Highland Fisher-Folk and Their Superstitions

Highland Fisher-Folk and Their SuperstitionsAuthor(s): Morag CameronSource: Folklore, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Sep. 29, 1903), pp. 300-306Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1254174 .

Accessed: 22/12/2014 19:40

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. and Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Folklore.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 22 Dec 2014 19:40:51 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=taylorfrancis

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=fel

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1254174?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


300 Collectanea.

Uist Bodkin sent for Exhibition (see p 2 10 o). The bone stiletto sent was used in Uist by a staymaker to make

the holes for lacing, about 1820. The holes, of course, were finished by hand-stitching.

Ross-shire " Chucks " sent for Exhibition (see as before). For playing this game in the neighbourhood of Applecross they

use either five balls made of clay hardened by exposure to the sun, in size like ordinary marbles, or oblate spheroids of about the same bulk.

R. C. MACLAGAN.

HIGHLAND FISHER-FOLK AND THEIR SUPERSTITIONS.

Those who dwell in cities may shrug their shoulders at the superstitions of our fisher-people, but we who often stand under the shadow of our northern cliffs and watch the storm and the darkness gather, and listen to the sad moan of the sea as it

accompanies the shrill weird cry of the sea birds overhead, are more in sympathy with them. We can understand how brave and

daring seamen can still be the veritable children of nature, for there nature is so immense and we are so small.

Some of the most God-fearing and intelligent fisher-people have a strong strain of superstition, inherited from their pagan forefathers and strengthened by their own uncertain hold on life and the consequent sense of the nearness of the unseen. It is when such men are tossed among the billows, like puppets in the hands of an unknown power, that the tales told them by their forefathers take hold of their imagination, and if they have neglected prescribed observances they vow it shall be for the last time.

Even as in the days when the sea refused to be satisfied till

Jonah was heaved overboard, our fishermen do not care for the

presence of the clergy in their boats, nor do they even like to meet a clergyman on their way to the shore when going to fish. The Devil is said to be the Prince of the Air, and as the clergy are his

enemies, there is some method and complimerit in the theory that he likes to give them a good shaking when he has the chance !

Meeting a red-haired woman, or a cat, is also unlucky; the cat



Collectanea. 301

being the least objectionable, as it does not bode serious loss. Some years ago, a Caithness farmer used to fish at Brims with a retired fisherman who lived at the Hill of Forss. One lovely even-

ing he waited in vain, and next day upbraided his friend for not

coming when there was the prospect of such good fishing. "Good

fishing! I started from home expecting that, but faith! when a hare crossed my path, I knew better, and went home again." In

Caithness, a horse or a grouse is the most lucky creature to meet on the way to fish.

Mice nibbling among the nets are a sure sign of good luck. To throw fresh water at a man on his way to his boat is a cer-

tain indication that he will be drowned. Even to ask where he is

going when on his way to the sea is very improper, but it is well to throw a silver coin, an old shoe, or some salt, after him. A sure omen of good luck is for the fisherman's wife to throw, either in anger or jest, according to the temper she is in, a "besom," or

broom, at her lord's head as he is leaving his home on his way to fish. If a man forgets anything, he must not return for it, and when he gets into the boat he must turn it so that the bow follows the course of the sun, never against it. A new boat must not go to sea for the first time on a Friday.

When a fisherman thinks there is too little wind to go to sea

with, he whistles for more, or sticks a knife into the mast of his

boat; but if he does not carefully regulate his whistling, a hurri- cane may come along, in which case he remains at home. At sea he must be more careful, as there he has no way of escape if he "makes" too much wind. He may sing but not whistle, when baiting his line. Probably the safest way is to buy your wind from a " wise " woman, and the most likely places for you to find her are Shetland and the Hebrides. In the introduction to the Pirate, Sir Walter Scott tells of an old woman, Bessie

Miller, who lived in Stromness, Orkney, who was said to be a hundred years old, and who, for a fee of sixpence, sold favourable winds to mariners. At that time ladies of her profession were

plentiful in the islands to the north and west of Scotland. The most notorious wind-sellers in Caithness and Sutherlandshire were Mhor Bhan of Assynt and a woman named Watt at

Duncansbay; but they are long since dead. A fisherman told me the other day that Mhor Bhan was strangled by two young men who thought she had practised her art to their hurt. They



302 Collectanea.

threw the noose of the rope over her head from behind, but nevertheless she caught sight of one of them for a moment, and the glance of her dying eye made him insane for the rest of his life. Even to-day it is possible to buy " wind" and " luck " in these regions, but now there is less faith on both sides, and the seller and buyer are both more ashamed of the transaction. The " wind " is tied up in a knotted handkerchief or a woollen thread, and when you untie one knot you get a gentle breeze, another

brings a stiff breeze, and a third a full gale. The only danger lies in impatiently untying too many knots. Mr. Robert Stevens, fisherman, of Sandside (the port of Reay), told me the experience of a friend of his in buying wind. He and his crew were becalmed in Orkney for a week, so they went to a woman in

Stromness, and gave her half-a-crown for a woollen thread with three knots. " Don't open the third for the life of you," was her

parting injunction. The unfastening of the first knot caused a little wind to spring up, the second sent them merrily across the Pentland Firth; and when near the Caithness shore they grew bold, and resolved to try the effect of opening the third, where-

upon they were literally blown ashore " just as if the boat was a balloon." "Never again will I buy wind," declared the hero of the story, when relating his adventures.

