He
 did this and a jet of water erupted from the ground. At the
same time the distant fountain across the frith disappeared.
It is clai med that the naiad of the stream still continues to
withhold her bounty at the season when it would be best
appreciated by men. 2

SLUAGH-GHAIRM, a call to war, a pre-arranged clan signal

for a gathering. Each district had a distinctive battle-cry.

SMACHD, authority, correction, MIr. smacht, a fine imposed

for breaking the law, from s-mag, the root being magh, to be
strong, Eng may.

SMAG, SMOG, a paw, see mag, magh.

SMARACH, a lad, a juvenile, Skr. maryakas, a little mannie,

Cy. morwyn, girl, merch, daughter. In Aran a marlach is a
child of either sex, from two to five years of age.

SMEILEACH, pale, ghostly, ghastly, smeilean, a pale, puny

person, cf. meileach.

SMEUR, SMIAR, smear, anoint, Ir. smearaim, grease, to

smear, possibly from the Eng. See smior.

SMERART, the high anointed ones, i.e. “Beloved of the gods.”

In pre-Roman times they occupied the Oykel and Carron
basins of Scotland. The Latin is either Smertae or Mertae.
The word is a participal formation from G. smeur. Cognate
with smior, bone marrow, Eir. smir. Note the Gaul. goddess
Canti-smerta and the one called Rosemerta. She is equated
with the L. Mercurius, who Caesar says was the most
worshipped of their Gaullish gods. This deity was devoted to
war, industry and the arts and was the god they also called
Teutates, “who was wont to be worshipped with human
blood.” He was also said embodied in Esus , the Gaelic Aod.
There seems to be little doubt that the warriors of this clan
were ritually besmeared with blood, perhaps that of

2Miller, Hugh, Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, p. 18.

enemies, or men slain in battle, the liquid representing that
of the sacrificed and reborn god. There were several sites
named Sliab Smertain in County Cork, Ireland, and there is
still a Scottish ridge dedicated as Carn Smeart. Note that
the beardless youthful heroCuchullain once provided him
with a necessary ulcha smearthain, “smeared beard,” by
casting a spell upon a handfull of grass he seized from the
earth. Notice that Solinus says that the ancient Irish
victors “drink the blood of their slain and then anoint their
faces with it.”

SMERTAIN, thought to be an epithet of the Gaullish war-god

Esus, the Gaelic Aod. See above.

SMIODAN, spirit, from Scand. smeddum. Relates to smior

the English smear, bone-marrow, sometime considered to be
the place of the life force in animals and men.

SMIOR, smear, marrow, EIr. smir, AS. smeoru, lard or butter,

ON. smjorr, butter.

SMIOT. To throw in the air with one hand and hit with the
other, Eng. smite.

SMIUCHAIREIN, smiur, smear; a dining-room in the land

beneath the waves. The Fomors ate raw meat (until Cian
Contje made them a gift of cooking-fire) and were without
eating utensils. Has reference to barbarous eating habits.

SMOG, see SMAG, a paw, cf. ON. smjuga, to creep through a

hole. AS. smugan, to creep, Eng. smuggle.

SMUAIS, marrow, the juice from the interior of bones, to

smash (bones).

SMUCAN, smoke, drizzle, Eng. smoke, G. smuc, post-nasal

drip. Smuid, the same word.

SNAILLEAN, counter-charms cut from wood. The equivalent

of certain runes first fashioned by the Norse god Odin. The
Gaelic snaillean were the invention of Ogma.

SNAIM, a knot, EIr. snam, a bond, from the root ned, to bind,
Lat. nodus. See next.

SNATH, thread. "A man was going to mass early on Sunday

morning...as he crossed the strand, he found a woman and her
daughter engaged in framing witchcraft by means of pieces
of thread of various colours. He tore up the whole apparatus
and rebuked them for malice and breach of the Sunday. They
entreated him not to reveal what he had seen, and promised
their protection in return for his silence. Nevertheless
after mass he told the story. Shortly after, when he was
about to sail for the mainland, a black crow settled on the
mast of his boat and a storm arose in which he perished.
This story is not only true but of recent occurrence." (CM, p.
220). Notice snaithean, directly below.

SNAITHEAN, the woollen snare, a counter-charm against evil

spirits, snath + engach, thread + a fetter, a net, an
entrapment. The ultimate counter-charm. Folklorist Miss
A. Goodrich-Freer stated: "I have never heard a case it which
it had failed (Celtic Monthly, 1901, p. 219). The snaithean
was a pleated or knotted length of wool thread, that taken
from black lambs being preferred. In Canada black horse-
hair was often substituted for wool.

Goodrich-Freer said that "Certain persons in most

districts know how to make it, and can repeat the charm
(which activates it). The person who fetches it (from the
charm-maker) should carry it always in the palm of the
hand, not between the fingers and the thumb, because they
are "not blessed." This magical device was then placed on
the animal or person thought to have been "overlooked" by
dark force, and had to be kept in place until the effects of
the "evil eye" or "spell-casting" were lifted. The maker of a
snaithean could diagnose the presence of the "evil eye" as he
was invariably "seized by a fit of yawning" while weaving
the thread. If the weaver experienced some of the
symptoms of the illness of his applicant, it is assumed that
some other form of evil was in action. To determine
whether the baobh producing the ill effect was male or
female, the maker of the snaithean usually produced a frith
or horoscope along with the knotted thread. When the thread
was placed upon animals, latter-day users said the Latin
"Pater" and then intoned the following charm:

An Eye will see you.

A Tongue will speak of you.
A Heart will think of you.
He of the Strong Arm is blessing you.
The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
Four persons there are who may have done you harm.
A man, a wife, a lad, a girl.
Who is to turn that back?
The three persons of the Trinity,
The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
I call Mary to witness, and Bridd.
It will be a human thing that has done you harm
With wicked wish,
Or with wicked eye,
Or with wicked heart.
That you (name of person or animal) be well
From the time I place this about you.
In the name of all, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.

Freer thought that the reference to "the Arm" applied

to the crozier of St. Columbus, but it could as easily
identify the more antique Lugh "of the Long Arm." The
effect of this device is shown in accounts from "the Powers
of Evil in the outer Hebrides (Celtic Monthly, p. 220)." A
woman who fell ill at the sea-shore, suspected she had been
"eyed" after she passed a man leading two ponies and
carrying grain on his back. In her weakness, she found her
way to the nearest croft, where she nearly succumbed to
vomiting and shivering. The residents gave her butter mixed
into warm milk to sooth her stomach, while a man who was
present being sure she had indeed been "overlooked", set
about twisting threads, which he passed round the hearth-
fire three times (these fires were set at the mid-point of
the room). He then tied the artifact to her hand and she
began to improve. In another instance a girl came to a local
counter-charm maker begging a snaithean for her sister,
who appeared gravely ill. As Ranald "the Tie-Maker" was in
the presence of others when the request was made, he
refused, noting that he was now a good Christian, and that
the village priest had instructed him not to practise the
elder-day arts.

