The Early Races of Scotland and Their Monuments, Volume 1

Front Cover
Edmonston and Douglas, 1866 - Scotland

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 121 - Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Page 115 - ... out a portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit is the devoted person who is to be sacrificed to Baal* whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country as well as in the East, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames ;...
Page 115 - They then kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake...
Page 116 - ... each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them: each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and flinging it over his shoulders, says, This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee, preserve thou my sheep; and so on.
Page 214 - For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God ; that the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed.
Page 148 - Perthshire, numbers of persons in search of health, ' so late as 1791, came or were brought to drink of the ' waters and bathe in it. All these walked or were ' carried three times deasil (sunwise) round the well. 4 They also threw each a white stone on an adjacent ' cairn, and left behind a scrap of their clothing as an ' offering to the genius of the place.
Page 115 - They put all the bits of cake into a bonnet. Every one, blindfold, draws out a portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit is the devoted person who is to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country, as well as in the east, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only...
Page 114 - ... where it is supposed the fire was kindled. At some distance from this is another temple of the same kind, but smaller, and near it a well still held in great veneration. On Beltane morning superstitious people go to this well, and drink of it ; then they make a procession round it, as I am informed, nine times. After this, they in like manner go round the temple.
Page 96 - ... century, and influenced the ceremonies of witchcraft ; Marionne M'Ingaruch, a notorious witch, in 1588, pronounced that to save the life of Baron Fowlis his next younger brother should be sacrificed. Col. Leslie thinks that there is clear evidence of the prevalence of solar and planetary worship from Dondera-head in Ceylon to the Himalaya mountains, and from the borders of China to the extremities of Western Europe and its islands. The Parsees in British India still worship light, symbolised...
Page 144 - — an offering to the Spirit of Evil, in order that he might abstain from ever blighting or damaging the rest of the farm.

Bibliographic information