Among the Highlanders of Scotland the
last corn cut at harvest is known either as the Old Wife
(_Cailleach_) or as the Maiden; on the whole the former name seems
to prevail in the western and the latter in the central and eastern
districts. Of the Maiden we shall speak presently; here we are
dealing with the Old Wife. The following general account of the
custom is given by a careful and well-informed enquirer, the Rev. J.
G. Campbell, minister of the remote Hebridean island of Tiree: "The
Harvest Old Wife (_a Cailleach_).--In harvest, there was a struggle
to escape from being the last done with the shearing, and when
tillage in common existed, instances were known of a ridge being
left unshorn (no person would claim it) because of it being behind
the rest. The fear entertained was that of having the 'famine of the
farm' (_gort a bhaile_), in the shape of an imaginary old woman
(_cailleach_), to feed till next harvest. Much emulation and
amusement arose from the fear of this old woman. . . . The first
done made a doll of some blades of corn, which was called the 'old
wife,' and sent it to his nearest neighbour.
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