Another method is to leave the "wind" at home with the

women, but even then there is the danger of getting becalmed

owing to their tender fears for their loved ones. A thrifty wife can raise the wind very cheaply by drawing the cat through the

fire; this is, however, likely to " make" dirty, stormy weather. In Lewis it is considered unlucky for a woman to blow the meal off her oat-cake bannocks, or to allow them to burn, while her husband is at sea. Neither must she burn fish-bones.' In Caith- ness you may burn fish-bones, but not sheep-bones. There is an old Caithness saying: " A sheep once spoke, and said, 'Boil me and roast me, but don't burn my bones.' "2

Various articles are carried in the boats for good luck, but a horseshoe nailed to the mast, the leg of a hare, a piece of mountain-

I Dr. J. G. Frazer says the Ottawa Indians of Canada have this same

superstition, as they believe the souls of dead fish pass into the bodies of other fish, and if people offend the dead fish by burning their bones they are sure to warn the living not to come to the nets. (G. B., ii., 119.)

2 [Cf. vols. x., 262, and xiii., 35. ED.]



Collectanea. 303

ash, a silver coin among the nets, or a " lucky stone" among the ballast, are the most favoured. A piece of ivy with nine joints placed in a secret part of the boat, and the usual horseshoe on the mast, were preferred by the old Sandside fishermen. In Morayshire, the men used to carefully salt the first herring caught in the season, and hide it in some part of the boat to bring good luck for the rest of that season. If the talismanic article is given away or lost the luck goes too. This is why the crew of one boat often refuse to sell or give fish or any other article to the crew of another, as their luck is liable to be transferred with the gift. They will give a drink of water to those in another boat, but not a drop to be carried away. Indeed, a careful man will secretly retain a small piece of the end of a match before handing it to a man in another boat.

The " luck " is not always in the boat. It may be in the fisherman's house. Before matches were so plentiful as now, one neighbour might be obliged to beg another for a burning peat to re-kindle his fire, but as a rule this was resented. Should any one be bold enough to go to a house and carry away a burning peat, those of the household immediately added a fresh peat to the fire, with the remark that "You may take it, but it won't do you any good," meaning, not that it would not kindle a fire, but that adding the fresh fuel to their own fire had broken the spell, and that the "luck " would remain with the original owners.

It is unlucky to count your fish as they are being caught; it may prevent your catching more. In Sutherlandshire you must not count the boats as they are going out, nor point to them with the fore-finger when they are at sea; but you may do so with the whole hand with impunity.

An eel in the catch is much disliked, on the ground that they believe Old Nick himself to be in it. Indeed, they seemed to dislike an eel anywhere, until they found they could get money from the Sassenach for it. A Scotchwoman, unless her ideas have become Anglicised, will not "dirty" her frying-pan with an eel, much less eat one. Some fine conger-eels are caught at Reay, but they have all to be sent to the English markets: they are not eaten locally. The fishermen here think it is because there are so like serpents.

Long ago,-so Mr. Robert Stevens, mentioned above, tells me, -the fish forsook the shore from Reay to Thurso; and an old



304 Collectanea.

man at Brims, about half-way between the two places went down to the rocks there, threw out bait, and caught a fish, which he

immediately killed, and then poured its blood on the sea. The fish came back to the shore after that, and have never gone away since !

Certain words and things are tabooed, and may not be uttered, or carried, when at sea. The words minister, salmon, hare, rabbit, rat, pig, and porpoise are all fraught with danger, and to mention

any of them on board means failure to catch fish, or some disaster.

Many years ago they were getting splendid hauls of haddocks off the Reay coast; and one man, John Macdonald, who used to

laugh at the old sayings, repeated all the tabooed words he could think of while baiting his line. The other fishermen got the usual good luck, but not one fish did John get that day. This I was told by one of the men who were present.

