Evil eye in the western Highlands

by Robert Craig Maclagan

One other hint. A native of Garmouth on Spey said, “I have often heard people saying that one peacock feather given away to a person is unlucky to the one that gets it, but that more than one is all right. One time Sandy took one to his landlady’s little boy. He noticed that the landlady looked displeased, and it soon disappeared. When he was telling me about it, I said, ‘Why did you not take two to her?’ He replied he would have done so, but he did not want to yield to her freits (superstitious fancies).”

Compare this with what immediately precedes it, and notice that the offering of a single eye—a single feather—of the bird in question carried with it an evil influence.

A CHRIOCH

Le durachd do
E. M. K.
mo leth-shuil’s mo dha chluais!

INDEX

• Acallam na Senorach, [3]
• Acquaintances, divided into two classes, [46]
• Admiration, expressions of, to be avoided, [76]
• Albumen, [198]
• Alum, [144]
• Amhairc, droch, [5]
• Animal, [110], [140], [145], [146], [150]
• An t-olc, [11]
• Antiseptic, [132]
• Augury, [198]
• Bad e’e, [2]
• eye, [25], [30], [43], [54], [207], [208]
• One, held by the, [106]
• Bardic Irish stories, [123]
• Bawbees, [154]
• Beannachadh, [98], [116], [124], [208]
• Dia, [116]
• Beliefs, [23]
• Bhioball, [95]
• Bhuidseachas, sgil mu, [13]
• Biblical account, [214]
• Bitten, [85]
• Black Art, [114], [123]
• pokes, [189]
• thorn, sloe, [138]
• Bless, [77], [115]
• Blessed, [115]
• Father, [160]
• for the purpose of keeping away the Evil Eye, [114]
• Blessing seems merely preventative, [117]
• Blight, [45], [152]
• by the Evil Eye, [69], [79]
• Blinked, [45], [164]
• Bodach granda, [96]
• Bonnet, darning needle stuck in a, [204]
• Bothan, [117]
• Bottle, [109], [113], [136], [137], [146], [147], [153], [177], [191], [221]
• Bridge, [165]
• Bruchag, [131]
• Buidseach, [197]
• dh’ oibrich am, [14]
• Henderson, [142]
• Hendry, [95]
• Buidseachas, [11], [13], [14], [182], [220]
• Burning stick, [143]
• waved over it, [131]
• Burnt, if any man’s work shall be, [125]
• Burrach, [121]
• Butter not to be seen by anybody, [86]
• Cac eun, [18]
• Cailb, Samon, Sinand, [26]
• Cailleach, [134]
• Cairbre, [123]
• Caorain dearg, [114]
• Cap under her two knees, [106]
• “Carmina Gadelica,” [104]
• Cat cure, [196]
• Ceapag caise, [205]
• Chaoran, slat de’n, [95]
• Charm, [137], [146], [153], [159], [197], 198
• Charm, operated a, [77]
• Charmed string, [21]
• Charms, [6], [149]
• Chickens, air an cronachadh, [66]
• Cholic, [62]
• Chratachan, [95]
• Christian dogma, [163]
• Chronachadh, air a, [23], [44], [62], [76], [102], [112], [151], [157], [161]
• injury by, [153]
• Churn, [123]
• horse nail tied to the, [121]
• nailing the shoe of a colt to the, [121]
• scalding the, [173]
• staff, [130], [143]
• Churning, [29], [37], [57], [65], [99], [122], [124], [129], [198]
• spoiled by the Evil Eye, [72], [73], [78]
• Cinder, [128]
• Circle formed by the thread, [143]
• Circular motion, [145]
• Clach-na-sùil, [169]
• Cloth thrown over the churn, [86]
• Clothing, burning a piece of the, [125]
• Cluais, [193]
• Coat, wrong side out, [131]
• Coins, [157], [158], [163]
• or brooch, [159]
• three, seem to be the essential number, [159]
• Columba, [160], [205]
• Cook protects ducklings, [86]
• Cormac’s Glossary, [5]
• Corp creadha, [9]
• Covetous, [200]
• desire, [1], [2]
• glance, [3]
• Cow’s head and horns, [161]
• Cron, [81]
• meaning of, [6], [16], [30]
• Cronachadh, [12], [13], [15], [22], [34], [88], [97], [98], [103], [124], [135], [154], [165], [203]
• air a, [57], [91]
• air an, [11], [15], [16], [32], [54], [92], [186], [187]
• air do shuil, [18]
• cases of, [32], [150]
• cure in cases of, [22]
• fhuair mi, [13]
• is just envy, [42]
• is quite common, [41], [167]
