An cuir sibh ris an liosta de dh’àirighean ‘na h-aon oidhche’? / Can you add to the list of ‘one-night’ shielings?

Àirighean na h-Aon Oidhche

Tha làraichean sheann àirighean air feadh na Gàidhealtachd a’ cumail nar cuimhne mar a bhiodh ar sinnsirean a’ falbh don mhonadh len cuid cruidh a h-uile samhradh. B’ e an àirigh àite sìtheil, gu math tric brèagha, uaireigin uaigneach agus an-còmhnaidh a’ gabhail prìomhachas ann am mac-meanmna nan Gàidheal. ’S e Àirigh na h-Aon Oidhche a th’ air feadhainn dhiubh, agus an t-ainm air a mhìneachadh le sgeulachd mu chreutair os-nàdarrach (a nochd an toiseach gu minig ann an cruth caillich) a rinn sgrios air na boireannaich òga (no, corra uair, fir òga) a chuir seachad a’ chiad oidhche anns a’ bhothan-àirigh.

Chaidh sgeulachdan dhen aon seòrsa a chruinneachadh air feadh na Gàidhealtachd ’s nan Eilean, ach chan eil e soilleir cia mheud àirigh a ghiùlaineas an t-ainm seo. Tha feadhainn clàraichte ann an ceann a tuath Ratharsair (NG 601489), ann an trì àiteachan ann an Leòdhas (Pàirc NB 395167, faisg air Bràgar NB 297426 agus ann an Sgìr’ Ùige NB 022284), ann am Beinn a’ Bhaoghla (NF 817524) agus air Eilean Cholla (NM 232591). Tha Ruairidh MacIlleathain a’ cruinneachadh liosta de na h-àiteachan air a bheil ‘Àirigh na h-Aon Oidhche’ (agus na sgeulachdan nan cois). Mas urrainn dhuibh cur ris an liosta aige, nach cuir sibh fios puist-d thuige air rmac@uags.scot.

One-night shielings

Shieling sites and place-names throughout the Highlands recall a pivotal annual activity in the lives of the people for centuries, when they took their cattle into the hills during the summer. The shieling was a quiet, often beautiful place, sometimes lonely and invariably subject to the meanderings of the collective Gaelic imagination. Several places in various locations carry the name of Àirigh na h-Aon Oidhche ‘the one-night shieling’, where oral tradition tells us that the intervention of a supernatural power (often hidden within the form of an old woman) caused destruction to the young women (occasionally men) who had gone to the shieling bothy for their first – and only – night.

Stories of this nature have been collected throughout the Highlands and Islands, but it is not clear how many shielings carry this actual name. Recorded examples occur in the north of Raasay (NG 601489), in three locations in Lewis (Pàirc NB 395167, near Bragar NB 297426 and in Uig NB 022284), in Benbecula (NF 817524) and on the island of Coll (NM 232591). Ruairidh Maclean is collecting a list of locations with this name (and its attendant story). If you can add to the list, please email him on rmac@uags.scot.