Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 545 pages of information about Balder the Beautiful, Volume I..

Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 545 pages of information about Balder the Beautiful, Volume I..
afraid their voyage may prove unfortunate.”  Probably the superstition was based entirely on the supposed luckiness of the right hand, which accordingly, in making a circuit round an object, is kept towards the centre.  As to a supposed worship of the sun among the Scottish Highlanders, compare J.G.  Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 304:  “Both the sun (a Ghrian) and moon (a Ghealach) are feminine in Gaelic, and the names are simply descriptive of their appearance.  There is no trace of a Sun-God or Moon-Goddess.”  As to the etymology of Beltane, see above, p. 149 note.

[372] Rev. James Robertson (Parish Minister of Callander), in Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), xi. 620 sq.

[373] Pennant’s “Tour in Scotland,” in John Pinkerton’s Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), iii. 49.

[374] Rev. Dr. Thomas Bisset, in Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, v. 84.

[375] Rev. Allan Stewart, in Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, xv. 517 note.

[376] Rev. Walter Gregor, “Notes on Beltane Cakes,” Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 2 sq. The Beltane cakes with the nine knobs on them remind us of the cakes with twelve knobs which the Athenians offered to Cronus and other deities (see The Scapegoat, p. 351).  The King of the Bean on Twelfth Night was chosen by means of a cake, which was broken in as many pieces as there were persons present, and the person who received the piece containing a bean or a coin became king.  See J. Boemus, Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium (Lyons, 1541), p. 222; John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 22 sq.; The Scapegoat, pp. 313 sqq.

[377] Shaw, in Pennant’s “Tour in Scotland,” printed in J. Pinkerton’s Voyages and Travels, iii. 136.  The part of Scotland to which Shaw’s description applies is what he calls the province or country of Murray, extending from the river Spey on the east to the river Beauly on the west, and south-west to Loch Lochy.

[378] Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 167.

[379] A. Goodrich-Freer, “More Folklore from the Hebrides,” Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 41.  The St. Michael’s cake (Struthan na h’eill Micheil), referred to in the text, is described as “the size of a quern” in circumference.  “It is kneaded simply with water, and marked across like a scone, dividing it into four equal parts, and then placed in front of the fire resting on a quern.  It is not polished with dry meal as is usual in making a cake, but when it is cooked a thin coating of eggs (four in number), mixed with buttermilk, is spread first on one side, then on the other, and it is put before the fire again.  An earlier shape, still in use, which tradition associates with the female sex, is that of a triangle with the corners cut off.  A struhthan or struhdhan (the word seems to be used for no other kind of cake) is made for each member of the household, including servants and herds.  When harvest is late, an early patch of corn is mown on purpose for the struthan” (A.  Goodrich-Freer, op. cit. pp. 44. sq..)

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Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.