_BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD._
When writing of fairies I noticed,--but as it is connected with birth, I
may here mention it again,--a practice common in some localities of
placing in the bed where lay an expectant mother, a piece of cold iron
to scare the fairies, and prevent them from spiriting away mother and
child to elfland. An instance of this spiriting away at the time of
child-bearing is said to have occurred in Arran within these fifty
years. It is given by a correspondent in _Long Ago_:--"There was a woman
near Pladda, newly delivered, who was carried away, and on a certain
night her wraith stood before her husband telling him that the yearly
riding was at hand, and that she, with all the rout, should ride by his
house at such an hour, on such a night; that he must await her coming,
and throw over her her wedding gown, and so she should be rescued from
her tyrants. With that she vanished. And the time came, with the
jingling of bridles and the tramping of horses outside the cottage; but
this man, feeble-hearted, had summoned his neighbours to bear him
company, who held him, and would not suffer him to go out. So there
arose a bitter cry and a great clamour, and then all was still; but in
the morning, roof and wall were dashed with blood, and the sorrowful
wife was no more seen upon earth. This," says the writer, "is not a tale
from an old ballad, it is the narrative of what was told not fifty years
ago."
Immediately after birth, the newly-born child was bathed in salted
water, and made to taste of it three times. This, by some, was
considered a specific against the influence of the evil eye; but doctors
differ, and so among other people and in other localities different
specifics were employed. I quote the following from _Ross' Helenore_:--
"Gryte was the care and tut'ry that was ha'en,
Baith night and day about the bonny weeane:
The jizzen-bed, wi' rantry leaves was sain'd,
And sic like things as the auld grannies kend;
Jean's paps wi' saut and water washen clean,
Reed that her milk gat wrang, fan it was green;
Neist the first hippen to the green was flung,
And there at seelfu' words, baith said and sung:
A clear brunt coal wi' the het tangs was ta'en,
Frae out the ingle-mids fu' clear and clean,
And throu' the cosey-belly letten fa',
For fear the weeane should be ta'en awa'."
Before baptism the child was more liable to be influenced by the evil
eye than after that ceremony had been performed, consequently before
that rite had been administered the greatest precautions were taken, the
baby during this time being kept as much as possible in the room in
which it was born, and only when absolutely necessary, carried out of
it, and then under the careful guardianship of a relative, or of the
mid-wife, who was professionally skilled in all the requisites of
safety. Baptism was therefore administered as early as possible after
birth. Another reason for the speedy administration of this rite was
that, should the baby die before being baptised, its future was not
doubtful. Often on calm nights, those who had ears to hear heard the
wailing of the spirits of unchristened bairns among the trees and dells.
I have known of an instance in which the baby was born on a Saturday,
and carried two miles to church next day, rather than risk a week's
delay. It was rare for working people to bring the minister to the
house. Another superstitious notion in connection with baptism was that
until that rite was performed, it was unlucky to name the child by any
name. When, before the child had been christened, any one asked the name
of the baby, the answer generally was, "It has not been out yet." Let it
be remembered that these notions were entertained by people who were not
Romanists, but Protestants, and therefore did not profess to believe in
the saving efficacy of baptism,--who could answer every question in the
Shorter Catechism, and repeat the Creed, and Ten Commandments, to the
satisfaction of elder and minister. But all this verbal acquaintance
with dogma was powerless to eradicate, even, we may venture to say, from
the minds of elder and minister, the deeply-rooted fibres of ancient
superstition, which had been long crystallised in the Roman Catholic
Church, and could not be easily forgot in that of the Protestant.
When a child was taken from its mother and carried outside the bedroom
for the first time after its birth, it was lucky to take it up stairs,
and unlucky to take it down stairs. If there were no stairs in the
house, the person who carried it generally ascended three steps of a
ladder or temporary erection, and this, it was supposed, would bring
prosperity to the child.
A child born with a caul--a thin membrane covering the head of some
children at birth--would, if spared, prove a notable person. The
carrying of a caul on board ship was believed to prevent shipwreck, and
masters of vessels paid a high price for them. I have seen an
advertisement for such in a local paper.
When baby was being carried to church to be baptised, it was of
importance that the woman appointed to this post should be known to be
lucky. Then she took with her a parcel of bread and cheese, which she
gave to the first person she met. This represented a gift from the
baby--a very ancient custom. Again, it was of importance that the person
who received this gift should be lucky--should have lucky marks upon
their person. Forecasts were made from such facts as the following
concerning the recipient of the gift:--Was this person male or female,
deformed, disfigured, plain-soled, etc. If the party accepted the gift
willingly, tasted it, and returned a few steps with the baptismal party,
this was a good sign; if they asked to look at the baby, and blessed it,
this was still more favourable: but should this person refuse the gift,
nor taste it, nor turn back, this was tantamount to wishing evil to the
child, and should any serious calamity befall the child, even years
after, it was connected with this circumstance, and the party who had
refused the baptismal gift was blamed for the evil which had befallen
the child. It was also a common belief that if, as was frequently the
case, there were several babies, male and female, awaiting baptism
together, and the males were baptised before the females, all was well;
but if, by mistake, a female should be christened before a male, the
characters of the pair would be reversed--the female would grow up with
a masculine character, and would have a beard, whereas the male would
display a feminine disposition and be beardless. I have known where such
a mistake has produced real anxiety and regret in the minds of the
parents. We have seen that it was not until after baptism that the child
was allowed out of the room in which it was born, except under the
skilful guardianship of a relative or the midwife; but, further than
this, it was not considered safe or proper to carry it into any
neighbour's house until the mother took it herself, and this it was
unlucky even for her to do until she had been to church. Indeed, few
mothers would enter any house until they had been to the house of God.
After this had been accomplished, however, she visited with the baby
freely. In visiting any house with baby for the first time, it was
incumbent on the person whom they were visiting to put a little salt or
sugar into baby's mouth, and wish it well: the omission of this was
regarded as a very unlucky omen for the baby. Here we may note the
survival of a very ancient symbolic practice in this gift of salt. Salt
was symbolical of favour or good will, and covenants of friendship in
very early times were ratified with this gift; sugar, as in this
instance, is no doubt a modern substitute for salt. Among Jews, Greeks,
and Romans, as well as among less civilised nations, salt was used in
their sacrifices as emblematic of fidelity, and for some reason or other
it also came to be regarded as a charm against evil fascinations. By
Roman Catholics in the middle ages, salt was used to protect children
from evil influences before they had received the sacrament of baptism.
This practice is referred to in many of the old ballads and romances.
In a ballad called _The King's Daughter_, a child is born, but in
circumstances which do not admit of the rite of baptism being
administered. The mother privately puts the baby into a casket, and,
like the mother of Moses, sends it afloat, and as a protection places
beside it a quantity of salt and candles. The words of the ballad are--
"The bairnie she swyl'd in linen so fine,
In a gilded casket she laid it syne,
Mickle saut and light she laid therein,
Cause yet in God's house it had'na been."
Let us return to the mother and child whom we left visiting at a
friend's house, and receiving the covenant of friendship. It was unsafe
to be lavish in praise of the child's beauty, for although such
commendation would naturally be gratifying to the mother, it would at
the same time increase her fears, for the _well faured_ ran the greatest
risk from evil influences, and of being carried off by the fairies.
There was also the superadded danger of the mother setting her
affections too much upon her child and forgetting God, who then in
jealousy and mercy would remove it from her. This latter was a very
widespread superstition among religiously-minded people, even among
those who, from their education, ought to have known better. I well
remember the case of a young mother,--a tender loving woman, who, quite
in keeping with her excitable affectionate nature, was passionately fond
of her baby, her first-born. But baby sickened and died, and the poor
mother, borne down with grief, wept bitterly, like Rachel refusing to be
comforted. In the depth of her affliction she was visited by both her
pastor and elder. They admonished her to turn her mind from the selfish
sorrow in which she was indulging, and thank God for His kindly dealing
toward her, in that He had removed from her the cause of sin on her
part. She had been guilty, they said, of loving the baby too much, and
God, who was a jealous God, would not suffer His people to set their
affections on any object in a greater degree than on Himself; and
therefore, He, in his mercy toward her, had removed from her the object
of her idolatry. The poor woman in her agony could only sob out, "Surely
it was no sin to love my own child that God gave me." The more correct
term for such a theological conception would not be superstition, but
blasphemy.
Another danger from which children required to be shielded was the
baneful influence of the _evil eye_. Malicious people were believed to
possess the power of doing harm by merely looking upon those whom they
wished to injure. This belief is very ancient. From Professor
Conington's _Satires of A. Persius Flaccus_, I extract the following
notice of it:--"Look here--a grandmother or a superstitious aunt has
taken baby from his cradle, and is charming his forehead and his
slavering lips against mischief by the joint action of her middle finger
and her purifying spittle; for she knows right well how to check the
evil eye. Then she dandles him in her arms, and packs off the pinched
little hope of the family, so far as wishing can do it, to the domains
of Licinus, or the palace of Croesus. 'May he be a catch for my lord and
lady's daughter! May the pretty ladies scramble for him! May the ground
he walks on turn to a rose-bed.' But _I_ will never trust a nurse to
pray for me or mine; good Jupiter, be sure to refuse her, though she may
have put on white for the occasion."
