scottish Archives - Page 3 of 4

April 17, 2015 / 3 Comments

Ogham: The Tree Alphabet

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ogham (OH-am) is an ancient Celtic alphabet made up of twenty unique symbols. It was mainly used to write in the archaic and early Irish languages, but inscriptions have also been found in old Welsh, Pictish, and Latin. There are nearly four hundred surviving Ogham inscriptions on stones found around the British Isles, dating to between the 4th and 9th centuries. These inscriptions were almost exclusively people’s names, and the stones they were inscribed on were mainly used as territory markers and memorials.

Each letter in the Ogham alphabet is composed of a vertical line, crossed or met by short perpendicular or angled strokes. This straight-lined form allows the letters to be easily carved into a stone surface, with the edge of the object being carved usually forming the central stroke. The first letter is always carved at the base of the line and the inscription read from the bottom up.

Whilst the word Ogham refers to the form of the script itself, the collection of twenty symbols, or letters, are known collectively as the Beith-Luis-Nuin, and are often referred to as the Celtic Tree Alphabet since each of its letters corresponds to the name of a tree or shrub.

SYMBOL	LETTER	LETTER NAME	PRONUNCIATION	TREE
	B	Beith	(BEH)	Birch
	L	Luis	(leh-WEESH)	Rowan
	F	Fearn	(FAIR-n)	Alder
	S	Saille	(SAL-yuh)	Willow
	N	Nuin	(NEE-un)	Ash
	H	Uath	(HOO-ah)	Hawthorn
	D	Dair	(DAW-r)	Oak
	T	Tinne	(CHIN-yuh)	Holly
	C	Coll	(CULL)	Hazel
	Q	Ceirt	(kah-WAIRT)	Apple
	M	Muin	(MUN)	Blackberry
	G	Gort	(GORT)	Ivy
	Ng	Gétal	(GWEH-del)	Reed
	Z	Straif	(STRAF)	Blackthorn
	R	Ruis	(ruh-WEESH)	Elder
	A	Ailm	(ALM)	Pine
	O	Oir/Onn	(UNN)	Gorse
	U	Úr	(OO-rah)	Heather
	E	Edad	(EH-yoh)	Aspen
	I	Idad	(EE-yoh)	Yew

April 16, 2015 / 3 Comments

The Cursed Card of Scotland: The Nine of Diamonds

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For three hundred years, the nine of diamonds has been known as The Curse of Scotland, and it has come to be considered the most unlucky playing card in the deck. Numerous versions of the reason behind the curse have been put forward over the years.

The earliest recorded reference to the curse was published in The British Apollo, Curious Amusements for the Ingenious, a collection of questions and answers published in 1708.

April 15, 2015 / 2 Comments

Am Maighdeann-Mhara: The Mermaids of Scotland

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Mermaids appear in the folklore of almost every country around the world, and Scotland is no exception. Given that no point in Scotland is further than sixty-six miles from the outlying seas, not to mention the myriad of inland lochs and rivers, it’s unsurprising that its mythology and folklore are packed with strange beings that make their homes in water. Known as the maighdeann-mhara (MY-jong VAH-reh) or maid of the wave, the belief in mermaids in Scotland was a common one, and their portrayals range from wraiths who steal children, bewitch men, and curse families, to much more benevolent creatures who offer advice, cure ailments, and grant wishes.

April 14, 2015 / 6 Comments

The Lady of Lawers: Prophecies From the Highlands

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In Highland Perthshire in the 1640s the old village of Lawers sat on the north bank of Loch Tay at the foot of Ben Lawers, the highest Munro in Perthshire. There, in a two-story house known as Tigh Ban-tigheaona Labhair, the House of the Lady of Lawers, lived a spaewife, or soothsayer. She was the wife of John Stewart, the second son of the Laird of Appin, and her prophecies foretold everything from the fate of a beloved tree to the advent of the industrial age in Scotland.

April 13, 2015 / 3 Comments

The Tale of Kate Crackernuts and the Fairy Dance

Reading Time: 5 minutes

There was a king and a queen, as there so often are, and they each had a daughter, for the queen was not the first wife of the king. The king’s daughter was called Anne, and the queen’s daughter was called Kate, and though Anne was far bonnier than Kate, they loved each other as though they were real sisters. The queen was green with jealousy at the king’s daughter’s beauty and she cast about to spoil it. She took the council of the hen-wife, who told her to send the lassie to her the next morning, hungry.

April 11, 2015 / 14 Comments

The Life and Death of Bessie Dunlop, The Witch of Lynn

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On 8^th November 1576, at the High Court in Edinburgh, Bessie Dunlop, an Ayrshire woman, was accused of ‘sorcery, witchcraft, and incantation, with invocation of spirits of the devil, continuing in familiarity with them at all such times as she thought expedient, dealing with charms, and jinxing the people with devilish craft of sorcery aforesaid’. But like so many people accused of witchcraft at the time of the trials, Bessie was just an ordinary woman who had never caused harm to anyone.

April 10, 2015 / 0 Comments

The Tale of The Knight of Grianaig and Ian the Soldier’s Son

Reading Time: 12 minutes

In the land of the west, the Knight of Grianaig lived with his wife and his three daughters. The three maidens were very beautiful and full of goodness and they were dearly loved by the people, so there was much sorrowing when one day they were swept into the sea by a great beast. No one knew their fate, or how to find them, and their poor father and mother mourned endlessly.

April 9, 2015 / 10 Comments

The Hobyahs, A Scottish Nursery Tale

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Once there was a old man and an old woman and a little girl, and they lived together in a hut made of birch bark. They had a wee dug called Tavish, and he was a good dug and barked a warning when anyone came near the hut.