Evil eye in the western HighlandsMaclagan, Robert Craig
Religion
Evil eye in the western Highlands
Maclagan, Robert Craig
Evil eye; Folklore; Superstition
In all these cases we see that the _eolas_ was kept in the family, or
at least believed to be so. The deathbed scene of the wife and husband
may be a most uncharitable suggestion of heathenism, but the recital
was made in good faith.
The witch doctor sometimes apparently requires assistance. A horse
being taken ill while ploughing, supposed to be hurt by the Evil
Eye, the farmer refused to have anything to do with these irregular
practices. The horse died. Not long after a second took ill, and as the
ploughman, the reciter, said, “We were all about it saying it could be
cured.” At last the master said if there was any person who could do
it they might try it, it would do no harm at any rate. There was a man
there that had _eolas_, and he took another man out with him, and they
made the _eolas_ outside. They did nothing to the horse, but while they
were out making the _eolas_ the horse got up, shook itself, and was
better at once.
In Arran, as elsewhere, _cronachadh_ seems to be regarded as
hereditary. One reciter said of a man at Loch Ranza that it did not
matter what he would look at, his look would _cronach_ it. A lad from
another part of the island went to ask a daughter of this man to marry
him, and when the nearest neighbour heard of his courtship she became
exceedingly angry, and protested against any of that man’s daughters
being brought there “to _cronaich_ everything about the place.”
FORMS OF INCANTATION
For specimens of these incantations the reader should refer to “Gaelic
Incantations, with Translations,” W. Mackenzie, Inverness, 1895; and
to “Carmina Gadelica,” A. Carmichael, Edinburgh, 1900. Above we have
already given one as recited, but they are hard to get, there being
many reasons why the user is shy of repeating them. One thing is
certain, that a complete performance of any of these rites requires the
repetition of “words,” as they say, of some sort. In far the majority
of cases, the words are what are called “good” words, having a sanction
of Christianity about them, being generally invocations of the Trinity
and of Mary. As a native of Morven said, describing a cure in which
water is used at a certain stage, “The person making the _eolas_ kept
saying good words.” Another woman from Mull, describing a cure done by
herself, said: “I remember a child I cured myself with good words that
I have. It was very ill, and nearly gone when I took it and placed it
in my bosom and cured it. I said the words over it, but after curing
it I was very much exhausted until I got a cup of tea, and then I
felt myself getting better.” When requested to repeat the words, she
affirmed that they were all good words, and that it was in the name
of the Trinity she did it; but she went over the words in such a low
voice, and with so indistinct a pronunciation and so fast, that the
collector found it quite impossible to follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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