Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy

 Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy... born 1883 and passed in 1962. My grandmother, she gave me insight into another world. As I like to put it, she read Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories as they came out. Being with a person that grew up in the 1800s was interesting for me. The language was different, the intonation different, the concepts different. Of course, I just liked it, only many years later did I realise what a special time that was in my life and what a valuable gift she gave me.  

Her house (obviously) had no TV and there was a radio, but it was rarely turned on. She had the Second Sight, as do many in her Tweedy family, both past and present. I learned much from her.

Barry R McCain 

Imbolc And Saint Bríd's Day

A Bríd's Cross

Today, at sunset, marks the beginning of the festival of Imbolc. This a Gaelic festival to honour the beginning of Spring and falls between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The festival is general to Celtic areas, but is perhaps most celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man - which are the Gaelic homelands. It is indeed an ancient celebration and is mentioned in the earliest Gaelic literature, and it was old even at that time. 

In Christian times Imbolc was conflated with the veneration of Saint Bríd. Bríd is also a goddess, a prominent member of the Tuatha Dé, and it is no accident that the Church synchronized Imbolc to Lá Fhéile Bríde (Saint Brid's Day). It was a way to allow the people to continue their ancient custom, but place it into the Judeo-Christian cosmology.

The etymology of Imbolc has several theories, but given its ancient origins, it is most likely from an early proto Celtic word 'embibolgon' which means 'budding.'  And, this is when the first buds on early blooming plants start to show the signs of the growing sunlight at this latitude.

Saint Bríd

There are several customs still observed on Imbolc - visits to Holy Wells, where one walks sunwise, known as Deiseil in Gaelic, around the Holy Well and leaves a Clootie on the Faerie Tree (or bush). A Clootie is a piece of cloth tied to a Faerie Tree. The Clootie is to invoke blessings on home, family, clan, and livestock and fields. The practiced is still done to this day. One will also light a fire, candles or a bonfire, and celebrate with a feast and libations. This was also a time when divination is done. 

In Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, there are numerous accounts throughout the centuries to the present, of people celebrating this festival. Saint Bríd is a very thinly Christianized form of the older goddess Bríd and the saint retains many of the attributes of the older goddess.

So I wish you all a Merry Imbolc and a Happy Saint Bríd's Day.  Light a candle tonight after sundown, and have a glass of drink and salute the growing daylight and wish the best to your family and loved ones.     


© Barry R McCain 

Finding the McCains

Faerie Lore Among the Scots-Irish

A Jackro aka a Brownie drawn from eyewitness encounter

There was a large migration of people from the north of Ireland to the English Colonies in the 18th Century. This event is called the Ulster Migration. This migration began in early Colonial times, from1690 onward, and grew into a large exodus by 1718. Many of these immigrant were Irish Protestants, with the majority of them being Scots-Irish. 

They came in great numbers and the migration had organization to it.  Often whole families, extended families, even villages, participated. One family would settle, and cousins, uncles and aunts, etc., would follow a few years later. The pattern continue from 1718 into the late 1770s. It was quite a remarkable phenomenon. These people brought with them their values, their folk beliefs, from Ulster to the New World. One aspect of these beliefs was their Faerie Faith. 

Some of the Faeries from Ireland followed these people to the Colonies. From the early 1700s into the early 1900s belief in Faeries endured. It was in the Southern Uplands and Backsettlements that these beliefs survived the longest and there are still a few people in these areas that see things and believe. 

Among the Scots-Irish, one type of Faerie was called a Jackro. They were also called a Brownie. This type of Faerie was well known in Ireland. There it had several names, in Gaelic it was often called a Gruagach (said grew o gach) or a Fear Dearg (Gaelic for a Red Man, so called because of their red hats). Brownie was a Scots-Irish term from the Lallans language (a dialect of northern English spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland, and Ulster). 

