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Page 50
"In the Parish of Callander, upon the first day of May," says the
minister of the parish, "all the boys in the town or hamlet meet on the
moors. They cut a table on the green sod, of a round shape, to hold the
whole company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk
in the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is
baked at the fire upon a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they
divide the cake into as many portions, and as similar as possible, as
there are persons in the company. They blacken one of these portions
with charcoal until it is perfectly black. They put all the bits of cake
into a bonnet. Every one blindfolded draws a portion--he who holds the
bonnet is entitled to the last. Who draws the black bit is the devoted
person to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore in
rendering the year productive of substance for man and beast. There is
little doubt of these human sacrifices being once offered in the
country, but the youth who has got the black bit must leap through the
flame of the fire three times." I have myself conversed with old men
who, when boys, were present at, and took part in these observances; and
they told me that in their grandfathers' time it was the men who
practised these rites, but as they were generally accompanied with much
drinking and riot, the clergy set their faces against the customs, and
subjected the parties observing them to church discipline, so that in
course of time the practices became merely the frolic of boys.
In the Parish of Logierait, Beltane is celebrated by the shepherds and
cowherds in the following manner. They assemble in the fields and dress
a dinner of milk and eggs. This dish they eat with a sort of cake baked
for the occasion, having small lumps or nipples raised all over its
surface. These knobs are not eaten, but broken off, and given as
offerings to the different supposed powers or influences that protect or
destroy their flocks, to the one as a thank-offering, to the other as a
peace-offering.
Mr. Pennant, in his _Tour through Scotland_, thus describes the Beltane
observances as they were observed at the end of last century. "The herds
of every village hold their Beltane (a rural sacrifice.) They cut a
square trench in the ground, leaving the turf in the middle. On that
they make a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs,
oatmeal, butter, and milk, and bring besides these plenty of beer and
whiskey. Each of the company must contribute something towards the
feast. The rites begin by pouring a little of the caudle upon the
ground, by way of a libation. Every one then takes a cake of oatmeal, on
which are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular
being who is supposed to preserve their herds, or to some animal the
destroyer of them. Each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks
off a knob, and, flinging it over his shoulder, says--'_This I give to
thee_,' naming the being whom he thanks, '_preserver of my sheep_,' &c.;
or to the destroyer, '_This I give to thee, (O fox or eagle)_,' _spare
my lambs_,' &c. When this ceremony is over they all dine on the caudle."
The shepherds in Perthshire still hold a festival on the 1st of May, but
the practices at it are now much modified.
As may readily be surmised, there were a great many superstitious
beliefs connected with Beltane, some of which still survive, and tend to
maintain its existence. Dew collected on the morning of the first day of
May is supposed to confer witch power on the gatherer, and give
protection against an evil eye. To be seen in a field at day-break that
morning, rendered the person seen an object of fear. A story is told of
a farmer who, on the first of May discovered two old women in one of his
fields, drawing a hair rope along the grass. On being seen, they fled.
The farmer secured the rope, took it home with him, and hung it in the
byre. When the cows were milked every spare dish about the farm-house
was filled with milk, and yet the udders remained full. The farmer being
alarmed, consigned the rope to the fire, and then the milk ceased to
flow.
It was believed that first of May dew preserved the skin from wrinkles
and freckles, and gave a glow of youth. To this belief Ferguson refers
in the following lines:--
"On May day in a fairy ring,
We've seen them round St. Anthon's spring,
Frae grass the caller dew to wring,
To wet their een;
And water clear as crystal spring,
To synd them clean."
_MIDSUMMER._
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