Scottish Folklore

[ScottishHoney]

Can anyone share anything about Scottish folklore?

Got my popcorn ready so I am reading to start listening..er..reading.

[jacobitedreamer]

Hi,

I don't know what sort of Scottish folklore you want to know about (traditions, beliefs ?).

I could recommend a book by Margaret Bennett called "Scottish customs from Cradle to Grave". It explains rites (from christening and Halloween to burial ceremonies), superstitions, just anything I would call folk-lore, including the lovely games like: "Hempseed I saw thee, hempseed I saw thee, lat him it's tae be my lad come aifter me an' pu' thee".
It also tells you what the sky and weather on your wedding day mean for your future and what rites you should follow to be a happy bride / bridegroom and what things you should avoid... ;=)

Cool stuff, really!

[Mamie]

They have folklore on their site. I was just reading the the gardening and weather ones

Franziska - you'd like this site if you haven't already been there.

[jacobitedreamer]

Thanks Mamie,

I shall have a try on this side. Do they have mysteries as well? I posted two stories some days ago to someone asking about mystery...

[Mamie]

A few but it's a very extensive website and I haven't been everywhere on it yet. Just spent the last hour or so looking at some of the Sinclair links - my clan through adherence - there was a ghostie or two mentioned somewhere. "the green lady" was one.

Keeping track of where everything is is hard.

[jacobitedreamer]

Thanks Mamie,

I have already registered to caithness.org and joined a "lovely" discussion about the act of union... ;=)

About the ghosties, I just told in some post the story of the white washerwoman who announced the Culloden tragedy as well as the story of Claverhouse's nightly visit to Balcarres after his death at Killiecrankie. The first I got from my great grandpa, the second from a friend of mine. Booh!

The hempseed game I mentioned, we still used to play it under the advice of my granny... Cool thing I will teach my daughter, though I cannot remember today if I saw anyone following me... ;=))

[Mamie]

I like a good mystery too.

Glad you like Caithness.org! I just recently found some relatives from Australia through their message boards.
And the history and archeaology stuff is fascinating.