Seeing his difficulty, the petitioner managed to get

him away from the crowd, and he then asked his wife to
twist some wool on her spinning wheel, so that he could
make a snaithean. "The girl got better, and is alive to this
day to prove the efficacy of the cure." Magical knots were
also put to prophylactic use since it was difficult to avoid
encountering magicians on the road to market. Thus Freer
has noted that, "If you buy a horse or cow in the market you
are almost sure to find a piece of black wool round its tail,
well out of sight, under the tail...This must be burnt when
removed."

It is noteworthy that the snaithean was regarded as

ineffectual if the maker demanded payment for his weaving.
Notwithstanding, those who received this help considered
themselves under a powerful obligation to the weaver, who
had to be repaid in kind at some future date.

In New Brunswick, Canada, a variant of the snaithean

may still be in use. This is "hair from a black stallion's
tail" which is worn below a high necked sweater, or (with
the ladies) beneath a ribbon of velvet. Asked whether black
hair from some other animal might suffice, a user said "no,
I tried cow's hair and it was no good. I had to trouble
myself for stallion's hair, and when I feel a sore throat
coming on, I wrap it about. I've never had a sore throat now
in seven years, but once when I mislaid my cord. Now I
wear it pretty constant and am well again!" Speaking on this
subject, Joe Neil MacNeil, of Cape Breton, said that
stallions were reliable allies against evil spirits, but that a
mare was likely to join the opposition, "she would side with
your enemy and harm you...But it was also said that if a rope
were put around her rope, even if it were nothing more than
a woollen yarn...she would side with you and fight fiercely
against the spectre." (Tales Until Dawn, p. 217)

It must be noted that most rural farmers and

herdsmen, here and in Britain, once belonged to secret
societies, such as the Horseman's Word or The Ploughman's
Word, and considered themselves allied with ancient gods,
who have since been associated with the Devil. Scottish
historian Hamish Henderson says that "the Horseman's Word"
embraced the entire farm labourer population of the North-
East (in Scotland). Its principal ceremony was an elaborate
initiation rite in the course of which young lads became
"made Horsemen."...The Horseman's Word developed out of
earlier cults about the middle of the last century. The cult
was exported to Ireland by Scots planters (and presumably
found an easy passage to America with the Highland
Clearances and the various potato famines). The final rite
of initiation, which usually took place at Samhuinn (Old
Style, about Nov. 11) was followed by a "signing over" to
"the Deil" and the giving of the passwords that would enable
the new Horseman to call for supernatural help.

Afterwards, if the "newly-made man" found himself

troubled by a ill-natured mare, he had only to "say his
lessons over" and "a horse would appear. He would have
good cause for fear for that horse would be the Devil - but
if he took courage and slipped the collar (snaithean) over
the uncanny cratur's head and mounted it, he would never
afterwards have trouble with any pair of horses." (Scots
Magazine, May 1967, p. 118-124).

Some of the Gaels contended that knots were "locks"

against evil-spirits, being effective counter-charms to
ward off the familiars of human magicians, wolves and even
Aog, or Bil. When a boabh was brought to the stake at Saint
Andrews in 1572, it was found that she wore a white cloth
about her neck, and within it they found many knots tied
upon strings of wool. They took these from her, much
against her will, for she cried out, "Now there is no hope for
me." Notice that the source of magical power of the witch
and her victims was the same.

In ancient times, the god who empowered the

horsehair may have been Eochaid, "The Horseman of the
Heavens," whose name derives from each, a horse. He is
first mentioned as the high-king of the Firbolgs, the first
people to establish a capitol at Tara in Ireland. The name
was later applied to Eochaid Breas, who may been thought of
as this god reincarnate. In the latter form, this god was
associated with the dark forces of the sky and the sea, as
evil incarnate, thus his association with the "modern-day"
Satan. The horned-gods of the past included Fomorian sea-
giants with the heads of sheep, and these may been the
forces drawn into play in creating the earlier snaitheans. In
every instance, it was thought that the baobh launched an
evil spirit with her "troubling eye", or mysterious chants.

This invisible traveller entered the victim through a

body opening and produced the effects of illness by
contending with the internal soul for control of body
functions. In the worst case, the foreign spirit won, and
the individual lapsed into a coma, followed by death. While
this was going on, the body of the instigator lay, at home, in
a trance state which could only be broken with the return of
his familiar and reinstatement of his own primary soul.
Counter-charms did no harm to the witch-spirit, but "locks"
such as the snaithean had the effect of preventing the
witch-soul from returning to its place of origin. If this
continued for a long time, the body-functions of the evil-
doer were thought compromised. At this, the instigator was
forced to confront his victim asking mercy, which might be
granted if the curse was lifted. This was usually a difficult
decision for the baobh since the runner, or secondary-soul,
demanded blood once it was unleashed on a mission.

If possible, the magician would redirect the bafinn to

a secondary victim, thus the old Gaelic saying that
individuals were sometimes "saddled with someone else's
ills." There was a danger here, since vengeful bafinn could
not be caused to operate against people who were without
guilt. In this event, the runner would return and vent his
wrath against the witch.

SNATH-DEILBHE. warp-spasm; snath, thread; deilbh, in the

process of forming, warping. The Norse berserker-rage, a
complete shape-change of the human body creating an
inhuman fighting machine. In both communities this effect
was fuelled by the drinking of blood containing potent
hallucinogenic herbs. See crómagan, the drink that inspired
this condition.

SNATH GORM. the blue-green thread of witchcraft. The blue

clews carried by baobhe and wound about animals or
objects as an enchantment.

SNEADH, a nit, a house-goblin, OIr. sned, AS. hnitu, Eng. nit,

the Scand. niss-god-dreng, a house fairy similar to the
boabh and bodach.

SNEDGUSA. possibly from the above+ gas, a stalk or twig, a

diminutive. A cleric in the household of Saint Columba, the
subject of the Imram Snedgusa acus meic Riagla, “The
Voyage of Snedgus and mac Riagla.” which has been
preserved in the Yellow Book of Lecan dating from the
fourteenth century but is considered to date at least to the
second half of the ninth century.

