The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

189When it was cut the reapers gathered together and threw theirsickles in the air. The Maiden was dressed with ribbons and hungin the kitchen near the roof, where it was kept for several yearswith the date attached. Sometimes five or six Maidens might beseen hanging at once on hooks. The harvest-supper was calledthe Kirn. 528 In other farms on the Gareloch the last handfulof corn was called the Maidenhead or the Head; it was neatlyplaited, sometimes decked with ribbons, and hung in the kitchenfor a year, when the grain was given to the poultry. 529In the north-east of Aberdeenshire the customs connected The cutting ofthe clyack sheafwith the last corn cut at harvest have been carefully collectedat harvest inand recorded by the late Rev. Walter Gregor of Pitsligo. His Aberdeenshire.account runs as follows: “The last sheaf cut is the object ofmuch care: the manner of cutting it, binding it, and carrying it tothe house varies a little in the different districts. The followingcustoms have been reported to me by people who have seenthem or who have practised them, and some of the customs havenow disappeared. The information comes from the parishes ofPitsligo, Aberdour, and Tyrie, situated in the north-east corner ofthe county of Aberdeen, but the customs are not limited to theseparishes.“Some particulars relating to the sheaf may be noted as alwaysthe same; thus (a) it is cut and gathered by the youngest personpresent in the field, the person who is supposed to be the purest;(b) the sheaf is not allowed to touch the ground; (c) it is made upand carried in triumph to the house; (d) it occupies a conspicuousplace in the festivals which follow the end of the reaping; (e) itis kept till Christmas morning, and is then given to one or moreof the horses or to the cattle of the farm.528 From information supplied by Archie Leitch, late gardener to my father atRowmore, Garelochhead. The Kirn was the name of the harvest festivity inthe south of Scotland also. See Lockhart's Life of Scott, ii. 184 (first edition);Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle, ed. Norton, ii. 325 sq.529 Communicated by the late Mr. Macfarlane of Faslane, Gareloch.