The Romans used to hang red coral round the necks of their children to
save them from falling-sickness, sorcery, charms, and poison. In this
country coral beads were hung round the necks of babies, and are still
used in country districts to protect them from an evil eye. Coral bells
are used at present. The practice was originated by the Roman Catholics
to frighten away evil spirits.
I have quite a vivid remembrance of being myself believed to be the
unhappy victim of an evil eye. I had taken what was called a _dwining_,
which baffled all ordinary experience; and, therefore, it was surmised
that I had got "a blink of an ill e'e." To remove this evil influence, I
was subjected to the following operation, which was prescribed and
superintended by a neighbour "skilly" in such matters:--A sixpence was
borrowed from a neighbour, a good fire was kept burning in the grate,
the door was locked, and I was placed upon a chair in front of the fire.
The operator, an old woman, took a tablespoon and filled it with water.
With the sixpence she then lifted as much salt as it could carry, and
both were put into the water in the spoon. The water was then stirred
with the forefinger till the salt was dissolved. Then the soles of my
feet and the palms of my hands were bathed with this solution thrice,
and after these bathings I was made to taste the solution three times.
The operator then drew her wet forefinger across my brow,--called
_scoring aboon the breath_. The remaining contents of the spoon she then
cast right over the fire, into the hinder part of the fire, saying as
she did so, "_Guid preserve frae a' skaith._" These were the first words
permitted to be spoken during the operation. I was then put in bed, and,
in attestation of the efficacy of the charm, recovered. To my knowledge
this operation has been performed within these 40 years, and probably in
many outlying country places it is still practised. The origin of this
superstition is probably to be found in ancient fire worship. The great
blazing fire was evidently an important element in the transaction; nor
was this a solitary instance in which regard was paid to fire. I
remember being taught that it was unlucky to spit into the fire, some
evil being likely shortly after to befall those who did so. Crumbs left
upon the table after a meal were carefully gathered and put into the
fire. The cuttings from the nails and hair were also put into the fire.
These freaks certainly look like survivals of fire worship.
The influence of those possessing the evil eye was not confined to
children, but might affect adults, and also goods and cattle. But for
the bane there was provided the antidote. One effective method of
checking the evil influence was by _scoring aboon the breath_. In my
case, as I was the victim, _scoring_ with a wet finger was sufficient;
but the suspected possessor of the evil eye was more roughly treated,
_scoring_ in this case being effected with some sharp instrument so as
to draw blood. I have never seen this done, but some fifty years ago an
instance occurred in my native village. A child belonging to a poor
woman in this village was taken ill and had convulsive fits, which were
thought to be due to the influence of the evil eye. An old woman in the
neighbourhood, whose temper was not of the sweetest, was suspected. She
was first of all invited to come and see the child in the hope that
sympathy might change the influence she was supposed to be exerting; but
as the old woman appeared quite callous to the sufferings of the child,
the mother, as the old woman was leaving the house, scratched her with
her nails across the brow, and drew blood. This circumstance raised
quite a sensation in the village. Whether the child recovered after this
operation I do not remember. Many other instances of the existence of
this superstitious practice in Scotland within the present century might
be presented, but I content myself with quoting one which was related in
a letter to the _Glasgow Weekly Herald_, under the signature F.A.:--"I
knew of one case of the kind in Wigtownshire, in the south of Scotland,
about the year 1825, as near as I can mind. I knew all parties very
well. A farmer had some cattle which died, and there was an old woman
living about a mile from the farm who was counted no very canny. She was
heard to say that there would be mair o' them wad gang the same way. So
one day, soon after, as the old woman was passing the farmhouse, one of
the sons took hold of her and got her head under his arm, and cut her
across the forehead. By the way, the proper thing to be cut with is a
nail out of a horse-shoe. He was prosecuted and got imprisonment for
it."
This style of antidote against the influence of an evil eye was common
in England within the century, as the following, which is also taken
from a letter which appeared in the same journal, seems to
show:--"Drawing blood from above the mouth of the person suspected is
the favourite antidote in the neighbourhood of Burnley; and in the
district of Craven, a few miles within the borders of Yorkshire, a
person who was ill-disposed towards his neighbours is believed to have
slain a pear-tree which grew opposite his house by directing towards it
'the first morning glances' of his evil eye. Spitting three times in the
person's face; turning a live coal on the fire; and exclaiming, 'The
Lord be with us,' are other means of averting its influence."
