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The children of years to come shall
hear the fame of Carthon, when they sit round the burning oak, and the
night is spent in songs of old.
CHRISTMAS EVE is
chiefly spent in preparation
for the succeeding days. The housewife is busily engaged in the provision
and cooking of dainties. The flailman still chaps in the barn, desirous of
providing the necessary store of fodder for the Christmas. The herd-boy’s
axe resounds on the fir-stock, determined to prepare plenty of light, and
the gudeman, and others, are abroad on a not less important errand.
This errand, on which we suppose the
gudeman and his assistants
employed, is the procuring of
Calluch Nollic, or
Christmas Old Wife, an
indispensable requisite for this occasion, and
it will perhaps puzzle some of our readers, to guess the purpose for which
the good woman is wanted. If they suppose it is to contribute to the
hilarity of the time, or to assist in
the festive preparations, the idea is not very erroneous - the old woman
does so in a very effectual manner. But the return she meets with, however
warm, will not be admired by the reader, when he is told, that it consists
in being stowed into a cartful of burning peats, with as little ceremony
and feeling as an old broom. This usage, so inconsistent with the
Highlander’s characteristic humanity, she does not, however, regard as a
great punishment, for her feelings are as fireproof as those of a
Salamander. Indeed, it is no rare
sight, though strange it must be, to see an honest woman, who has
undergone the unpleasant process of being Christmas fire to a circle of
unfeeling fellows, perhaps oftener than once, heartily spinning at her
wheel, and gratifying those, it may be, who had a hand in the unfriendly
act, with her marvellous tales. But to avoid a certain imputation which
some may be inclined to fix on us, it will be proper to explain our
meaning.
The reader will please understand,
that this good. woman only undergoes this process by representation. Among
those valuable discoveries which distinguish former ages,
that which gave rise
to this custom deserves notice. Some wiseacre, by some lucky chance,
discovered, that at this festive season, when the asperity of his
character is probably much softened, even relentless death himself can be
compromised with on very advantageous terms. By the sacrifice of an old
woman, or any other body whom he wished in a better world, and whom, by
tin following process, he chose to send to it, death was debarred from any
farther claim to himself, or his friends, until the return of the next
anniversary. He went to the wood this night, fetched home the stump of
some withered tree, which he regularly constituted the representative of
some person of the description we have mentioned, and whose doom was
inevitably fixed by the process, without resort or appeal. Such a simple
mode of obtaining security from a foe whom every body fears, could not be
supposed to fall into desuetude; and the custom is therefore retained,
whatever faith may exist as to its utility, in some parts of the country,
even to this day.
But to return to the busy fireside
whence we set out, we shall suppose the goodman and the "carling"
arrived, and the other members of the family
now relieved from their eager toil, with the old wife in the centre. The
question now is, how the remainder of the night is to be disposed of? The
nature of it requires, that it should be spent with gaiety; and a game at
cards, the clod, [The game called "Clodhan," or Clod, is a
favourite amusement with the youth in the Highlands. One of the company
goes round the circle with a clod, or some other article, putting his hand
into each person’s lap or hand, and leaves the clod with one of the
number. The whole circle are then desired to guess the person who
possesses the clod, (he guessing like the rest to prevent suspicion,) when
all those who err are subjected to a small penalty, which shall be
afterwards determined by an appointed judge; and, in the mean time, he
must deliver some pledge to enforce his compliance with the arbiter’s
decision. When a sufficient number of pledges are obtained, judgment is
pronounced against their owners, who must redeem them, by doing various
little penances, some of which are sufficiently ludicrous.
The bag is another popular juvenile
amusement. One pops his head into a bag, holding his hand spread on back,
and the palm uppermost. One of the company, in rotation, strikes his hand,
not unfrequently with all his might, upon that of the person in the bag
who is desired to guess who struck him last. If his guessing proves
correct, the last striker then puts his head in the bag In his turn.] or
the bag, is generally fixed upon. At the ordinary hour, however, all
retire to rest with minds bent on the morrow's gratifications, and the
house is soon changed from that scene of bustle and confusion it recently
exhibited, to that of peaceful tranquillity where nothing is heard but the
slumbering of the inmates, and the growling bark of the faithful collie
on the midden-head.
