tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post4795770984087028903..comments2024-02-21T17:37:37.993+00:00Comments on Tairis: The Gruagach, the Guaigean and the GeigeSerenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15106896818087205418noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post-41124010689487468962012-11-09T12:39:52.623+00:002012-11-09T12:39:52.623+00:00Yeah, it's been a long while since I've re...Yeah, it's been a long while since <i>I've</i> read it ;) Some of my theories have changed a bit, and there's a lot more that we know now. Overhaul coming.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post-36679705557972973022012-11-09T09:17:23.996+00:002012-11-09T09:17:23.996+00:00Wow, thank you! It's been a long while since I...Wow, thank you! It's been a long while since I read that article, I didn't think. Lots of good stuff to ponder on there :DSerenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106896818087205418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post-59776372489586502072012-11-08T18:17:29.990+00:002012-11-08T18:17:29.990+00:00I went into the géige, gruagach, etc thing in my s...I went into the géige, gruagach, etc thing in my <a href="http://www.bandia.net/sheela/index.html#text-f-32" rel="nofollow">sheela article</a>. I should probably give the piece an overhaul, as we've learned a lot more about this in the intervening years. Here's the most relevant bit: <br />_____________________________<br /><br />In entry #385 of the Carmina Gadelica, we have an autumn waulking song with the curious line, “But mayest thou sow them and Géige reap them.”(36b) Could this also show a connection to the harvest “Maiden” and “Cailleach” customs (“an image of a young girl, made for festival”), with the Hag as the reaper and/or the corn that is being harvested? Or be yet another connection to the Nigheag nan Allt as a death figure?<br /><br />In Gaelic folklore, Géigean is a “wild man” or “gruagach” type figure -- depicted as fierce and hairy, with connections to “death revels,” and the festival of Samhain.(36c) Some women in childbed, with no knowledge of Sheelas or Gaelic Hag folklore, have perceived a Hag spirit accompanied by a heron, connected with birth and death, who is covered in hair like the wild man figures.(36d) Tapestries and old drawings depict both male and female “wild men.” These Gruagach figures are often tricksters in the folklore. In traditional rhymes and tales, the name of this figure varies, and has been recorded as Géige, Géige, Gìgean, Guaigean, Céigean, Cìogan, Cìgean, and Cuaigean. Dwelly gives ceigean as “diminutive and unhandsome person.... clumsily formed and of low stature.”(36e)<br />------------------------<br /><br />Notes: <br /><br />(36b) Carmichael (1992), p526. Entry #385, Verses made at the waulking frame: “Thou girl over there, may the sun be against thee! / Thou hast taken from me my autumn carrot, / My Michaelmas carrot from my pillow, / My procreant buck from among the goats. // But if thou hast, it was not without help, / But with the black cunning of the dun women; / Thou art the little she-goat that lifted the bleaching, / I am the little gentle cow that gave no milking. // Stone in shoe be thy bed for thee, / Husk in tooth be thy sleep for thee, / Prickle in eye be thy life for thee, / Restless watching by night and by day. // May no little slumberer be seen on thy pillow, / May no eyes be seen upon thy shoulder, / But mayest thou sow them and Géige reap them, / And Morc garner them to the green barns!”<br /><br />(36c) Ronald Black (ed), John Gregorson Campbell's Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2005), p.457. <br /><br />(36d) Private correspondence and conversations with author. <br /><br />(36e)Black (2005), p. 457.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post-87143284618438834272012-11-01T11:03:08.700+00:002012-11-01T11:03:08.700+00:00Very interesting!
The notes on the story suggest...Very interesting! <br /><br />The notes on the story suggest that gruagach there is possibly a corruption of 'druidhach', which certainly seems possible in Gàidhlig pronunciation. There's certainly a magical element in warrior skills, traditionally, and it's a reasonable enough suggestion but there's not much evidence beyond speculation. <br /><br />I know that gruagach has also been used to refer to long-haired men, the long hair being a sign of their warrior-status, if memory serves. So it could be used in that sense. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the original version is a female gruagach, especially considering the gruagach here inhabits a mountain, though.Serenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106896818087205418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758267616106239950.post-20619747805240810452012-10-28T15:30:13.296+00:002012-10-28T15:30:13.296+00:00There's another Scottish gruagach which is par...There's another Scottish gruagach which is particularly interesting to me, and that is a hairy ogre associated with mountains who is known to teach magical secrets of swordplay to worthy students. The primary reference of which I am aware is in the story of <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt3/pt328.htm" rel="nofollow">Conall Gulban as recorded in Campbell's <i>Popular Tales of the West Highlands</i>, volume III</a>.<br /><br />However, I note that the similar stories from other Celtic lands nearby all treat the mystic instructor in magical swordsmanship as a female character. Both Cú Chullain and Peredur learn magic fighting secrets from women: Scathach for the Hound, the Nine Witches of Gloucester for Peredur. I've long wondered if the teacher of Conall Gulban might have originally been a female gruagach of the sort described in Carmichael.faoladhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03691952430041394614noreply@blogger.com