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ULSTER FOLKLORE
[Illustration: PLATE I. [_R. Welch, Photo._
HARVEST KNOT.]
ULSTER FOLKLORE
BY
ELIZABETH ANDREWS, F.R.A.I.
WITH FOURTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK
7, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1913
INTRODUCTION
In 1894 I was at the meeting of the British Association at Oxford, and
had the good fortune to hear Professor Julius Kollmann give his paper on
"Pygmies in Europe," in which he described the skeletons which had then
recently been discovered near Schaffhausen. As I listened to his account
of these small people, whose average height was about four and a half
feet, I recalled the description of Irish fairies given to me by an old
woman from Galway, and it appeared to me that our traditional "wee-folk"
were about the size of these Swiss dwarfs. I determined to collect what
information I could, and the result is given in the following pages. I
found that the fairies are, indeed, regarded as small; but their height
may be that of a well-grown boy or girl, or they may not be larger than
a child beginning to walk. I once asked a woman if they were as small as
cocks and hens, but she laughed at the suggestion.
I had collected a number of stories, and had become convinced that in
these tales we had a reminiscence of a dwarf race, when I read some of
Mr. David MacRitchie's works, and was gratified to find that the
traditions I had gathered were in accordance with the conclusions he had
drawn from his investigations in Scotland. A little later I made his
acquaintance, and owe him many thanks for his great kindness and the
encouragement he has given me in my work.
As will be seen in the following pages, tradition records several small
races in Ulster: the Grogachs, who are closely allied to the fairies,
and also to the Scotch and English Brownies; the short Danes, whom I am
inclined to identify with the Tuatha de Danann; the Pechts, or Picts;
and also the small Finns. My belief is that all these, including the
fairies, represent primitive races of mankind, and that in the stories
of women, children, and men being carried off by the fairies, we have a
record of warfare, when stealthy raids were made and captives brought to
the dark souterrain. These souterrains, or, as the country people call
them, "coves," are very numerous. They are underground structures, built
of rough stones without mortar, and roofed with large flat slabs. Plate
II. shows a fine one at Ardtole, near Ardglass, Co. Down. The total
length of this souterrain is about one hundred and eight feet, its width
three feet, and its height five feet three inches.[1] The entrance to
another souterrain is shown in the Sweathouse at Maghera[2] (Plate
III.).
As a rule, although the fairies are regarded as "fallen angels," they
are said to be kind to the poor, and to possess many good qualities. "It
was better for the land before they went away" is an expression I have
heard more than once. The belief in the fairy changeling has, however,
led to many acts of cruelty. We know of the terrible cases which
occurred in the South of Ireland some years ago, and I met with the same
superstition in the North. I was told a man believed his sick wife was
not herself, but a fairy who had been substituted for her. Fortunately
the poor woman was in hospital, so no harm could come to her.
Much of primitive belief has gathered round the fairy--we have the fairy
well and the fairy thorn. It is said that fairies can make themselves so
small that they can creep through keyholes, and they are generally
invisible to ordinary mortals. They can shoot their arrows at cattle and
human beings, and by their magic powers bring disease on both. They
seldom, however, partake of the nature of ghosts, and I do not think
belief in fairies is connected with ancestral worship.
Sometimes I have been asked if the people did not invent these stories
to please me. The best answer to this question is to be found in the
diverse localities from which the same tale comes. I have heard of the
making of heather ale by the Danes, and the tragic fate of the father
and son, the last of this race, in Down, Antrim, Londonderry, and Kerry.
The same story is told in many parts of Scotland, although there it is
the Picts who make the heather ale. I have been told of the woman
attending the fairy-man's wife, acquiring the power of seeing the
fairies, and subsequently having her eye put out, in Donegal and Derry,
and variants of the story come to us from Wales and the Holy Land.
I am aware that I labour under a disadvantage in not being an Irish
scholar, but most of those in Down, Antrim, and Derry from whom I heard
the tales spoke only English, and in Donegal the peasants who related
the stories knew both languages well, and I believe gave me a faithful
version of their Irish tales.
Some of these essays appeared in the _Antiquary_, others were read to
the Archæological Section of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, but
are now published for the first time _in extenso_. All have been
revised, and additional notes introduced. To these chapters on folklore
I have added an article on the Rev. William Hamilton, who, in his
"Letters on the North-East Coast of Antrim," written towards the close
of the eighteenth century, gives an account of the geology, antiquities,
and customs of the country.
The plan of the souterrain at Ballymagreehan Fort, Co. Down, was kindly
drawn for me by Mr. Arthur Birch. I am much indebted to the Council of
the Royal Anthropological Institute for their kindness in allowing me to
reproduce the plan of the souterrain at Knockdhu from Mrs. Hobson's
paper, "Some Ulster Souterrains," published in the _Journal_ of the
Institute, vol. xxxix., January to June, 1909. My best thanks are also
due to Mrs. Hobson for allowing me to make use of her photograph of the
entrance to this souterrain. The other illustrations are from
photographs by Mr. Robert Welch, M.R.I.A., who has done so much to make
the scenery, geology, and antiquities of the North of Ireland better
known to the English public.
BELFAST,
_August, 1913_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See "Ardtole Souterrain, Co. Down," by F. J. Bigger and W.