In it, the men of Ross successful killed Fiacha mac

Domnaill righ “for his intolerable tyrannies.” All were
found guilty before the law and sixty couples were
sentenced to banishment as ringleaders of the uprising.
Two Christian monks, Snedgus and mac Riagla , sat as
judges but they were sympathetic to the cause of the men
whose fate was left “to the Great Ocean.” Afterwards they
set out on a voluntary pilgrimage following in the wake of
the earlier curraghs. It is said that they drifted north-west
“in the outer ocean” and after three days their thirst
became almost intolerable. Christ took pity on them and
brought them into “a river within the sea,” where the water
had the taste and sustaining qualities of tepid milk.

Afterwards they visited many other islands, at last

reaching a landfall where they met people who spoke Irish
Gaelic. Their first encounter was with a group of women
who sang to them and told them that many generations of
Irish considered this land home. They were eventually taken
to the court of the king of that place, and he received them
well asking their origin and mission. It was obvious that the
king had knowledge of the earlier civil war in Ireland for he
asked, “How goes it in Ireland, and how many of Domnaill’s
sons still live?” They answered that three remained, “but
Fiacha mac Domnaill fell by the men of Ross, and for that
deed sixty couples were banished to the seas.” The king
smiled and responded, “That is a true story: I am he who
killed the King of Tara’s son (i.e. Fiacha) and we are partly
those who were sent to sea. This action was well for us, for
we will stay here until Judgement Day, and be none the
worse for it, for this is a land without sin, without evil,
and without sinful desires. This island we live on has been
good to us, for it is the birthright of Elijah and Enoch.”
Thinking this place suited their needs the two clerics
remained presumably enjoying immortality in this western
retreat.

SOD, an awkward person, a stout soul, cf. Scand. sod, a

heavy person, the OIr. she-wolf from which the modern
saigh, a bitch, ultimately the goddess Samh or Summer, who
was accused of untidy housekeeping. Sod, the noise of
rushing or boiling water, the steam of water in which meat
is boiled, Ir. sod, boiled meat, particularly pork, related to
ON. soth, the broth or water in which meat has been boiled,
Eng. sodden, seethe, sod, Scot. sotter, to boil slowly, sottle,
the noise made by boiling porridge (which anciently
contained meat). The Eng. sows of Manann mac Ler, and thus
his one time “daughter-consort” the Mhorrigan, or “Great
queen of the Ocean.” All the “billow maidens” were
renewable virgins, “eaten” at dusk but reincarnate by dawn.
The Scot. sodick or soudie, an “ample” and clumsy woman. G.
sodal, pride flattery, insolence, the OIr. sotli, animosity,
the source of the Eng. and Fr. sot, a drunkard. Also, sodan,
caressing, joy, a happy reception, sog, mirth, good humour,
tipsiness, sôgh, luxury, riot, EIr. suaig, having many pigs,
prosperous, soidean, a jolly or stout fellow. See feiss, a
female pig.

The sacred nature of the Anglo-Saxon sow is shown in

the fact that it was termed asa-soge, literally, “Asa’s
sow,” or “Odin’s sow.” These female creatures obviously
confer with the Walkyra or Nornr, who are the Celtic
Bafinne. Fredrijof Nansen has said that: “The Norse myth of
the sow must have found a favourable soil among the Celts,
as according to the ideas of Celtic mythology the pig was a
sacred animal in the religion of the Druids, especially
concerned with Ceridwen, the goddess of the lower world.”
She is, of course, the Cornish Horridgwen, known in Gaelic
myth as the Mhorrigen. “The Celts had heard of the pig that
by the help of steel causes fairylands to remain visible; but
regarded this as being connected with the animals sacred
properties (and not with the steel). It cannot have originally
been a Celtic conception, otherwise we should meet with in
other Celtic legends.”

Nansen did not read widely enough and apparently

lacked a knowledge of Scottish and Irish folklore: To begin,
the Gaelic goddess of fate was the tripartite Bafinn and her
youthful form was Mhorrigan, the “Great Queen of the
Ocean.” She was usually referred to as the Samh ,
pronounced “sawh’ or “saah,” which is to say “Summer”
personified. She was also termed the Saigh or “Bitch.” The
Irish form of this is saith, sagh or saighin, the Middle Irish
sogh or sodh and the Early Irish sod, a bitch, especially a
she-wolf (the favourite totem of Mhorrigan). It will be
noticed that his confers exactly with the Anglo-Saxon soge
and the English “sow.”

The Anglo-Saxons often termed this goddess Asa-

soge indicating her sexual attachment to the god Asa, or
Woden who is the Gaelic god Dagda or his son Lugh. Notice
that the depersonalized word samh,” is defined as “a
clownish individual; cf. Sc. sow, one who makes a dirty
appearance, “a pig.” Notice also that the boar was a totem
animal of the two Gaelic male gods mentioned above. This
goddess is spoken of in the Cuchullain tale as the “Great
Black Sow,” and she confers with Boann, Anu, or Danu, the
matriarch of the Tuatha daoine. After they became the
Daoine sidh, these people were frequently seen in the form
of goats, sheep, horses, cows, dogs, cats, hares or pigs.

A number of Welsh observers agreed that they

perceived fay-folk as sheep. These disappeared from the hill
side but “About half-an-houur before sunset, they saw them
again, but not all alike (each person had his own perception
of them); for some saw them like sheep, some like
greyhounds, some like swine, and some like naked infants.
They appeared in the shade of the mountain, and the first
sight was if they rose out of the earth. This was a notable
appearance of the fairies seen by credible witnesses.”

