Name pronunciation:
LORR-egg
General Information:
The Loireag is a Highland spirit who oversees every stage of cloth-making. She watches spinning, weaving, washing, and waulking/fulling from start to finish. She is exacting. If people do not follow the proper rituals and traditions, the cloth can become too thin or even unspin so that work must begin again. She loves music, especially waulking songs. However, if a song is sung out of tune or sung twice, the fabric comes apart and must be respun. People made offerings of milk to propitiate her. In South Uist, invoking St Columba was also said to drive her away.
Appearance:
Locals describe her as “a small mite of womanhood that does not belong to this world, but to the world thither,” more felt than clearly seen.
Habitat:
Linked to the moody, misty slopes of Beinn Mhòr, the highest mountain on South Uist. People in Benbecula and South Uist associated her with this mountain and with places where cloth was made and washed.
Behaviour:
- Stubborn and precise; enforces correct methods in cloth-making.
- Loves music and milk.
- Punishes errors in process and song: out-of-tune singing or repeating a song leads to cloth failure.
- Can cause trouble for farmers by cursing their cattle, preventing them from moving.
- Milk offerings or invoking St Columba can send her away.
Shape-shifting Ability:
Not specifically recorded as a shape-shifter in this lore. However, the Gaelic word “loireag” can also refer to a shaggy cow, a plump girl, a pancake, a petrel, or a water-sprite, which may hint at varied regional meanings rather than confirmed shape-shifting.
Variant:
The gyre-carlin is another Scottish spirit linked to cloth-making. It was said that if unspun flax was left on the distaff at the end of the year, she would steal it. If asked for the gift of spinning skill, she could allow a woman to produce three to four times as much as others. She is often mentioned for comparison with the Loireag.
Location in Scotland:
- Benbecula and South Uist, Outer Hebrides
- Especially associated with Beinn Mhòr (South Uist’s highest mountain)
Stories/ Sightings or Experiences:
Eerie Beinn Mhòr
Mary Macinnes of Benbecula said that Beinn Mhòr was always eerie because the Loireag dwelt there. She described the Loireag as “a small mite of womanhood that does not belong to this world, but to the world thither,” and said she drove people “out of their heart-shrine with fear.”
Music, Milk, and the Loom
Tradition holds that the Loireag loves waulking songs and milk. Yet, if a waulking song is sung out of tune—or sung twice—the cloth is spoiled and must be respun. To keep her favourable, home producers left offerings of milk, and some would invoke St Columba to drive her away when needed.
Cattle Held Fast
Farmers complained that the Loireag could curse their cattle so they could not move. An offering of milk or calling on St Columba was believed to lift this trouble and send her back to her misty mountain home.
Purpose of the myth or Legend:
The Loireag reinforces precise standards in spinning, weaving, washing, and waulking. The lore explains failures in cloth-making as the result of broken custom or careless singing, which encourages skill, attention, teamwork, and respect for tradition. It also offers practical remedies—milk offerings and prayers—and ties local identity to Beinn Mhòr. For modern readers, the Loireag serves as a reminder that craft relies on both method and music, and that discipline keeps the work whole.