J. Fennell in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_, 1898-99, pp. 146, 147.
[2] I am much indebted to Mr. S. D. Lytle of that town for
kind permission to reproduce this view.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION V
FAIRIES AND THEIR DWELLING-PLACES 1
A DAY AT MAGHERA, CO. LONDONDERRY 14
ULSTER FAIRIES, DANES, AND PECHTS 24
FOLKLORE CONNECTED WITH ULSTER RATHS AND SOUTERRAINS 36
TRADITIONS OF DWARF RACES IN IRELAND AND IN
SWITZERLAND 47
FOLKLORE FROM DONEGAL 64
GIANTS AND DWARFS 84
THE REV. WILLIAM HAMILTON, D.D. 105
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
I. HARVEST KNOT _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
II. SOUTERRAIN AT ARDTOLE, ARDGLASS, CO. DOWN 1
III. ENTRANCE TO SWEATHOUSE, MAGHERA 14
IV. RUSH AND STRAW CROSSES 17
V. HARVEST KNOTS 19
VI. "CHURN" 20
VII. ENTRANCE TO SOUTERRAIN AT KNOCKDHU 30
VIII. THE OLD FORT, ANTRIM 36
IX. GREY MAN'S PATH, FAIR HEAD 49
X. TORMORE, TORY ISLAND 73
XI. VALLEY NEAR ARMOY, WHENCE, ACCORDING TO
LEGEND, EARTH WAS TAKEN TO FORM RATHLIN 90
XII. FLINT SPEARHEAD AND BASALT AXES FOUND UNDER
FORT IN LENAGH TOWNLAND 97
PLANS
SOUTERRAIN AT BALLYMAGREEHAN 6
SOUTERRAIN AT KNOCKDHU 30
[Illustration: PLATE II. [_R. Welch, Photo._
SOUTERRAIN AT ARDTOLE, ARDGLASS CO. DOWN.]
Fairies and their Dwelling-places[3]
In the following notes I have recorded a few traditions gathered from
the peasantry in Co. Down and other parts of Ireland regarding the
fairies. The belief is general that these little people were at one time
very numerous throughout the country, but have now disappeared from many
of their former haunts. At Ballynahinch I was told they had been blown
away fifty years ago by a great storm, and the caretaker of the old
church and graveyard of Killevy said they had gone to Scotland. They
are, however, supposed still to inhabit the more remote parts of the
country, and the old people have many stories of fairy visitors, and of
what happened in their own youth and in the time of their fathers and
grandfathers.
We must not, however, think of Irish fairies as tiny creatures who
could hide under a mushroom or dance on a blade of grass. I remember
well how strongly an old woman from Galway repudiated such an idea. The
fairies, according to her, were indeed small people, but no mushroom
could give them shelter. She described them as about the size of
children, and as far as I can ascertain from inquiries made in many
parts of Ulster and Munster, this is the almost universal belief among
the peasantry. Sometimes I was told the fairies were as large as a
well-grown boy or girl, sometimes that they were as small as children
beginning to walk; the height of a chair or a table was often used as a
comparison, and on one occasion an old woman spoke of them as being
about the size of monkeys.
The colour red appears to be closely associated with these little
people. In Co. Waterford, if a child has a red handkerchief on its head,
it is said to be wearing a fairy cap. I have frequently been told of the
small men in red jackets running about the forts; the fairy women
sometimes appear in red cloaks; and I have heard more than once that
fairies have red hair.
A farmer living in one of the valleys of the Mourne Mountains said he
had seen one stormy night little creatures with red hair, about the size
of children. I asked him if they might not have been really children
from some of the cottages, but his reply was that no child could have
been out in such weather.
An old woman living near Tullamore Park, Co. Down, described vividly
how, going out to look after her goat and its young kid, she had heard
loud screams and seen wild-looking figures with scanty clothing whose
hair stood up like the mane of a horse. She spoke with much respect of
the fairies as the gentry, said they formerly inhabited hills in
Tullamore Park, and that care was taken not to destroy their
thorn-bushes. She related the following story: As a friend of hers was
sitting alone one night, a small old woman, dressed in a white cap and
apron, came in and borrowed a bowl of meal. The debt was repaid, and the
meal brought by the fairy put in the barrel. The woman kept the matter
secret, and was surprised to find her barrel did not need replenishing.
At last her husband asked if her store of meal was not coming to an end;
she replied that she would show him she had sufficient, and lifted the
cover of the barrel. To her astonishment it was almost empty; no doubt,
had she kept her secret, she would have had an unlimited supply of meal.
I have heard several similar stories, and have not found that any evil
consequences were supposed to follow from partaking of food brought by
the fairies. Men have been carried off by them, have heard their
beautiful music, seen them dancing, or witnessed a fairy battle without
bringing any misfortune on themselves. On the other hand, according to a
story I heard at Buncrana, Co. Donegal, a little herd-boy paid dearly
for having entered one of their dwellings. As he was climbing among the
rocks, he saw a cleft, and creeping through it came to where a fairy
woman was spinning with her "weans," or children, around her. His sister
missed him, and after searching for a time, she too, came to the cleft,
and looking down saw her brother, and called to him to come out. He
came, but was never able to speak again.
