This name is doubtlessly derived from the Latin _Mars_, in which case it ought to correspond to the month of March, O.S. It does not commence till the 24th of that month. The word has come to signify a busy time of the year, whether seed-time or harvest, usually, however, the former. _Saothair a Mhàrt_ is the “busiest time of spring”; _a ghaoth luath luimeineach Mhàrt_ means “the bare swift March wind,” frequently mentioned in _Winter Evening Tales_ to denote great speed, and _a Mhàrt tioram blath_ means “dry genial March.” It is a favourable sign of the season when the ground is saturated with wet at its beginning. Old men wished, “The full pool awaiting March, And house-thatch in the furrows of the plough land;”[63] and deemed it a good sign if the violence of the wind stripped three layers of thatch (_trì breathan de thugha_) from the houses. The advice for sowing seed now is: “Let past the first March (_i.e._ Tuesday), And second March if need be, But be the weather good or bad, Sow thy seed in the true March.”[64] Others say, “though you cannot send a pebble against the north wind” (_ged nach cuireadh tu dòirneag an aghaidh na gaoth tuath_) you are to sow. “A night in March is swifter than two in harvest” (_Is luaithe oidhche sa Mhàrt na dhà san fhogharadh_). _Inid_, SHROVETIDE. The Gaelic name is from Lat. _Initium_, this being the beginning of Lent. It was always reckoned as “The first Tuesday of the Spring Light” (_chiad Di-màirt de’n t-solus Earraich_), _i.e._ of the new moon in spring. It is a moveable feast, and this is a simple way of calculating it. The plan adopted by the English Church is more complicated—Shrovetide is always the seventh Tuesday before Easter, and Easter is “the first Sunday after the first full moon, which happens on or after the 21st March; but if the full moon is on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday following.” Shrovetide was called “_an Inid bheadaidh_” (shameless Shrovetide), because the day of the festival was held to precede the night, while, in the case of all the other festivals, the night or vigil was held to precede the day. A good reason for this will be found in a natural aversion to begin the austerities of Lent. It has been already told[65] (art. Diabolus) how Michael Scott, or, according to Skye tradition, Parson Sir Andro of Rigg, near Storr in that island, went to Rome, riding on the devil, and first ascertained from the Pope the rule for calculating the day.