Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 1

SEASONS 199
to prepare for St Michael's Festival. Those concerned count whose turn it will
be to guard the crops on St Michael's Day and to circuit the townland on St
Michael's Night. The young men upon whom tliese duties fall arrange with old
men to take their place on these occasions. As the time approaches the interest
intensifies, culminating among the old in much bustle, and among the young in
keen excitement.
Three plants which the people call carrots grow in Uist — the ' daucus carota,'
the ' daucus maritimus,' and the ' conium.' The ' daucus carota ' is the original
of the cultivated carrot. The ' daucus maritimus ' is a long slender carrot,
much like the parsnip in appearance and in flavour, and is rare in the British
Isles. The ' conium,' hemlock, resembles the carrot, for which it is occasionally
mistaken. It is hard, acrid, and poisonous.
Some days before the festival of St Michael the women and girls go to the
fields and plains of the townland lo procure carrots. The afternoon of the
Sunday immediately preceding St Michael's Day is specially devoted to this
purpose, and on this account is known as ' Domhnach Curran ' — Carrot Sunday.
When the soil is soft and friable, the carrots can be pulled out of the ground
without digging. When, however, the soil is hard, a space is dug to give the
hand access to the root. This space is made in the form of an equal-sided
triangle, technically called ' torcan,' diminutive of ' tore,' a cleft. The instrument
used is a small mattock of three prongs, called ' tri-meurach,' three-fingered,
' sliopag,' 'sHobhag.' The three-sided 'torcan' is meant to typify the three-
sided shield, and the three-fingered ' sliopag,' the trident of St Michael, and
possibly each to symbolise the Trinity. The many brightly-clad figures moving
to and fro, in and out, like the figures in a kaleidoscope, are singularly pretty
and picturesque. Each woman intones a rune to her own tune and time
irrespective of those around her. The following fragment was intoned to me in
a soft, subdued voice by a woman who had gathered carrots eighty years
previously : —
' Torcan torrach, torrach, torracli. Cleft fruitful, fruitful, fruitful,
Sonas curran corr orm, Joy of carrots surpassing upon rae,
Michael rail a bhi dha m" chonuil, Michael the brave endowing me.
Bride gheal dha m' chonradh. Bride the fair be aiding me.
Piseach linn gach piseach. Progeny pre-eminent over every progeny,
Piseach dha mo bhroinn. Progeny on my womb,
Piseach linn gach piseach. Progeny pre-eminent over every progeny,
Piseach dha mo chloinn.' Progeny on my progeny.
Should a woman find a forked carrot, she breaks out into a more exultant
strain that brings her neighbours round to see and to admire her luck.
' Fhorca shona, shona, shona. Fork joyful, joyful, joyful,
Fhorca churran mor orm. Fork of great carrot to me,
Conuil curran corr orm Endowment of carrot surpassing upon me,
Sonas curran mor dhomh.' Joy of great carrot to me.