08/23/03

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Am Bratach Sith...Fairy Gift?...Or Crusader's Sacred Banner?

Legends, however fantastic or far-fetched they may appear to be, are rarely without some trace of historical fact.  When a relic survives to tell it's own story, that at least is one fact that is impossible to ignore.  The precious Fairy Flag of Dunvegan, the most treasured possession of the Clan, is just such a relic...

The traditional tales about it's origin, some of them very old indeed, have two themes - Fairies and Crusaders.  Fairy stories are difficult to relate to fact;  they often occur as a substitute for forgotten truth.  The connection with the crusades ca, however, be linked to the only definite information available as to the origin of the Fairy Flag - the fabric, thought once to have been dyed yellow, is silk from the Middle East (Syria or Rhodes);  experts have dated it between the 4th and 7th centuries A.D.  In other words, at last 400 years before the First Crusade.  So was it the robe of an early Christian Saint?  Or the war banner of Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, killed in 1066?  Or did it emerge mysteriously from the grassy knoll in Skye?  The legends are all we have to guide us to the answer.

The "Crusader" Version

A MacLeod on a crusade to the Holy Land received food and shelter from a hermit in a dangerous mountain pas on the borders of Palestine.  The hermit warned him that an evil spirit, a destroyer of true believers, guarded the pass but that with some advice and a piece of the True Cross, he might get through.  The MacLeod slew the spirit, The Daughter  of Thunder ("Nein na Pheupere") and before she died, she revealed to him the future of his Clan, directing him to take her girdle and make a banner of it and to make a staff of her spear.

In another version, the crusading MacLeod was given a box by a fairy.  In it were other boxes and in the innermost, a magic flag.  The fairy said:  "If you or your people are ever in sore peril, wave the flag and many armed men will immediately come to your aid."  The Clansman brought the box to his Chief who appointed a local family to take care of it and gave them three lands in Bracadale.

Seton Gordon's Version..(Given "as he got it")

A Ploughman, MacDiarmaid, was given a box for MacLeod by a fairy.  He brought it to the Castle, whereupon Lady MacLeod was very excited and said she must see in the box.  Now the flag that was in the box had a gift that was to let you see all the people in the world when you looked at it.  Lady MacLeod was soon to have a baby.  When she looked at the Fairy Flag, she took such a fright she had her baby at once!  And every cow, mare, sheep and pig in MacLeod's country had their young before their time at that very moment.

The Fairy Music Version

As She sat spinning, the Lady of MacLeod heard singing in the room where her baby son was sleeping.  When she went to see who sang, she found a little woman in a green kirtle wrapping the child in a silken banner and singing this fairy spell:

Ho-ro weel-a-vok, bone and flesh of me,

Ho-ro veel-a-vok, blood and pith of me;

Skin like falling snow, green thy mail coat,

Live thy steeds be, dauntless thy following.

Much troubled, lady MacLeod cried out: "God save us!  It is I that am the mother of that child!"  At the sound of the Good Name, the little woman vanished but the Fairy Banner remained.  It became the custom to sing over the Chief's children and for many generations no nurse was employed at Dunvegan who could not sing the Fairy Lullaby which is still known.

In another version........One night when there were celebrations at Dunvegan, the nurse put the Chief's little heir in his cradle in the Fairy Tower and stole away to join in the mirth of the great hall.  The baby became restless and kicked off his blanket, whereupon the fairies came and comforted him, wrapping him in a silken shawl.  When the nurse recalled her duty, she brought the child down to the hall in his fairy wrap and the room was filled with the sound of unseen singers singing the Fairy Lullaby.

The Fairy Bridge Version

Once upon a time a fairy married a MacLeod Chief and was permitted to remain with him for 20 years before returning to Fairyland.  When the sad day came to part, the Chief took leave of his wife at the Fairy Bridge, three miles from Dunvegan.  She gave him the Banner telling him that when he was hard pressed in battle, waving it would bring a host of armed men to his side.

Dame Flora's Summing Up

When Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod (Dame Flora's father) had the Fairy Flag mounted in it's sealed frame, Mr Wace, one of the experts from the Victoria and Albert Museum, set out in great detail the factual deductions they made as to it's origins, including the historical evidence that the Norseman, Harold Hardrada, made an expedition to plunder the pilgrim routes of the Middle East and brought a famous banner to Britain where he was killed in 1066.  Sir Reginald listened politely to all this and then said:  "Mr Wace, you may believe that, but I know that it was given to my ancestor by the fairies."  And Mr Wace replied: "Sir Reginald.  I bow to your superior knowledge."

Belief in the power of "Am Bratach Sith" to save the Clan in times of danger remains strong in the minds of all MacLeods.  In 1939, a serious fire threatened to destroy the whole castle;  when the flag was carried out to safety, the flames were seen to abate.  During the second world war, pilots from the Clan carried it's picture on flying missions, as a talisman.  In MacLeod history, on the occasion of two of the Clan's recorded battles, the Chief waved the Flag at the moment of crisis and it brought victory.

The attraction of the theory that "Am Bratach Sith" might be none other than Harold Hardrada's "Landoda" (Land Ravager), stems from his own claim: "With this banner, I can never be defeated in battle."  and he named it his most treasured possession, even though his wealth in looted gold and precious stones is said to have been unimaginable.  When he fell at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066), it is told that his banner Landoda had not been disembarked from the ships before the army of Harold of England surprised the Norse invaders.  Isles men, known to have been among his supporters and to have fled to the ships, could well have borne it away for safe keeping.....But whatever the truth, now, as in past centuries, the Chief and the Clan hold the Fairy Flag and its saving power in the deepest respect.

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