In another case deafness followed intercourse with the fairies. An
elderly man at Maghera, Co. Down, told me that his brother when four or
five years old went out with his father. The child lay down on the
grass. After a while the father heard a great noise, and looking up saw
little men about two feet in height dancing round his son. He called to
them to be gone, and they ran towards a fort and disappeared. The child
became deaf, and did not recover his hearing for ten years. He died at
the age of seventeen.
To cut down a fairy thorn or to injure the house of a fairy is regarded
as certain to bring misfortune. An old woman also living at Maghera,
related how her great-grandmother had received a visit from a small old
woman, who forbade the building of a certain turf-stack, saying that
evil would befall anyone who injured the chimneys of her house. The
warning was disregarded, the turf-stack built, and before long four cows
died.
I was told that when a certain fort in Co. Fermanagh was levelled to
the ground misfortune overtook the men who did the work, although,
apparently, they were only labourers, many of them dying suddenly. It
was also said that where this fort had stood there were caves or hollows
in the ground into which the oxen would fall when ploughing. An attempt
to bring a fort near Newcastle under cultivation is believed to have
caused the sudden death of the owner.
The fairies are celebrated as fine musicians; they ride on small horses;
the women grind meal, and the sound of their spinning is often heard at
night in the peasants' cottages. The following story is related as
having occurred at Camlough, near Newry.
A woman was spinning one evening when three fairies came into the house,
each bringing a spinning-wheel. They said they would help her with her
work, and one of them asked for a drink of water. The woman went to the
well to fetch it. When there she was warned, apparently by a friendly
fairy, that the others had come only to mock and harm her. Acting on the
advice of this friend, the woman, as soon as she had given water to the
three, turned again to the open door, and stood looking intently towards
a fort. They asked what she was gazing at, and the reply was: "At the
blaze on the fort." No sooner had she uttered these words than the three
fairies rushed out with such haste that one of them left her
spinning-wheel behind, which, according to the story, is now to be seen
in Dublin Castle. The woman then shut her door, and put a pin in the
keyhole, thus effectually preventing the return of her visitors.
In this story we have probably an allusion to the signal fires which
are believed by the peasantry to have been lit on the forts in time of
danger, one fort being always within view of another. These forts, or
raths, appear to have been the favourite abode of the fairies. To use
the language of the peasantry, these little people live in the "coves of
the forths," an expression which puzzled me until I found that coves, or
caves, meant underground passages--in other words, souterrains.
There are a number of these souterrains in the neighbourhood of
Castlewellan, and with a young friend, who helped me to take a few rough
measurements, I explored several.
[Illustration: PLAN OF BALLYMAGREEHAN SOUTERRAIN.]
Ballymagreehan Fort is a short distance from Castlewellan, near the
Newry Road. It is a small fort, and on the top we saw the narrow
entrance to the souterrain. Passing down through this, we found
ourselves in a short passage, or chamber, which led us to another
passage at right angles to the first. It is about forty feet in length
and three feet in width; the height varies from four to five feet. The
roof is formed of flat slabs, and the walls are carefully built of round
stones, but without mortar. At one end this passage appeared to
terminate in a wall, but at the other it was only choked with fallen
stones and débris, and I should think had formerly extended farther.
Herman's Fort is another small fort on the opposite side of
Castlewellan, in the townland of Clarkill. Climbing to the top of it, we
came to an enclosure where several thorn-bushes were growing. The farmer
who kindly acted as our guide showed us two openings. One of these led
to a narrow chamber fully six feet high, the other to a passage more
than thirty feet in length and about three feet wide, while the height
varied from three and a half feet in one part to more than five feet in
another. I was told that water is always to be found near these forts,
and was shown a well which had existed from time immemorial; the sides
were built of round stones without mortar, in the same way as the walls
of the passage.
We heard here of another souterrain about a mile distant, called
Backaderry Cove. It is on the side of a hill close to the road leading
from Castlewellan to Dromara. A number of thorn-bushes grow near the
place, but there is no mound, either natural or artificial. Creeping
through the opening, we found ourselves in a passage about forty feet in
length; a chamber opens off it nine feet in length, and between five and
six feet in height, while the height of the passage varies from four and
a half to five and a half feet. There is a tradition that this passage
formerly connected Backaderry with Herman's Fort.
Ballyginney Fort is near Maghera. I only saw the entrance to the
souterrain, but from what I heard I believe that here also there is a
chamber opening off the passage. The farmer on whose land the fort is
situated told me that one dry summer he had planted flax in the field
adjoining the fort. The small depth of soil above the flat slabs
affected the crop, so that by the difference in the flax it was easy to
trace where the passage ran below the field.
We have seen that the fairies are believed to inhabit the souterrains;
they are also said to live inside certain hills, and in forts where, so
far as is known, no underground structure exists. I may mention as an
example the large fort on the Shimna River, near Newcastle, where I was
told their music was often to be heard. There may be many souterrains
whose entrance has been choked up, and of which no record has been
preserved. Mr. Bigger gave last session an interesting account of one
discovered at Stranocum; another was accidentally found last September
in a field about three miles from Newry. Mr. Mann Harbison, who visited
the souterrain, writes to me that the excavation has been made in a
circular portion which is six feet wide and five feet high. A gallery
opens out of this chamber, and is in some places not more than three
feet six inches high.
