nd their
glare across a Highland loch, and from many eminences, formed an
exceedingly picturesque scene."[587] Like the Beltane fires on the first
of May, the Hallowe'en bonfires seem to have been kindled most commonly
in the Perthshire Highlands. Travelling in the parish of Moulin, near
Pitlochrie, in the year 1772, the Englishman Thomas Pennant writes that
"Hallow Eve is also kept sacred: as soon as it is dark, a person sets
fire to a bush of broom fastened round a pole, and, attended with a
crowd, runs about the village. He then flings it down, heaps great
quantity of combustible matters on it, and makes a great bonfire. A
whole tract is thus illuminated at the same time, and makes a fine
appearance."[588] The custom has been described more fully by a
Scotchman of the eighteenth century, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre. On the
evening of Hallowe'en "the young people of every hamlet assembled upon
some eminence near the houses. There they made a bonfire of ferns or
other fuel, cut the same day, which from the feast was called _Samh-nag_
or _Savnag_, a fire of rest and pleasure. Around it was placed a circle
of stones, one for each person of the families to whom they belonged.
And when it grew dark the bonfire was kindled, at which a loud shout was
set up. Then each person taking a torch of ferns or sticks in his hand,
ran round the fire exulting; and sometimes they went into the adjacent
fields, where, if there was another company, they visited the bonfire,
taunting the others if inferior in any respect to themselves. After the
fire was burned out they returned home, where a feast was prepared, and
the remainder of the evening was spent in mirth and diversions of
various kinds. Next morning they repaired betimes to the bonfire, where
the situation of the stones was examined with much attention. If any of
them were misplaced, or if the print of a foot could be discerned near
any particular stone, it was imagined that the person for whom it was
set would not live out the year. Of late years this is less attended to,
but about the beginning of the present century it was regarded as a sure
prediction. The Hallowe'en fire is still kept up in some parts of the
Low country; but on the western coast and in the Isles it is never
kindled, though the night is spent in merriment and
entertainments."[589] In the Perthshire parish of Callander, which
includes the now famous pass of the Trossachs opening out on the winding
and wooded shore