Saint Kessog (also known as MacKessog) is an obscure figure in Scottish history who appears out of the mists of time. However, he was once venerated by Robert the Bruce and there are those who argue that he was once the Patron Saint of Scotland, before Saint Andrew was given that iconic role. Saint Kessog [...]
The sleepy coastal town of Burghead becomes the focus of an ancient pagan ritual on the 11th January every year. As the Clavie, a barrel of burning tar is placed on the altar at the Doorie Hill the Brochers (natives of Burghead) watch on. The wood crackles. Sparks rise into the night skies. The flames [...]
St Andrews Cathedral is the place to visit if you are interested in stones, bones, and ghostly groans. Like all of Scotland’s ancient buildings, it is shrouded in its fair share of myth and mystery. How could it be anything less when it once housed the bones of Scotland’s Patron Saint, Saint Andrew whose feast [...]
The 18th of June is the Feast Day of the Nine Maidens in Scotland. But who were these women? Did they ever exist? Were they Christian reworkings of an ancient religion tied to Goddess worship? What is the connection between the Nine Maidens, the Cailleach and Brìde? What is their connection with Edinburgh and King [...]
The Feast Day of Saint Columba is celebrated on the 9th of June, on the anniversary of his death. In Gaelic, his name is Colum Cille which means ‘church dove’. But the princeling monk was not always the gentle servant of God: his zeal and thirst for learning sparked the first copyright dispute in history [...]
As the Battle of Dún Nechtain was taking place, a strange incident occurred in Carlisle. Iurminburg, Queen of Bernicia, sought refuge in a Nunnery which her sister governed as Abbess. Where else was a woman supposed to find solace when their menfolk were at war? That day she had a visitor, the recently appointed Bishop [...]
On the 11th April 1951, Scotland’s Stone of Destiny was found on the High Altar of Arbroath Abbey. The Stone had been missing for months. Some would argue that the Stone had not really been stolen for the Stone had been wrested from Scotland some seven hundred years before. But how can a simple block [...]
In 874 AD Maelbrigte the Tooth appeared from the shadows of Scottish history. Little is recorded of his life: most of what is known concerns his death. This is an account of Viking treachery and duplicity, of a Scottish army, crushed and of poetic justice. Maelbrigte: The Pict During Maelbrigte’s lifetime he would have witnessed [...]