Important Events in Hebridean History
Stone Voices
Main Article
Here I stay, night after night, watching the skies. I know every star and every comet. I watch the sun as his chariot descends into the hills, and I mark how the darkness spreads across the heavens. Year after year I observe how the moon rises each day, moving slowly towards the earth mother who lies waiting for him on the southern horizon. Others sleep after labours, but I witness the passage of time marked out in the constellations spinning overhead, and in the standing stones below. But now, that great time approaches, when the union of the skies and the earth draws close. The tribes will gather from every corner to this holy place to be present at the dance of the sky god. He will rise from the earth's womb and arc low across the sky until he meets his nightly death behind the Hill of Sorrows. But at this appointed time, his death is conquered and he appears again as a great golden circle at the foot of the central standing stone. The watchers assembled here see for themselves that birth and death, like day and night, are two faces of the same endless wheel of life.
This celestial ceremony I have seen only once, and I may not live to see another. But until then I watch, I divine, I read the signs, and I guide our people as their lives are sown and harvested.
Tha mi an seo, oidhche an dèidh oidhche, a' coimhead nan speur. 'S aithne dhomh a h-uile reul agus rionnag an earbaill. Tha mi a' coimhead na grèine 's a carbad a' teàrnadh dha na cnuic, agus a' coimhead an dorchadais a' sgaoileadh thairis air na nèamhan. Bliadhna an dèidh bliadhna tha mi a' mothachadh mar a bhios a' ghealach ag èirigh gach latha, a' gluasad gu socair gu màthair na talmhainn a tha ga feitheamh air fàire gu deas. Bidh càch a' cadal às dèidh an saothair, ach 's mise an t-aon duine a tha a' coimhead tìm a' dol seachad air a chomharrachadh a-mach anns na reul-bhadan a' cur charan shuas os ar cionn, agus anns na tursachan shìos. Mar a tha an t-àm cudromach sin a' tighinn nas fhaisge, nuair a tha coinneachadh an adhair agus na talmhainn a' teannadh dlùth, cruinnichidh na treubhan às gach ceàrn aig an àite naomh seo gus am bi iad aig danns dia na speura. Bidh i ag èirigh à bolg na talmhainn agus a' lùbadh thairis air an adhar agus a' coinneachadh a bhàs gach oidhche air cùl Cnoc an Tursa. Ach aig an àm òrdaichte seo, tha i a' toirt buaidh air a' bhàs agus a' nochdadh a-rithist mar chearcall mòr òir aig bonn an tursa sa mheadhan. Tha an co-chruinneachadh a' coimhead dhaibh fèin gu bheil breith agus bàs, mar an latha agus an oidhche, nan dà thaobh de chuibhle shìorraidh na beatha.
Chan fhaca mi an deas-ghnàth nèamhaidh seo ach aon uair, agus 's dòcha nach bi mi beò airson fear eile fhaicinn. Ach gus an tig an t-àm sin tha mi a' coimhead, a' fàisneachd, a' leughadh nan comharran, agus a' treòrachadh a' chinnidh tro chur agus buain am beatha.
Associated Locations
This event is associated with some locations in the Hebrides. For more details on these, see the list below, or go to the Interactive Explorer.
