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The Rev. Dr Gregor of Pitsligo has presented to the
Museum a facsimile of a cross of the rowan-tree or mountain-ash
(Sorbus aucuparia). Such crosses were
formerly held in high repute in Scotland as powerful preservatives against
witches, ghosts, and kindred evils. Among the Icelanders the rowan (Icel.
reynir) was a sacred tree consecrated to
Thor. In Sweden a staff of the rowan (Sw. rönn)
protected one from sorcery, "and on board a ship the common man
likes to have something made of rönn-wood, as a
protection against storms and watersprites." In Scotland the virtues of
the rowan-tree are embodied in the following rhyme :
"Rowan-tree and red thread,
Puts the witches to their speed."
According to Stewart a safeguard against ghosts
consisted in forming a cross of the wood with a red thread, which was to
be inserted between the lining and cloth of a person’s garment, and so
long as it lasted no ghost or witch would ever have the power to interfere
with the wearer. In the last century it was customary among the
Highlanders to carry branches of mountain-ash decked with wreaths of
flowers, with "shouts and gestures of joy, in procession three times round
the fire" of Beltane. "These branches they afterwards deposite above the
doors of their respective dwellings, where they remain till they give
place to others in the succeeding year." In Banffshire boughs of the
mountain-ash were placed over byre-doors on the 2nd of May, in Pennant’s
time; and in the district of St Fillans, Perthshire, so late as 1887, to
keep the cattle free from disease. In Angus, on the evening preceding
Rood-day (May 3rd), a piece of a branch cut and peeled and bound round
with red thread was placed over the byre-door, to avert the evil eye; and
in Aberdeenshire, in 1862, crosses of rowan-tree were similarly placed on
the same evening as a protection against evil spirits and witches. In
Kirkcudbrightshire and on Speyside, it was common to bind into a cow’s
tail a small piece of mountain-ash, to protect the animal against
witchcraft. In Jura, a stick of the tree was kept as a protection against
elves, and a rowan-tree growing in a field protected the cattle from being
struck by lightning. |