The building of the forts and souterrains is ascribed by the country
people to the Danes, a race of whom various traditions exist. They are
said to have had red hair; sometimes they are spoken of as large men,
sometimes as short men. One old woman, who had little belief in fairies,
told me that in the old troubled times in Ireland people lived inside
the forts; these people were the Danes, and they used to light fires on
the top as a signal from one fort to another. I heard from an elderly
man of Danes having encamped on his grandmother's farm. Smoke was seen
rising from an unfrequented spot, and when an uncle went to investigate
the matter he found small huts with no doors, only a bundle of sticks
laid across the entrance. In one of the huts he saw a pot boiling on the
fire, and going forward he began to stir the contents. Immediately a
red-haired man and woman rushed in; they appeared angry at the
intrusion, and when he went out threw a plate after him.
The traditions in regard both to Danes and fairies are very similar in
different parts of Ireland. In Co. Cavan the country people spoke of the
beautiful music of the fairies, and told me of their living in a fort
near Lough Oughter. One woman said they were sometimes called Ganelochs,
and were about the size of children, and an old man described them as
little people about one or two feet high, riding on small horses.
In Co. Waterford I was told that the fairies were not ghosts: they lived
in the air. One man might see them while they would be invisible to
others.
In an interesting lecture on the "Customs and Superstitions of the
Southern Irish," the Rev. J. B. Leslie, who has kindly allowed me to
quote from his manuscript, describes the fairies as "a species of beings
neither men nor angels nor ghosts.... They are connected in the popular
imagination with the Danish forts which are common in the country. In
these they seem to have their abode underground. At night they hold here
high revels--in grand banqueting-halls--and in these revels there must
always, I believe, be a living human being. The fairies are often called
the 'good people'; some think they are 'fallen angels.' They are usually
thought of as harmless creatures, unless, of course, they are interfered
with, when the power they wield is very great. They are very fond of
games; some testify that they have seen them play football, others
hurley, while playing at marbles is a special pastime, and I have even
heard of persons who have discovered 'fairy marbles' near or in these
forts. No one will interfere with the forts; they fear the power and
anger of the fairies."
While the fairies are generally associated with the forts, I heard both
in Co. Down and Co. Kerry of their living in caves in the mountains, and
a lad whom I met near the Gap of Dunloe described them as having cloven
feet and black hair.
A boatman at Killarney spoke of the Leprechauns as little men about
three feet in height, wearing red caps. He thought the fairies might be
taller, and spoke of their living in the forts. He said these forts had
been built by the Danes, who must have been small men, when they made
the passages so low. We thus see that fairies and Danes are both
associated with these ancient structures. Although the Irish peasant
speaks of these Danes having been conquered by Brian Boru, the structure
and position of the raths and souterrains point to their having been the
work of one of the earlier Irish races rather than of the medieval
Norsemen. Their name appears to identify them with the Tuatha de Danann
whose necromantic power is celebrated in Irish tales, and of whom,
according to O'Curry, one class of fairies are the representatives. I
know that some high authorities regard the Tuatha de Danann and the
fairies as alike mythological beings. The latter are certainly in
popular legend endowed with superhuman attributes; they can transport
people long distances, creep through keyholes, and the fairy changeling,
when placed on the fire, can escape up the chimney and grin at his
tormentors. If we ask the country people who are the fairies, the reply
is frequently, "Fallen angels." According to an old woman in Donegal,
these angels fell, some on the sea, some on the earth, while some
remained in the air; the fairies were those who fell on the earth.
These "fallen angels" may be the representatives of the spirits whom the
pagan Irish worshipped and strove to propitiate, and some of the tales
relating to the fairies may have their origin in the mythology of a
primitive people. But the raths and souterrains are certainly the work
of human hands, and I would suggest that in the legends connected with
them we have a reminiscence of a dwarf race who rode on ponies, were
good musicians, could spin and weave, and grind corn. The traditions
would point to their being red-haired.
Mr. Mann Harbison has kindly written to me on this subject, and
expresses his belief that the souterrains "were constructed by a
diminutive race, probably allied to the modern Lapps, who seem to be the
survivors of a widely distributed race." In another letter he says: "The
universal idea of fairies is very suggestive. The tall Celts, when they
arrived, saw the small people disappear in a mysterious way, and,
without stopping to investigate, imagined they had become invisible. If
they had had the courage or the patience to investigate, they would have
found that they had passed into their souterrain."
In his work "Fians, Fairies, and Picts," Mr. David MacRitchie argues
that these three names belong to similar if not identical dwarf races in
Scotland. The Tuatha de Danann he also regards as of the same race as
the fairies, or, to give them their Irish name, the Fir Sidhe, the men
of the green mounds.
The remains of the ancient cave-dwellers point to a primitive race of
small size inhabiting Europe. Dr. Munro, in his work "Prehistoric
Problems," refers to the skeletons discovered at Spy in Belgium by MM.
