Traces of Eivee-Worship in Scottish Folk-Lore. by J. M. Mackinlay, M.A., F.S.A
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TRACE KIVEK-WOKSHIF O S SCOTTISN I P H FOLK-LORE9 6 . III. TRACES OF EIVEE-WORSHIP IN SCOTTISH FOLK-LORE. BY J. M. MACKINLAY, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. In the midst of our modern civilisation we come across certain beliefs practiced an s difficul explaio t t n unles looe sw beliefk e bacth d o kt san practice f dayso s long past. Survival, indeed watchwore th s i , folkf do - lore. l absural Wha tima t a t dt a e t wheno woul s absurne wa d b w dno menta a mucl f culturo h s lowewa e r r typeremotOu . e ancestors regarded nature from a standpoint of their own. They did not dis- tinguish between the natural and the supernatural. The world in all its parts was to them supernatural. In other words, they did not recog- nise wha e calw lt matter n contradistinctioi o spirit.t n Earth, air, water, fire were accordingly regarde s manifestationa d f lifeo s . They were living beings, they were spirits endowed with individualityr Si . John Lubbock observes:1—"The savage account l movemenal r fo s t y lifeb . Henc e wina livinth es i d g being. Nay, even motionless objects are regarded in a particular stage of mental progress as pos- sessing spirits." If movement could be explained by life, what was more fitting than that the movement of a river was due to its life ? There are, of course, sluggish rivers, where movement is reduced to a minimum, but as a rule the chief feature of a river is its rapid flow. In ancient times water was deified by civilised nations like the Greeks and Romans; and savages to-day revere it as a god. We need not, there- fore surprisee b , d thaScottisr ou t h rivers were hel reverencn i d e th y eb ancient dwellers in our land. If to us, with nineteenth-century science within reach a certai a ,rive s ha rn myster mucyw abouho h , morit t e awe-inspiring must it have been to men ignorant of the commonest laws of nature! . TayloB . E r r speakD f certaio s n tribe n Indii s a "to whoe mth local rivers are the local deities, so that men worship according to their watersheds, and the map is a pantheon."2 This must have been to a 1 Origin of Civilisation, p. 203. 2 Primitive Culture, vol. ii. p. 193. 0 7 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , JANUARY 10, 1896. large extent the case with Scottish tribes in remote days. Under the influenc a crud f o ee anthropomorphism, they though a rivea f s o a tr creature hungering, or rather thirsting, for their lives, and only waiting foa chancr o securt e a evictim t therBu .e e wero sideth tw o et s question. A river might be helpful as well as hurtful. "When supplying drink or floating a canoe, it would seem to be of a friendly 'disposition e otheth n r O hand. , when, swollen with rain t i rushe, d along, sweeping int depths it o livin y an s g creature withi s reachit n t i , would be counted man's enemy. It was an article of archaic belief that when any one was drowned, he was taken possession of by the spirit of the water. Here we have the key to the otherwise meaningless superstition that it is unlucky to sav a edrownin g man. Thera referenc s i er Walte Si o thit en i s r Scott's Pirate, in the scene where Bryce the pedlar warns Mordaunt against saving a shipwrecked sailor:—"Are you mad," said the pedlar, "you that have live e lan n Zetlandsa di g o rise t ,savin th ka f o g drowning man? Wot ye not, if you bring him to,life again, he will be somu yo eo surd capita o t e fallinle injury?on y g inte wateAn "th o r becomes the prey of the monster or demon inhabiting it; and whoever rescues the drowning man incurs the monster's wrath by cheating him of his victim. Certain charms were believed, indeed in some districts are still believed, to insure the recovery of a drowned body. A loaf of bread, wit r withouo h t quicksilve s surfacplacee i e th , th it n f do n o e i r wate allowed an r drifo dt t wit e currenth th plac e Th e. wher loae eth f becomes stationary marks the spot where the body lies concealed. Accordin o Misgt s