The same sayings are current in the Highlands as in the south. “A green Yule makes a fat kirkyard” has its literal counterpart in ’S i Nollaig uaine ni an cladh miagh (i.e. reamhar) and in ’S blianach Nollaig gun sneachda (i.e. Lean is Yule without snow).
There is no reason to suppose that any Pagan rites connected with the period of the winter solstice were incorporated with the Yule or Nollaig ceremonies. The various names connected with the season are of Christian origin; the superstitions, as that of refusing fire and allowing nothing out of the house, can be traced to Rome; the custom of a man dressing himself in a cow’s hide, as suggested by Brand (i. 8), with every probability, is a vestige of the Festival of Fools, long held in Paris on New-Year’s Day, and of which it was part that men clothed themselves in cow-hide (vestiuntur pellibus pecudum). The holding of a singed piece of skin to the noses of the wassailers is more likely to have originated in the frolics of the same festival than in any Pagan observance. The meaning of the custom is obscure, but its character is too whimsical to be associated with any Pagan rite.
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.
(Da latha dheug na Nollaig.)
These were the twelve days commencing from the Nativity or Big Nollaig, and were deemed to represent, in respect of weather, the twelve months of the year. Some say the days should be calculated from New-Year’s Day. “Whatever weather there is on the twelve days beginning with the last of December, the same will agree with the weather in the corresponding month” (Pennant). In Ireland the twelve days were held to stand for the twelve Apostles, and “on Twelve Eve in Christmas they used to set up as high as they can a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles all round, and in the centre one larger, all lighted. This in memory of our Saviour and his Apostles, lights of the world” (Brand, i. 25). The same, no doubt, was the origin of the Highland notation. They are also looked upon as the twelve days between old and new style. There is evidence in the saying, that “an hour and a half is added to Candle Day” (uair gu leth ri Latha Coinnle), that some such custom was known of old in Scotland as in Ireland; and though Candle Night (Oidhche Choinnle) is now a name given to Christmas night, there is a probability it originally denoted Twelve Eve, or the Feast of the Epiphany.
WINTER SEASON.
The period during which the above festivities occurred, and sometime before and after Nollaig, was popularly known as “The Black cuttings of Christmas” (Gearra dubha na Nollaig), from its liability to tempestuous weather. The sky is then lowering and dark, the “level” sun gives little warmth, and high winds prevail.
The Dùlachd of winter extended over the six weeks preceding the middle of spring (gu meadhon an Earraich). Some (e.g. Highland Society’s Dict., sub voce) call it Dùbhlachd, and translate it simply “wintry weather.” Others call it Dùdlachd, and denote by it “the depth of winter.” The word is a contraction of duaithealachd, from duaitheil, extremely coarse and rough, an epithet applied to stormy weather. Thus, nach duaitheil an t-sìd? is it not desperately coarse weather? Ceann reamhar an duaithealais, “the thick end of coarseness,” denotes extremely rough usage.
Handsel Monday (Di-luain an t-sainnseil) was the first Monday after New-Year’s Day, and was the principal day in the whole year for deachainn, i.e. for making trials and forecasts of the future. It derives its name from sainnseal, Scot. handsel, a present or gift in his hand given this day to every visitor to a house. Sainnseal sona is “a happy or fortunate present.” In some districts cock-fighting was practised in the schools, and children brought a gratuity (in money) to the schoolmaster. In other districts this was not the case till Shrovetide (Di-màirt Inid).
In Skye the day is called Di-luain Traosda; and it is from it the 12 days, corresponding in weather to the 12 months of the year, are computed.