MacDonald of Keppoch and the Soothsayer

When it comes to Gaelic traditions supernatural elements sometimes loom large even in so-called historical legends. One such anecdote which references a divinatory method of reading the shoulder-blade or scapula of a sheep was recorded and transcribed shortly afterwards by Calum Maclean on 21st of January 1951 from the recitation of John MacDonald of Highbridge, Brae Lochaber.

Mac ’ic Raghnaill agus am Fear Taidhbhse

Mun d’fhalbh Mac ’ic Raghnaill na Ceapaich do Chùil Lodair, chuir e fios air fear-taidhbhse. Agus bha iad ag ràitinn an taidhbhse a b’ fheàrr a ghabhadh leughadh gur h-e slinneag mult dubh agus nach fhaodadh sgian a dhol na coir: i bhith air a bruich cho math agus gu slaodadh tu an t-slinneag as. Agus leughabh iad an t-slinneag. Agus bha an duine seo aige agus leugh e an t-slinneag. Agus thuirt e:

“Dè tha a’ dol a dh’èirigh dhomh an Cùil Lodair?”

Cha do bhruidhinn an duine idir:

“O! innis dhomh,” thuirt e, “ged a bhithinn air mo chall ann.”

“Tha thu a’ dol a bhith air do chall agus cha till thu às Cùil Lodair,” thuirt e.

“Chan eil comas air,” thuirt e. “Dè an dearbhadh a bheir thu dhomh air sin,” thuirt e. “Chan eil mi a’ creidsinn a h-uile dad dheth.”

“Falbha’ tu sa mhadainn,” thuirt e, “agus rud a bhios a dhìth ort, cha tèid a chur air a’ bhòrd. Agus chan fhaod thu bruidhinn na iarraidh air a’ mhnaoi. Ma nì thu sin, cha bhith na cumhnantan air an cumail. Agus dar a thèid i a-mach às an taigh aig an dorast, feuch an toir thu oirre tionndainn air ais agus an rud a bha a dhìth a chur air a’ bhòrd.

’S ann mar seo a bha.

Agus dar a bha i a’ falbh a-mach, thilg e bròg na deaghaidh. Thionndainn i mun cuairt agus cha tuirt i “’s e” na “chan e” ris. Agus thuirt e an uair seo: “Cha ghluais bròg na bruidheann droch bhean-taighe.”

Agus dh’fhuirich e an Cùil Lodair.

And the translation goes something like the following:

MacDonald of Keppoch and the Soothsayer

Before MacDonald of Keppoch set off for the battle of Culloden, he asked the advice of a soothsayer. And they say that this soothsayer was the best for interpreting the scapula of a black ram [mult] and that no knife should go near it as had to be boiled so that the scapula could be pulled out with ease. And he read the scapula. He had this man present and he read the scapula and asked:

“What’s going to happen to me at the battle of Culloden?”

The man didn’t speak at all:

“Oh, tell me,” he said, “even though I might be killed.”

“You’re going to be killed and you’ll not return from the battle of Culloden.”

“That can’t be helped but what proof can you give me of that as I don’t believe one word of it.”

“You’ll leave on the morrow,” he said, “and the very thing you’ll need will not be put in front of you on the table. And you may not speak or make a request of your wife. If you do that, then the agreement will not be kept. And when she goes out of the house and just as she has reached the door, you’ll try to make her turn back and to get the very thing you need to be put on the table.”

This is how things turned out.

As she was going out, he threw a shoe after her. She turned round she did not say either “yes” or “no” to him. And he then said: “Neither shoe nor speech will move a bad housewife.”

And he was killed at the battle of Culloden.

