#Scottish Folklore

[the-evil-clergyman]

The Kelpie by Herbert James Draper (1913)

[hairtusk]

'Wool waulking is a traditional Scottish process of finishing and strengthening newly woven woolen fabrics. It is a significant social and cultural activity, often carried out by women in the Highlands of Scotland. The Gaelic songs that are sung during waulking have a distinctive rhythmic pattern that aids in synchronising the work.'

(Video and text via Inverness Outlanders)

[thefugitivesaint]

Jill Karla Schwarz, 'Tam Lin', ''Fairies and Elves'', 1984 Source I'm going to use this post as the perfect opportunity to direct you to my favorite song from the folk band Fairport Convention from their 1969 album 'Liege & Lief', Tam Lin (which, I'm sure, I've posted about at some point)

[minnesota-fats]

So I was looking up myths and such and found a Cù-sìth, found in both Irish and Scottish folklore. The Cù-sìth is described as a large dog like creature that has shaggy green fur and is as large as a small cow.

And I thought: Thats Cujo!!!!

The Cù-sìth are known for taking dying souls to the afterlife.

[chaoschaoswriting]

Scottish Folklore Resources

Since its spooky season, I thought I'd share this list of short posts about Scottish folklore creatures for anyone seeking inspiration. These posts are mostly based on what I have heard as someone who grew up in central Scotland, so please keep in mind that they may differ slightly from other stories you might here; folklore is very much a living oral tradition and there are usually a few iterations of anything floating about.

With that said, I did do some background research to offer other perspective and fact check my memory as much as one can when dealing with this kind of topic!

The Baobhan Sìth

Cat Sìth

Cù Sìth

Red Caps

The Wulver

[laurasimonsdaughter]

The King of the Cats

A fun little folklore plot that shows up in Scotland, Ireland and England is the death (and succession) of the King of the Cats.

The story usually begins with a man being told, either by a cat or a disembodied voice, to inform a certain person that another person has died. Both persons are called by their full name, usually strange names, which are unfamiliar to the protagonist. When the protagonist comes home he tells what a strange thing happened to him. Upon overhearing the message the house cat jumps up and declares that they are now the King of the Cats, immediately leaving never to be seen again.

There are other versions of this type of story, more widespread over Europe, where there cat may be a fairy or troll in disguise. Or there isn’t a cat at all, but a house gnome or elf instead, and the announced death is that of a relative or enemy. But it’s the concept of a King of the Cats who can be succeeded by a cat that is currently an ordinary house cat, that delights me so.

The name of the deceased Cat King and the successor differ per story:

In this version from Lancashire they are called Doldrum and Dildrum.

In Joseph Jacobs’ version, which is an amalgamation of several English variants, they are called Tom Toldrum and Tom Tildrum. (This version even includes a whole feline funeral procession.)

The oldest recorded version of this story is from the Beware the Cat by Baldwin (written 1553, published 1561). Only the dead cat in question (Grimalkin) is never called the king of the cats, and the cats receiving the message (Puss) is a female cat, who is sad to leave her home.

In this Scottish version the successor is unnamed, but the dead Cat King is called Old Peter.

The stories sadly do not say a lot about what it means to be the King of the Cats, apart from some mentioning a sceptre and crown, but Lady Wilde does have something to say about him in her Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (1888):

A most important personage in feline history is the King of the Cats. He may be in your house a common looking fellow enough, with no distinguishing mark of exalted rank about him, so that it is very difficult to verify his genuine claims to royalty. Therefore the best way is to cut off a tiny little bit of his ear. If he is really the royal personage, he will immediately speak out and declare who he is; and perhaps, at the same time, tell you some very disagreeable truths about yourself, not at all pleasant to have discussed by the house cat.

Her second example has a content warning for animal cruelty, so I will put it underneath a cut, but it does imply that the Cat King might be capable of reincarnation…

A man once, in a fit of passion, cut off the head of the domestic pussy, and threw it on the fire. On which the head exclaimed, in a fierce voice, "Go tell your wife that you have cut off the head of the King of the Cats; but wait! I shall come back and be avenged for this insult," and the eyes of the cat glared at him horribly from the fire. And so it happened; for that day year, while the master of the house was playing with a pet kitten, it suddenly flew at his throat and bit him so severely that he died soon after.

[sierrawitch]

What is “Celtic”?

by autumn sierra

The Celtic Nations reach from the British Isles in the Northern Atlantic, down further South to the countries of Europe’s Western coast.

Although many people associate “Celtic” with Scotland and Ireland, the word is a more encompassing term for these many individual cultures. They are known to have commonalities in their theology and folk practices considering they were of similar regions in history, but are unique in their own rights of course.