Lohest and De Pudzt. He describes them as examples of a very early and
low type of the human race, and states that Professor Fraipont, who
examined them anatomically, "came to the conclusion that the Spy men
belonged to a race relatively of small stature, analogous to the modern
Laplanders, having voluminous heads, massive bodies, short arms, and
bent legs. They led a sedentary life, frequented caves, manufactured
flint implements after the type known as Moustérien, and were
contemporary with the Mammoth."[4]
Let us compare this description with that in the ballad of "The Wee, Wee
Man":[5]
"His legs were scarce a shathmont's[6] length,
And thick and thimber was his thigh;
Between his brows there was a span,
And between his shoulders there was three."
I do not, however, mean to suggest that the builders of the raths and
souterrains were contemporary with the men of Spy, but rather that a
small race of primitive men may have existed until a comparatively late
period in this country. Leading a desultory warfare with their
neighbours, they would carry off women and children, and injure the
cattle with their stone weapons. We should note that in the traditions
of the peasantry, and also in the old ballads, those who have been
carried off by the fairies can frequently be released from captivity,
and they return, not as ghosts, but as living men or women. May we not
see in these legends traces of a struggle between a primitive race,
whose gods may have been, like themselves, of diminutive stature, and
their more civilized neighbours, who accepted the teaching of the early
Christian missionaries?
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Communicated to Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, January
18, 1898.
[4] P. 141.
[5] "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs," published anonymously,
but known to have been collected by David Herd (vol. i., p. 95, ed.
1776).
[6] The fist closed with thumb extended, and may be considered
a measure of about six inches.
A Day at Maghera, Co. Londonderry[7]
One fine morning last August I found myself in the quaint old town of
Maghera. My first visit was to the post-office, where I bought some
picture-cards, and inquired my way to Killelagh Church, the Cromlech,
and the Sweat-house, as it is called, where formerly people indulged in
a vapour-bath to cure rheumatism and other complaints. I was told to
follow the main street. This I did, and when I came to the outskirts of
the town I tried to get a guide, and spoke to a boy at one of the
cottages. He, however, knew very little, but fortunately saw an elderly
man coming down the road, who consented to show me the way, and proved
an excellent guide. His name is Daniel McKenna, a coach-builder by
trade. His father, who was teacher in Maghera National School for
thirty-five years, knew Irish well, and I understand gave Dr. Joyce
information in regard to some of the place-names in Co. Derry. Taking a
road which led in a north-westerly direction, we came to the Cromlech,
and a few yards farther on saw the old Church of Killelagh.
[Illustration: PLATE III. ENTRANCE TO SWEATHOUSE, MAGHERA.]
My guide pointed out that the doorstep was much worn, doubtless by the
feet of those who during many centuries had passed over it; he showed
me, too, the strong walls, and said the mortar had been cemented with
the blood of bullocks. This probably recalls an ancient custom, when an
animal--in still earlier times it might be a human being[8]--was slain
to propitiate or drive away the evil spirits and secure the stability of
the building. A similar tradition exists in regard to Roughan Castle,
the stronghold of Phelim O'Neill, in Co. Tyrone.
Leaving Killelagh Church, we continued our walk, and I asked my guide
about the customs and traditions of the country. He told me that on
Hallow Eve Night salt is put on the heads of children to protect them
from the fairies. These fairies, or wee folk, are about three feet in
height, some not so tall; they are of different races or tribes, and
have pitched battles at the Pecht's graveyard. This is a place covered
with rough mounds and very rough stones, and is looked on as a great
playground of the fairies; people passing through it are often led
astray by them. The Pechts, or Picts, were described to me as having
long black hair, which grew in tufts; they were small people, about four
feet six inches in height, thick set, nearly as broad as they were long,
strong in arms and shoulders, and with very large feet. When a shower of
rain came on, they would stand on their heads and shelter themselves
under their feet. Some years ago I was told a similar story in Co.
Antrim of the Pechts lying down and using their feet as umbrellas.[9]
I regretted we had not time to visit a large fort we passed on the way
to Ballyknock Farmhouse. Here we left the road, and, passing through
some fields, came to the old Sweat-house. As you will see from the
photograph kindly given to me by Mr. Lytle of Maghera, the entrance is
on the side of a bank. It is a much more primitive structure than those
at the Struel Wells, near Downpatrick. No mortar has been used in its
construction, and I should say it is an old souterrain, or part of a
souterrain. The following are rough measurements:
Height of entrance 2 feet.
Width of entrance 15 inches.
Height of interior 5 feet 5 inches.
Width of interior 3 feet.
Length of interior 9 feet.
[Illustration: PLATE IV. [_R. Welch, Photo._
RUSH AND STRAW CROSSES.]
This building, as already mentioned, was used by those suffering from
rheumatism, and near the entrance is a well in which the patients bathed
to complete the cure.
While we were resting I asked about rush crosses, which are put up in
many cottages at Maghera, and, gathering some rushes, Daniel McKenna
showed me how they were made. He told me that on St. Bridget's Eve,
January 31, children are sent out to pull rushes, which must not be cut
with a knife. When these rushes are brought in, the family gather round
the fire and make the crosses, which are sprinkled with holy water. The
wife or eldest daughter prepares tea and pancakes, and the plate of
pancakes is laid on the top of the rush cross. Prayers are said, and the
family partake of St. Bridget's supper. The crosses are hung up over
doors and beds to bring good luck. In former times sowans or flummery
was eaten instead of pancakes. I have heard of similar customs in other
places. At Tobermore those who bring in the rushes ask at the door, "May
St. Bridget come in?" "Yes, she may," is the answer. The rushes are put
on a rail under the table while the family partake of tea. Afterwards
the crosses are made, and, as at Maghera, hung up over doors and
beds.[10]
This custom probably comes to us from pre-Christian times. The cross in
its varied forms is a very ancient symbol, sometimes representing the
sun, sometimes the four winds of heaven. Schlieman discovered it on the
pottery of the Troad; it is found in Egypt, India, China, and Japan, and
among the people of the Bronze Period it appears frequently on pottery,
jewellery, and coins.
Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, a poetess of the
Tuatha de Danann, and whom we may perhaps regard as a female Apollo.
Cormac, in his "Glossary," tells us she was a daughter of the Dagda and
a goddess whom all poets adored, and whose two sisters were Brigit the
physician and Brigit the smith. Probably the three sisters represent the
same divine or semi-divine person whom we may identify with the British
goddess Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo.
May we not see, then, in these rush crosses a very ancient symbol, used
in pagan times, and which was probably consecrated by early Christian
missionaries, and given a new significance?
[Illustration: PLATE V. [_R. Welch, Photo._
HARVEST KNOTS.]
The harvest knots or bows are connected with another old custom which
was, until recently, observed at Maghera. When the harvest was gathered
in, the last handful of oats, the corn of this country, was left
standing. It was plaited in three parts and tied at the top, and was
called by the Irish name "luchter." The reapers stood at some distance,
and threw their sickles at the luchter, and the man who cut it was
exempt from paying his share of the feast. Daniel McKenna told me he had
seen some fine sickles broken in trying to hit the luchter. It was
afterwards carried home; the young girls plaited harvest knots and put
them in their hair, while the lads wore them in their caps and
buttonholes. A dance followed the feast. The knots, with the ears of
corn attached, are, I am told, the true old Irish type, while it is
thought that the smaller ones were made after a pattern brought from
England by the harvest reapers on their return home. I heard of the same
custom at Portstewart and also in the Valley of the Roe, where the last
sheaf of oats was called the "hare," and the throwing of the sickles was
termed the "churn." In some places the last sheaf itself was called the
"churn," but by whatever name it was known the man who hit it was
regarded as the victor, and was given the best seat at the feast, or a
reward of some kind. An old woman above ninety years of age repeated to
me a song about the churn, or kirn, and she and many others remember
well the custom and the feast which followed, when both whisky and tea
were served.
In some districts the last sheaf is termed the "Cailleagh,"[11] or old
wife.
A similar custom in Devonshire has been described by Mr. Pearse Chope
in the _London Devonian Year Book_ for 1910, p. 127. Here corn is wheat,
and a sheaf of the finest ears, termed the "neck," is carried by one of
the men to an elevated spot; the reapers form themselves into a ring,
and each man holding his hook above his head, they all join in "the
weird cry, 'A neck! a neck! a neck! We ha' un! we ha' un! we ha' un!'
This is repeated several times, with the occasional variation: 'A neck!
a neck! a neck! God sa' un! God sa' un! God sa' un!' After this ceremony
the man with the neck has to run to the kitchen, and get it there dry,
while the maids wait with buckets and pitchers of water to 'souse' him
and the neck." Mr. Chope adds that in most cases the neck is more or
less in the form of a woman, and undoubtedly represented the spirit of
the harvest, and that "the main idea of the ceremony seems to have been
that in cutting the corn the spirit was gradually driven into the last
handful.... As it was needful to cut the corn and bury the seed, so it
was necessary to kill the corn spirit in order that it might rise again
in fresh youth and vigour in the coming crop."[12]
I think we may safely assume that the Irish churn had a similar origin,
and that in throwing the sickles the aim of the ancient reapers was to
kill the spirit of the corn.
[Illustration: PLATE VI. [_R. Welch, Photo._
"CHURN"]
We have seen that in the North of Ireland the last sheaf is
frequently termed the "hare," and in many other countries the corn
spirit takes the form of an animal. In his recent volumes of the _Golden
Bough_, entitled "Spirits of the Corn and the Wild," Dr. Frazer mentions
many animals, such as the wolf, goat, fox, dog, bull, cow, horse, hare,
which represent the corn spirit lurking in the last patch of standing
corn. He tells us that "at harvest a number of wild animals, such as
hares, rabbits, and partridges, are commonly driven by the progress of
the reaping into the last patch of standing corn, and make their escape
from it as it is being cut down.... Now, primitive man, to whom magical
changes of shape seem perfectly credible, finds it most natural that the
spirit of the corn, driven from his home in the ripe grain, should make
his escape in the form of the animal, which is seen to rush out of the
last patch of corn as it falls under the scythe of the reaper."[13]
To return to Maghera. The morning passed swiftly as I listened to my
guide's description of these old customs, and it was after two o'clock
when I said good-bye to him at his cottage, and found myself again in
the main street of Maghera. I now wished to visit the Fort of Dunglady,
and after a refreshing cup of tea, engaged a car. The driver knew the
country well, and, going uphill and downhill, we passed through the
village of Culnady, and were soon close to this fine fort. A few
minutes' walk, and I stood on the outer rampart, and gazed across the
inner circles at the cattle grazing on the central enclosure.
