In schools it was the day for cock-fighting, and giving gratuities to the schoolmaster. The latter custom was observed with more correctness on the first Monday of the year, being the day allotted for presents. The practice of cock-fighting is extinct in the Highlands, but presents to the schoolmaster are universally practised. The boy and girl who give the largest donation (and it seldom exceeds a shilling) are declared King and Queen of the school, and have the privilege of asking “a play” (_i.e._ a holiday) for the school. The names connected with cock-fighting, still to be found in the Highlands, being Latin, shew the practice is not of native growth. Each boy came to the school with a dunghill cock under his arm. The head of the bird was covered and its tail taken out, to make it more ready to fight, and fight better when let loose opposite another bird. Runaway cocks were called _fuge_, and the name is still given to boys who shirk fighting. Shouts followed the defeated bird of “run, run, cock with one eye” (_fuge, fuge, coileach cam_), and its owner had to pay a penalty of some pence. Shrovetide was one of the great days for _saining_ cattle, juniper being burned before them, and other superstitious precautions were taken to keep them free from harm. Those curious or anxious about their future husbands or wives made a cake of soot (_Bonnach sùith, B. Inid_), of which they partook, putting the rest below their pillows to dream over. It was believed that if there was fair weather at _Inid_ it would be foul weather at Easter, and _vice versâ_, as the rhyme has it: “Shrovetide said to Easter, Where will I get a place to play myself? Give to me a winter palace, And I will build a summer house for you.”[66] _Carghas_, LENT, is the period from Shrovetide to Easter. It extends to 40 days, and refers to the miraculous fasts of Moses, Elias, and our Lord. The Gaelic mode of calculation was, “Seven short weeks from Shrovetide till Easter” (_seachd seachdainean gearr goirid Eadar Inid is Càisg_). The name _Carghas_ is a corruption _Quadragesima_, Ital. _Quaresimo_, 40, just as _Inid_ is from _Initium_. _Inid a charghuis_ is just “the beginning of the forty days.”[67] ST. KESSOCK’S DAY (_Féill mo Cheasaig_) was March 10/22. It is said, “On the Feast of St. Kessock every eel is pregnant” (_Latha Feill mo Cheasaig bithidh gach easgann torrach_). The Saint was Bishop in Scotland in 560, and has given a name to Kessock Ferry (_Port a Cheasaig_), near Inverness, and to a market held at Callander, Perthshire, for hiring, on the 22nd March, or 10th old style. The fair is known as “Tenth-day,” but among the Gaelic-speaking population as “_Féill mo Cheasaig_.” A rock at the west end of the village is known as “_Tom a Cheasaig_.” ST. PATRICK’S DAY (_Feill Pàruig_)