Over time, the Celtic people of Central Europe migrated to the outer Western and Northwestern regions. The graphic above gives some further insight to how the categorization of ethnicities evolved over the centuries into the Goidelic and Brythonic peoples that we are most familiar with in the 21st Century. (My practice focuses primarily on the Goidelic cultures, with a bit of influence from the Brythonic, but all of these are valid to include in a historically significant folk practice.)

So, if you’re considering studying Celtic folk magick or Celtic paganism in its broader form, take into consideration that you may be adopting a much heavier workload than originally anticipated.

[briefbestiary]

The towering Am Fear Liath Mòr. A walking terror atop Ben Macdhui, the big grey man, while sometimes compared to the likes of Sasquatch or Yeti, is an enigmatic spirit.

[alittleplaytime]

Ceasg Middlere Stimboard!!

🥚 👙 🐚 | 🥚 👙 🐚 | 🥚 👙 🐚

🌼 media: none, scottish folklore

🐝 age appropriate? -

🍯 rqd by: anon <3

🌻 note: i really hope this works okay!! i think i could've done a better job, i'm so sorry :(

[lailoken]

By Rowan Berry and Red Thread,

I put all Evil to its speed...

[hecatesdelights]

The Kelpie is a shape shifting water spirit in Irish and Scottish legends, who most frequently appears out of water as a black horse-like creature that will drag unwary travelers down into the cold waters

[wolfhidewinter]

Daily kickstarter pre-launch post! If you love werewolves and love werewolf world building lore then please consider following The Howling Howff. It's a 52 page support booklet written by werewolves, for new werewolves and is full of illustrations and photos I've taken There are multiple rewards depending on tiers including bookmarks, art cards and posters! KICKSTARTER

[apilgrimpassingby]

Creepy British Folklore Aesthetic

Animal hearts full of nails and needles acting as anti-witchcraft charms.

The spectre of a white lady roaming the battlements at night.

Witch marks carved on floorboards and beams.

Ghostly black dogs roaming graveyards in the blood-red sunset.

Ancient leatherbound tomes with all kinds of ominous illustrations and cryptic Latin text.

Forests of ancient and tangled oaks that admit almost no light.

Stone circles on the moors veiled with morning mist.

A ruined castle from which ravens issue forth in the morning and bats in the evening.

Strange lights and otherworldly music from the barrow outside town.

Constant driving rain tapping on the glass.

Poppets.

The whole village gathered in church on Candlemas, candles lit and huddled together while the Fair Folk ride outside.

Treeless moors where the fog permits no path to be seen

Candles burning blue.

Hares (the preferred form for witches to turn into) running through the village.

Mandrakes

The Sator Square.

The village cunning woman's cottage, cluttered with toad bones, nails, herbs and candles.

The inhuman noises and ethereal lights emanating from the woods that let people know a Witches' Sabbath is happening there.

[haventacluewhatimdoing]

Guys guys guys so I'm reading a book of Scottish folk tales and I've just been reminded of one I've heard before about a Highlander and a seal (as an aside it turns out I know quite a few Scottish folk tales), and it is PERFECT for a TwoJamie AU. Incoming fic possibly tonight guys I NEED to write this now

[laurasimonsdaughter]

A fairy's true name

Earlier I wrote about how much trouble I had finding even one example of a fairy trying to learn a human’s name to use it against them, but folktales where it is the other way round do exist!

Until recently the best example I had for this “use a fairy’s true name against them” plot, was Rumpelstiltskin (and all its variants, for there are many). But technically the Rumpelstiltskin plot itself is not enough to claim that knowing a fairy’s true name gives you power over them. After all, a specific deal was struck between the fairy (or dwarf, or imp, etc.) and the human, with the finding out of the name releasing the human from their debt to the fairy. (Best examples including a fairy: Peerie Fool, Tríopla Trúpla, Titty Tod).

But it turns out that the tale type “The name of the helper ATU 500” contains stories in which I would argue it is made clear that knowing a fairy’s name holds power:

In these stories a the supernatural creature in question is a helpful house spirit or neighbour to the human, but immediately leave them forever as soon as they (sometimes through trickery) find out their name, after they refused to tell them:

Hoppetînken, a mountain dwarf (German, Kuhn, 1859)

Gwarwyn-a-throt, a spirit/elf/bogie (Welsh, Rhys, 1901)

Silly go Dwt, a fairy (Welsh, Rhys, 1901)

And these stories contain what I would call “strong circumstantial evidence”:

In Winterkölbl (German Hungarian, Vernaleken, 1896) a grey dwarf who lives in a tree makes a young king guess his name before he will (somewhat reluctantly) consent to let him marry his human foster daughter (she was abandoned, he did not steal her!).

In The Rival Kempers (Irish, Yeats, 1892) an old fairy woman sets a young woman the task of guessing her name, but then gives it to her freely (with some extra help to win her good fortune), because she was polite and generous to her.