The technical term for reading a sheep’s shoulder-blade as a divinatory method is scapulimancy and seems to have been universal in application; and, if we wish to believe the Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, arrived in the Highlands and Islands around 1400. Many early travellers to and writers about the Highlands and Islands, including Martin Martin, Thomas Pennant, and Edward Lhuyd, noted instances or rumours of scapulimancy being used. In the main, however, they tended to focus upon the phenomenon of second-sight. Nevertheless, gazing at a shoulder-blade of a sheep (or a pig) was an ancient and widespread technique to foretell future events. Edward Lhuyd explained around 1700: “They [the Highlanders] have a care not to toutch [sic] it with the Teeth or a Knife. They by it foretell deaths, commotions, and tumultuary conventions within the bounds.” According to the Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, minister of Tiree 1861–1891, this mode of divination was practised as a profession or trade. Important events in the life of the owner of the slaughtered animal could be foretold by interpreting the marks on the shoulder-blade, speal or blade-bone of a sheep or black pig. The flesh had to be boiled thoroughly so that it could be stripped off without the use of knives, scrapers or teeth since any scratch would render the bone useless. The bone was then divided into upper and lower parts, corresponding to the natural features of the district in which the divination was made. Much depended on the skills of the diviner, but certain marks indicated a crowd of people meeting for a funeral, fight or sale. The largest hole or indention was the grave of the beast’s owner, and from its position his living or dying that year was prognosticated. If it was to the side of the bone, it meant death; if it was in the centre, it meant worldly prosperity. Campbell also related two instances from popular tradition in Barra in which the celebrated shoulder-blade reader Mac a’ Chreachaire, a native of that island, prognosticated correctly the fate of the island and Kisimul Castle, the seat of the MacNeils who were then chiefs of the island. The Massacre of Glencoe (1692) is also reputed to have been prognosticated by diviners.

To return to the theme of the Battle of Culloden, the following tradition was picked up by Pennant who gave two examples of the tale:
 

There is another sort of divination, called Sleinanachd, or reading the speal-bone, or the blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton well scraped. When Lord Loudon was obliged to retreat before the Rebels to the isle of Skie, a common soldier, on the very moment of the Battle of Culloden was decided, proclaimed the victory at that distance, pretending to have discovered the event by looking through the bone.

And also:

I heard on one instance of Second Sight, or rather of foresight, which was well attested, and made much noise about the prediction fulfilled. A little after the Battle of Preston Pans, the president, Duncan Forbes, being at his house of Culloden with a nobleman, from whom I had the relation, fell into discourse on the probable consequences of the action: after a long conversation, and after revolving all that might happen, Mr Forbes suddenly turned to a window said ‘All these things may fall out; but depend on it, all these disturbances will be terminated at this spot.’

References:

Burnett, Charles S. F. ‘Arabic Divinatory Texts and Celtic Folklore: A Comment on the Theory and Practice of Scapulimancy in Western Europe’, Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, vol. 6 (1983), pp. 31–42

Campbell, John Lorne (ed.), A Collection of Highland Rites and Customs (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer for the Folklore Society, 1975)

Campbell, Rev. John Gregorson, The Gaelic Otherworld, ed. by Ronald Black (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2005

Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland; MDCCLXIX, 3rd. edn. (Perth: 1979 [1774])

Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides 1772, ed by. Andrew Simmons (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 1998)

SSS NB 2, pp. 162–63

Image: 
Sheep scapula

Halloween Customs

The following Halloween customs were taken down by Calum Maclean from his father, Malcolm, styled Calum Chaluim Iain Ghairbh (1880–1951), a tailor to trade, on the 29th of January 1946:

 

Oidhche Shamhna bhiodh iad a’ fàgail an taighe treud dhiùbh is dh’fheumadh iad allt crìche a ruigheachd, crìoch eadar dà bhaile, ga bith gu dè cho fada is a bhiodh e air falbh – agus bha iad a’ toirt bal^agam an urra as an allt is ga chumail nam beul is chan fhaodadh iad guth a ghràdha gus a ruigeadh iad na taighean air ais, is nan cuireadh iad a mach am bal^agam às am beul is nam bruidhneadh iad gus a ruigeadh iad na taighean, cha robh feum sam bith ann. Bhiodh iad an uair sin mun d’reachadh iad a chadal, bha iad a’ deasachadh bonnach beag coirce is ga lìonadh làn salainn is dh’itheadh iad e, nuair a bhiodh iad a’ dol a leabaidh is ged a bhiodh iad gu bhith marbh leis a’ phàthadh, chan òladh iad deoch, is bha iad a’ dèanamh dheth an uair sin, nuair a bhiodh a leithid sin de phàthadh orra gun tigeadh an gille a bha dol gam
pòsadh a thoirt deoch dhaibh, is nam faiceadh iad a leithid sin de bhruadar air an oidhche, bhiodh iad uamhasach toilichte – nam faiceadh iad an gille a b’ fhèarr leotha a’ tighinn a thoirt deoch dhaibh. Bhiodh iad a’ fal^abh Oidhche Shamhna a’ spìonadh chàil agus tuirneap. Bhiodh iad a’ dol a-staigh a’s na gàrrannan is cha bhiodh iad gan tabhairt leotha idir. Cha bhiodh iad ach gan gearradh (càl agus tuirneap).