Florence Peacock, this method continue holo t ss dit own in Lincolnshire.1 In such a practice there is a virtual recognition of a water-spirit, who can, by certain rites, be compelled to give up his prey, or at any rate to disclose its whereabouts. According to a Dee- side tradition n callema da , Farquharson-na-Cat, i.e., Farquharsof o n e Wandth o names , d fro s tradmhi f basket-makingo e e ,on han o d occasion to cross the river just above the famous linn. It was night.' Farquharson s losfootinghi t , fel s drownedl wa inte linnd th oan ,. Searc s corpsen s vain i wifes hi mad Hi t r wa h.,bu fo e, takinr ghe 1 The Antiquary (Nov. 1895), p. 334. TRACES OF KIVER-WORSHIP IN SCOTTISH FOLK-LORE. 71' h usband's plaid, knelt down on the river's brink, and prayed to the water-spiri giv o r t tbac r e deadhe the khe Sh n. thre plaie wth d into rivere th . Next morning husband'r he , s corpse, wit plaie hth d wrapped s founrounwa e pool., d th it e dedgn thi I lyinth f 1o es n o gcas e the plaid, thrown into the Dee, was virtually an offering made to the river-spirit to procure the recovery of the body. The loaf of bread already referred to performed the same function.2 Till lately, a custom prevailed amon e fishere Tweeth gth f f o strewinsdo g Salt over e waterth o securn t o , e net d a th gooe an s d catc f fisht o hI .wa . s believed thae river-fairieth t s would thereb e propitiatedyb n caseI . s like the above, the existence and power of river-spirits are acknowledged, though there is nothing to indicate the form assumed by them. e guardia Th flooe th df no sometime s appeare n humadi n shapeA . characteristic exampl f o thi es i mentiones y Hugb d h Millen i . r association with the river Conan in Ross-shire.3 He says:—"There was not a river in the Highlands that used, ere the erection of the stately neighbourhoodr bridgou n ei sporo t , t more wantonly with human life; and as superstition has her figures as certainly as poesy, the perils oa mountain-borf n stream, flowing between thinly inhabited banks, were personified in the beliefs of the people by a frightful goblin that too a malignank t deligh n lurini t g int s poolsit o r overpowerino , g in its fords, the benighted traveller. Its goblin, the ivater-toraith, use o appeat d a tal s la r woman dresse n greeni d t distinguishebu , d r witheredchieflhe y b y , meagre countenance, ever distortea y b d malignant scowl. I knew all the various fords—always dangerous ones —where of old she used to start, it was said, out of the river, before the terrified traveller, to point at him, as in derision, with her skinny finger, . 1 Folk-Lore for'l892, p. 71 f. 2 For a Bohemian example of this ceremony, vide Primitive Culture, vol. ii. p. 195. Schoolsy 3M amd Schoolmasters, chapteDavir M d. x rMaeRitchie , F.S.A. Scot., has drawn my attention to a piece of Irish folk-lore, picked up at first hand by Mr John Sampson, of Liverpool, and contributed by him to the Journal of the Gipsy Lore Society (vol wito rived e .. 23-25)iiihth o t pp store .r s BoyneTh yha . s It . first part suggests a parallel to Hugh Miller's account of the Conan wraith. "Did you ever hear of the Red Man of the river Boyne ? He rises half out of the water s goini n wheo gdrowt ma na n himself. Score d score an familiesd an s f friendo s s have seen him, like a red man, with a winding-sheet around his head.'.'. 72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JANUARY 10, 1896. or to beckon him invitingly on; and I was shown the very tree to which a poor Highlander had clung, when, in crossing the river at night, he was seized by the goblin, and from which, despite of his utmost exertions, though assiste a youn y b dg lads companionhi ,s wa e h , dragged int middle currente oth th f eo , wher e perished.eh Eeve Th ." Dr Walter Gregor narrates a legend about a water-spirit on Donside, who crosappeareo t d sa mal ha e occasio n di n eon formn ma O na . e Bridge Donth s th y f wa Luibb 'es o wife o hi ,wh o , t Corgarff t ge o t , then very ill. When he reached the river he found that the bridge— a wooden one—had been swept away by a flood.