Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/525

Rh hard bull hide. When they come to a house, they ascend the wall and run round sunwise, the man in the hide shaking the horns and hoofs, and the other men striking the hide with sticks and making a terrific din. After descending and reciting verses at the door, the party is treated to the best in the house. It is evident that the rite is heathen and ancient, although its symbolism is obscure.

Consecration of the seed.—Seed is prepared with much care at certain seasons of the year, seldom deviated from. Rye is threshed to allow gaoth bhog nan Duldachd, the soft wind of November and December, to winnow the seed; oats to allow gaoth fhuar nam Faoileach, the cold winds of January and February, to winnow it; and bere in gaoth gheur nam Mart, the sharp winds of March and April. Three days before sowing the seed is sprinkled with clear cold water, in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, the person sprinkling walking sunwise the meanwhile.

Such are a few of the results of personal observation noted by Dr. Carmichael, and in no other book than Carmina Gadelica do we realise so forcibly the linking together in folk-custom of pagan and Christian traditions in our own islands.

Dr. Carmichael contributed many papers to Scottish Gaelic and antiquarian societies, and published in his Deirdre a North British version of that exquisite story. He aided Dr. W. F. Skene substantially in the third volume of Celtic Scotland by a study of the native system of land tenure, and the methods of apportioning the stock and tilling the land. He wandered through the Western Isles with Campbell of Islay, and assisted in the collection of Highland tales. He was chieftain or president of various Gaelic societies, and his influence has been very great over the younger generation of Celtic students and writers. His own family carry on his work, and his spirit is still alive and active in his daughter (Mrs. Watson), editor of The Celtic Review.

It was Dr. Carmichael's intention to publish two more volumes of West Highland poems, for which he had collected material, but failing health prevented the completion of this task. We trust that this valuable material will not be laid aside unused.