This fort was visited in 1902 by the Royal Society of Antiquaries of
Ireland, when a very interesting paper, written by Miss Jane Clark of
Kilrea, was read. She mentions that Dr. O'Donovan considered this fort
one of the most interesting he had met with; not so magnificent as the
Dun of Keltar at Downpatrick, but much better fortified, and states that
a map of the time of Charles I. represents Dunglady Fort as a prominent
object, and shows three houses built upon it, one of considerable size.
Quoting from an unpublished letter of Mr. J. Stokes, she refers to the
triple rampart, which makes the diameter of the whole to be three
hundred and thirty feet. There was formerly a draw well in the middle of
the fort, and at one time it was used as a burial-ground by members of
the Society of Friends. Miss Clark also referred to a smaller fort at
Culnady, which had been demolished. The two mounds in the centre of this
rath had been formed of earth on a stone foundation.
A rapid drive brought me back to Maghera in time for a short visit to
the ruins of the Church of St. Lurach, popularly known in the district
as St. Lowry. There is a curious sculpture of the Crucifixion over the
west doorway, which is shown in the sketch of this doorway by Petrie in
Lord Dunraven's "Notes on Irish Architecture."[14]
I must now conclude this account of my visit to Maghera, but may I
mention that farther north there are other interesting antiquities? The
large cromlech, called the Broadstone, is some miles from Kilrea. There
are several forts in the neighbourhood of that town, which draws its
supply of water from a fairy well.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Read before the Archæological Section of the Belfast
Naturalists' Field Club, January 15, 1913.
[8] In "My Schools and Schoolmasters" (chap. x., pp. 222-223,
ed. 1854), Hugh Miller describes the goblin who haunted Craig House,
near Cromarty Firth, as a "grey-headed, grey-bearded, little old man,"
and the apparition was thus explained by a herdboy: "_Oh! they're
saying_ it's the spirit of the man that was killed on the
foundation-stone just after it was laid, and then built intil the wa' by
the masons, that he might keep the castle by coming back again; and
_they're saying_ that a' the verra auld houses in the kintra had
murderit men builded intil them in that way, and that they have a' o'
them this bogle."
In "The Study of Man," Professor Haddon gives a number of allusions to
the human sacrifice in the building of bridges (pp. 347-356).
[9] See p. 27.
[10] In Plate IV. the larger cross is of rushes, the smaller
one is made of straw.
[11] Mr. McKean kindly informs me that he has found this name
or its modification "Collya" in Counties Armagh, Monaghan, and Tyrone;
also near Cushendall, Co. Antrim, where the ceremony is called "cutting
the Cailleagh." He was told this Cailleagh was an old witch, and by
"killing" her and taking her into the house you got good luck. At
Ballyatoge, at the back of Cat Carn Hill, near Belfast, in the descent
to Crumlin, the custom is called "cutting the Granny." At Ballycastle,
Co. Antrim, the plait or braid is called the "car-line."
[12] Dr. Frazer also describes this Devonshire custom (see
_Golden Bough_, "Spirits of the Corn and the Wild," vol. i., pp.
264-267).
[13] "Spirits of the Corn and the Wild," vol. i., pp. 304,
305.
[14] Vol. i., p. 115.
Ulster Fairies, Danes and Pechts[15]
The fairy lore of Ulster is doubtless dying out, but much may yet be
learned about the "gentle" folk, and as we listen to the stories told by
the peasantry, we may well ask ourselves what is the meaning of these
old legends.
Fairies are regarded on the whole as a kindly race of beings, although
if offended they will work dire vengeance. They have no connection with
churchyards, and are quite distinct from ghosts. One old woman, who had
much to say about fairies, when asked about ghosts, replied rather
scornfully, that she did not believe in them. The fairies are supposed
to be small--"wee folk"--but we must not think of them as tiny creatures
who could hide in a foxglove. To use a North of Ireland phrase, they are
the size of a "lump of a boy or girl!" and have been often mistaken for
ordinary men or women, until their sudden disappearance marked them as
unearthly.
A farmer in Co. Antrim told me that once when a man was taking stones
from a cave in a fort, an old man came and asked him would it not be
better to get his stones elsewhere than from those ancient buildings.
The other, however, continued his work; but when the stranger suddenly
disappeared, he became convinced that his questioner was no ordinary
mortal. In after-life he often said sadly: "He was a poor man, and would
always remain a poor man, because he had taken stones from that cave."
The cave was no doubt a souterrain.
An elderly woman in Co. Antrim told me that when a child she one evening
saw "a little old woman with a green cloak coming over the burn." She
helped her to cross, and afterwards took her to the cottage, where her
mother received the stranger kindly, told her she was sorry she could
not give her a bed in the house, but that she might sleep in one of the
outhouses. The children made Grannie as comfortable as they could, and
in the morning went out early to see how she was. They found her up and
ready to leave. The child who had first met her said she would again
help her across the burn--"But wait," she added, "until I get my
bonnet." She ran into the house, but before she came out the old woman
had disappeared.
When the mother heard of this she said: "God bless you, child! Don't
mind Grannie; she is very well able to take care of herself." And so it
was believed that Grannie was a fairy.
