THE CLIPPING BLESSING from the Gaelic

When a man has shorn a sheep and has set it free, he waves his hand after it and says:- 

Go shorn and come woolly,

Bear the Beltane female lamb,

Be the lovely Bride thee endowing,

And the fair Mary thee sustaining,

The fair Mary sustaining thee.



Michael the chief be shielding thee

From the evil dog and from the fox,

From the wolf and from the sly bear,

And from the taloned birds of destructive bills,

From the taloned birds of hooked bills.


AM BEANNACHD LOMBAIDH

Falbh lom's thig molach,
Beir am boirionn Bealltain,
Bride mhin a bhi dha d' chonaill,
Moire gheal dha t' aurais,
Moire gheal dha t' aurais.

Micheal mil a bhi dha d' dhion
Bho 'n mhi-chu is bho 'n an-chu,
Bho 'n mhac-tir's bho 'n mhadhan stig,
'S bho ianaibh ineach call-ghob,
Bho ianaibh ineach cam-ghob


From the CARMINA GADELICA by ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL.  This material was gathered n the Gaelic-speaking regions of Scotland between 1855 and 1910.  This work consists of old lore  and it forms a small part of a large mass of oral literature written down from the recital of men and women throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, from Arran to Caithness, from Perth to St Kilda.