• is still in it, [35], [78], [79]
• Crown piece, [159]
• Curative, [117], [184]
• ritual, [201]
• water, [201]
• Cure, [181], [215]
• view to its, [48]
• Cured by magic, [56]
• thread, [53]
• Darning needle, [169], [203]
• Decalogue, [200]
• Deide, [92], [93], [94]
• Deity, [115]
• Dh’itheas, [19]
• Diagnosis, [139], [162], [180], [198]
• Dish struck on the bottom three times, [161]
• Divinity, [204]
• Dosgach, [15], [219], [220]
• Drawing the tether, [89]
• Droch sgeul, [23], [39], [44], [46], [102], [194]
• Drovers, [112]
• looked on with suspicion, [48], [49]
• Druids, affinity to smiths, [84]
• Ear, nicking the, [134]
• Eibhleag as an teine, [128], 173
• Eolas, [6], [91], [92], [152], [176], [188], [189], [190]
• a’ chronachaidh, [62], [91], [94]
• applied for, [97]
• deide, [93], [94]
• gach ni’n aite fein, [94]
• greim, [94]
• his father had, [98]
• is from father to daughter, [102]
• made the, [112]
• makin’, [173]
• man, [110], [136], [150], [167], [184], [186], [194], [210], [212], [216], [219]
• nathrach, [94]
• performance, [97]
• practitioner of, [23], [149]
• professor of, [149], [172]
• professors of, [96]
• sul, [94]
• was kept in the family, [103]
• woman, [109], [112], [147], [165], [168], [184], [210], [213]
• Eructation connected with the Evil Eye and witchcraft, [83]
• Evil Eye, [1], [5], [10], [13], [16], [197], [200], [203], [205], [207], [210], [219]
• action of an, [55]
• anybody may have the, [24]
• avoiding suspicion of, [32]
• belief in, [1], [12], [20], [45], [88], [154], [163]
• belief that he himself had an, [33]
• believed in, [33], [43], [140]
• believer in the, [8], [129], [158]
• case of the, [51], [148], [190]
• cases of the, [146]
• casting the, [26]
• cattle more liable to damage from the, [53]
• churning spoiled by the, [61], [124], [129]
• counteracting the, [48], [131]
• cows dying from effect, of the, [56]
• developed by relation of sexes, [1]
• different from witchcraft, [89]
• difficulty of evolving a theory, [67]
• distinction between possessing an, and doing harm with it, [35]
• doubts as to the existence of an, [65]
• effects of the, [7]
• eggs injured by the, [66]
• fowls affected by the, [61], [65], [130]
• having the, [45]
• horses liable to be affected by the, [61]
• hurt by the, [82], [97], [113], [161], [166]
• indirect advantage to those credited with the, [69]
• is involuntary, [36]
• is not always involuntary, [40]
• literary evidence of the, [3]
• locality of belief in the, [20]
• modes of expressing the, [17]
• no visible benefit to possessor, [68]
• origin of, [1], [7]
• or witchcraft, [114]
• people who possess the, may suffer loss, [7]
• possession of the, ascribed to females oftener than to males, 24
• possessors of the, disliked, [24]
• possessors of the, to be charged to their face, [29], [30]
• possessors of the, unlucky to meet, [26], [27], [28]
• reputation of an, [28], [129]
• scientists, [216]
• serpent’s stone, a cure for the, [170]
• stirks more rarely affected than cows by the, [54]
• survival of belief in, [10], [140]
• symptoms, [51]
• their, [195]
• to be referred to active covetousness, [40]
• to cure the, [145]
• to keep away the, [44], [131]
• water, [157]
• women, believers in the, more than men, [23]
• young more liable to the influence of the, [45]
• Eye, [4], [17], [161], [203]
• diabolical, [18]
• envious, [70]
• had struck, [180]
• has fallen upon her, [34]
• my, [47]
• put his, in her, [83]
• shall not spare, [45]
• Facail, [94]
• airson eolas, [94]
• ceart, [94]
• Fachan, [171]
• Farmad na sul, [205]
• Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, [155]
• Fhear mhosach, [107]
• Fiam, [4]
• Fios, [6], [141]
• Fios-achd, [6]
• Fiosrachadh, or eolas, [98]
• Foal, [222]
• Folklorists, [2]
• Formula, [101], [145], [158], [173], [193], [208]
• Galar’s easlainnte, [144]
