Cò fear as fheàrr a nì tuairisgeul de dh’aimsir deireadh a’ Mhàirt am-bliadhna? / Which is the better descriptor of the end of March this year?

Ben Lawers and An Stuc, in winter. ©Lorne Gill/SNH

Trì Latha Sgathaidh na Bà Riabhaich

Tha dà bharail eadar-dhealaichte mun aimsir a bhios ann aig deireadh a’ Mhàirt – agus seo ur cothrom fhèin faicinn cò an tè a tha ceart am-bliadhna! Tha seanfhacal Beurla mun Mhàrt a chanas gum bi e a’ tighinn a-steach mar leòmhann agus a’ falbh mar uan. Ann an Gàidhlig, canaidh sinn gu bheil am mìos a’ tighinn a-steach le ceann na nathrach ’s a’ dol a-mach le earball peucaig.

Ge-tà, tha beachd eile ann – a nochdas ann am mòran chultaran Eòrpach – gur e trì làithean stoirmeil a thig aig deireadh a’ Mhàirt agus gur e làithean-iasaid bhon Ghiblean a th’ annta. Canaidh sinne ‘Trì Latha (Sgathaidh) na Bà Riabhaich’ riutha, agus tha iad co-cheangailte ann am beul-aithris ri bò riabhach a thèid fada bho a dachaigh aig deireadh a’ Mhàirt. Tha i ag iarraidh air a’ Ghiblean trì latha a bharrachd a thoirt dhi gus am faigh i dachaigh ach, an àite aimsir chiùin, tha uisge, sneachd is gèiltean a’ tighinn agus tha a’ bhò bhochd a’ faighinn bàs.

Highland cow grazing at Tentsmuir NNR. ©Lorne Gill/SNH

The Borrowing Days of the Brindled Cow

There are traditionally conflicting traditions regarding the weather at the end of March – and here is your chance to see which of those traditions holds true in 2018! The English proverb has it that ‘March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb’. The Gaelic equivalent is a’ tighinn a-staigh le ceann na nathrach ’s a’ dol a-mach le earball peucaig ‘coming in with the head of a serpent and going out with a peacock’s tail’.

However, an alternative view – reported in many European cultures, including that of the Gaels – presents the final three days of March as traditionally stormy, being days borrowed from April. These are known in Gaelic as Trì Latha (Sgathaidh) na Bà Riabhaich ‘the three (destructive) days of the brindled cow’, being connected to a traditional story in which the brindled cow wanders far from its home at the end of March and asks April to lend it three days so it can get home. However, the three days are unseasonally inclement, bringing rain, snow and storms which cause the poor cow’s death.