The Jackro and Brownie were simple Faerie folk. They were generally tutelary beings. These lived in or near settlements, in the attics, barns, and out-buildings, of some family they attached themselves to. There were also solitary Faeries. These lived in the lonely places; in the mountains, ridges, and hills, or in the deep woods, or near waterfalls.  

Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy circa 1900

My grandmother, Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy, was born in 1883. She passed away in 1962 when I was only twelve years old. I was fortunately to be able to spent a lot of time with her in my youth. She  She told me about the Jackros. From that time on I was fascinated by the topic.  My grandmother had the Second-Sight, an inherited trait that runs in her Tweedy family. Her family were typical Scots-Irish; to Ireland in the early 1600s, then on to the Colonies circa 1700. They eventually settled in southern Illinois circa 1805. This area is called the Illinois Ozarks. The geography there is a series of hills and ridges and the region was heavily settled by the Scots-Irish at an early date. Just across the Mississippi from southern Illinois are the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas. Many of her Tweedy family moved west and were some of the first families to settle the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. These Scots-Irish brought their folkways with them.

The Ouachita Mountain in Arkansas

As Faeries go, the Jackro, or Brownie is you prefer, was your typical type of Faerie known in Ireland and Scotland. They were hard to see, and often one would just catch a glimpse of the being going around a corner, or through a door way. Their size was small, about three feet tall. They were often dressed in brown or grey, but some were known to sport red caps. In older and more civilized times, some families would reserve a place by the fire for the Jackro; a small home made stool. Libations of milk, or something stronger was also set out. The solitary Jackros shunned men however, and chose to live the solitary life in the wild places.  They were thought of as dangerous.

The belief in Faeries has almost died out here, though not quite, and there is some revival of interest in them. An interesting sidebar, the belief in races of Faeries was also strong among some American Indians, particularly the Cherokee and Shoshone tribes. Their lore is remarkably like that of the Irish, Scots, and Scots-Irish. 

I am collecting oral history on the Faerie Faith in America right now.  If anyone has a story, part of your family history, of encounters, do send me a note through my blog McCain's Corner.  I would love to hear it.  


 Link:  Finding the McCains 

© Barry R McCain 2019  

Cultural Continuum II

Walking up to the summit of Loughcrew

This photo taken on the same day as I had the strange experience at Loughcrew in County Meath, at Sliabh na Callí, which is the main hill at the site. It is the abode of Béara, who is a Bean Sí (faerie woman) and one of the Tuatha Dé.  There is a passage tomb on top, in which at the equinox sunrise, the rays of the sun shine down and illuminate the inner chamber.  There are the graves of extremely ancient dead kings, queens, and warriors there.  I give a full account of my strange and singular experience at Loughcrew in my book 'Finding the McCains.'  

These Celtic faeries are not your wee, cute type, of the Victorian era children's books.  They are not small, and do not have wings, and are not cute. They are tall, fair, powerful beings of light, that are dangerous to be around.  Mysterious beings from another world of existence, who occasionally, still have interaction with our world.  There are several interesting theories about their existence. I will go into these matters in my next book in some detail where I explore the phenomenon of Faeries from a perspective of quantum physics and morhpic resonance and self organising fields of existence.    

Béara is remembered throughout Ireland and Scotland, in the old Gaelic homelands. She is, or has become in legend, a primordial nature spirit and Queen of Winter.  She can appear as an old woman or as a beautiful young maiden, tall and fair.  

Cailleach Béara is called Cally Berry in Ulster English and has other names in other regions.  You will also hear Gentle Annie, Old Woman of the Mountains, and she is known as Caill Bhuere in Argyll.  Cailleach is often translated as the Hag or Witch, but Cailleach really just means the Veiled One.  The word Cailleach is used in several Irish terms.  A Cailleach Phráta is a shrivelled potato and a Cailleach Oiche is an owl.  A Cailleach Feasa is a wise woman or fortune teller and a Cailleach Dhubh is the term for a nun. 

The mystery of Loughcrew and my experience there added to my understanding of the people and culture from which my family originated.  Béara is still remembered in Kilmichael Glassary where the McCain family originated.  Stories of her were told around the McCain hearths for centuries.  These stories of the Old Faith did not please everyone however.  

