FOLK LORE:

OR,

SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS IN THE WEST OF SCOTLAND WITHIN THIS CENTURY.

WITH

AN APPENDIX,

SHEWING THE PROBABLE RELATION OF THE MODERN FESTIVALS OF CHRISTMAS, MAY DAY, ST. JOHN'S DAY, AND HALLOWE'EN, TO ANCIENT SUN AND FIRE WORSHIP.

BY

JAMES NAPIER, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., &c.,

Author of Manufacturing Art in Ancient Times, Notes and Reminiscences of Partick, &c., &c.

PAISLEY: ALEX. GARDNER.

1879

CONTENTS.

APPENDIX.

PREFACE

The doctrine taught concerning Satan, his motives and influence in the beginning of this century, supplied the popular mind with reasons to account for almost all the evils, public and private, which befell society; and as the observed ills of life, real or imaginary, greatly outnumbered the observed good occurrences, the thought of Satan was more constantly before the people's mind than was the thought of God. Practically, it might be said, and said with a very near approach to truth, that Satan, in popular estimation, was the greater of the two; but theoretically, the superiority of God was allowed, for Satan it was believed, was permitted by God to do what he did. It was commonly said, "Never speak evil of the Deil, for he has a long memory." This Satanic belief gave rise to a great amount of Folk Lore, and affected the whole social system. Historians who take no account of such beliefs, but