April/An Giblean

If, on the first day of April, you sent somebody “air ruith na cubhaige” (literally in search of the cuckoo), you were playing an April’s Fool on that person. Ever-present were the phrases and ditties associated with weather and the land.

“Is fheàrr an sneachd na bhi gun sian an dèidh an siol a chur san talamh”

(signifying that it was better to have snow out of season than to be without rainfall after the seed had been planted).

The finale of the spring work took place during the first fortnight in April. This was the very latest tolerable date permitted for the numerous chores associated with spring. After the spring work came the time for peat cutting. Everybody cut peats. Here and there, people had coal on their fires, but such people were not the common folk. It was unusual for families to cut peats alone. It was far more desirable for five or six households to come together to cut their peats. The squad would spend one day at the first peatbank, and the next day at the next peatbank. And so all advanced. The person whose peatbank was being cut that day hosted the day’s meal. Dinner was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, and it was cooked on an open fire. People didn’t feel the weight of the work. Nobody appeared to be working against their will: mean spirits were rare. Children would spread the cut peats. Sometimes there would be a cash incentive for that. This communal aspect was also the method applied for potato planting for some.

During the last fortnight in April, all ewes in lamb were on the common because they would only be a nuisance eating your corn sprout and such. Every available person was busy amongst the sheep and lambs during the season. A common marker was used on all born lambs, by means of the archangel tar. One crofter would have a stripe along the back; the next door neighbour had three dots; somebody else had a mark on the back of the head. (See Shepherd’s Marks). By the end of April, most of the heavy work was out of the way so that the people who had to leave for seasonal summer work needn’t feel guilty about leaving the other family members behind.

Treabhaibh an iomair a tha romhad an-toiseach

Tackle the work that’s in front of you before you do anything else

(literally plough the field that is in front of you first)