http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGelrimeD7c, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpv5DQdgPDk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHFE7XFsI0E, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZre2exBH10, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0QM8mlr28, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scHr3a8HS4A, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k9e47BvOuQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDDpqqBx1w, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlGGjMyks24, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdskdLV4MWY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTA5ge7tcM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK-UCSCmYhE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyPb4X-BCqE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFW579m2GJw, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonYt3wOLcE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8CKVif_Fk&list=PLbnLoGvyHZ9ulNK32B6COt-_TKnWqjMc4&index=5, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-68WjyZ7fQ, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3is%C3%ADn_Dubh_%28song%29, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWbIXz6u4s, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4rKXYl2SQo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfI9rJ0toWA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mrbeCuDp9o, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY5T9CKIAF0. The dead, such as suicide or criminals, were never entered into the houses of the dead and left to rot in a field outside the city, murder victims were buried where they fell or at cross roads.
That is, they tell fortunes, sing songs or repeat rhymes.
At the moment of death all windows were shunted open and iron was placed in any food stuffs, butter, cheese, whisky etc.
An example that helps us grasp this idea of the liminal dead who are still alive is the poem entitled Sir Orfeo. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Isles, W.C. Mackenzie: History of the Outrer Hebrides. His parents married in The Wee Free Church in Inverness.
26. They are made reference to as ‘hosen’ and ‘shoon’. No crystals and white lighting. Some funerals also had their own professional keeners that I’ve already mentioned. A folk story suggests on one occasion, whilst a drunken game of hide and go seek was taking place. Heading up before dawn and carrying strong sticks as weapons.
"The time draws near, my dearest dear,
The clock was stopped, or at least the striking-weight removed. I always thought of this as an upbeat happy song, but the lyrics are quite touching and, I think, speak strongly of the Scottish spirit. The daily routine of work was sdiscontinued, such days of enforced idleness beeing known as the ‘dead days’. A corpse was said to bleed from its wounds when touched by its murderer.
It is unclear and still only a hypothesis. Lykewake has it etymology in Germanic languages. Could you give me a simple idea of what the song is about?
When he was finally found he was quite dead and the body originally there couldn’t be found. And to think someone already wrote a song about what you’re going through is always surreal. More feasting should have taken place on the third, seventh and thirtieth day after the death of the person. But I think the overall song is more about the feeling of missing loved ones. The Romans viewed the dead as impure and dangerous. Though not specific to Scotland it does testify to European wide belief that still existed in 744AD.
The blocking of the bodies holes was to stop the spirit and other body fluids from getting out.
23 A relative and a stranger must watch over the body. It was not uncommon for the dead body to join in the games. The first task a newlywed had was making her own winding sheet or shroud, for example.
I have been told by my Scottish ancestors of the sentiment that “you do not own the land, the land owns you”; which has echoes in the Australian aboriginal understanding of a human being’s place in life and the connectedness to ‘country’. Some beautiful stuff up there. You’ve taken the very heart out of the center of my breast The inclusion of spinning being carried out at the vigil of a dead person is interesting. With that being said, I feel there is a level of respect and sacrecy due to laments.
There are no words in English for how beautiful her voice is… I wonder how you would descibe it in Gaelic. This was then made into a napkin worn on communion Sunday or at other kitsans.
It was not uncommon to see a funeral followed by baying cattle and was a mark of awe and reverence for the departed. Similar in the action of the sidhe ‘fairy blasting’ people or folks walking over ‘féar gortach’ (Hungry Grass)’. There is a belief death only occurs at low tide and births at high tide. A Stor Mo Chroi To able to give someone a good death was important. Please leave feedback and comment freely on Graveyards of Scotland but with respect and consideration. “March 10th, 1728.— This day were called John Campbell in Kinvonigag; John It’s important every watcher at the Vigil should touch the corpse with their hand. In Scots (Germanic influenced Scottish) the word Eller is also often the Alder (Alnus glutinosa), sometimes the elder. FIDDLE4, Thanks for setting the standard.
I introduced a series of writing exploring the role of the oft neglected dead in Scottish folk magic. ↩, A “kitsan” is the funerary process from when the strykin beuird removed and the departed is dressed in their funerary clothes. William Mackenzie: Old Skye Tales. She didn’t say who she was, but it was always given down be people then, that the banshee belonged to the criers.
I would add, her first-rate backing musicians share the credit due to her music. "I would just like to say that you don’t sing (or play) sad songs about death ‘for fun’, but as a way of showing sympathy or empathy. Beautiful, and sad So what does the song mean? If I am not mistaken, even though Clancys are singing it, the song is actually Scottish.
