Pagan Bookworm

The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland by F. Marian McNeill

The Silver Bough is a series written as a labour of love and national pride by Scottish folklorist and amateur historian Florence Marian McNeill from the first volume in 1957 to the last in 1968 and has since been reprinted in the 1990s. Old Guard Pagans will be familiar with this series, but the modern generation has probably never heard of it. The modern mythology of the Wiccan sabbats and many practices are taken from McNeill’s books as she heavily influenced the modern witchcraft movement in both the UK and North America. The Silver Bough appeared on many of the Wiccan reading lists during the times of the old BBS board systems before the internet. Many traditions and solitaries were influenced by McNeill’s work directly and indirectly. Old Guard author Mike Nichols‘ famous articles on the festivals referenced The Silver Bough, among other classic works, and after his articles were heavily circulated on the BBS boards and the modern internet, along with the publication of his book, The Witches’ Sabbats by Acorn Guild Press in 2005, the Old Guards as well as a whole new audience were exposed to both his articles and McNeill’s research. These books are not only a study on Scottish folklore and Pagan belief, but also pieces of modern witchcraft history… hmm I’ve been saying that a lot lately!

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Scottish Folklore and Folk-Belief (Vol.I)
William McLellan, Glasgow, 1957
220 pages, b/w photos & illustrations, index & bibliography

In this first volume, McNeill covers the origins of the Festival dates; the Pagan religions, beliefs, and practices of Scotland; the Druids in Scotland and the survival of their beliefs and practices; The Celtic Gods; the coming of the Christian church and the Christianising of the Festivals; the folk-magic of Scotland; fairy-faith, belief and tales as well as the connection of fairies with animistic beliefs; and of course the last chapter is devoted entirely to witchcraft – the tools, the gods, sacrifice, familiars, witch dances, different witchcraft practices, types of witches, and a discourse on the evil eye. This volume is full of invaluable information on the Old Religion. Many chants, songs, practices and remnants of folk-magic used today by modern witches and Wiccans came from Scotland – especially from the famous Isobel Gowdie and the North Berwick Witches. If you can only afford one volume of this series, this is the one to get!

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A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals: Candlemas to Harvest Home (Vol. II)
William McLellan, Glasgow, 1959
163 pages, b/w photos & illustrations, index & bibliography

As the title suggests, volume number two covers the traditions and beliefs behind the Festivals of Candlemas (Imbolc) to Harvest Home (Michaelmas, Autumnal Equinox).  She covers the Festivals celebrated by Pagans today as well as the more obscure ones in between, some of which being Saints’ feast days, but with older Pagan origins;  Celtic gods turned into saints by the Church. The chapters of this volume cover mystery plays, Brighid’s festival of Imbolc, Valentine’s Day, Easter (Ostara) and fertility rites, All Fool’s Day, Beltane the great Fire Festival, Midsummer’s Eve, Lughnasadh/Lammas, Michaelmas (Autumnal Equinox), and lastly the “Festivals of the Corn” – the practices and traditions of farmers along with fertility rites and worship of the grain. McNeill has also written various cookbooks on national Scottish dishes so each festival chapter is filled with traditional foods to make and what types of feasts were held. She covers the origins of each festival as well as their modern celebrations. McNeill also includes songs, rhymes, and folk-practices for each festival.

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A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals: Hallowe’en to Yule (Vol. III)
Stuart Titles Ltd, Glasgow, 1961
180 pages, b/w photos & illustrations, index & bibliography

This volume has a strong focus on the dark half of the year: Halloween (Samhain) the great fire festival and festival of the dead, it’s association with witchcraft, the fairies, guising and sacrifice as well as folk-practices, divination rites and Samhain magic; Martinmas and it’s relation to the old Samhain festival; Anermas, a Scottish National festival for the saint of Scots; the Scandinavian origins of Yule, its Christianisation, and the temporary and unsuccessful banning of Christmas in the 1600s; Yule in later times, its feasting traditions of the common folk and feasting through the ages; the origins of Christmas customs, decorations, practices and songs; an entire chapter devoted to guising in the different festivals; the origins and folk-beliefs of Hogmanay (the Scottish New Year) as well as its rites and superstitions; two smaller festivals, one for farmers and one for nobles; as well as Yule celebrations of the Shetland Islands which contain the most untouched Pagan folk-beliefs and practices due to the isolation of the islands. Volumes two and three are invaluable resources on the “Wheel of the Year” and the origins of the Sabbats Pagans celebrate today.

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The Local Festivals of Scotland (Vol. IV)
Stuart Titles Ltd, Glasgow, 1968
272 pages, b/w photos & illustrations, index & bibliography

The last volume in The Silver Bough series is an index of festivals local to specific towns in Scotland. This book is not as valuable a resource to modern pagans and witches, but it is invaluable if you are looking into your Scottish roots, are a practitioner of Scottish Witchcraft like myself, or are travelling to Scotland and wish to attend some of the local festivals. There are far too many local festivals to list them in this review – it’s quite a large and inclusive list – McNeill really did her research well. Many of the more localised festivals are dying out as we move into the Silicon Age, so in years to come this volume will be a history book rather than documenting national folk festivals.

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Unfortunately it appears that the current publisher, Stuart Titles is no longer printing The Silver Bough volumes, I tried to contact them via their website, but never received a reply. Some of the large distributors still have new paperback copies for sale, but many will only have second hand hardcovers available. To locate copies (you may have to buy each volume individually) try Fetchbook.info. This series is well worth the effort of tracking it down.

Images from the Series: