Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx (Volume 1 of 2)

11 See Stokes’ Goidelica, p. 151. ↑

12 This chapter was written in 1891, except the portions of it which refer to later dates indicated. ↑

13 See the Stokes-O’Donovan edition of Cormac (Calcutta, 1868), pp. 19, 23. ↑

14 Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, xi. 620; Pennant’s Tour in Scotland in 1769 (3rd edition, Warrington, 1774), i. 97, 186, 291; Thomas Stephens’ Gododin, pp. 124–6; and Dr. Murray in the New English Dictionary, s. v. Beltane. ↑

15 In my Hibbert Lectures on Celtic Heathendom, pp. 517–21. ↑

16 As to the Thargelia and Delia, see Preller’s Griechische Mythologie, i. 260–2, and A. Mommsen’s Heortologie, pp. 414–25. ↑

17 See section H of the Report of the Liverpool Meeting of the British Association in 1896, pp. 626–56. ↑

18 It is my impression that it is crowned with a small tumulus, and that it forms the highest ground in Jurby, which was once an island by itself. The one between Ramsey and Bride is also probably the highest point of the range. But these are questions which I should like to see further examined, say by Mr. Arthur Moore or Mr. Kermode. ↑

19Cronk yn Irree Laa, despite the gender, is the name as pronounced by all Manxmen who have not been misled by antiquarians. To convey the other meaning, referring to the day watch, the name would have to be Cronk ny Harrey Laa; in fact, a part of the Howe in the south of the island is called Cronk ny Harrey, ‘the Hill of the Watch.’ Mr. Moore tells me that the Jurby cronk was one of the eminences for ‘Watch and Ward’; but he is now of opinion that the high mountain of Cronk yn Irree Laa in the south was not. As to the duty of the inhabitants to keep ‘Watch and Ward’ over the island, see the passage concerning it extracted from the Manx Statutes (vol. i. p. 65) by Mr. Moore in his Manx Surnames, pp. 183–3; also my preface to the same work, pp. v–viii. ↑

20 Quoted from Oliver’s Monumenta de Insula Manniæ, vol. i. (Manx Society, vol. iv) p. 84: see also Cumming’s Isle of Man, p. 258. ↑

21 See the New English Dictionary, s. v. ‘Allhallows.’ ↑

22 This comes near the pronunciation usual in Roxburghshire and the south of Scotland generally, which is, as Dr. Murray informs me, Hunganay without the m occurring in the other forms to be mentioned presently. But so far as I have been able to find, the Manx pronunciation is now Hob dy naa, which I have heard in the north, while Hob ju naa is the prevalent form in the south. ↑

23 See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 514–5; and as to hiring fairs in Wales see pp. 210–2 above. ↑

24 See Robert Bell’s Early Ballads (London, 1877), pp. 406–7, where the following is given as sung at Richmond in Yorkshire:—

To-night it is the New-Year’s night, to-morrow is the day,

And we are come for our right, and for our ray,

As we used to do in old King Henry’s day.

Sing, fellows, sing, Hagman-heigh.

If you go to the bacon-flick, cut me a good bit;

Cut, cut and low, beware of your maw;

Cut, cut and round, beware of your thumb,

That me and my merry men may have some.

Sing, fellows, sing, Hagman-heigh.

If you go to the black-ark bring me X mark;

Ten mark, ten pound, throw it down upon the ground,

That me and my merry men may have some.

Sing, fellows, sing, Hagman-heigh.

↑

25 The subject is worked out in Nicholson’s Golspie, pp. 100–8, also in the New English Dictionary, where mention is made of a derivation involving calendæ, which reminds me of the Welsh call for a New-Year’s Gift—Calennig! or C’lennig! in Arfon ’Y Ngh’lennig i! ‘My Calends gift if you please!’ ↑

26 On being asked, after reading this paper to the Folk-Lore Society, who was supposed to make the footmarks in the ashes, I had to confess that I had been careless enough never to have asked the question. I have referred it to Mr. Moore, who informs me that nobody, as I expected, will venture on any explanation by whom the footmarks are made. ↑

27 This seems to imply the application of the same adjective, some time or other, to clean water and a handsome man, just as we speak in North Cardiganshire of dwr glân, ‘clean water,’ and bachgen glân, ‘a handsome boy.’ ↑

28 In Phillips’ Book of Common Prayer this is called Lá nolick y biggy, ‘Little Nativity Day,’ and Lá ghian blieny, ‘The Day of the Year’s End,’ meaning, of course, the former end of the year, not the latter: see pp. 55, 62, 66. ↑

29 See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 514–5, and the Brython, ii. 20, 120: an instance in point occurs in the next chapter. ↑

30 This has been touched upon in my Hibbert Lectures, p. 676; but to the reasons there briefly mentioned should be added a reference to the position allotted to intercalary months in the Norse calendar, namely, at the end of the summer half, that is, as I think, at the end of the ancient Norse year. ↑