An obscure Scottish book reveals Deeside superstitions and folk beliefs

Earlier this month, the Hammond Scottish Festival came to northern New York. The old stone farmhouse, now the home of the local historical society, was built by Scottish immigrants some 200 years ago and was a fitting anchor for the event. 

In the past I have discussed research into my Scottish ancestry and given some tips. I’ve also struck gold with local history books and memoirs.

One of the most interesting books contains insights I would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere: Then and Now: Customs & Superstitions of Deeside, published in 2010 and no longer in print. I mail-ordered the title from a bookshop in Braemar, Scotland.

Author Sheila Sedgwick, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 97, was a prolific local historian. She specialized in the rural communities along the upper reaches of the River Dee in northeast Scotland.

This happens to be the area from whence my own Scottish great-great-great grandparents came, settling in a small farming community in western New York around 1850. The book is a window into my Scottish ancestors’ day-to-day lives, in a way that dry government records seldom are.

The small book is loosely organized into sections, such as “Hatches, matches & dispatches” (birth, marriage, and death) and “The Forces of Nature and Her Gifts.” The prose is almost a stream-of-consciousness retelling of the superstitions and other beliefs the author experienced, heard about, or uncovered in the sparse documentation. Here are some examples:

“Birthmarks were thought to be caused by something the mother had touched during her pregnancy, as were deformities.”

“To ease the pain of childbirth, the husband was expected to walk around the house widdershins (clockwise). Nine times was normal for a first child, and seven for later births, the assumption that later births would be easier. Seven and nine were ‘magical’ or lucky numbers.”

“Many cures are associated with sheep. A pneumonia sufferer had to attach the lung of a slaughtered sheep to his feet, the idea being that the infection would be drawn down to the sheep’s lung.”

“Elf Fire or Will o’ the Wisp was often thought to lure men into danger and frequently into bogs and to be a sign of approaching death.”

She added that the Will o’ the Wisp could have a natural cause: gasses from decaying vegetation spontaneously combusting. For others, she speculated about origins, from Celtic or Druidic rituals to Biblical associations. Even the Romans came up:

“It was unlucky to marry in the month of January and certainly not in May. This could a survival from Roman times when the month was dedicated to mourning for the dead.”

There are many beliefs around certain dates of the year, as well as the rhythms of rural life. For instance:

“A farmer should on Candlemas Day
Have half his corn, and half his hay.”  

Candlemas is a Christian observance that takes place on February 2, which was likely set to coincide with the Celtic Imbolc celebration, midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. “Corn” is the British term for grains of any kind, although in Scotland it usually meant oats, which were grown throughout Deeside.

Of the hundreds of local practices and superstitions listed in the book, there are no academic citations. Sources are rarely mentioned. Should they be? After all, these are folk traditions the author grew up with, orally passed down from generation to generation. For instance:

“Green was the fairies’ colour and wearing it put one in their power. My Granny refused to permit it in the house or for apparel but it has always been my favorite colour, worn regularly.”

Written sources for superstitions or non-mainstream beliefs were rare until modern times. British authorities actively suppressed Gaelic, “Highland dress,” and other cultural practices viewed as seditious in the wake of the Jacobite uprisings in the 1600s and 1700s.

Moreover, not only were most rural folk illiterate, letters, books or other records describing superstitions would have been strongly discouraged by local clergy. In fact, “witchcraft” was at one time a capital offense. Thousands of people, mostly women, were killed or tortured from the 1560s through the 1720s in Scotland. (The hysteria made it across the pond, where suspected witches were executed in Boston, Salem, and Connecticut.)

Superstitions nevertheless persisted. I assume my ancestors were familiar with many of the beliefs and traditions listed in Sedgwick’s book.

Reading them, I was reminded of my grandmother’s many warnings about bad luck and omens. Her grandparents (my GG grandparents) came from Ireland, where there was a also local practices and superstitions around fairies, farming life, and the natural world. There were even a few in the book that I recognized, such as cows lying down being a sign of impending rain.

Superstitions and folk traditions were once a part of daily life, from the North American plains to Central Europe to Asia and Africa. If you dig into your own ancestral history at the regional level, you’ll find folk practices that may still persist today.