The Rev. Mr. Mackay, when a boy, went out with some fishermen off the Sutherlandshire coast. Seeing some black objects in the

water, he asked what they were. "Whist, whist, I'll tell you when we get ashore, whist now! " When they landed, the boy was dis-

gusted to find they were only salmon bag-nets, instead of one of the many terrible things he had conjured up in his mind; but the

explanation that if they had used the word " salmon " they would have caught no fish, helped to satisfy his Celtic imagination. At the present day, if some of the boats that come to the Wick

herring-fishing come across a Reay salmon-boat, the herring-men will not speak to, nor even look at, the salmon-fishers. Banffshire men seem to be scrupulous on this point, but the Caithness fishermen do not attach much importance to it.

Should a man say a tabooed word at sea he must immediately shout "cold iron "; or better still, touch the horse-shoe or any other piece of iron that may be in the boat.

A bridegroom on board is always unlucky; and from the time a man is "contracted" I till he is married (generally a period of two weeks), he is not allowed on board; but he shares in the

profits of the crew just as if he were working. This custom I am told is still observed in Portskerra, a fishing village about twelve miles from here, and in other places on the northern coast.

A couple are said to be " contracted " after a feasting at the bride's home at which the young man and his friends are present to fix the date of the

marriage.



Collectanea. 305

Neither eggs nor ham must be among the food taken to sea. Many years ago, an Armadale (Sutherlandshire) woman put boiled eggs in her husband's basket, but when at lunch-time they were discovered, the eggs were hastily thrown into the sea. About the same time a local factor was removing from Reay to the west of Sutherlandshire. A pig was sent to the Sandside harbour to be

shipped with his other goods, but the crew refused to go to sea if it was put on board, so it had to be left behind.

During an extra good herring-fishing season many years ago at Wick, the curers objected one night to the men going to sea, on the plea that the women had already more fish than they could handle in twenty-four hours and, besides, that their stock of salt and barrels was very low. The men insisted, and said fishing was their business and fish they would while Providence sent such shoals to their hand. One curer, who had studied his men and their ways, bought a ham, which he cut in two and placed under the uppermost net in the first two boats that went to sea. When they arrived at the fishing ground and prepared to set their nets, they saw the ham. They stared at one another in blank dismay for a moment. Then each man hastened to his post, and soon they were bowling along back again towards the harbour.

All that I have related here has been told me by Caithness or Sutherlandshire fishermen, or by crofters who have gone to the fishing during the herring season. Living as I do in a Manse, it is easy for me to get into conversation and friendship with these men. I also speak Gaelic, which is everything when you want to gain a Highlandman's confidence. The late Mr. Angus Mackay, fisherman, Strathy, Sutherlandshire, who died last Christmas at the age of eighty-four, told me that all these customs and superstitions, except the tabooing of the word "rat," were known to him and practised in his younger days, especially in Banff and on the Fife coast; and to make quite sure of the accuracy of my report, I have taken this paper down to Mr. Robert Stevens, fisherman, Sandside, Reay, to whom I was originally indebted for much of the information it contains.' He is not only one of the most superior and intelligent of our fishermen, but he belongs to a race of Caithness seamen who have handed down their superstitions as a legacy from father to son for generations.1 He says I may tell the gentlemen in London that all these superstitions are quite

' Caithness is mainly Scandinavian : Sutherland, Celtic. VOL. XIV. X



306 Collectanea.

correct, and that he has heard and known of them all his life. Of course he told me there was "nothing in them " ; but--" That's all very well, father," said his daughter, with a twinkle in her eye, but is there one here who would dare to ask you where you were

going when you were going to fish? " " Indeed, no. I would be

very angry if you did, and as for turning back if I forgot anything, I would not do it for the life of me ! " Then he told me of another

superstition which he had forgotten to mention. If several men

go out to fish and only get one fish, or at least not one apiece, they must on no account cut or divide a fish. The fish must be taken whole, and those for whom there are none must go without.

Still, most of this article should be written in the past tense. School boards have slain the fairies; even the ceremonial usages of our seafaring men are not commonly observed, and when safe on land the young men laugh at them. At the same time, on

stormy nights many brave fellows still practise the old cult, and when luck is against them, and it changes after the observance of an ancient superstition, they wisely think that after all there may be " something in it."

MORAG CAMERON.

Reay United Free Manse, Thurso, Caithness.

FISHERMEN IN THE FAROE ISLANDS.

(Extract from a Private Letter.)

"One boat-load came in this morning with 275 big cod. They said it was because the pastor helped them to launch their boat yesterday. It seems that one must not wish a man good luck in fishing when he starts out, nor if he goes to the bird-cliffs. That will prevent a good catch. I fear I have erred in this respect on Myggenoes, not knowing the proper custom. If it is to be a travel-journey that is a different matter. Also it is bad luck to meet a woman when they first come to land. I must remember this and see that a small boy or a man is nearer the sea than I am, when next I want to watch the boats land.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR.

Thorshavn, Far6e Islands, 90oI.



Documents

Highland Fisher-Folk and Their Superstitions