In 1560s, Seon Carsuel, Bishop and pastor to the fifth Earl of Argyll, complained about the Gaels in mid Argyll, where my family lived, just a short couple of miles from the Bishop's residence.  In his writings, Bishop Carsuel cited the stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann as the survival of paganism among the Gaels there.  Bishop Carsuel lived at Carnasserie Castle, and he could literally look out to the smoke from the hearth fires of McCain homes where the stories of Béara and the other Tuatha Dé Danann were being told.  The Bishop was not please with the survival of Gaelic pagan lore .

To quote Bishop Carsuel, ... darkness of sin and ignorance and design of those who teach and write and cultivate Gaelic, that they are more designed, and more accustomed, to compose vain, seductive, lying and worldly tales about the Tuatha Dé Danann and the sons of Mil and the heroes and Fionn Mac Cumhail and his warriors and to cultivated and piece together much else which I will not enumerate of tell here, for the purpose of winning for themselves the vain rewards of the world.

Bishop Carsuel wrote that in 1567.  Two short years later my own family left mid Argyll and moved to Donegal.  They were part of the the Gaelic military build up connected with Iníon Dubh and her marriage to the chief of the Ó Dónaill clan.

Myrddin (Merlin) the Druid of the Old Faith

Carsuel, in his writings on the beliefs of the Gaels, was describing a cultural continuum that was still alive in the 1500s and had it roots in the Bronze Age (or earlier).   At Loughcrew, I had experienced something that would have been familiar to my McCain ancestors that lived near him.  What would the good Bishop think if he knew centuries later that at least some Gaels still enjoyed the 'vain, seductive, lying and worldly tales' of the Tuatha Dé Danann?  No offense meant to the good Bishop, but it is reassuring to know that tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann still live and I had been fortunate enough to participate in one.  

Placing an 'intention' on a Faerie Tree

I have loved Celtic myths since I was a young boy.  It is not only my McCain family that I have this love, the other lines in my family are also from Ireland on my paternal side and from Wales on my maternal side.  My father's mother's father's line, the Tweedy family, has the Second Sight. I have been aware of the Second Sight since I was a young boy.  I am researching the Second Sight now for upcoming writing projects.  As many know I had a stroke back in late September, which laid me low for six months.  I am back writing and researching now and I have another personal experience to include in my research.  A Tweedy cousin of mine had a Second Sight experience last summer.  The vision was a portent about me and related to my health... and a month or so later, the event happened.  This gets into the topic of morphic resonance, i.e. the nuts and bolts of how Second Sight works.

Old beliefs, our tales of our people, our tribes, etc., it still lives after all this time.   We are our ancestors.  

© 2018 Barry R McCain

Barry R McCain on Amazon

Childcraft Books and the Gods

a Childcraft book from the mid 1950s

Do you remember the old Childcraft Books we used back in the 1950s.  Probably so.  I certainly do.  I was a Tow-headed boy of four or so when the books came into my home.  The books had a place of prominence in the living-room book case.  I can still see them sitting there in my mind's eye.  The books had vividly coloured, wonderful illustrations, that stimulated and multiplied my neurons each time I opened a book.  For me, the Childcraft books were not only a catalyst, but the catalyst, that turned me into a life long reader and searcher for the truth.  They began me on my journey to be a reader, historian, and writer.  
    
My favourite thing in the books were the old tales from our ancient past.  In the books I learned about our mythology, lore, fables, and old tales.  In the books I found the old Indo European tales about the gods and goddesses, Odin, Thor, Balder, Zeus, Heracles, etc.  As I grew older my love of lore also grew and I moved on to the tales of the Celtic gods and heroes, and there I knew I was home. Here I am, over a half century later and I still love to read and research the Old tales.

