Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900], at sacred-texts.com
THIS little prayer is said by old men and women in the islands of Barra. When they first see the new moon they make their obeisance to it as to a great chief. The women curtsey gracefully and the men bow low, raising their bonnets reverently. The bow of the men is peculiar, partaking somewhat of the curtsey of the women, the left knee being bent and the right drawn forward towards the middle of the left leg in a curious but not inelegant manner.
The fragment of moon-worship is now a matter of custom rather than of belief, although it exists over the whole British Isles. p. 123
In Cornwall the people nod to the new moon and turn silver in their pockets. In Edinburgh cultured men and women turn the rings on their fingers and make their wishes. A young English lady told the writer that she had always been in the habit of bowing to the new moon, till she had been bribed out of it by her father, a clergyman, putting money in her pocket lest her lunar worship should compromise him with his bishop. She naively confessed, however, that among the free mountains of Loch Etive she reverted to the good customs of her fathers, from which she derived great satisfaction!
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AN ainm Spiorad Naomh nan gras, |
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IN name of the Holy Spirit of grace, | |
The following versification is by Mr John Henry Dixon, Inveran:--
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In name of the Father Almighty, If to-night, O moon, thou hast found us |
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May thy laving lustre leave us O moon so fair, |