Winter is thick on the ground today, and I've been thinking about the Queen of Winter herself ..the Cailleach.
She is credited with making numerous mountains and large hills, which are said to have been formed when she was striding across the land and accidentally dropped rocks from her creel or wicker basket.
In other cases, she is said to have built the mountains intentionally, to serve as her stepping stones. She carries a hammer for shaping the hills and valleys and is said to be the mother of all the goddesses and gods. As a child, I remember hearing many stories about her from my grandparents. I remember her as someone I feared and loved in equal measure.
The Cailleach displays several traits befitting the personification of winter: she herds deer, she fights spring, and her staff freezes the ground.
On the west coast of Scotland, the Cailleach ushers in winter by washing her great plaid *Gaelic: féileadh mòr) in the Gulf of Corryvreckan (Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'cauldron of the plaid'). This process is said to take three days, during which the roar of the coming tempest is heard as far away as twenty miles inland. When she is finished, her plaid is pure white, and snow covers the land.
We wait then for the iníon buí for the spring thaw and lá Bríde- Brigid's day when the Cailleach goes to sleep but not before she gathers firewood for the coming winter. Tá sí tagtha (she has arrived). Tá sí anseo (she is here).
Grá mór Eileen ❤️
Painting by Daria Hlazatova
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