May/An Ceitean

This was commonly the driest month of the year. Indeed, it was very necessary for the drying of the peats. A wet May was a bit of a disaster. But once again, the months were not rigidly fixed in their calendar. The expression “luath no mall gun tig am Maigh, thig a’ chubhag”, which meant really that May only arrived when the cuckoo arrived. Allegedly, if you heard the cuckoo before you had food in the morning, it was a sign of bad luck for the year to come. Neither were you fortunate if you caught sight of your first spring lamb with its back to you. It wasn’t considered a sign of good tidings to see a snail on a bare stone. A wee rhyme describes all of this:

Cho clòmhach ris a’ chuthaig

As downy as a cuckoo

Ge binn leinn a’ chuthaig, cha toigh leinn a’ chuthaig cluaise

Although we appreciate the song of the cuckoo, we don’t like the sound of a tell tale.

But whether or not the year in front was lucky for you, it was the cuckoo’s presence that signalled the start of the summer season. Women were busy with the spring cleaning - washing the blankets and so forth. If you lived near a burn or a stream, you filled a big pot (pot ghirman - girman the size of an oxo cube ) with water and set a fire underneath it. Women trampled the clothes with their bare feet until the water got too hot. After a spell in the pot, clothes were rinsed in the stream, and whites were spread on the grass to to bleached.

A lot of repair work was carried out on the steadings in May. At this time of year, families stopped feeding the cattle. The sheep and lambs were sent to the outer hill. The ‘outer hill’ was the territory that was beyond the common grazing (cùl chìnn). Before going, the lambs were ear marked for identification. (See Shepherd’s Marks). The male lambs were castrated then too. The deed was performed with a knife - one or two people in every township were known to be good at this.

Cattle sales took place in early May and the stirks would be sold off at this time. The day of the cattle sales was a great event and was anticipated well in advance. Sometimes, a van came round, ‘tailing’ the sales if you like, and with lemonade and sweeties on board. Children saved pennies for months in advance to be sure to avail of these annual treats. The lemonade was the delicacy for Staffin children, and you could rely on getting a few pennies from your parents on that day. Two auctioneer companies came to the area, each on different dates. Hamiltons had two stances - one at the Leachd below the Malagar/Marisiadar road, and another at the back of Ealaisiadar. Reith and Anderson had their stances at Cùl nan cnoc and above the road at Brogaig. Around 1950, a stirk would fetch the equivalent of almost a month’s wages - when a shilling an hour was the norm.

Once the sale was over, the cattle were taken in a drove to Portree where they might be transported to Kyle by MacBrayne’s boat. Sometimes it would be the Loch Nevis - the daily service mail boat - which undertook this job. The Loch Nevis had a fore deck worked off for cattle. If a cargo boat was known to be in the area, it would be diverted to take the bulk of the cattle. Once in Kyle, the cattle were transported by rail to Inverness and Dingwall. In the days of the real cattle droving, the animals were shod because their hoofs might not take them as far as Falkirk otherwise.

The day of the croft rent was another big day in the calendar of the crofter. In May and November (at Whitsun and Martinmas respectively), the factor came to The Lodge to collect his monies. In the long distance memory, the job was done by a fellow called MacCallum. He was followed by Lindsay Hamilton. Then came Lightbody. After him MacKinnon, then Hendry, then Campbell and lately Rennie. Tomas Ruadh MacLeod from Clachan (Seamalan - Lands Officer) - was a person who acted on behalf of the landlord - he called at people’s doors and warned of the impending rent day. Following the inception of the Congested Districts Board in 1897, the Lodge was the property of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. People arrived in their Sunday best to pay their dues. For some, it was customary on rent day to call at the Old Inn in Stenscholl. (Iain Ruadh’s old house was one of several inns in the district. There was one in Kilmaluag, where Dinah Rankin stays; and another in Uig, where Uig Hotel is today.) After the First World War, DAFS assisted in preventing the sale of hard liquor, and the district was ‘dry’ so to speak when the Flodigarry Hotel got a licence for a public bar.