Popular tales of the West Highlands : orally collected . elof fire. It is common in the Highlands now to speak of the wheel of the sun, and it was the custom not longago to ascend some high hill on Easter Sunday to seethe sun rise, and whirl round like a mill wheel, andgive three leaps. But a peasant of a practical turn ofmind rebuked a friend, saying— Fool! And dost thou think to see the sun risefrom there, when she rises beyond Edinburgh, and somany hills as there are in the way 1 The characteristic spirals, the circle, the wheel, andthe sun are thus associated by Celtic traditions and de-vi
Popular tales of the West Highlands : orally collected . elof fire. It is common in the Highlands now to speak of the wheel of the sun, and it was the custom not longago to ascend some high hill on Easter Sunday to seethe sun rise, and whirl round like a mill wheel, andgive three leaps. But a peasant of a practical turn ofmind rebuked a friend, saying— Fool! And dost thou think to see the sun risefrom there, when she rises beyond Edinburgh, and somany hills as there are in the way 1 The characteristic spirals, the circle, the wheel, andthe sun are thus associated by Celtic traditions and de-vices. The design given below was traced from thebronze vessel already mentioned, and it represents thesun, with three lines starting from its centre. These arenot exactly the Legs of Man, but they are drawn on WEST HIGHLAND STORIES. 387 the same spiral principle, and tlie spaces enclosed arefilled by tliree human faces, rudely carved. The designresembles that on the i^orries law relics found inFife, and in the east it clearly related to fire or But the design given above is only one of a greatmany on the same vessel; all bound together andenclosed by endless lines, turning, and twisting, andsprouting into heads, leaves, and buds; and twelve ofthe designs represent the signs of the Zodiac. Thusthe particular style of ornament which experts haveagreed to call Celtic and Byzantine, here occurson a Hindu sacred bronze almanac, and the sun in Leo has the spiral lines in its centre, so these oncehad an astronomical meaning. 388 CELTIC ART. The Lions tail grows into a serpent, and the inter-laced ornament sprouts into a whole crop of buds, andmonstrous heads, over which the lion stalks triumphant. Aries is a man riding on a monstrous ram with aflourishing tail; Taurus is mounted on a bull; Gemini^ are dancing about two bulls heads; Cancerhas got the sun in his claMs; Leo is describedabove; Yirgo, men gathering autumn fruits; Librais a lady playing on a guitar; Scorpio a man f
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Keywords: ., bookauthorc, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, gemini, solarsymbols
