The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Gaelic Incantations. 279
GAELIC INCANTATIONS, CHARMS, AND
BLESSINGS OF THE HEBRIDES.
THE
J]Y WILLIAM ^L\CKKNZIL
IV.
THE EVIL EYE.
belief in the Evil Eye is of great antiquity.
Virgil says
—
" Nescio quis tencros oculiis viiJii fascinat agnos"
" I know not what eye has bewitched my tender lambs."
For centuries this belief has prevailed in the High-
lands. We are often told that the Highlanders are
superstitious, and in that respect far behind their Lowland
neighbours. It may not be amiss to point out here
that the belief in the Evil Eye has prevailed in all
countries, and prevails even in civilised Greece to the
present time. Mr Rennall Rodd, in his interesting volume
on the " Customs and Lore of Modern Greece," mentions
that all grades of Grecian society believe in it. So much
is this the case, that it is acknowledged by the Greek
Church, which has prayers against its potency.
The Evil Eye was believed to be the outcome of envy-
Admiration implied envy and covetousness, and hence
when one praised or admired another, whether man or
beast, the object praised was believed to be liable to the
effects of the Evil Eye.^ Thus when a woman admires a
child, she frequently says— " Gu'm beannaich an sealbh thu;
chdi ghabh 1110 s/iuil or\.\' which may be translated— "God
bless you, and may my eye ' not take on' you"—that is to
say that the child should not become a victim to the Evil
Eye.
1 In the song of the Kenlochewe Bard already referred to, we have the line
Buidseachd, a's draoidheachd a's/armad.
(Witchcraft, sorcery, and etivy.)
—