Carmina Gadelica is a compendium of prayers, hymns, charms, incantations, blessings, literary-folkloric poems and songs, proverbs, lexical items, historical anecdotes, natural history observations, and miscellaneous lore gathered in the Gaelic-speaking regions of Scotland between 1860 and 1909. The material was recorded, translated, and reworked by the exciseman and folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912).
Carmina Gadelica was published in six volumes: Alexander Carmichael himself, with the assistance of family and friends, was responsible for the first two volumes, published in 1900; these were re-edited by his daughter Ella (1870–1928) in 1928. Although Carmichael's correspondence suggests that he planned at least one further volume in the series, he was unable to bring this plan to fruition. Further selections from Carmichael's manuscripts were edited by his grandson James Carmichael Watson (1910–1942) and published as volumes III (1940) and IV (1941). A fifth volume, mostly taken up with song texts, was edited by Professor Angus Matheson (1912–1962) in 1954. The series was rounded off in 1971 with a sixth volume containing a lengthy glossary and indices, edited by Angus Matheson with the assistance of his brother William (1910–1995). [1] In 1992 Floris Press published a one-volume English-language edition with a valuable introduction by Dr John MacInnes (b. 1930). [2] Floris Press reprinted the entire six-volume series in 2006. [3]
The origins of the Carmina Gadelica can be traced to ‘Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides’, the second appendix Alexander Carmichael contributed to the Report of the Napier Commission in 1884. [4] Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier, had requested Carmichael to compose a piece on traditional Hebridean land customs based on the chapter on the subject that he had written for the third volume of William Forbes Skene’s Celtic Scotland. [5] Carmichael rounded off his contribution in an unorthodox manner, presenting a selection of traditional rhymes, prayers, blessings, and songs he had gathered from a wide variety of informants in the islands, intended to illustrate the spiritual refinement and respectability of their crofter reciters. The popularity of ‘Grazing and Agrestic Customs’, and a subsequent paper Carmichael delivered on 24 December 1888 to the Gaelic Society of Glasgow on ‘Uist Old Hymns’, encouraged him to embark upon a much more comprehensive work on the subject. [6]
The collection was first offered, in 1891, to the Clarendon Press as Idylls of the Isles, then subsequently to Archibald Sinclair's Gaelic publishing company in Glasgow. In both cases, the offer was withdrawn owing to Carmichael's unhappiness with the publisher's plans, and his determination to see the collection through the press on his own terms and according to his own design. Much of the final editing was carried out after Carmichael's retirement from the Inland Revenue in December 1897, with the help of a team of assistants including his daughter Ella Carmichael and his protégés George Henderson (1866–1912), who gave the work its title, and Kenneth MacLeod (1871–1955). The initial letters, adapted from early medieval insular manuscripts and engraved stones, were illustrated by Carmichael's wife Mary Frances Macbean (1838–1928). The book itself, dedicated to Mary Frances, was published in two volumes in October 1900, under the auspices of Walter Biggar Blaikie (1847–1928) in a limited edition of 300 copies, costing 3 guineas a copy. Carmina Gadelica was a landmark in Scottish art publishing, intended not just as a treasury of lore, but as an object of beauty in itself. [7]
The first two volumes of Carmina Gadelica were initially welcomed by reviewers as a monumental achievement in folklore, as well as a lasting testament to their creator: the ‘splendid consummation of the love-labour of a whole diligent life-time’. [8] Although little public criticism was voiced during Carmichael's lifetime, it is clear that other Gaelic folklore collectors and scholars such as Father Allan McDonald, the Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, and Alexander Macbain were uneasy with his earlier treatment of material he had collected. [9] Eventually, Carmichael's editing methods were roundly challenged in 1976 with the publication of Hamish Robertson's article in Scottish Gaelic Studies, "Studies in Carmichael's Carmina Gadelica". Having searched for manuscript copies of charms appearing in the third and fourth volumes, Robertson accused Carmichael of meddling with, altering, and polishing original texts: 'hardly one had not been touched up in some way, sometimes quite drastically'. [10] Robertson's article drew a vigorous rebuff from the Gaelic scholar John Lorne Campbell in the following issue of the journal, although Campbell conceded that '[m]uch of the first three volumes of the Carmina must be taken as a literary and not as a literal presentation of Gaelic folklore'. [11] Now that Alexander Carmichael's original field notebooks, accompanied by full transcriptions, have been published online under the auspices of the Carmichael Watson Project at the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh, for the first time the editing processes involved in the creation of Carmina Gadelica can properly be assessed.
Although Carmina Gadelica remains a controversial text, its volumes have to be read in the context of Carmichael's own times, a period of widespread political strife in the Highlands, when habitual contempt of Gaels, their language and their culture was widespread and publicly expressed. In the words of Gaelic scholar Dr John MacInnes, 'Carmina Gadelica is not a monumental exercise in literary fabrication nor, on the other hand, is it a transcript of ancient poems and spells reproduced exactly in the form in which they survived in oral tradition.' [12] Despite its flaws, Carmina Gadelica remains an indispensable source for the popular culture, customs, beliefs, and way of life of Scottish Gaels in the nineteenth century.
In the Irish (Hiberno-Scottish) monastic tradition, a lorica is a prayer recited for protection. It is essentially a 'protection prayer' in which the petitioner invokes all the power of God as a safeguard against evil in its many forms.
Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, legal name Alexander MacDonald, or, in Gaelic Alasdair MacDhòmhnaill, was a Scottish war poet, satirist, lexicographer, political writer and memoirist. The poet's Gaelic name means "Alasdair, son of the Reverend Alasdair". His father, also named Alasdair, was known as Maighstir Alasdair which was then the way of referring to a clergyman in Scottish Gaelic. In English, Maighstir Alasdair was known as the "Reverend Alexander MacDonald".
Popular Tales of the West Highlands is a four-volume collection of fairy tales, collected and published by John Francis Campbell, and often translated from Gaelic. Alexander Carmichael was one of the main contributors. The collection in four volumes was first published in 1860–62 in Edinburgh. A new edition appeared under the auspices of the Islay Association in 1890–93. Campbell dedicated the work in 1860 to the son of my Chief, the Marquess of Lorne.
Calum Iain Maclean, was a Scottish folklorist, collector, ethnographer and author.
Dr John Lorne Campbell FRSE LLD OBE (1906–1996) was a Scottish historian, farmer, environmentalist and folklorist, and recognized scholar of both Celtic studies and Scottish Gaelic literature.
Alexander Carmichael was a Scottish exciseman, folklorist, antiquarian, and author. Between 1860 and his death Carmichael collected a vast amount of folklore, local traditions, natural history observations, antiquarian data, and material objects from people throughout the Scottish Highlands, particularly in the southern Outer Hebrides where he lived, worked, and brought up his family between 1864 and 1882. Alexander Carmichael is best known today for Carmina Gadelica, an influential but controversial compendium of edited Highland lore and literature published in six volumes between 1900 and 1971.
The caoineag is a female spirit in Scottish folklore and a type of Highland banshee, her name meaning "weeper". She is normally invisible and foretells death in her clan by lamenting in the night at a waterfall, stream or Loch, or in a glen or on a mountainside. Unlike the related death portent known as the bean nighe, the caoineag cannot be approached, questioned, or made to grant wishes.
Séon Carsuel was a 16th-century Scottish prelate, humanist, and Protestant reformer. Born early in the century, when Carsuel completed his education he joined the service of the Protestant Earl of Argyll, tutoring his son and using his patronage to obtain benefices, most notably becoming Bishop of the Isles in 1565. Standing at over 7 feet in height, Carsuel was an important figure in the history of Scottish Gaelic, as in 1567 his Foirm na n-Urrnuidheadh, the Gaelic translation of the Book of Common Order, became the first work to be printed in any Goidelic language.
Ceirean, Cirein-cròin or cionarain-crò was a large sea monster in Scottish Gaelic folklore. An old saying claims that it was so large that it fed on seven whales: Local folklores say this huge animal can disguise itself as a small silver fish when fishermen came in contact with it. Other accounts state the reason for the disguise was to attract its next meal; when the fisherman would catch it in its small silver fish form, once aboard it changed back to the monster and ate him.
Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literary works composed in the Scottish Gaelic language, which is, like Irish and Manx, a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Gaelic literature was also composed in Gàidhealtachd communities throughout the global Scottish diaspora where the language has been and is still spoken.
Father Allan MacDonald was a Roman Catholic priest, radically innovative poet in the Scottish Gaelic language, folklorist, and activist for Crofter's rights, free elections, and against religious discrimination in the Gàidhealtachd.
The ceasg[kʲʰɛsk] is a mermaid in Scottish folklore with the upper body of a beautiful woman merging with the tail of a grilse. She is also known in Scottish Gaelic as maighdean na tuinne or maighdean mhara.
Dugald Buchanan was a Scottish poet writing in Scots and Scottish Gaelic. He helped the Rev. James Stuart or Stewart of Killin to translate the New Testament into Scottish Gaelic. John Reid called him "the Cowper of the Highlands".
The West Highland Museum tells the story of the Scottish Highlands and the Islands. It aims to cover every aspect of West Highland history, including that of Fort William, where it is located in a listed building in the centre of the town. It also hosts other exhibits for archaeology and wildlife. The museum, which has always been independent, is a member of Museums Galleries Scotland.
Saining is a Scots word for blessing, protecting, or consecrating. Sain is cognate with the Irish and Scottish Gaelic seun and sian and the Old Irish sén - "a protective charm."
In Scottish folklore, the beithir is a large snakelike creature or dragon.
John Murdoch was a Scottish newspaper owner and editor and land reform campaigner who played a significant part in the campaign for crofters rights in the late 19th century
William Ross was a Scottish writer of Romantic poetry in Scottish Gaelic from the Isle of Skye and a parish schoolmaster, who is often referred to as, "The Bard of Gairloch." His most famous song is "Cuachag Nan Craobh", which is now better known as The Skye Boat Song from new lyrics added a century later. More than two hundred years after his death, Ross remains a highly important and admired figure in Scottish Gaelic literature. According to Derick S. Thomson, "Ros is justly regarded as the leading poet of love of the eighteenth century." Despite being widely viewed, however, as a, "love-lorn romantic who died of unrequited love", Ross was also very capable of poking fun at himself.
Elizabeth Catherine "Ella" Carmichael, also known after 1906 as Mrs. W. J. Watson, was a Scottish editor and scholar, remembered as a supporter of the Scottish Gaelic language.
Margaret Fay Shaw was a pioneering Scottish-American ethnomusicologist, photographer, and folklorist. She is best known for her work among Scottish Gaelic-speakers in the Hebrides and among Canadian Gaelic-speaking communities in Nova Scotia.