Sguabag, THE SWEEPER,
seems the same as the three days called “The Eddy winds of the Storm Month” (Ioma-sguaba na Faoilleach). The appearance of spring is now to be seen, but the bad weather is not yet past. The worst weather comes back occasionally, and there are fewer gusts of wind, uncertain in their coming and duration, that well deserve the name of “Eddy winds from February.”
Gearran, A GELDING, OR PERHAPS Gearan, COMPLAINT.
It is quite possible the latter may have been the original name, as there is always associated with it a period called Caoile, Leanness. It extends over a month, and in Skye is made to succeed to the Faoilleach. There was a rule known to old men, that “the first Tuesday of March (O.S.) is the last Tuesday of Gearran” (a chiad Di-mairt de’n mhàrt an Di-mairt mu dheire de ’n Ghearran). In Tiree, from which the lofty hills of Rum form a conspicuous sight, and to the green appearance of which in frosty weather, their snow-covered summits form a striking contrast, it is said, that at the season “the big mare of Rum turns three times to her colt,” i.e. from cold and hunger. The expression refers to times when a little hardy breed of horses was found in the Western Islands, like Shetland ponies, and left to shift for themselves during winter. It was also said:
“Then said Gearran to Faoilleach,
Where left you the poor stirk?
I left it with Him who made the elements,
Staring at a stack of fodder.
If I catch it, said the May month,
With the breath in the points of his ears,