Grampian Club > Scotland, social and domestic

General Folklwy. ±ll
there the boat was taken for the night. The bride
and a sister of the bridegroom, the only females in the
boat, went on shore, and travelled on foot to Lerwick.
On Wednesday morning the men prepared to complete
their journey in the boat. Sail was set, and all pro-
ceeded well until they had advanced some distance to
the south of Rovy Head, when the boat was caught
by a squall, thrown over, and immediately sunk. In
the boat were the bridegroom and his brother, two
brothers of the bride, and the owner of the boat.
The accident was observed by the crew of another
boat, who hastened to render assistance, but the two
brothers of the bride were the only persons saved,
the others having disappeared almost as soon as the
boat sank."
The first couple united by a clergyman are sup-
posed to be unlucky. If the night-dress of a newly
married pair be stolen, it prognosticates unhappiness
between the couple. The fishermen of Ross-shire
marry on a Friday, but never before the hour of
noon. On the morning of the marriage a silver coin is
put in the heel of the bridegroom's stocking, and, at the
church door, the shoe-tie of his right foot is unfixed,
and a cross drawn on the door-post. At marriages
among the Highland peasantry, every knot in the
apparel of the bride and the bridegroom is untied, prior
to the ceremony. When the bride reaches the threshold
of her future home, she is lifted over it, to secure her
" good luck."
Connected with births and baptisms, there were
numerous superstitions. In removing a cradle from one
house to another, a pillow was always put into it. When
a woman was in labour, the husband's breeches were