A Bealtainn Story. The Shrine of the Cailleach
A Bealtainn Story. The Shrine of the Cailleach
The story of an eye shaped rock, an antler and a doll + Audio - A Tale from the Shieling of Glen Cailleach
This post has been shared on different websites - but I always like to dust it down and share it on Bealtainn.
There’s a little shrine in a remote Scottish valley whose ritual stretches back past living memory into the mists of time.
The story told is that the Cailleach, her husband Bodach and daughter Nighean were passing through this glen when the weather turned bad. The local folks, who were spending the summer in the glen grazing their cattle welcomed them all in, as is the way with Celtic hospitality.
THE FAMILIES OF THE AREA RELIED ON HER ASTUTE WISDOM OF COUNTRY LORE AND SHE WAS TREATED WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT. TO THEM, SHE WAS REGARDED AS A DIETY. BY HER ACUTE PERCEPTION OF THE WAYS OF THE WORLD AND LIFE, BOTH MORTAL AND IMMORTAL, SHE BECAME CENTRAL TO THEIR DAILY EXISTENCE. THEIR FOOD AND HEALTH DEPENDED ON HER BENEVOLENCE.
THE CAILLEACH OF GLEN LYON, CONTAINED IN PERTHSIRE FOLK TALES
When it was time to leave the people began to worry as the Cailleach had become so central to their lives and the Cailleach herself understood this and so constructed a wee shieling (a Norse word meaning little dwelling), simlar to the summer dwellings the women and children lived in throughout the summer months. The Cailleach took three stones out of the near-by stream, explaining that if they tended to this little family by putting the stones out at Beltane then they could look after the glen, the people themselves ensuring that all were healthy and that the land remained fertile. At Samhain she instructed that the stones were to be returned to the shrine for the winter months.
No one knows when this ritual began and although the little shrine is rebuild every decade or so this age old ritual is still performed every Beltane and Samhain.
It had been a wonderfully bright day the day I visited the Shrine. It was late May, and so the little sheiling had been opened in that age old ritual and Glen Lyon, Scotland’s longest glen was filled with bluebells and the sounds of lambs.
On arriving at the Shrine clouds quickly gathered, the sky turned dark and there was 20 minutes of torrential rain. I had taken some photos of my little Cailleach doll beside the stones before heading over and spending some time by the stream.
I felt drawn to putting my hands in the cold fast flowing waters and took out a stone, whose rings of mica shimmered like a great eye. After heading back to the shrine the doll was gone. I searched everywhere and couldn’t find her – for I didn’t want to leave anything behind in this remote place.
In my experience, this Old Crone has quite the sense of humor – much like the 20 minute rainstorm that stopped the minute we left the Shrine and started heading back on the track.
As we were passing a big black peaty bog, my eye was drawn to something white. As I peered in I saw an antler, it looked pretty old as it had a few little mammal gnaw marks resembling an ancient pictorial language.
I leaned in to pick up the antler but then thought maybe it should just stay where it was, then an image of the Old Crone came to mind cackling, instructing me to take the antler, for it was her swap for the doll.
When I think back to Glen Cailleach I picture the women who spent their summers in the high glens, in the shillings around Glen Lyon and Glen Cailleach - fires burning to keep away the midges and evening spent spinning wool and sharing stories. Knowing well that the Cailleach, the great old crone of the glen was looking after them.
Audio - A Tale from the Shieling of Glen Cailleach
The above audio tells a story of the folks who spent their summers in the sheillings. While it speaks to a ritual of leaving the Glen at the end of the summer - and the ritual which might have played out as the stones were packed up into the shrine. Perhaps similar rituals were performed as the stones were brought out from their winters home - and one by one they were carefully taken out of the shrine and returned back into the Glen.
New features
Starting on Monday - Tales from the Studio
On Mondays I’ll be offering free posts sharing stories of things I’m making, the stories behind them and future plans. From the little stone or stick that inspired a doll, the lichen that inspired a weaving and the stories that dolls hold.