526 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



bird with a stone ; it was, they said, a great barbarity, and 

 contrary to ancient custom. 



But the most striking instance given by Martin of the 

 retention of pagan customs is one connected with the church 

 at Ness. At Hallowtide, the people came to the church 

 prepared for the feast, each family providing a peck of 

 malt which was brewed into ale, and each man having a 

 supply of provisions with him. Then the ceremony was 

 observed of propitiating the sea-god, who was presumed to 

 have the power of yielding, or withholding, a supply of sea- 

 weed for manuring the fields. A selected person waded 

 into the sea up to his middle, carrying a cup of ale in his 

 hand. With a loud voice he cried, " Shony, I give you this 

 cup of ale, hoping that you'll be so kind as to send us plenty 

 of seaware for enriching our ground the ensuing year " ; 

 and so saying, he threw the ale into the sea. This ceremony 

 was performed at night, and was followed by a visit to the 

 church, after which, the people repaired to the fields, where 

 they made merry until the morning. The rite just de- 

 scribed is probably a survival of the autumnal sacrificial 

 feast observed by the Norsemen, " Shony," as Captain 

 Thomas suggests, being doubtless the Icelandic Sjoni, a 

 nickname derived from son an atonement or sacrifice. 

 Probably the invocation of Sjoni originated in the worship 

 of Niordr, the ruler of the sea in the Scandinavian mythology. 

 Donald Morison, minister of Barvas (grandson of the last 

 Brieve), and his son Kenneth, minister of Ui, were instru- 

 mental in putting down Sjoni- worship ; but the ceremony 

 survived in another form. The people used, in the spring, 

 to proceed to the end of a reef, and invoke St. Brianan to 

 send a strong north wind to drive plenty of seaweed ashore. 

 Instances of Sjoni-worship are cited, as having been ob- 

 served in Lewis as recently as the nineteenth century. 

 Martin relates other superstitions, which show how strongly 

 impregnated the people were with the beliefs of their 

 ancestors. The characteristic tenacity with which tradi- 

 tional customs are retained in Lewis, is proved by the fact, 

 that even at the present day, the superstitious practices of 





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