FAIRIES, GHOSTS, CHARMS, AND HERBS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SURVIVAL OF FOLK MAGIC IN SCOTLAND DURING AND AFTER THE REFORMATION
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Barnard, Cecilia J
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Abstract
This paper argues that the Scottish Reformation was not successful in the elimination of folk belief and popular religion in Scotland despite its attempts at censuring heterodox religion. Governmental attempts at censure through prosecution for acts of witchcraft contain contemporary evidence that even in its heyday, Scottish Presbyterianism failed to turn the populace away from traditional practices. Later literature demonstrates that folk practice remained widely known in areas of Scotland throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, resisting modernization. Using witch trials, travelogues, and ethnographic collections, this paper attempts to chart continuing magical beliefs in Scotland from the time of the Reformation through the early years of the twentieth century.