At length the brightening glow of
the eastern sky warns the anxious house-maid of the approach of
CHRISTMAS DAY
She rises full of anxiety at the
prospect of her morning labours. The meal, which was steeped in the
sowans-bowie a fortnight ago, to make the Prechdachdan sour, or
sour
scones, is the first object of her
attention. The gridiron is put on the fire, and the sour scones are soon
followed by hard cakes, soft cakes, buttered cakes, brandered bannocks,
and. pannich perm. The baking being once over, the sowans pot succeeds the
gridiron, full of new sowans, which are to be given to the family,
agreeably to custom, this day in their beds. The sowans are boiled into
the consistence of molasses, when the La-gan-le-vrich,
[Yeast-bread] to distinguish it from boiled sowans, is ready. It is then
poured into as many bickers as there are individuals to partake of it, and
presently served to the whole, old and young. It would suit well the pen
of a Burns, or the pencil of a Hogarth, to paint the scene which follows.
The ambrosial food is soon dispatched in aspiring draughts by the family,
who soon give evident proofs of the enlivening effects of the Lagan-le-vrich.
As soon as each dispatches his bicker, he jumps out of bed—the cider
branches to examine the ominous signs of the day, ["A black Christmas
makes a fat kirk-yard." A windy Christmas and a calm Candlernas are signs
of a good year.] and the younger to enter on its amusements. Flocking to
the swing, a favourite amusement on this occasion, the youngest of the
family get the first "shouder," and the next oldest to him, in
regular succession. In order to add the more to the spirit of the
exercise, it is a common practice with the person in the swing, and
the person appointed to swing him, to enter into a very warm and humorous
altercation. As the swinged person approaches the swinger, he exclaims,
Ei mi tu chal, "I’ll eat your kail". To this the swinger replies, with
a violent shove, Cha ni u mu chal, "You shan’t eat my kail." These
threats and repulses are sometimes carried to such a height, as to break
down or capsize the threatener, which generally puts an end to the
quarrel.
As the day advances, those minor
amusements are terminated at the report of the gun, or the rattle of the
ball-clubs - the gun inviting the marksman to the "Kiavamucchd," or
prize-shooting, and the latter to "Luchd-vouil," or the ball
combatants - both the principal sports of the day. A description of either
of these sports is unnecessary, as nothing new distinguishes them from
similar amusements in other places; unless it be a consummate precision in
the marksman. and a vigorous intrepidity in the ball combatants, that
cannot perhaps be equalled by the peasantry of any other country.
Tired at length of the active
amusements of the field, they exchange them for the substantial
entertainments of the table. Groaning under the "sonsy haggis," and
many other savoury dainties, unseen for twelve months before, the relish
communicated to the company, by the appearance of the festive board, is
more easily conceived than described. The dinner once dispatched, the
flowing bowl succeeds, and the sparkling glass flies to and. fro like a
weaver’s shuttle. As it continues its rounds, the spirits of the company
become the more jovial and happy. Animated by its cheering influence, even
old decrepitude no longer feels his habitual pains—the fire of youth is in
his eye, as he details to the company the exploits which distinguished him
in the days of "auld langsyne;" while the young, with hearts
inflamed with "love and glory," long to mingle in the more lively
scenes of mirth, to display their prowess and agility. Leaving the
patriarchs to finish those professions of friendship for each other, in
which they are so devoutly engaged, the younger part of the company will
shape their course to the ball-room, or the card-table, as their
individual inclinations suggest; and the. remainder of the evening is
spent with the greatest pleasure of which human nature is susceptible. Nor
will this happy evening terminate the festivities on this occasion.
Christmas mid-day awakes all but old age, to a renewal of former hilarity.
To age, however, there is no permanent enjoyment ordained in this
sublunary state. The transient gleam of happiness which animated his
feeble frame, has given place, with the cause of it, to a gloom
proportionate to his former joys. Headaches, rheumatisms, and other wonted
infirmities, are this day returned with more than usual virulence. He
wakes only to recline his head on a pillow of sorrow, and to think on the
days that are gone. |
