Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/461

 MISCELLANEA.

Folklore from the Hebrides. IV.

( With afezv Notes from the Neighbouring Main/a?id.)

(Continued from Vol. ix., p. 93).

Agricultural Customs. — Z'/^?/^/;///^.— Immediately before beginning the spring labour, just when the horses were yoked to the plough and on the very spot of the farm where they were to begin the work of the season, the horses' harness and plough were three times carefully besprinkled with water in which some salt had been dissolved, and a little of the same solution was then poured into the horses' ears. After this last part of the ceremony had been gone through, the spring labour was considered to have been duly inaugurated. This ceremony was performed in the island of Arran within the last ninety years.^

In South Uist (a Roman Catholic district), when the ploughing season is being begun, the owner, just when ready to put the ploughshare into the soil, besprinkles the horses and all the ploughing implements with " holy water." This is regarded much more than an ordinary ceremony, as it is a matter of great interest to the whole family.

The ploughing season never begins on a Monday, according to the old adage, in which they firmly believe : ^^ An rud a thoise- cheas air Di-biain, bithidh e luath na mall" (What is begun on Monday will either be premature or late).

Plough-horses. — When horses in South Uist are let loose on the hill-pasture, after the spring work is over, a Snathaitin (thread) is tied to the hair of the mane or tail as a charm against the " evil- eye " or any other mishap. The Snathainn is obtained from some charmer, either man or woman, who is believed to possess the

' It was an ancient custom to mix salt with the fodder of cattle. Isa. xxx. 24, " clean provender," or " salted food ; " margin of R.V. " salted."