 

Bhiodh iad uaireannan a’ tabhairt crodh an nàbaidh a-staigh am bàthaichean eile. Nuair a chuireadh iad a-staigh an crodh sin, bheireadh iad a-mach an crodh eile agus chuireadh iad iad a-staigh sa bhàthaich as an tug iad an crodh eile.

 

Bhiodh iad a’ seifteadh chearcan on dàrna bothag is gan cuir às a’ bhothag eile. Bhiodh iad a’ seifteadh bhàtaichean is gan cuir am falach. Bhiodh iad a’ cur sgrathan air mullach shimileirean gus nach fhaigheadh an ceò a-mach. Giar (gear) sam bith a gheibheadh iad mun taigh bhiodh iad gan tabhairt leis is dòcha gur h-ann an ceann eile a’ bhaile a dh’fhàgadh iad iad. Bhiodh iad a’ losgadh chnothan. Chuireadh iad dà chrò as an teine airson gille is nighean is nan deanadh iad dà bhrag is gun gabhadh iad – nan gabhadh iad aig an aon àm, phòsadh iad. Ach mura gabhadh na dhà dhiubh aig an aon àm, nam b’e an nighean a ghabhadh, phòsadh ise ach cha ghabhadh an duine i, ach nam b’e an gille a ghabhadh, phòsadh eisean ach cha ghabhadh an nighean e.

 

Bhiodh iad a-rithist a’ cur ubhall ann am ballan uisge, is tè sam bith no fear sam bith a bheireadh air an ubhall le ’m beul, phòsadh iad. Chan fhaodadh iad an tabhairt as ach le ’m beul.

 

Bha iad an uair sin a’ dèanamh stapaig uachdair ann am basaidh. Bha iad a’ cur mu chuairt an stapag agus a’ cur fàinne innte is a’ chiad tè a gheibheadh fàinne ann an spàin – ’s i a’ chiad tè a phòsadh.

 

And the translation goes something like the following:

 

At Halloween a group of them would leave the house and they would have to go to a boundary burn, a boundary between two villages, however far they had to go – and they each took a mouthful of water from the burn and kept it in their mouths and they couldn’t say a word until they got back to their homesteads. If they let the mouthful out, if they spoke before they arrived back at the homesteads, it would be of no use. They would then, before going to bed, prepare a wee oatcake and would fill it full of salt and eat it just as they were going to bed; and even if they were dying of thirst they wouldn’t take a drink, and then they used to, when they had such a thirst that a lad who they would marry would come and give them a drink. If they saw such a dream at night, they would be very pleased – if they saw the lad they like best coming to give them a drink. They used to go at Halloween to pull up cabbages and turnips. They would go into the fields but they didn’t take any away with them at all. They would just cut the cabbages and turnips down.

 

At times they would take the neighbour’s cattle into another barn. When they had put that cattle in they would then take the other cattle and they would put them in the barn from where they had taken the other cattle.

 

They would move hens from one hen-house and put them in the other. They would move boats and hide them. They used to place peat on chimney tops so that the smoke couldn’t get out. If they found any gear around about the house they would take it with them even to the other end of the village and leave it there. They used to roast nuts. They would put two nuts into the fire for a boy and a girl and if they made two cracks as they can do – and if it was made at the same time, then they would marry. But if those two didn’t [make a crack] at the same time, and if the girl’s one didn’t make a crack, she would marry but the lad wouldn’t take her, but if the boy’s one didn’t make a crack, he’d marry but he wouldn’t take the lassie.

 

They also used to place apples in a tub of water, and if a lad or a lassie managed to get one of the apples, they would marry. They were not allowed to dook for them but with their mouths.

 

They would then make cream brose in a basin. They would circulate the cream brose with a ring was placed in it and the lassie who found the ring with a spoon would be the first one to be married.

 

As can be seen these customs represent old seasonal rituals that have been grafted onto medieval saints’ days and continue to survive as secularised celebrations. Halloween or Oidhche Shamhna (from Samhain, a liminal transition indicating summer’s end and winter’s beginning or the dark half of the year) was one of the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Traditionally, Halloween (All Hallows’ Eve) falls on the 31st of October, and usually involves youngsters guising or dressing up in costumes and entertaining for treats, engaging in mischief-making, as well as young girls performing divination to find out about their future spouses.

 

References:

IFC 1026: 235–37

 

Image:

Halloween Turnip