Women of the Highlands by Katharine Stewart sampler

women of the highlands
of a land-owning farmer: probably living in quite a modest house,
with walls of turf and a cruck-beamed roof, thatched with heather.
Much of her time would have been spent out of doors, riding her
pony, helping with tasks such as fetching water from the well,
gathering herbs, stacking peat. She would also have learnt to
churn, to spin wool and flax, to knit, to embroider. Though there
was no formal schooling for girls at that time, she might well
have shared in the reading lessons her brother William would
have been given by the local priest. In the long winter evenings, at
the ceilidh, she would listen to the stories of her ancestors’ deeds
and join in the singing of the lovely songs of Gaeldom. Then, in
1215, her father announced that, in return for services to King
Alexander, he had been given land at Delny in Easter Ross, and
that he and the family would be going there to claim this inheritance.
So, after a long and arduous cross-country journey, they
took up residence in this flat, strange land.
It was not long before Farquhar’s thoughts turned to the marrying
of his daughter. The marriages of people of rank were
extremely serious affairs. The young couple could have been
betrothed, perhaps hand-fasted, in front of witnesses, by the age of
7, the marriage then solemnised when the girl reached the age of
12, and the boy the age of 14. This was not the case for Eighrig of
course, she would have been about 14 at the time of her marriage.
The terms of the bride’s dowry were always carefully drawn
up. In Eighrig’s case land was ceded to her husband, in return for
‘services’ to himself and to the king and for ‘one pound of pepper
on the feast of St Martin’. Pepper was valued for its use in concealing
the smell of tainted meat.
After the church wedding celebrations would go on for at
least a week, with much feasting, drinking, falconry, archery,
dancing, romancing.
Then, in 1224, Eighrig went to live in her married home at
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