Which 19th century Scottish author published a compendium of folklore called ‘Carmina Gadelica’?

Serpent mythology is strongly tied to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. One example occurs in the spring time in Scotland as the season of emergent new life approaches. Highlanders had a tradition of pounding the ground with a stick until the serpent emerged. The snake’s behavior gave them a good idea of how much frost was left in the season.

Folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912) points out in the ‘Carmina Gadelica’(1900), a collection of folk poetry from the Western Isles of Scotland, that there’s an actual poem in honor of the serpent who emerges from its burrow to predict spring-like weather on “the brown day of Bride.” The poem begins:

The serpent will come from the hole

on the brown day of Bride (Brighid)

though there may be three feet of snow

on the surface of the ground.

The word Brighid is derived from the Celtic ‘brig’ or “exalted one” and refers to the Hearth Goddess of Ireland. She was the patron of poets and bards, as well as healers and magicians.

Carmichael was a Scottish folklorist, antiquarian, and author who collected vast amounts of folklore, local traditions, natural history observations, and material objects for people throughout the Scottish Highlands. He is best known today for ‘Carmina Gadelica, an influential but controversial compendium of edited Highland folkore and literature published in six volumes.