Figs. 330 and 331.—British. From Evans.
At Sancreed in Cornwall—supposedly a dedication to the holy Creed—there is a remarkable “cross” which is actually a holed stone on a shank:[611] and in the same parish is a “castle” which was once evidently a very perfect Eye. In the Scilly Islands, lying within a stone circle, is what might be a millstone with a square hole in its centre: this Borlase ranks among the holed stones of Cornwall, and that it was a symbol of the Great Eye is a reasonable inference from the name Salla Key where it is still lying. We have seen the symbolic Eye on the Kio coin illustrated ante, [page 253]; the word eye pronounced frequently oy and ee, is the same as the hey of Heydays and the Shepherds’ Dance or Hey, hence in all probability Salla Key or Salakee Downs[612] were originally sacred to the festivals of Sala Kee, i.e., silly, innocent, or happy, ’Kee or Great Eye. The old plural of eye was eyen or een, and it is not unlikely that the primeval Ian, John, or Sinjohn, was worshipped as the joint Sun and Moon, or Eyes of Day and Night. On the hobby-horse coins here illustrated, the body consists of two curiously conspicuous circles or eyen, possibly representing the awen.
My only ane she walks alane
And ever mair has dune, boys.
On Salla Key Downs is Inisidgen Hill, which takes its name from an opposite island: in old MSS. this appears as Enys au geon, which the authorities assume meant “Island of St. John”. Geon, however, was the Cornish for giant; on Salla Key Downs is “Giant’s Castle,” and close at hand is the Giant’s Chair: this is a solid stone worked into the form of an arm-chair: “It looks like a work of art rather than nature, and, according to tradition, it was here the Arch Druid was wont to sit and watch the rising Sun”.[613] The neighbouring island of Great Ganilly was thus in all probability sacred to Geon, the Great King, or Queen Holy.
The Saints’ days, heydays, and holidays of our predecessors seem to have been so numerous that the wonder is that there was ever any time to work: apparently from such evidence as the Bean-setting dance, even the ancient sowing was accomplished to the measure of a song, and the festivities in connection with old Harvest Homes are too multifarious and familiar to need comment.
The attitude of the clergy towards these ancient festivals seems to have been uniform and consistent.
These teach that dancing is a Jezebel,
And barley-break the ready way to hell;