Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 2

240 NOTES
Calanas, wool or flax or silk working, from the raw material to the finished cloth.
The women of the Highlands are famous at 'calanas/ the first crow of the old
cock being their call to morning prayer and eident 'calanas.' There are
crofter houses in the West in which from ten to twenty pairs of blankets are
laid past apart from the current requirements of the household. These
become useful when the daughters of the family are getting married. (Vol. i.
p. 2.98 f.)
Calum-cille, St. Columba, was probably the greatest man that Ireland ever pro-
duced. He was a man of splendid presence, and had a magnificent voice, and a
wonderful fascination over the minds of men. For several centuries Columba
was the patron saint of Scotland, till superseded in the south by St. Andrew,
through the influence of Margaret, the Saxon wife of Malcolm Caimiore. He is
still virtually the patron saint of the Highlands, and is held in the highest
venei-ation. Thursday of the second week of June is sacred to Columba, and by
implication every Thursday throughout the year is propitious for man, beast, and
enterprise. This is expressed in many sayings. Even the furies, the fairies, the
witches, the people of the evil eye, and of druidry, were powerless for evil
on Thursday. Oblation cakes are baked for St. Columba's Day as for other
festivals. (Vol. i. pp. l62, l63.)
St. Columba's Ijanner, the ' breac-beannach,' speckled banner, was intrusted
to the keeping of the Abbey of Arbroath. At the dissolution of the abbey
this precious relic was lost, and no trace of it can now be found.
Caoibean, the five or six inches of warp uncrossed by the weft at the beginning of
the web ; ' caob,' a piece.
Caoiiieag, caointeag, caoiiieackag, caointeacluig, cauidheag, weeper, mourner ; from
'caoin,' weep, and 'caoidh,' mourn. These names are applied to the naiad who
foretells the death of and weeps for those slain in combat. Unlike ' nigheag,'
' caoineag ' cannot be approached nor questioned. She is seldom seen, but often
heard in the hill, in the glen, and in the corrie, by the lake, by the stream, and
by the water-fall. Her mourning and weeping cause much trepidation to night-
farers, and much anxiety to parents whose sons are in the wars. When a
mournful cry is heard, and the remark is made, ' Co tha sid ? ' — Who is that .'' the
answer invariably is, 'Co ach caoineachag ' — Who but 'caoineachag.' 'Co ach
caoineachag bheag a bhroin ' — Who but little ' caoineachag ' of the sorrow. The
sorrowing of ' caoineachag ' was much feared before a foray, an expedition, or an
impending battle. It is said that she was heard during several successive nights
before the Massacre of Glencoe. This roused the suspicions of the people, and
notwithstanding the assurance of the peace and friendship of the soldiery, many
of the people left the glen and thus escaped the fate of those who remained.
Fragments of the dirges sung by ' caoineachag ' before the massacre are current
in that vallev of the dark shadow of death : —