"
To go _withershins_ and to read prayers or the creed backwards were
great evils, and pointed to connection with the devil. The author of
_Olrig Grange_, in an early poem, sketches this superstition very
graphically:--
"Hech! sirs, but we had grand fun
Wi' the meikle black deil in the chair,
And the muckle Bible upside doon
A' ganging withershins roun and roun,
And backwards saying the prayer
About the warlock's grave,
Withershins ganging roun;
And kimmer and carline had for licht
The fat o' a bairn they buried that nicht,
Unchristen'd, beneath the moon."
If a tree or plant grew with a twist contrary to the direction of the
sun's movement, that portion was considered to possess certain powers,
which are referred to in the following verse of an old song:--
"I'll gar my ain Tammy gae doun to the Howe
And cut me a rock of the widdershins grow,
Of good rantree for to carry my tow,
And a spindle of the same for the twining o't."
Pennant refers to some other practices in Scotland in his day, that were
no doubt survivals of ancient heathen worship.
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