As the Milesians approached Ireland as an invading

force it has been said that they at first called it the “Sow’s
Island,” “as each hill seemed to have the semblance of a
pig.” Historians have guessed that this was because the
place had the appearance of a pig’s back, but the explanation
is deeper than that: The Firbolgs were the first settlers to
leave certain descendants in Ireland and they said that their
ancestor was a pig-god. By the time of the invasion their
mythology was one with that of the Daoine sidh who
supplanted them. The idea of a pig-god may ultimately go
back to the Fomorian shape-changers, for the creator-god,
Don, also known as Ler had seven daughters, sometimes
referred to as the “wave-” or “billow-maidens,” The chief
of these was his daughter/wife, Mhorrigan, who resembled
the Welsh Ceridwen in having care and control of the famed
Cauldron of the Deep. It will be recalled that she paired
herself with the land-god Dagda the father of the Tuatha
daoine. This “pig-goddess” is thus insinuated into the main
line of the fay-people.
 Incidentally, the Fomors are particularly associated
with Munster and the people of Breg in the south of Ireland.
Drimne Breg, the “Ridge of Breg,” still carries the alternate
name “The Back of the Great Sow,” from the days when it
was associated with the powerful Tuatha daoine. Fionn mac
Cumhail was a Milesian Gael, and Aonghas Og one of the
defeated Tuatha daoine. It is said that ten hundred of these
two folk once gathered at Brug-na-Boann which lay in a
hollow hill near Tara. During the festivities Fionn baited
Aonghas about his lack of hounds, horse and military
strength. Aonghas retorted saying that Fionn possessed all
of these things, but suggested that his host was incapable
of cutting down a single “Tuathan pig.” Fionn countered,
saying that his two hunting dogs had never failing in
bringing down any pig. A battle might have ensued but Fionn
was sober enough to advise his men: “Let us leave off, for
we are but few among the Men of Dea.” As a result they
retreated to Slieve Fuad where the Feinn happened to be
encamped at that time.

As a result, the Tuatha daoine began boasting of how

they had “conquered” the Milesians and in a year’s time
Aonghas invited the men of the south to hunt for some of his
“pigs” (i.e. Firbolg warriors). The Feinn agreed to the hunt ,
and “on a plain to the east,” found “a terrible herd of great
pigs, every one of them the height of a deer. And the leading
pig was blacker than a smith’s coal, and the bristles on his
head were the like of thorn-trees,” It is said that this hunt
brought losses to Aonghas but was also grievous to Fionn
whose force was depleted by ”ten hundred missing men not
counting servitors and dogs.” Enraged members of the Feinn
suggested marching against Brugh-na-Boann to avenge their
dead, but Fionn knew that these “pigs of the ocean” were
virtually immortal and would regenerate themselves if they
were not ritually destroyed. The bodies of most of the pigs
were destroyed in seven need-fires but the lead pig was
impossible to destroy until woods with magical properties
were burned around it.

After that the Feinn marched against Aonghas, but

they were met by emissaries suing for peace. Fionn was
uncompliant until the Tuathan explained that the lead pig
had been his shape-changed son, and that the others had
includes the son of the Narrow Sea, the son of the King of
Seagulls, a grandson of Manann mac Ler “and seven score of
the stately sons of kings and queens of the western
realms.” At this Oisin “the Wise,” consulted with Fionn
saying, “It is best for us to agree and pay whatever fines
are required for there is no help in this!” And thus, peace
was made and the two races gave foster-children to one
another as security. For all that, Aonghas was never
particularly friendly toward Fionn and that is why he
afterwards aided Diarmuid when he stole Grainne from the
leader of the Feinn.

The “pigs of the sea,” appear in the story about Easal,

the “King of the Golden Pillars,” (which may confer with
structures supposedly located on the Canary Islands). He
possessed seven magic pigs. Even after they were killed and
eaten at feasts each night, they arose each morning
regenerate. It was noticed that anyone who ate their flesh
was never afflicted with disease. Easal befriended the sons
of Tuireann (thunder-fire) and gave them his pigs which
were a part of their world-wide quest. It is said that this
king, whose name translates as the “weak-one,” had a
daughter married to the king of Ioruaidhe , who lived on an
adjacent sea-island. The Tuireann’s later bespoiled taking
away Fail Inis, invincible battle-dog that lived there.

This is a kinder version of the rape of An Domhain by

the Dagda and his sons. In both cases, the “pigs of the sea”
were carried back to Ireland to benefit the sun-god Lugh.
Even the redoubtable Manann mac Ler had trouble with
these pigs: It is reported that his hounds sought “a pig that
was destroying the whole countryside” in the vicinity of his
Irish retreat (he was given property by the land-gods for his
help against his own Fomnorian kin-folk). It was said that
this single animal (which may represent Firbolg guerillas)
had made a desert of his place. The animals tracked this
sow to a lake, but it turned on the pack of dogs and fairly
decimated them. Afterwards the pig swam out to an island-
refuge in the middle of a lake and appears to have settled
there. The island was afterwards termed Muc-inis and the
loch, Loch Conn, the “Lake of the Hounds.”

In some tales it was said that some of the “sea-

swine” remained the property of Mannan mac Ler. When the
Tuatha daoine accepted Manann’s invitation to serve the
sea-gods in return for invisibility and immortality, they
were invited to the “Pig Feast,” and had to renew this rite
on a yearly basis if they wished to remain perpetually
youthful and full of vitality. Again these pigs could be eaten
at evening but were completely recovered by dawn.. These
creatures are of course parallel to Odin’s boar named
Sæhrimnir , “Sea-froth,” or “Sea-sperm,” the creature that
would “always come to life for the next meal. In Old Norse
mythology a similar beast, the “Golden-bristled One,” was
given to the god Frey by the dwarfs (who correspond
somewhat with the Fomors). In Celtic mythology the boar is
one of the totem-animals of Lugh.

The pig was almost the only animal transported on the

first ships that came to North America. It took up little
room as an immature animal and could be turned to fend for
itself during the summer. It was vicious enough to defend
itself against bears and could be killed in late autumn as a
source of food for the winter. It was a prolific, if not very
tidy beast and some animals were overwintered, so that it
must have seemed almost immortal to those who depended
on it. Clearly there is some interplay between Old Norse and
Celtic myth, but the “pig-god” cannot be clearly credited to
either language group.

SOIR, the east. EIr. sair. The source of all Christian doctrine
and mythology.

SOIS, fond of ease, snug, from Scot. sosh, sociable.

SOISE, a ball of fire in the air; a portent. Soisgeul, gospel.

See fear dreag.
 SOISE A’ BHÀIS, also entitled SOLUS A’ BHÀIS. The “ball of
light.” A portent of bas or “death.” Some individuals in
Gaelic communities kept lights at night hoping to escape
seeing the “death light.”Frances MacEachen speaks of the
light as being red in colour, but that was not invariable. She
also mentions a Cape Breton woman who, as a child, stood in
awe of the warning of her grandmother’s death; “Later in
life she became less nochalant when seeing the red light.
While tying a mocassin she looked up to see solus a’ bháis
glowing brightly in her kitchen. She froze, stunned, staring
at the light for a few seconds. It left her feeling as though
all the blood (was) drained from her body. “I knew
something awful was ging to happen,” she said. She noted
that the telephone stretched exactly to the place where she
saw the light. “I knew I was going to hear it (the bad news)
on the phone...”” That afternoon there was an explosion at
the mill where her husband worked. Although her husband
was unscathed four men died,an dword of the accident came
by phone just as she expected. Elsewhere a woman saw a
light which had the general shape of a light bulb and was “a
pretty blue shade.” She noted that it sped over the roof-tops
of her village, passed across an open field and zoomed off
into the heavens. She did not mention the light to her
friends as she understood its meaning, but the next day she
heard that a neighbour had passed on.3 See fear dreag

SOMHITH. An entirely shapeless supernatural made of the

beginning stuff. Often perceived as black or grey spheres of
“anti-matter.”

