cailleach an dùdain

(lit. carlin of the milldust) AC Curious character dance, described as follows in Carmina Gadelica. cailleach an dùdain (cont). — "It is danced by a man and a woman. The man has a rod in his right hand, variously called slachdan druidheachd, (druidic wand) and slachdan geasachd, (magic wand). The man and the woman gesticulate and attitudinize before one another, dancing round and round, in and out, crossing and recrossing. changing and exchanging places. The man flourishes the wand over his own head and over the head of the woman whom he touches with the wand and who falls down, as if dead, at his feet. He bemoans his dead "carlin," dancing and gesticulating round her body. He then lifts up her left hand and looking into the palm, breathes upon it and touches it with the wand. Immediately the limp hand becomes alive and moves from side to side and up and down. He rejoices and dances round the figure on the floor. Having done the same to the right hand and to the left and right foot in succession, they also become alive and move. Though the limbs are living, the body is still inert. The man kneels over the woman and breathes into her mouth and touches her heart with the wand. The woman comes to life and springs up confronting the man. Then the two dance vigorously and joyously as in the first part. The tune varies with the varying phases of the dance. It is played by a piper or fiddler, or sung as a “port-a-beul" (mouth-tune) by a looker-on or by the performers themselves. The air is quaint and irregular and the words which are curious and archaic commence as follows: — "Cailleach an dùdain, dùdain, dùdain, cailleach an dùdain, cùm do dheireadh rium."

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