We must not, however, pursue this digression further, but return to our
proper subject. It was not necessary that the person possessed of the
evil eye, and desirous of inflicting evil upon a child, should see the
child. All that was necessary was that the person with the evil eye
should get possession of something which had belonged to the child, such
as a fragment of clothing, a toy, hair, or nail parings. I may note here
that it was not considered lucky to pare the nails of a child under one
year old, and when the operation was performed the mother was careful to
collect every scrap of the cutting, and burn them. It was considered a
great offence for any person, other than the mother or near relation, in
whom every confidence could be placed, to cut a baby's nails; if some
forward officious person should do this, and baby afterwards be taken
ill, this would give rise to grave suspicions of evil influence being at
work. The same remarks apply to the cutting of a baby's hair. I have
seen the door locked during hair-cutting, and the floor swept
afterwards, and the sweepings burned, lest perchance any hairs might
remain, and be picked up by an enemy. Dr. Livingstone, in his book on
the Zambesi, mentions the existence of a similar practice among some
African tribes. "They carefully collect and afterwards burn or bury the
hair, lest any of it fall into the hands of a witch." Mr. Munter
mentions that the same practice is common amongst the Patagonians, and
the practice extends to adults. He says that after bathing, which they
do every morning, "the men's hair is dressed by their wives, daughters,
or sweethearts, who take the greatest care to burn the hairs that may be
brushed out, as they fully believe that spells may be wrought by
evil-intentioned persons who can obtain a piece of their hair. From the
same idea, after cutting their nails the parings are carefully committed
to the flames."
Besides this danger--this blighting influence of the evil eye which
environed the years of childhood--there was also this other danger,
already mentioned, that of being spirited away by fairies. The danger
from this source was greater when the baby was pretty, and what fond
mother did not consider her baby pretty? Early in the century, a
labourer's wife living a few miles west of Glasgow, became the mother of
a very pretty baby. All who saw it were charmed with its beauty, and it
was as good as it was bonnie. The neighbours often urged on the mother
the necessity of carefulness, and advised her to adopt such methods as
were, to their minds, well-attested safe-guards for the preservation of
children from fairy influence and an evil eye. She was instructed never
to leave the child without placing near it an open Bible. One unhappy
day the mother went out for a short time, leaving the baby in its
cradle, but she forgot or neglected to place the open Bible near the
child as directed. When she returned baby was crying, and could by no
means be quieted, and the mother observed several blue marks upon its
person, as if it had been pinched. From that day it became a perfect
plague; no amount of food or drink would satisfy it, and yet withal it
became lean. The _girn_, my informant said, was never out its face, and
it _yammered_ on night and day. One day an old highland woman having
seen the child, and inspected it carefully, affirmed that it was a fairy
child. She went the length of offering to put the matter to the test,
and this is how she tested it. She put the poker in the fire, and hung a
pot over the fire wherein were put certain ingredients, an incantation
being said as each new ingredient was stirred into the pot. The child
was quiet during these operations, and watched like a grown person all
that was being done, even rising upon its elbow to look. When the
operations were completed, the old woman took the poker out of the fire,
and carrying it red hot over to the cradle, was about to burn the sign
of the cross on the baby's brow, when the child sprung suddenly up,
knocked the old woman down and disappeared up the _lum_ (chimney,)
filling the house with smoke, and leaving behind it a strong smell of
brimstone. When the smoke cleared away, the true baby was found in the
cradle sleeping as if it never had been taken away. Another case was
related to me as having occurred in the same neighbourhood, but in this
instance the theft was not discovered until after the death of the
child. The surreptitious or false baby, having apparently died, was
buried; but suspicion having been raised, the grave was opened and the
coffin examined, when there was found in it, not a corpse, but a wooden
figure. The late Mr. Rust, in his _Druidism Exhumed_, states that this
superstition is common in the North of Scotland, and adds that it is
also believed that if the theft be discovered before the apparent death
of the changling, there are means whereby the fairies may be propitiated
and induced to restore the real baby. One of these methods is the
following:--The parents or friends of the stolen baby must take the
fairy child to some known haunt of the fairies, generally some spot
where peculiar _soughing_ sounds are heard, where there are remains of
some ancient cairn or stone circle, or some green mound or shady dell,
and lay the child down there, repeating certain incantations. They must
also place beside it a quantity of bread, butter, milk, cheese, eggs,
and flesh of fowl, then retire to a distance and wait for an hour or
two, or until after midnight. If on going back to where the child was
laid they find that the offerings have disappeared, it is held as
evidence that the fairies have been satisfied, and that the human child
is returned. The baby is then carried home, and great rejoicing made.
Mr. Rust states that he knew a woman who, when a baby, had been stolen
away, but was returned by this means.