SONA, happy, the opposite of dona, which, see, literally

“doing pretty well.”

SONN. a stout man, hero, from earlier sonn, a club, a staff, a

cudgel, a beam, Skr. spand, to draw or move about, Lat.
pendo, that which hangs down. Well endowed, after the
fashion of the Dagda. See this entry.

3MacEachen, Frances, “Am Braighe,” Autumn 1994, p. 14.

SONRAICH, ordain, OIr. sainriud, hence sain, to sign the
cross ordaining something to the protection of the Christian
God. Outward saining had the weight of a curse.

SORAIDH, a farewell, a blessing, from EIr. soreid, happy,

successful.

eg. "On Going On A Journey"

Seven prayers, seven times over told,

Morag left to her sons of old,
Bridd left to her mantles length,
The gods left to their own great strength,
Between us and the sithean kind.
Us and the People of the Wind,
Us and the water's drowning power,
Us and temptation's evil hour,
Us and the world's all-blighting breath,
Us and the bondsman's cruel death.

SORCHA THIR, SORCHIR THIR, “The Land of Light,” solus,

light, Eir. solus, bright, obs. sorcha, light, AS svelan, to
glow, Eng. sultry; Skr. svar, sheen, the sun. In medieval
times the Gaels used this as a name for Portugal but earlier
on the meaning was any land to the south of Gaeldom. The
land of the north was lochlann, which see.

SPANG, a spasm, a twinge of conscience. Usually thought of

as an imposition of the outer spirit.

SPAD. kill, fell, Ir. a clod, a sluggard, a eunuch, cf. Cy.

ysbaddu, to exhaust, to deplete, to geld, from the Lat. spado,
an emasculated male, hence the Eng. spayed. Spadair, a fop
or braggart, one who talks loud but cannot perform.

SPART, energy, power, substance, Ir. spairt, brain, a splash,

plaster, daub. The physical form of the human brain was
well known to our ancestors, who frequently saw its tissue
splattered about. The spirit, the empowering force
observed to flee at death. See the related word spiorad.

SPAG, having a clubbed-foot, a claw or paw, the limb of an

animal, a clumsy-legged person, Cy. ysbach, a claw. G.
spaga-da-ghlid, a buffon, a quarter-day fool, a tomfool.
Spagach, an inarticulate man or woman, spaig, wry-
mouthed, spagluinn, ostentation, conceit.

SPEARRACH, a fetter, a binding spell; speir, hoof, ham,

claw, talon, ankle. A means of binding evil spirits by
plunging an iron steel knife into a foot-print of the
creature; equally useful against supernaturals or human
baobhe. e.g. The following, a charm against marsh fever.
While it was intoned three horseshoes were nailed to the
bedpost:

Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

Bind the Nathair to this post.
Thrice smite I with holy croc.
With this mell, I thrice do knock.
First for God
But one for Wod,
And one for Lok!

Reference is made to "holy croc" (Holy Cross) but

earlier versions refer to the Cailleach's staff or Thor's
hammer, and the trinity may be the Bafinn. In this
interesting mix of Christian and pagan tradition, the spell-
binder calls for the assistance of God, but hedges his bet by
asking the help of "Wod" (Odin) and "Lok" (Lokki).

SPIDEAG, a delicate or slender creature, from Scot. spit, a

small, hot-tempered person, spitten, a tiny mischief-maker,
the Eng. spit. A “fairy.”

SPILIGEAN, a seedling, a human who is dwarf-like in

appearance. See above.

SPIORAD, spirit, OIr. spirut from Latin spiritus. The Cy.

ysbryd, Cor. speris, Br. speret. Each human was thought to
possess and inner soul, or spirit and an external spirit, the
latter gifted on a man by the gods.

By Victorian times, the soul was regarded as

something other than a little spirit, resident under the
breast-bone, or in the head, given responsibility for the
physical workings of the body. Hasting's Dictionary of the
Bible points out that the word "soul" is used throughout
most of the Bible as an exact synonym for "life". In the
earliest versions of the Old Testament it was never
confounded with "spirit", or "the animating principle", as is
now the case. The idea that the soul was immaterial and
capable of surviving death has no Biblical foundation, but
seems to have derived from the Church Fathers, especially
St. Augustine. He argued that this immaterial force, which
drove the human spirit, had to be immortal "because it was
the repository of imperishable truth." In redefining the soul
as the "immortal essence of life" the Christians made the
word soul nearly synonymous with ghost, or spirit.

The major difference between this, and pagan belief,

is that the latter held out for periodic rather than a single
rebirth. Christians agreed with the pagans that "everything
is eternal" but did not share their insistence that "life is a
kaleidoscope of power, and death a mere shifting of the
glass."

All spirits may be sub-divided into those that are

immortal and those that are mortal. The creator-gods, such
as the Anglo-Saxon Alfadur, the Abenaki Kjikinap, and the
Gaelic Dagda belong to the first group. The elementals were
also considered unchanging, timeless, and not subject to
periodic death and reincarnation. The god of fire was called
Loki in Scandinavia. His German counterpart was Laugar,
and in England he was Lob-Lie-By-Fire. The Gaelic
equivalent was named Lugh. The god of the waters was
variously known as Hler, Eagor, Ler or Llyr in the northern
countries. The god of the air was Kari, Carey or Wyn ab
Nudd. All of these gods were easily recognized by the fact
that they have names which reveal nothing of their
character: Kjikinap, for example translates as Great Power;
Dagda as the Father of Day; Loki as Bound Fire and Wyn ab
Nudd as Wind of the Night. Fraser noted that the immortal
gods had no marked individuality and no accepted traditions
as to origin, life, adventures and character. Like the
Christian "God the Father", they were remote characters
with their own objectives and hobbies, and rites aimed at
them were magical rather than propitiatory. The elemental
gods had names synonymous with the elements and their
powers were always restricted to this domain. No special
class of persons was given charge of firing flaming arrows
into the air to promote sunlight, and priests were not
considered necessary to the act of sprinkling water on the
ground to encourage the help of the water god. These were
all rites of simple sympathetic magic, as was flapping a rag
in the air, or whistling, to encourage the wind-god. The
rites were performed informally without the need for a
temple, as occasion demanded.

