In parts of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland, the last sheaf of wheat
harvested from the fields was brought indoors and feted as the
Cailleach, or the Old Woman, the primordial woman of winter. A
6/8 jig still popular among Scottish folk musicians, especially
pipers is called Cailleach an Dudain (The Cailleach of the Mill-
dust). Nineteenth century Gaelic ethnographer Alexander
Carmichael wrote a large footnote about this distinct dance in
his seminal work, the Carmina Gadelica: This is a curious
character-dance. The writer got it performed for him several
times. It is danced by a man and a woman. The man has a rod in
his right hand, variously called ‘slachdan druidheachd,’ druidic
wand, ‘slachdan geasachd,’ magic wand. The man and the woman
gesticulate and attitudinise 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 lie touches with the wand,
and who fills down, as if