…"And when you’re in some foreign land, The cross roads are still a place in Scottish folklore where roads to the otherworld are said to be open. Notes of vigils being accompanied by singing and dancing are recorded by Burchard of Worms.
There has been no chanting or calls to any god or infernal image, just simple folk traditions following the “right way of things”. Phrases like “not one in twenty dies a true death, they all pass into another life” and “when a man dies, he does not die at all, but the daoine maithe take him away” show a belief of the dead being taken elsewhere. This would show proper procedure was broken and caused the dead to be restless. I should have added, Julie Fowlis’s song which I mentioned above is called Mo Ghruagach Dhonn.
The chiefs had rough and ready methods; they were not influenced by the fine distinctions which prevail in modern communities, where justice between man and man is a recognised principle ; they were arbitrary in their dealings with their followers, as they were uncertain in their relations towards one another.
Hirsau was an important Benedictine abbey, an extensive ground including a graveyard where only few stones have remained. One account of this process is found in Patricia Lysaghts’ writing: “she (the banshee) was one of th’oul criers.
The world of the otherworld is largely one of the dead at these times.
In concert her summaries of the stories in English are lovely as well. My father came from Inverness born in a small croft called Braeside Cottage on The Leachkin April 6th 1920. These philosophies shaped a unique form of folklore relating to the dead born from this melting pot. Leickwake of a dead person, but said he did not think it a sin, it being so long Some suggest beans were relevant to the Celts in the same way. An odd fart or burp indicating more gas escaping from the bloating corpse.
Their tales, long forgotten, can be found buried in the Scottish landscape.
The Loss of the Iolaire. Objects to be used at the funeral might be seen moving around the house or people would see lights, known as “deid cannels” following the future path of the funeral. In my poor aching heart,
Is this dark enough 18 Then she must measure three handfuls of common salt into an earthen ware plate and lay it on the breast of the corpse. (and maybe more than you’d like to read- It needs chapters). Meadow sweet, in seed, captured on the cliffs of St Abbs over looking the bay where St Cuthbert walked Into, We have a really great selection of proposals in so far but we still looking for more. Between the dishes place a sieve Restless dead weren’t a good idea as they would bring hardship, disease, madness and other havoc to farm and family. This vigil could be known as a ‘sitting’ while the sun is above the horizon and a ‘lykewake’ after dark.
The word Elleree, n. means a person of preternatural insight; a seer.
Lyke meaning corpse and wake meaning to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8CKVif_Fk&list=PLbnLoGvyHZ9ulNK32B6COt-_TKnWqjMc4&index=5, De Bharr Na gCnoc:
Thank you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scHr3a8HS4A, An Chúilfhionn
George Low: A Tour Through Orkney and Schetland.
I find this song and the quality of Julie’s singing peculiarly mesmeric and poignant. All the mirrors covered with white linen and all the clocks were stopped. The importance of the earth from the farm or land they worked would have been very important once people were no longer buried at the family funeral plot on the farm grounds. As the clothes rot the person who the clothes belonged to would waste away.
It is these outsiders who at the time of death were considered the luckiest and most able to help. This could happen up to 8 days or more since the body had been laid out for the vigil. You can read a lot more about this in Death and Burial in Dumfries and Galloway, 1911. "Sleep, Dearie, Sleep" by Lone Piper "Sleep, Dearie, Sleep" is another favorite song played with bagpipes. "Bothan Àirigh am Bràigh Raithneach" is one of my all time favorite ballads. Migration, exploration and invasion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZre2exBH10, Amhrán Mhuínse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4rKXYl2SQo, Someone asked for a "happy Irish love song" at the pub a couple of years ago. (Shrive is penance, so an easy penance), This rite is called a ‘Dishaloof’.
Why would someone throw beans at the dead? Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Of course! Kirkwall, William Peace & Son; 1774. The dead were moving, roving things that could eat, fight and fuck. I find these two practices echo one another in intent though maybe not size.
The Late-wake is a ceremony used at funerals. La Bealltainn, Samhuinn and Yule are associated with the dead and the good folk/Sidhe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDDpqqBx1w, An Goirtín Eorna The evening after the death of any person, the relations and friends of the deceased meet at the house, attended by bagpipe or fiddle; the nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a melancholy ball, dancing and greeting, i. e. crying violently at the same time; and this continues till day-light; but with such gambols and frolicks among the younger part of the company, that the loss which occasioned them is often more than supplied by the consequences of that night.