We have spoken of the spirits of men, who were a

mortal-race. In most countries folklore identifies other
spirited beings who were classed apart from either men or
the higher divinities. Almost all legends agree that the
first race on earth was the giants. After them, the creator-
gods constructed the mortal-gods, who immediately warred
with the giants. Because the big fellows had few magical
abilities beyond the "evil-eye", divination, and shape-
changing, they were defeated and suppressed by the wonder-
working latter-day gods. The mortal-gods were credited
with creating the little people as their first experiment.
Variously called the sidh, elfs, wights, fairies, or
mikumwees, they were gifted with the forms of men but
were superior to them in their knowledge of magic,
longevity and intelligence. Men were the last race to people
the earth, and only gained superiority over the others
through their use of iron, which allowed the construction of
superior tools and weapons. What little magic they
possessed survives in the technological crafts.
SPOTH, geld or castrate, Lat. spado, a eunuch, whence Eng.
spay.

SPRACADH, strength, sprightliness, from Eng. sprack, lively,

ON. spraekr, do, Eng. spark, sparkler.

SPREANGAN, a cloven stick employed in acts of magic. The

English spring, a flexible rod. The "divining rod," made from
hazel, alder, beech, or apple, or some other water-loving
tree. Used to discover the presence of metals, hidden
water, treasures, to point out thieves and locate the
victims of murder. Traditional extensions of the arm, and
energies, of the sithe and the boabhe. They were used as a
mode of transport before brooms came into fashion with the
witch-clans. "The talent for making the divining rod turn is
given only to a few...One can determine whether one has
received it naturally by cutting a forked branch from a
hazel-tree and holding one of the two tips in each hand.
When his foot is placed on top of the object that is being
sought, or upon clues that may indicate the location of the
object, the rod will turn independently in the searcher's
hands and will be an infallible guide. No less astonishing is
that the rod turns only when the holder intends it to turn
(toward whatever is sought). Thus when a stream of water
is to be identified, the rod will not turn when the diviner
passes over hidden treasure or clues to a murder."
(Dictionary of Witchcraft, p. 54). Jacques Aymar, a peasant
born at Saint-Veran, France in 1862 became a mason, who
was also noted for his use of the diving-rod. "Some have
attributed his rare talent to the precise moment of his
birth, for his brother, born during the same month two years
later, had no success with it. Previously the rod had only
been employed in searching for metals used in alchemy, but
he laid claim to the discovery of underground streams,
forgotten landmarks, spells, thefts and assassins..."
(Dictionary of Witchcraft, p. 20).

SPROCHD, dejection, sadness, MIr. broc, anxiety, sorrow, cf.

murach.
SRAC, tear, rend, rob, Lat. rapio, Eng. rape.

SRAON, stumble, make a false step. rush forward with more

violence than objectivity, MIr. srained, dragging down,
defeat, overthrow, scatter, EIr. scroenim, hurl, drag, defeat,
the root ster, to strew, scatter, etc.

SRATH, a valley, a strath, OIr. israth, meadow land located

along the banks of a river or loch, a swampy place, from
ster, to scatter, to spread, Lat. sterno, I strew, Eng. strand.

SREATHAN, caul of an unborn animal. An object much sought

as the focal point for foresight.

SREANG, to extend, to draw out into threads, to tear away,

also: string, a line, a cord, rope; a charm to ward off the
effects of the evil-eye. See next.

SRENG. A Firbolg warrior who cut off the hand of the Tuatha
king named Nuada, thus subjecting Ireland to the Tuathan-
Fomorian war. In Connacht, people of the seventeenth
century still confidently pointed out Sreng as an ancestor.

SRION NA-H-EANACHAIR, sometimes BODACH SRION NA-H-

EANACHAIR, “the bodach with the long nose,” a supernatural
bodach supposedly the shade of an gille donn, the ancestor
of the Browns of Carradale Glen, Scotland. He was the
youngest son of a former chieftain of The Macmillan. He is
“supposed to have inhabited the hills for generations” and
his lamentations presaged the death of “a certain clan.”
This lad contracted brain-fever, and in this state fell into a
three mile passage into the earth and there was either
killed by the fall or drowned. The cries of the gille donne as
a caointach issue from this pit and are said to be sufficient
to make the ground tremble. This creature is used by
parents to terrorize naughty children!

SRUAN, shortbread cake having five corners.

SRUTH, a stream. Eng. spurt, spout.

STAC, a precipice, a steep hill, related to ON. stakkr, a
stack (of hay), Scot. stack, a columnar isolated rock in the
ocean.

STAIR, stepping stones in a river, a path marked by stones

in a bog. The Eng. stair, from the root tar, to cross.

STAN, obs. tin, Cy. ystaen, Bry. stean, Lat. stannum, tin.
Currently, below, down below. Staoin, pewter.

STAOIR. ventriloquism, staorum, bending of the body to one

side. It can be guessed that this craft was used where
druids interviewed standing stones or talked with a god
resident in a fire or a cloud. Where the nature of this
"stage-effect" was understood it was still considered valid
magic, since trickery was seen as a craft gifted on those
favoured by the spirits or the gods. The use of this form of
misdirection was the basis for charges of witchcraft in
"the hag-ridden years:" "Toward the middle of the sixth
century a woman named Cecelia attracted attention in
Lisbon (Spain). She possessed the art of modulating her
voice in such a way as to make it appear to issue at times
from her elbow, at times from her foot, at times from a
place it would be improper to name. She engaged in
conversation with an invisible being...who answered all her
questions. The woman was a reputed witch and was
possessed by the devil; however, as a special favour,
instead of being burned at the stake, she was merely
banished forever to the island of St, Thomas, where she died
peacefully." (Dictionary of Witchcraft, p. 38).

STARN MAC SERA., The brother of Partholon.

STARN MAC NEMED. The father of Tuan, the progenitor of the

Firbolge.

STARRAN, an elderly dwarf; starr, to move in a jerky

fashion, starrag, obs. Wry-necked.
STARR-SHUILEACH, having the eyes physically distorted,
stard, moon-eyed, cf. ON. starblindr, blind because of a
cataract, Eng. stare, having a fixed-gaze from some such
cause, Scot. stare. Starr, sedge, star, a mote in the eye. The
latter condition was considered to tie a man to the uncanny
Daoine sidh.