As I learned about Celtic mythology I gravitated to the the Gods of the Gael of course.  I have that ethnic connection of being a descendant of the Gael and naturally enough I was drawn to them; my people, my blood.  My surname McCain is anglicised from the Gaelic name Mac Eáin.  This surname taken in the AD 1300s and from DNA testing I know I descend from the Mac Ailpín families of mid Argyll, from the parish of Kilmichael Glassary.  This sort of thing sharpens one's interest in things Gaelic. There are genetic and even epigenetic factors at work there.

My favourite Gaelic god and the one I found most interesting was Dagda.  He is the father god to the Gaelic Celts of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.  Dagda is a very old name dating back to Indo European roots, from Dagos (good) Deivos (god).  His Continental cognate is Sucellos.  So Dagda is the Good God, he is also known as Crom, and in the time just prior to and after the Gaelic conversion to Christianity, he was normally called Crom.  

Our knowledge of him is known from the misty twilight of the distant past, but there is still enough to give him form and function.  Most of the primary source data, if it can be called that, comes from medieval manuscripts written by Christian clerks and monks.  The best known of these is the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions of Ireland).  It is a collection of prose and verse narratives the gives a mythological history of Ireland and the Gaelic people in general.  There are a number of versions of it and the book was written (copied down) in the 11th Century.  The stories in the book are of course much older.  The mere fact that the Christian monks took the time and effort to record the old pagan stories is a testament to how important they still were to the Gael, even centuries after the conversion to Christianity. 

The Gaels converted to Christianity in the 5th to 7th centuries, sort of.  They certainly converted, but many of the old pagan ways and beliefs continued.  In many ways, one could call the Gaels a Dual Faith people.  There was a conscious and sometimes, unconscious, preservation of pagan beliefs and ritual practices, but within a 'Christian' community.  Lughnasa, Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, all come with very thinly veiled Old Faith trappings.  The Faerie Faith, which lives to this day, is nothing more than the old gods still around.  There are Holy Wells, that date to pagan times, but with a Christian Saint's name attached to it.  There are still rituals, such as the blessing of the fleet in the Hebrides to Seónaidh (Shoney), i.e. Manannan Mac Lir, the Gaelic sea god (taboo to say his name outright).  

Most impressive is the old Lughnasa Festivals. On the face of it, Lughnasa is a festival for the Gaelic god Lugh and is celebrated from late July through August.  There is feasting, dancing, bonfires, and competitions, including an arts festival, with music and readings.  The festival managed to survive the 20th century and is even making a comeback here in the 21st century. 

Dagda, by a Japanese illustrator

There are older versions of Lughnasa however.... and more magical ones.  In some versions it is Crom Dubh, not Lugh, who presides over the harvest.  In Cloghane, Crom Dubh's image is seen in the local church where it is an object of luck and healing.  The Lughnasa festival in Cloghane village is still called the Domhnach Chruim Dhuibh, i.e. Crom Dubh's Sunday.  There is still a saying in the Gaeltacht there, said when someone is pronouncing something is true... Dar Chruim, which means, 'For Crom.'

So, from Childcraft book to a reader and writer, to long stays in Ireland, to speaking Gaelic, it all started with the Childcraft books way back in Ouachita parish, Louisiana.  Reading has power and magic... Dar Chruim.

This article is just my thoughts put down as I work on my next book.  I am in the process of reading, taking notes, etc., as I write the book down and prepare for publication.  As you might have guessed, the theme of Gaelic myth, the Faerie Faith, etc., are in the next book.  

If you enjoy these blog post, do not be shy about dropping some coins in the tip bucket.  It is part of the magic. 

© 2018 Barry R McCain

   

The Second Sight among the Scots Irish

Sarah Pearl Tweedy circa 1905

The phenomenon of Second sight has fascinated me for many years.  I was exposed to the Second Sight early in my life, before I even knew what it was.  My grandmother had the Second Sight.  She was Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy, born in Carbondale, in southern Illinois, in 1883.  She passed away in 1962, when I was only twelve years old, but I was close to her and despite her passing when I was young, I remember her countenance and personality well.  I also remember she had a unique quality to her; it is hard to describe in words, other than to say she had an other world quality.