Conversely, in The Lazy Beauty and her Aunts (Irish, Kennedy, 1870) the three fairy women who help the protagonist with her spinning, weaving and sewing, actually introduce themselves by name, but they are clearly nicknames: Colliagh Cushmōr (Old Woman Big Foot), Colliach Cromanmōr (Old Woman Big Hips), Colliach Shron Mor Rua (Old Woman Big Red Nose).

But my two favourite examples are Whuppity Stoorie (Scottish, Chambers, 1858; reprinted by Rhys, 1901) and The heir of Ystrad (Welsh, Rhys, 1888, reprinted in 1901). I'll summarise them below the cut:

Whuppity Stoorie (Scottish, Chambers, 1858; quotes from Rhys, 1901)

A woman is left by her husband. She has a baby boy to feed and her only hope is that her sow will have a big litter of piglets. However the sow gets ill and as the woman weeps with the fear that the pig will die, she sees an old woman coming up the road. “She was dressed in green, all but a short white apron and a black velvet hood, and a steeple-crowned beaver hat on her head. She had a long walking staff, as long as herself, in her hand --” This “green gentlewoman” tells her that she knows the woman’s husband is gone and that the sow is sick and asks what she’ll give her if she cures the pig. The woman heedlessly promises her anything she likes. So the green woman cures the pig with a spell and some oil and then reveals that she wants to have the woman’s baby in return, thereby revealing to the poor woman that she is a fairy. The fairy is unmoved by the woman’s sorrow, but does reveal that: “I cannot, by the law we live under, take your bairn till the third day; and not then, if you can tell me my right name.” Luckily the woman overhears the fairy woman singing her own name and gets to keep her child by addressing her as such, after which: “If a flash of gunpowder had come out of the ground it couldn't have made the fairy leap higher than she did. Then down she came again plump on her shoe-heels; and whirling round, she ran down the brae, screeching for rage, like an owl chased by the witches.”

The heir of Ystrad

A young gentleman hides in the bushes to see “the fair family” dance on the river bank. There he sees the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and wants more than anything to win her for his own. He jumps in the middle of the circle of fairies and grabs her by force, while all the others flee. He is kind to her, but keeps her captive, and eventually she agrees to become his servant. She steadfastly refuses to tell him her name though, no matter how often he asks. One night he once again hides near where the fairies play and he hears one fairy lament to another that last time they were there, their sister Penelope (Pénĕlôp) was stolen by a man. He returns home joyfully, calling is favourite maid by her name, which greatly astonishes her. The young man finds her so beautiful, industrious, skilled and fortunate, that he wishes to marry her. “At first she would in no wise consent, but she rather gave way to grief at his having found her name out. However, his importunity at length brought her to consent, but on the condition that he should not strike her with iron; if that should happen, she would quit him never to return.” They marry and they lived “in happiness and comfort”. She bears him a beautiful son and a daughter and through her skill and fairy fortune they grow richer and richer. But one day while trying to bridle an unruly horse the husband accidentally hits his wife with the iron bridle. As soon as the iron touches her, she vanishes. But one cold night she comes to his bedroom window one more time, telling him that if ever her son should be cold, he should be placed on his father’s coat, and that if her daughter should be cold, she should be placed on her petticoat. Then she disappears forever.

I adore both of these stories. Whuppity Stoorie is probably the clearest example of the power of a fairy's name. But The heir of Ystrad is as good a fairy bride story as The Shepherd of Myddvai and that has been a beloved favourite of mine for as long as I can remember. Either way they're both wonderful takes on the power it grants to know a fairy's name.

[sierrawitch]

Table of Contents

Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I am autumn sierra, a Goidelic (Celtic) and Eclectic Folk Magick practitioner. Here you’ll find my musings and recordings of my practice and its many facets—including history, geography, language, culture, etc. Please stay a while 🌿

Celtic Pagans & Witches Community Page

Returning to the old ways of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and more, this is a space for us to come together, share traditions, experiences, culture, and much more.

Academic Articles

Menstrual Magick: The Goddess Within

Celtic History & Culture

Ogham Master Post

Celtic Customs: Hair

Celtic Customs: Death

Mallacht, Géisa, Piseógs, Sugáns & Bulláns: Superstition & Cursing

Scottish Saining

What is “Celtic”?

Sacred Animals & Their Correspondances

Proverbs, Sayings & Blessings

Painful Medicine T.D.M

An Open Ear & Open Mind T.D.M.

Intuitive Magick

Rebirth Shower

Healing Doll

Journal Entries

Visualization for the Clairvoyantly Impaired

Manifestation of the Spoken Word

On Religious Guilt

On Consistency

On Spirits and Animism

Polls

“Baby Witch”

Resources

PDFs courtesy of maevefinnartist