STEAFAG, a little staff or stick, from Eng. staff.

STEOCAIREAN ITEIN GEOIDH, "goosequill drivers,"

propagandists, whose craft of writing (using quills) was
also considered spirit-driven.

STEORNADH, under the guidance of the stars.

STIC, STIG, a staff, imp, demon, long-legged, a devil. a

ghostly person, a fault, blemish, defect, pain, blackguard,
uneasiness, from Sc. stick, any act which is bungled. A
ghost, a skulking person and imp of the Devil. This is the
English word stick. Stican an donais, an “imp of The Devil.”
Stican an deamhain mhoir, “imp of the Great Demon,” Stican
taighe, a “house-imp.” Note the English dia. Old Stick, the
Devil. Gaelic kings were barred from power if they had any
noteworthy physical deformity. Magicians were frequently
hired to produce pimples on the face of a rival. It was
suggested that this was accomplished by spell-casting, but
the act was probably coupled with the use of strong herbal
preparations applied to the victim through sleight-of-hand.
Note that “unlucky first-footers (at the quarter-days)
included those with a lame leg, splay feet, flat feet, and
generally all those having impaired faculties not acquired
through accident.” Also in this category: “persons of
immoral (in the widest sense) character; hypocrites; those
with who were stingy, sanctimonious, or had eyebrows that
met on the brow.” Also suspect: “Persons carrying a knife or
any pointed tool and those wearing mourning or black
clothing.” All such individuals were seen as relatives of
the uncanny Fomors. In spite of precautions ill-luck could
be avoided when the stigean arrived by throwing salt on the
fire at entry; by having the first word before the visitor; by
signing the cross; by burning a wisp of straw on the hearth;
or by placing a red hot ember in water. In each case the god
of another element was brought to play against the god of
the ocean.

STIG, STICEARTACH, a skulking or abject look or attitude, a

ghost that haunts the exterior of a house, from ON. stygr,
shy. As used in glais-stig. See also stic.

STIOLTADH, smelting. The creation of cast metals was

considered a form of magic. This “art” was practised from
an early date by the adherents of the goddess Bridd and her
“brother” Lugh.

STIORC, to stretch out at the time of death, from Eng.

stark? Stiorlag, a thin, worn-out rag, a used-up woman,
stiorlan, a thin person, stiorlach, watery porridge.

STOILIEAN, membrum mas; stoileanach, wanton, lewd,

lecherous, bawdy.

STOL, a stool, the stool for reconsideration upon which

couples to be married stood during marriage. Much later,
the repentance stool for those doing church penance.

STRACAIR, a troublesome fellow, a quarrelsome stranger.

STREAFON, the caul covering unborn animals in the womb. It

was though lucky to retain this if a person were born with
it over his head.

STRIG, an explosion, a sound like a blast furnace,

particularly a noise of supernatural origin; as that heard in
Ireland when the druids of the Milesians and Tuatha daoine
warred with each other. In earlier days it was said that the
nature-spirits governing the air waged war "with the fiery
spirits of Heckla (a volcano in Iceland)." "At such times,
many of the fiery spirits are destroyed when the enemy hath
brought them off the mountains to fight over the water. On
the contrary, when the battle is upon the mountain itself,
the spirits of the air are often worsted, and then great
moanings and doleful noises are often heard in Iceland, and
Russia, and Norway, for many days after." (Reginald Scott,
1665, quoted in Ghosts Fairies Gnomes and Other Little
People, p. 183). Such sounds persist and some are now
credited to movements along faults in the earth's crust. The
noise produced by explosive weaponry. See gae bolg.

STRIOPACH, a whore, from OFr. strupe, from Lat. struprum,

dishonour, violation, the Eng. strumpet.

STROG, paint, a craftsman skilled in painting upon wood.

Image making was considered a high art, the image being
considered spiritually akin to the original. Anything done to
harm the sculpture or drawing or painting was thought to
reflect negatively upon the object or person associated
with it. Even the names of men could be inscribed on wood,
and destroyed, to their detriment.

STROM, a stream within the sea. The Gulf Stream would be

one example. A lesser example is the extension of the
fresh-water of the Saint John River into the adjacent Bay of
Fundy in north-eastern America. The two bodies are of
drastically different temperatures, colours, and densities
and do not mix for many miles seaward. In fact, the river is
still intact beyond the island of Grand Manan. This gives
rise to a phenomena known as "tidal-streak." At the streak
the water is physically higher within the stream and broils
at the intersection of fresh and salt water, forming at the
same time a miniature tidal bore at sea. Men with fish-nets
in the water remove them at the approach of the "strom"
since it carries debris which may damage them. A
phenomenon ascribed to the presence of water-sprites.

STUAIC, a little hill, a rounded promontory, “of sullen

countenance.” Eng. steep. Also stuc, Ir. stucan. a small
conical hill, stucach, horned, from Teut. stuka, winged, Eng.
stook, a shook of corn (12 sheaves), cf. stuiaic. above. Stuic,
a projecting crag, having an angry or threatening look.
SLUAG SIDE, the "wind riders", the sidh-host. The sithe
were sometimes pictured as riding straws within the wind
after the fashion of horses. They were, themselves,
invisible to all but those with the "gifted" eye.

STRUIDHLEACH. A wicked woman, one who has no good

intentions.

STRUILEAG, the “boat of the wits.” In olden days every

person at a festival was expected to contribute in some way
to the entertainment, When one had sung, or dances, or
recited or played upon his musical instrument he would say
struileag seachad orm gu ___. Naming the next entertainer.
This was “passing the buck,” putting responsibility on the
next person.

STRUTHAN, cake made on St. Michael's Day and eaten on his

day. Michael is associated with the pagan god Lugh,
originally his cake.

SULATAM MAC ROTH. Cuchulainn’s “mortal father.” See

Dechtire.

SUAN, SUAIN SIDE, sith-sleep. An unnatural sleep imposed

upon people when the sithe crouched upon their chests.
Those subject to these ailpe sometimes claimed to have
been sexually assaulted while sleeping and women were
sometimes impregnated. This was an dream-ridden sleep
from which men and animals arose unrefreshed and weary.
Those faced with many months of this torture died and their
souls were carried into the sidh-hills. Sometimes said
inspired by sidh- music or song. See ailp.

