#Scottish animism

[blairstales]

Dàir na Coille – The imbuement of the woods – New Years Day

“Dàir na Coille celebrates the arrival of blessings, life-forces, and spirits, brought on the West Wind and nestled in the trees until each new blessing and new life, and new spirit emerges in due course in the months ahead. On New Year’s Day, the head of the household would go out and get a small twig from a fruit-bearing tree and bring it into the house saying “Fas is gnaths is toradh”, meaning ‘Growth, tradition, and abundance’, so that his family could share in the blessing of the new emerging life. As far as I know, this is all that remains of this custom. We are not told where the blessings and spirits come from exactly, or who sends them, however, we can interpret the symbolism that is still present in this simple custom.

The new spirits are brought in on the West Wind, which, apart from being wonderfully animistic, says something important. The wind is a vehicle for vitality; we affirm this fact with every breath we take, but the West, the direction of sunset, death, and the ancestors, is a direction of endings. So these newly arriving spirits come from the place unto which departing spirits go. The spirits are not just coming, the spirits are returning! Renewed!

Michael Newton suggests in his handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World that the individual trees imbued in Dair na Coille are a source of life, much as the Tree of Life is the ultimate source of life.”

[hearthkeeperpriestess]

Okay.

So, I was researching about Scottish folk practices when I stumbled upon a reddit thread about smudging. Specifically, OP was wondering if they could practice smudging if they grew their own sage. The replies were surprisingly positive and supportive.

Now, my own take on this may be controversial: if you practice anything from a culture not your own with good intentions and a pure desire to learn the old ways as they are taught within that community, rather than a bastardized white-washed version of it, then I think that's good. Admirable in some cases. If certain traditions aren't taught to someone–anyone!–those traditions are certain to die out. And if someone is approaching those traditions in good faith and deep respect for that culture, then why not teach them? And directly from the source so that they may learn better, as opposed to playing telephone with outdated or romanticized books. That's my personal take.

But within that thread, I saw this reply:

And something rubbed me the wrong way about they said "my ancestors used to sain (their term for smoke cleansing)". A few things rubbed me the wrong way, actually.

First, let's clear up what saining means and where it comes from.

The Cailleach's Herbarium talks about saining in an excellent article, link here, that mentions the meaning of the word sain: "The etymology of the word Sain is worth noting. Sain comes from Middle English (whence also English sain) and is found in the Scots language as Sain. Cognate to the Scottish Gaelic word Seun (“a charm”). Sain can mean to bless or consecrate and make the sign of the cross."

They go on to explain that saining can take many forms, such as the traditional smoke cleansing, fire cleansing (as is seen in many Celtic traditions and myths), and water cleansing (or lustration).

Basically, sain is a charm, usually used for protection and cleansing. It is not truly comparable to smudging, a term commonly associated with Native American traditions. And even that term is an English word dating back to the 16th century: "The smudge meaning "make a smoky fire" is by 1860, also of unknown origin, but perhaps related. According to OED now dialectal and North American. OED also gives it in an earlier, obsolete sense of "to cure (herring) by smoking" (1590s).The related noun smudge is attested by 1767 as "a suffocating smoke" (to repel mosquitoes, etc.); from 1806 as "heap of combustibles ignited and emitting dense smoke." Hence smudge-pot (1903). Smudge-stick as a Native American (Crow tribe) artifact is by 1908"

...which doesn't clear anything up about its origins, really. The smoke purification practices of the Native Americans is varied depending on tribe and their individual beliefs, with words that also vary by language and dialect. Basically, smudge is an English catch-all term for smoke purification processes...which is why I have to laugh when people split hairs over the use of the word, assuming it applies to all Native Americans, which, frankly, is also an English catch-all term for the numerous tribes of indigenous peoples in North America.

Some people are perfectly comfortable conflating one term with a whole ass practice and holding that as the be all end all term for said practice, while on the other hand, those same people will take a word for a very specific thing, and use that as a a catch-all term for contemporary practices to the other word. At best, it's confusing as fuck. At worst, it's muddling not one, but TWO similar yet still very different cultural practices.

In fact, I'll take it a step further: if you follow a Native American tradition or spiritual path, try to learn what the specific word is for your smoke purification ritual(s), and start using that word (if you are allowed within your practice) in lieu of the term "smudging". That goes for other practices that take part in smoke purification. Own your culture, own your traditions! Don't dumb down your practice for the sake of outsiders who don't care or fully understand those practices. You deserve better. Your fellow practitioners deserve better. Your culture deserves better. The ancestors who laid the groundwork for these traditions deserve better. Honor yourself, honor them all.

[froopa-coopa]

another safe house sketch

trying to shake off the lonely

[illustratus]

The Incoming Mist, Deer in the Highlands by Charles Stuart

[trashiiplant]

HAVE AT YOU, MY LARGEST SHITPOST YET (I started this 2 months ago god help me)

YT VERSION

[iris-polaris]

🟪 ANIMAL OF THE DAY: Scottish wildcat. Felis silvestris silvestris. not a domestic cat!! a fully wild cat found in Scotland. endangered because it keeps mating with house cats. probably out of Wedlock too. terrible

[palabarian]

Fuck you I'm taking your heraldic animals.

[myfairynuffstuff]

William Walls (1860 - 1942) - Snow Leopards. 1913. Oil on canvas.

[siryl]

Some years ago a lady brought to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh a trout covered with a fine coat of white fur. It was pleasingly mounted on a wooden shield and was labelled as follows:

FUR BEARING TROUT Very Rare Caught while trolling in Lake Superior off Gros Cap, Near Sault Ste. Marie, district of Algoma. It is believed that the great depth and the extreme penetrating coldness of the water in which these fish live has caused them to grow their dense coat of (usually) white fur. Mounted by ROSS C. JOBE, Taxidermist of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Visiting the museum to find out more about her unique fish, the lady was told that it was undoubtedly a trout (either brown or brook) and that its fine white coat was undoubtedly from a rabbit, whereupon she immediately presented the fish to the museum. She had bought this fake in good faith which indicates that the idea of a fur-bearing trout did not seem outlandish to her.

―Stanley Peter Dance, Animal Fakes & Frauds, 1976

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) "Peacock and Peacock Butterfly" (1917)

[timekilla]

[random-brushstrokes]

Joseph Farquharson - When Snow the Pasture Sheets (ca. 1915)

[rumwik]

#doggust Day 17 - Scottish Terrier

[release-the-hound]

Does anyone know what this thing is? I just woke up and it was on my bed.

[blackirishweab]

I love this video so much

[silverequation]