Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/523

 IN MEMORIAM: ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL

(1832-1912).

To have written one worthy book is to have lived well. Such a book is Carmina Gadelica, put forth by Dr. Carmichael in 1900 as the fruit of a lifetime of labour and long sojournings among the people of the Western Isles, whose Gaelic hymns, incantations, " blessings," and charms are gathered up in two sumptuous volumes adorned page by page with fine initial letters copied by his wife from Celtic manuscripts. In an unusual sense the book is an expression of its author's soul and personality ; for he himself embodied in a natural harmony the simple, sincere dignity, the quiet strength, and the delicate feeling for beauty which are found in the runes. No one who has ever been welcomed to his home by the gentle and dignified old man, clad always in his native kilt, or who has heard his kindly Highland greeting, will ever forget it. In memory of Dr. Carmichael's services to folklore we may recall here a few of the numerous customs and beliefs recorded in his notes and prefaces, or in the poems, which are not otherwise generally known.

Baptism. — A form of lay baptism, probably reminiscent of an ancient pagan rite, is gone through immediately after a birth. Three drops of water are placed on the child's forehead, — the first in the name of the Father (representing wisdom), the second of the Son (peace), and the third of the Spirit (purity), — and a temporary name is given for use until the Christian baptism eight days later. This lay baptism ensures the child's burial in conse- crated ground, should it die, and also protects it from the fairies until its church baptism.

Netv Moon. — Old men and women in the islands of Barra recite a prayer to the " bright white moon of the seasons," and make a peculiar obeisance, as to a chief, when they first see the new moon.