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Lewis and Harris: Latest Posts

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Callanish (Standing Stones) — Links

Drone footage by Scott Davies


Found this while surfing online - as you do. Talented man with very little recognition. Always the way, right?
GLADMAN Posted by GLADMAN
2nd March 2024ce

Callanish (Standing Stones) — Folklore

West of Stornoway an avenue of stones leads across the moors to a circle of thirteen pillars around a chambered cairn about 4,000 years old. Fir Bhreig, 'The False Men, is the gaelic name for the group. In Ireland, many standing stones are known as far-bhreaga or 'false man', these are usually being solitary menhirs which from a distance look like people, their 'falseness' lies in their not being human as they appear.

the Lewis pillars are said to be giants who refused to build a church for St Keiran and were therefore turned into stone. Such retributory legends are common in folk tradition, and the meta-morphosed beings may be believed to recover their power of motion at certain times, becoming able to walk or even to dance. The sin which they were petrified is often that of having danced on the Sabbath.

A second account of Callanish is that the stones were brought to Lewis in ships by a priest-king and set up there by black men under the guidance of priests in feathered robes, and another belief was that 'The Shining One' appeared there on mid-summer morning to walk the length of the avenue, heralded by the cry of the cuckoo, the bird of the Celtic land of youth Tir-nan-Og. It used to be the custom for local families to visit the stones on that day and on May Day at first openly and then in secret when such practices were condemned by the Kirk.

It is said that once during famine on the island a woman was so desperate that she went to sea intending to drown herself, but saw a white cow which appeared from the waves and told her that she and all her neighbours should bring their milk pails to the stones of Callanish that night. When they did so, the cow provided them with a pailful of milk, and this bounty continued until a witch brought a sieve instead of a pail. as the cow could not fill it however hard she tried, she was milked dry, and was never seen again on the island. The power of witches to get abnormal supplies of milk from cows, whether ordinary animals or magical ones, was well know.

The Lore Of Scotland : A Guide To Scottish Legends

Westwood & Kingshill
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
2nd January 2024ce

Callanish (Standing Stones) — News

Free entry to ancient Calanais stones could end


Free entry to one of the Western Isles' best-known and ancient sites could end under plans to raise money to help cover the cost of its upkeep.

More info :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-66815292
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
15th September 2023ce

Bostadh (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Bostadh</b>Posted by tomatoman<b>Bostadh</b>Posted by tomatoman Posted by tomatoman
29th May 2023ce

The Macleod Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Folklore

A local farming family set up this huge standing stone, probably over 5,000 years ago. For the people who erected it, this stone represented their links with the land and their ancestors. They wouldn't have been known as MacLeods – that is a much more recent association.

The standing stone gave out a clear message: this land is well-used, it is ours and has been for generations. This was a rich land when Clach Mhic Leòid was erected in the prehistoric Neolithic period. The landscape was one of small-scale agriculture and open woodland. Any rough grazing or peat was confined to the high hills, and even the sea was some distance away.

Tradition sometimes associates standing stones with burials but archaeologists rarely, if ever, find contemporary evidence of burials at the base of single stones. It wasn't until around 4,500 to 3,800 years ago, in the later Neolithic and early Bronze Age, that individual burials became common-place.

Nevertheless, it is possible that Clach Mhic Leòid continued to be important to the local people, even as times and beliefs changed. There are a number of large stones showing through the turf close to this magnificent slab. Was the area eventually used as a place of burial? Without archaeological investigation we will never know. Nevertheless, the medieval naming of the stone, Mhic Leòid, reflects valued links with the distant past.

The MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan were the clan chiefs who held Harris from the 13th or 14th centuries until the late 1700s. Perhaps the clan name was given to this standing stone to link the MacLeods to long-departed ancestors, real or imaginary, and thereby emphasise their right to power over the land and the people.

By Jill Harden
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
3rd August 2022ce

Loch an Duna (Broch) — Links

Canmore ID 4187


Loch an Duna Broch on Canmore
Posted by markj99
29th June 2022ce

Loch an Duna (Broch) — Images

<b>Loch an Duna</b>Posted by markj99<b>Loch an Duna</b>Posted by markj99<b>Loch an Duna</b>Posted by markj99 Posted by markj99
24th June 2022ce
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