Latha Feill Pàruig
Muinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig.
Another piece of shore information connected with this season is that with the advance of spring “as horses grow lean, crabs grow fat” (mar is caoile ’n t-each, ’s ann is reamhrad am partan). Others have it, “When the horse is lean, the whelk is fat” (Nuair bhios an t-each caol bi ’n fhaochag reamhar.)
The reviving influences of the spring are now making themselves visible, according to the saying, “There is not an herb in the ground, but the length of a mouse’s ear of it is out on St. Patrick’s Day” (Chaneil luibh san talamh, nach’ eil fad cluas luch dhi mach, latha Féil Pàruig).
Old men liked the days immediately preceding it to be stormy, and to see, as they said, “the furrows full of snow, of rain, and the thatch of houses” (a chlaisich làn sneachda, làn uisge, ’s tugha nan tighean).
There are particularly high tides on St. Patrick’s Day, and the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, according to the saying,
“The spring tides of Lady Day
And the mad tides of St. Patrick’s Day.”[68]
Marbhladh na Feill Pàruig, the deadening of St. Patrick’s Day, means the quiet calm waters that sometimes occur at this season; others say Bogmharbhlainn, and say it means the swelling (tòcadh) observable at the time in the sea (from the increasing heat).