SUANTRAIGHE, suan + treaghaid, sleep + transpiercing,

biting, soulful. The magic sleep music first practised by
the gods Dagda and Lugh. The geantrighe (laughing music)
was that first invoked on the harp by Moriath, the daughter
of Scoriath, when she was courted by Labraid Loingsiuch.
As her parents did not approve of the swain, the two were
never permitted to be alone together. In desperation
Moriath hired her father's harpist to play at their next
feast. His lively passages were followed by the suantraighe
which left the whole assemblage in a state resembling
death. The young couple took the time while the court slept
to become lovers. When the queen arose, she looked once at
her daughter and then turning to her husband said, "Arise
Scoriath, thy daughter respires the breath of a plighted
wife."

SUBHACH, merry, OIr. sube, joy, opposite of dubach, from the

root bu, to be.

SUBHALLACH, obs. Religion.

SUD, dialectic for sid, other, yonder. The Otherworld.

SUGH, SUGHAN, juice, sap, to drain, to suck up, Ir. sughaim,

EIr. sugo, to suck. The lowland Scottish sowan or sowen,
usually referred to in the plural. Sowans Nicht was
Christmas Eve "when friends foregathered around a big bowl
of sowans. Sowans cooked with butter is a traditional
Samhain dish. At that time, a ring was often put in the
mixture and whoever found it was considered the next to be
married in the new year. Sowens consisted of oatmeal
"sids" (the inner husks of the oat grain, combined with
water and salt). These ingredients were boiled and held for
a week in summer "a little longer in winter." Strangers
thought it unpalatable but it was meant to be taken with "a
social glass of strunt (any alcoholic drink)."

SUGH AN SGEACH DHU, “Juice of the Blackthorn,” taken as an

antidote against witchcraft and the evil eye.

SUIBHNE GEILT. An Irish king cursed by St. Ronan for his

paganism. In spite of his human form he possessed all the
characteristics of a bird. A tale from the Scottish Highlands
identifies him as a resident of Trotternish on the island of
Skye. He supposedly created such mayhem there he was
banished to the Hebridean island of Mainland. There the
creature lived until the locals tired of his wickedness and
decapitated him. Afterwards he became a malignant and
dangerous ghost which floated above certain passes falling
upon travellers to suffocate them. A young man finally
impaled the head on his sword blade and reunited it with the
body. In this condition the corpse was exported back to Skye
and the haunting ceased.

SUIDHE, suidh, a seat. Applied to places where gods, heroes

or saints took their rest. Suidheachan Fhinn, “Fionn’s Seat”
at Loch Broom is only one of many. The same holds for the
may places held in memory of King Arthur, St. Columba and
his ilk. There were also, anciently, many judgement seats
and seats of learning.

SIUIDHE ARTAIR. Arthur’s Seat, located near Edinburgh.

There is another in Aberdeenshire. And one at the head of
Glenlivet.

SÙIL, sùil, eye, from svar, “to burn,” From the same Celtic
root: seall, look thou; sealladh. sight; Cy. selu, to espy, to
gaze. selw, beholding; haul, the sun, Breton, sell, a look,
sight, heaul, the sun; the Bry. Sul or Sulis, a goddess of fire
and thermal waters, who the Romans equated with Minerva.
They entitled her waters Aquae Sulis, the “Waters of Sul,”
and theses are still to be seen at Bath, England. This Celtic
goddess was also based at Hesse, Germany, where she is
referred to as “the Eye of heaven.” This being the case she
is the female form of Lugh or Aod. See next entry.

SÙIL OLC, the bad-eye, the evil-eye, first mentioned in

mythology as possessed by the Fomorian giant Balor of The
Malignant-Eye, whose gaze felled his Tuatha daoine enemies
as they stood before him on the battlefield. He was killed
by his grandson Lugh, a personification of day and the sun.
Attributed to the Mhorrigan and her baobhe, all of the
Fomorian line of descent. Goodrich-Freer says that the evil-
eye is not related to eye colour, "nor necessarily upon any
desire of doing harm, and the person so unfortunate to
possess it may even (unintentionally) injure his own
children. The people who have skill in making snaithean,
“counter-charms,” say they know without being told
whether the eye was that of a man or a woman." These are
people who "quite unwittingly bring misfortune upon others"
and are members of a much larger fraternity described as
the "droch chomhaliachen" (which, see). "Father R had a good
cow which died of some internal inflammation; but of
course the Evil Eye was at the bottom of it...He had a capital
pony; and a few days after the cow's death, one of his
parishioners looking at the pony, began to dispraise it in no
measured terms, with the notion of warding off the
(further) attention of the Powers of Evil. Another advised
him to put his new cow in a park (paddock) at some distance
from the chapel, on Sundays, so that it might not run the
risk of being "overlooked" by any of the worshippers."
(Celtic Monthly, p. 162). To counter the effects of the evil
eye it was advised that individuals turn their coats after
the fashion of the Daoine sidh. In point of fact, any article
of clothing, at any level, worn inside out was said to
confuse evil-spirits concerning the identity of an intended
victim. Saint John's wort and the marsh ragwort were
carried for this same reason.

SUILEACHD, the effects of the evil-eye.

SUILEAN NA FEANNAIG, "the eyes of the crow", a phrase

implying voraciousness, gluttony, over-ambition. The
Morgan and the baobh, whose totems were the crow, were
said to share piercing evil eyes.

SUIRE. a maid, nymph, mermaid, perhaps from Lat. siren. see

Daoine mara.

SULTAM MAC ROTH, also Sualdaim, the brother of Fergus

mac Roth, Cuchullain’s mortal father. During the Tain wars
he attempted to raise the accursed men of Ulster. Unable to
do so he turned toward his horse, the Grey of Macha, with
such suddenness he came upon the rim of his own shield,
which sliced off his head. The severed head continued to
give the battle call until the curse of Macha was lifted.
SULTAINN (tool-tinn), September. suil, eye, originally sun +
teine, fire. Possibly having reference to the quarter-day
fires at the end of this month. The first word resembles
the English wheel and the Latin sol. In honour of the sun-god
Lugh.

SUMACH, plaid.

SUMAIR, gulf, whirlpool. Sucker, swallower, drinker,

glutton, drones of a bagpipe.

SUMAIRE, leech, serpent, reptile, cudgel, leathal weapon.

SUMHAIL, closs-packed, tidy, tame, quiet, peaceable,

humble, obedient, obseqious; sumlach, crowding, pressing,
together; sumlachad, the act of crowding closer and closer
together (as at quarter-day festivals). See samh. Note
conference with Eng. summer.

SUTHAINN, eternal, OIr. suthin from su + tan, under + time.

Unaffected by the passage of time.