• Garbh sgeith, [19]
• Gearr fheidh, [94]
• Geas-arachd, [6]
• Germicide the, [133]
• Ghonadh, air a, [17]
• mo, [127]
• Ghuidhe i ris an fhear mhosach, [107]
• Gisreag, [149]
• Glance, envious, [5]
• Gold, silver, and copper, [163], [201]
• cure, [166]
• ring and silver coin, [166]
• or earring, [161]
• Gonadh, [146], [246]
• Green lint, [147]
• Greim, [94]
• Ground, must not touch the, [136], [137]
• emptied it on the, [156]
• Harm, [99], [222]
• Heifer, [59]
• Hendry, witch, [96]
• Holy Ghost, [176]
• Honeysuckle, [195]
• Horse collar, [146], [213]
• repeating its name three times, [189]
• shoe in the churn, [73]
• front o’t, [173]
• to sprinkle the water over the, 189
• Humming, [53], [147]
• a symptom of the Evil Eye, [53]
• Hurtful eye, [33]
• Hurting and healing, united in one person, [99]
• Iadh-shlait, [195]
• Ill-will, [60]
• Incantation, [60], [97], [134], [144], [145], [146], [147]
• form of, [104]
• processes, [165]
• repeats an, [59], [164]
• Injured, [76], [86]
• by cronachadh, [151]
• by Evil Eye, [56], [183]
• the cow, [107]
• Injury, protection against, [44], [45], [114], [123]
• Iubhar, [119], [120]
• Ivy, [196]
• Juniper wood, [119], [136]
• Kicking, [56], [80]
• Knife, [216]
• Knowledge, [98]
• of healing, [98]
• the result of inquiry, [98]
• to cause injury, [99]
• Laochain, [196]
• Laogh, [13], [14]
• Lint, [147]
• Lips, [159]
• Living and the dead were wont to pass, [183]
• Look, a foal hurt by a mere, [80]
• a horse hurt by a mere, [80]
• cows hurt by a mere, [80], [81]
• Look, his would cronach it, [103]
• milk hurt by a mere, [81]
• Loup, [60]
• Lucky, [38]
• Magic eye, [204]
• fluid, [137]
• mirror, [114]
• thread, [201]
• Maistir, [209]
• Maistirich, [209]
• Malevolent, [98]
• Manure, [223]
• Marriage ring, a sixpence, and a penny, [162]
• Medicine bag, [141]
• Meise de mhin, [111]
• Melted lead, [198]
• Metal, [202]
• Milk, [90]
• a drink of, given to any one suspected of the Evil Eye, [122], [123]
• deterioration of, [90]
• taking a mouthful of, [90]
• Miscall, [117]
• Mislook, [5]
• Mordant, [144]
• Motive, [54]
• Muin, [208]
• Mulach an teine, [144]
• Nathrach, [94], [170]
• leigheas airson lot, [94]
• Neck, [141]
• bare, [157]
• Neonain, Bun ’us Barr, [94]
• Neutralise any bad influence, [129]
• Nicking the ear, [134]
• Nos Origines, [141]
• Obair, [144]
• Oidche Bhealtuinn, 132
• Olc, [95]
• Operator, [145], [155], [156], [159]
• Overt act, [54]
• Paid, [109]
• Pail, half-crown piece in the, [154]
• Paper, put salt on a, [117]
• Pay, they do nothing without, [106]
• Payment, he did not want, [109]
• Pee, the milk has gone along with the, [57]
• Perform his charms by means of a bridle, [149]
• Performance, [97], [199]
• Peter, Paul, Mary, [176]
• Piseach, [6]
• Pisearachd, [6], [184], [185], [188]
• Piseog, [6]
• Pisreag, [6]
• Pokes, three wee, [188]
• Practice, [200]
• Practitioner of eolas, [23], [149], [158], [172]
• qualified, [52]
• unlicensed, [53]
• Practitioners vary, [164]
• Praised, animals she had, died, [87]
• butter scattered by being, [78]
• hen taken in dead by being, [79]
• pig injured by being, [79]
• Preventative, [117], [131], [132], [154], [163]
• charms, [141]
• Professional, [22]
• Professor, [210]
• of eolas, [96]
• Prognostications, [198]
• Protection of the Deity, [115]
• Quern, [205]
• Quey, [59]
• Quey, air a cronachadh, [66]
• blind, [59]
• calves, [193]
• Rag, burn a, [125]
• Remedy, [113]
• Request, [48]
• Rhyme, [154]
• Rift, [82]
• Roin, [94]
• Rowan, [118], [119], [133]
• Sack of Da Derga’s Hostel, [25]
• Saint Bridget, [160]
• Salainn, dorlach, [94]
• Salmon, [207], [208]
• Salt, a preservative, [83]
• and urine, sprinkled with, [136]
• used as a cure and preventative, [176]
• Sell, risky to refuse to, [49], [88]
• Serpent’s stone, [170], [171], [203]
