Story And Superstition

On December 21, islanders gather to share warmth, food and folklore

- by COINNEACH MacLEOD

THERE'S always something special about December on the islands.

The nights might be long and the weather wild, but it's also when your calendar fills with cèilidhs, concerts and tables crowded with friends. We've never needed an excuse to gather, but when the sun sets before 3pm, a celebration feels almost essential!

For many islanders, that turning point comes on December 21, Grian-stad a' Gheamhraidh - the winter solstice. It is the shortest day and the longest night, and it marks Oidhche nan Seachd Suipearan - the Night of the Seven Suppers. The saying goes that the night feels so long that you could sit down to supper seven times before the sun rises again.

Now, I don't know about you, but the thought of seven hearty dishes is enough to make even the darkest night a little brighter!

The solstice has always been a time wrapped in story and superstition. One tale is told of Frigga, the Norse goddess of beauty, who gave birth to her son Baldur on the winter solstice. Frigga was so protective of her son that she asked the lands and seas and everything upon them to keep him safe - but she forgot one thing: mistletoe.

Loki, the jealous god, found it, fashioned a branch into a weapon and struck Baldur dead. Frigga sat by her son and wept, and her tears turned into the berries that grow upon the mistletoe.

When Frigga placed these berries upon Baldur, he came to life again. So Frigga praised the mistletoe as a symbol of love and of peace, and she promised that, forever afterward, whoever stood beneath this plant would be offered a kiss and forever be protected.

It wasn't just on Oidhche nan Seachd Suipearan that the number seven appeared in Gaelic folklore. Seven is one of the sacred numbers frequently occurring in poems, proverbs and phrases of our people.