I found out about her Second Sight through a child's eyes and ears.  I heard her friends and relatives talk about it and tell stories. She never mentioned it to me.  She had a strong case of it one could say.  She 'saw' things and had experience that exist in a world that is not well understood by our sciences. 

The Second Sight is so called because normal vision was regarded as coming first, and with certain individuals a  supernormal vision developed.  The Gaelic term is An Da Shealladh which means "the two sights," meaning normal sight and the sight of the seer. There are many Gaelic words for the various aspects of second sight, but An Da Shealladh is the one mostly recognized by non Gaidhlig speakers, even though, strictly speaking, it does not really mean second sight. 

Simply put, Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the ability to perceive things that are not present to the senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events or events at remote locations.  Other manifestations include knowing things about a person just by meeting them, such as their true nature and history, or sometimes by perceiving this by merely handling an object that the person owns.  In popular culture it is also called 'the sixth sense.'

The Second Sight happens in several peoples and cultures, but it is in Scotland perhaps that it is most recognized and studied.  My grandmother's Tweedy family originated in Scotland and migrated to Ireland very early in the 1600s or even late in the 1500s.  In Scotland, the Tweedys had a penchant for getting into feuds that resulted in legal issues and even their surname was proscribed at one time.  Migration from Scotland to Ireland and other parts of the Isles was an often used path for them to 'get out of town.'   I have found records of them in the 1620s with a group of native Irish in County Cavan and being listed as 'Irish.'  This means the clerk thought them born in Ireland.  I know many of the Tweedys spoke Irish and were often Protestant and in the Established Church (the Church of Ireland, i.e. Anglicans).

Her family migrated to the English Colonies in the late 1600s, oral history remembers the place of entry as Rhode Island.  The Tweedys migrated to the Carolinas in the early 1700s.  They were what popular history likes to call Scots-Irish.  They were an adventurous family as several of them were in Daniel Boone's party that crossed the Cumberland Gap in the 1770s.  Their history is one of trailblazing adventures, ferocious battles with Indians, and eventually settling in southern Illinois by 1805.  That area was very dangerous and very few white people lived there at that time. Hostile Indians were very active and their family records has accounts of Indian raids and several brutal deaths to members of the extended family.

As an adult my research discovered that the Second Sight runs in their family.  This is not unusual and Scottish families with the Second Sight often report it as an inherited trait.  I found records of a Tweedy woman that had been accused of witchcraft in the mid 1600s.  I do not know if the woman was a relation to my grandmother's family, but it is very possible.  In the mid 1600s people with the Second Sight were sometimes accused of witchcraft and brought to trial.  Such was the case of the poor Tweedy woman whose records I read.  She was arrested and a trial held.  I found the record of the trail, her charges, and also found the brutal method with which she was interrogated.  It involved a government paid witch hunter.  He would ask questions and then stick her with long metal needles, about the size of a small knitting needle.  If the wound bled it meant she was telling the truth, if it did not bleed, this indicated a lie.  Yes, I know what you all are thinking, that is insane.  She was found guilty and did not survive the ordeal.

17th Century witch pricking needles

In my work and travels I have discovered many accounts of families that have the Second Sight, particularly in the Southern Uplands and Backsettlments.  It was a normal aspect of Scots-Irish culture well into the 1900s and even today it is known.  When you read the literature written on the Scots-Irish in their traditional homelands the phenomenon of Second Sight or 'Seers' is a common theme. 'Seer' was a common term for people with the Second Sight in the Uplands from the Ozarks to the Appalachians.   I am researching Scots-Irish families that have a tradition of the Second Sight for a new writing project now.

I am collecting stories from Scots-Irish families now that have experience with the Second Sight, have old tales of it in their family, etc. So, anyone reading this who has a story, do please contact me, I would love to hear your Second Sight experiences.

  

Sarah Pearl Tweedy circa late 1800s

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