• Seven small stones, [168]
• Sgeith, [19]
• Sgil mu’n chronachaidh, [111]
• Sheirbhis, pris airson a, [111]
• Sheumais Eoin’s Pheadair, [148]
• Ruaidh, [151]
• Shilling, [109], [161]
• Shuil, an droch, [16], [23]
• bhuail an droch, [16]
• Fluich do, [127]
• ghabh an droch, [17]
• mo, [116]
• thuit an droch, [17]
• Sign of the Cross, [159]
• that it was the Evil Eye, [162]
• Silver brooch, [160]
• coin, [30], [115], [155], [156], [158], [165], [166], [203]
• cure, [161]
• gold and copper, [161]
• piece, 108
• Silver, white, [108]
• Sixpence to give her, [108]
• Skill, [101]
• Skilled, [51], [60], [71]
• Skin, [144]
• Slime, [170]
• Smiths, [84]
• Snaithnean, [145]
• Snathainn cronachaidh, [141]
• dearg, [95], [142]
• Snuim, [95], [142]
• Son of Mary, [160]
• Sop, [208]
• Sorcery, [6]
• Spells, [6]
• Spilling, [186]
• Spirit of health and healing, [160]
• Spit, [126]
• Spitting into the healing water, [165]
• Spot from which three parishes could be seen, [182]
• Sprinkle, used regularly to, [135]
• Sprinkled, [147], [152], [153], [155], [156], [157], [161], [164], [168], [193]
• Sreang a’ chronachaidh, [141]
• Stanes, bunch o’ sea-shore, [169]
• Stirk, [221]
• Stone, water dashed against, [155]
• Stones, and silver, performance with, [167]
• certain, used for curing in Evil Eye cases, [167]
• in the pokes, [189]
• taken from a particular burn, [167]
• Suil sanntach, [42]
• Tar, an Islay application against the Evil Eye, [132]
• T-aibhisdear, [220]
• Tether, waving it three times over the horse, [149]
• Teum, [17], [85]
• Thread, cure, [211]
• different colours used, [147]
• green, [148]
• must always be green lint, [147]
• red, [145], [146], [147]
• three knots on the, [145], [201]
• to be put three times round the child’s neck, [147]
• woollen, [145], [146]
• Threads, two, one black, and one white, [148]
• Three articles, [148]
• Tiomnadh nuadh, [94]
• Tobar, ris an taobh deas, [152]
• o’n taobh deas, [181]
• Toothache, curing of, [93]
• Toradh, [216], [223]
• bring back the, [109]
• meaning of, [5], [6]
• power of taking away, [101]
• Transmission of eolas, [102]
• Tre tsuilib na sochaiae, [4]
• Trinity, [104], [161], [182], [190], [201], [202]
• Turf, square of, [9]
• Ubag, [141]
• Udder, [77]
• Uisge a’ chronachaidh, [164], [202], [214]
• bonn airgeid air a chuir ann am bowl, [151]
• dhoirteadh air an t-airgiod, [157]
• fior, [182]
• Uncanny ways, [77]
• Urine as a preventative, [164], [209]
• sprinkling, [178]
• stale, [135], [139]
• strong, [138]
• Usual proviso, [153]
• Uvula, fallen, 148
• Vet is no use, [91]
• Veterinary surgeon, [109]
• Vomit, [102]
• Water, [113], [124], [158], [159], [181], [186]
• absolutely putrid, [138]
• and copper coin, and a darning needle, [169]
• and stones, [167]
• and two threads, [148]
• as a diagnostic of cronachadh, [158]
• bottle of, [71], [152], [158]
• from a march over which the living and the dead pass, [182]
• from where the living and the dead pass, [161]
• must be poured on silver, [148]
• of silver, [154], [160]
• poured on three silver coins, [167]
• sprinkled on the child’s face, [115]
• Whisky, [198]
• Wish, [15]
• Witch, [6]
• Witch, burning, [137]
• cure, [221]
• doctor, [103], [221]
• Hendry, [96]
• of Endor, [96]
• reputed, [83]
• Witchcraft, [55], [129], [158], [215], [217], [221]
• Witchery, [6], [14]
• and the Evil Eye, [129], [223]
• protecting against, [135]
• resorted to as a cure, [55]
• white, [96]
• Wizard, a strong, [186]
• may have the Evil Eye, [56]
• red, [57]
• Wooden bicker, [159]
• Word, a, must not be spoken, [157]
• Words, [104], [145], [164], [172]
• good, [104], [145], [164]
• Yarn, ball of, [143]
• different colours of, [142]
• red, [144]
• three ply, [143]
• Yawn, [82]
• Yawning, an effect of the Evil Eye, [151]

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