I have also heard of a little old man in a three-cornered hat, at first
mistaken for a neighbour, but whose sudden disappearance proved him to
be a fairy.
In the time of the press-gang a crowd was seen approaching some
cottages. Great alarm ensued, and the young men fled; but it was soon
discovered that these people did not come from a man-of-war--they were
fairies.
A terrible story, showing how the fairies can punish their captives, was
told me by an old woman at Armoy, in Co. Antrim, who vouched for it as
being "candid truth." A man's wife was carried away by the fairies; he
married again, but one night his first wife met him, told him where she
was, and besought him to release her, saying that if he would do so she
would leave that part of the country and not trouble him any more. She
begged him, however, not to make the attempt unless he were confident he
could carry it out, as if he failed she would die a terrible death. He
promised to save her, and she told him to watch at midnight, when she
would be riding past the house with the fairies; she would put her hand
in at the window, and he must grasp it and hold tight. He did as she
bade him, and although the fairies pulled hard, he had nearly saved her,
when his second wife saw what was going on, and tore his hand away. The
poor woman was dragged off, and across the fields he heard her piercing
cries, and saw next morning the drops of blood where the fairies had
murdered her.
Another woman was more fortunate; she was carried off by the fairies at
Cushendall, but was able to inform her friends when she and the fairies
would be going on a journey, and she told them that if they stroked her
with the branch of a rowan-tree she would be free. They did as she
desired. She returned to them, apparently having suffered no injury, and
in the course of time she married.
This story was told me by a man ninety years of age, living in
Glenshesk, in the north of Co. Antrim. He spoke of the fairies as being
about two feet in height, said they were dressed in green, and had been
seen in daylight making hats of rushes. In Donegal I was also told that
the fairies wore high peaked hats made of plaited rushes; but there, as
in most parts of Ulster, and indeed of Ireland, the fairies are said to
wear red, not green. In Antrim the fairies, like their Scotch kinsfolk,
dress in green, but even there are often said to have red or sandy hair.
The Pechts are spoken of as low, stout people, who built some of the
"coves" in the forts. An old man, living in the townland of Drumcrow,
Co. Antrim, showed me the entrance to one of these artificial caves, and
gave me a vivid description of its builders. "The Pechts," he said,
"were low-set, heavy-made people, broad in the feet--so broad," he
added, with an expressive gesture, "that in rain they could lie down and
shelter themselves under their feet." He spoke of them as clad in skins,
while an old woman at Armoy said they were dressed in grey. I have
seldom heard of the Pechts beyond the confines of Antrim, although an
old man in Donegal spoke of them as short people with large, unwieldy
feet.
The traditions regarding the Danes vary; sometimes they are spoken of as
a tall race, sometimes as a short race. There is little doubt that the
tall race were the medieval Danes, while in the short men we have
probably a reminiscence of an earlier race.
A widespread belief exists throughout Ireland that the Danes made
heather beer, and that the secret perished with them. According to an
old woman at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, the Danes had the land in
old times, but at last they were conquered, and there remained alive
only a father and son. When pressed to disclose how the heather beer was
made, the father said: "Kill my son, and I will tell you our secret";
but when the son was slain, he cried: "Kill me also, but our secret you
shall never know!" I have the authority of Mr. MacRitchie for stating
that a similar story is known in Scotland from the Shetlands to the Mull
of Galloway, but there it is told of the Picts.
We all remember Louis Stevenson's ballad of heather ale--how the son was
cast into the sea:
"And there on the cliff stood the father,
Last of the dwarfish men.
"True was the word I told you:
Only my son I feared;
For I doubt the sapling courage
That goes without the beard.
But now in vain is the torture,
Fire shall never avail;
Here dies in my bosom
The secret of heather ale."
The secret appears, however, to have been preserved for many centuries.
After visiting Islay in 1772, the Welsh traveller and naturalist,
Pennant, states that "Ale is frequently made in this island from the
tops of heath, mixing two-thirds of that plant with one of malt."[16]
Probably these islanders were descendants of the Picts or Pechts.
I do not know if there is any record of the making of heather beer in
Ireland in later times, but I heard the story of the lost secret in
Down, in Kerry, in Donegal, in Antrim, and everywhere the father and the
son were the last of the Danes. Does not this point to the Irish Danes
being a kindred race to the Picts? If we may be allowed to hold that the
Tuatha de Danann are not altogether mythical, I should be inclined to
believe that they are the short Danes of the Irish peasantry, who built
the forts and souterrains. I visited some Danes' graves near
Ballygilbert, in Co. Antrim; it appeared to me that there were
indications of a stone circle, the principal tomb was in the centre, the
walls built without mortar, and I was told that formerly it had been
roofed in with a flat stone. Various ridges were pointed out to me as
marking the small fields of these early people. I was also shown their
houses, built, like the graves, without mortar. Within living memory
these old structures were much more perfect than at present, many of
them having the characteristic flat slab as a roof; but fences were
needed, and the Danes' houses offered a convenient and tempting supply
of stones. In the same neighbourhood I was shown a building of
uncemented stone with flat slabs for the roof, and was told it had been
built by the fairies.
[Illustration: _SOUTERRAIN of KNOCKDHU Co. Antrim
PLAN
Drawn by Florence Hobson from the measurements made by M Hobson_]