E-text prepared by Julie Barkley, Annika Feilbach, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team FOLK LORE Or, Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century With an Appendix, Shewing the Probable Relation of the Modern Festivals of Christmas, May Day, St. John's Day, and Hallowe'en, to Ancient Sun and Fire Worship by JAMES NAPIER, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., &c., Author of _Manufacturing Art in Ancient Times_, _Notes and Reminiscences of Partick_, &c., &c. Paisley: Alex. Gardner. 1879 CONTENTS. PREFACE, v. Introduction, 1 Birth and Childhood, 29 Marriage, 43 Death, 56 Witchcraft, Second Sight, and the Black Art, 67 Charms and Counter Charms, 79 Divining, 105 Superstitions Relating to Animals, 111 Superstitions Concerning Plants, 122 Miscellaneous Superstitions, 132 APPENDIX. Yule, Beltane, and Hallowe'en Festivals, 145 Yule, 149 Beltane, 161 Midsummer, 170 Hallowe'en, 175 PREFACE The doctrine taught concerning Satan, his motives and influence in the beginning of this century, supplied the popular mind with reasons to account for almost all the evils, public and private, which befell society; and as the observed ills of life, real or imaginary, greatly outnumbered the observed good occurrences, the thought of Satan was more constantly before the people's mind than was the thought of God. Practically, it might be said, and said with a very near approach to truth, that Satan, in popular estimation, was the greater of the two; but theoretically, the superiority of God was allowed, for Satan it was believed, was permitted by God to do what he did. It was commonly said, "Never speak evil of the Deil, for he has a long memory." This Satanic belief gave rise to a great amount of Folk Lore, and affected the whole social system. Historians who take no account of such beliefs, but regard them as trivialities, cannot but fail to represent faithfully the condition and action of the people. Folk Lore has thus an important historical bearing. Every age has had its own living Folk Lore, and, beside this, a residuum of waning lore, regarded as superstitious, and so it is at the present day. When we speak of the Folk Lore of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, we believe that we are speaking of beliefs which have past away, beliefs from which we ourselves are free; but if we consider the matter carefully we will find that in many respects our beliefs and practices, although somewhat modernized, are essentially little different from those of last century. Among the