Is the Cailleach actually many local weather goddesses? Is she a goddess at all?
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I'm a bit worried about the Cailleach these days. She is not a simple character in either Scots or Irish folklore. You will not find the Cailleach in the great sagas and cycles of Irish or Welsh gods and heroes. You will find other "hag" figures, and if you like to take the view that all hags are just re-workings of one archetype, then I guess you can run with that. However, let's just stick to the Cailleach, for now. I said that she is not simple, but rather than being the opposite, which might be complex, I'd say that she is diverse. We don't find many variants of one Cailleach story, so much as we find a number of pretty dissimilar stories whose common thread seems to be weather. Perhaps we should introduce our stories in future, by saying "Here is a tale of a cailleach."
In Scotland, tales of weather hags which include the Cailleach Bheur, various carlines and witches and a figure known perversely as "Gentle Annie" abound, but most of these tales are very localised. Generally, the local Cailleach lives up the nearest large or barren mountain peak, or somewhere similar. She seems particularly associated with the rough weather that is common in late winter and early spring. Many regions experience a sort of false spring around the beginning of February, when lambs are born and a little fishing might be possible, only to find that the weather regresses into wildness around the time of the equinoxial gales. Scottish and Irish weather is unsettled at the best of times, but this unpredictability is particularly frustrating, challenging and dangerous at this time of year, when people were traditionally running out of foodstuffs as well as patience.
The Cailleach tales are many, but there are several general themes. In one, we find the hag holding spring/summer prisoner - usually in the form of a maiden, who may be called Bride, or Brigid. Through cunning, or with the assistance of a helper (in one case Angus Óg) Bride is able to defeat the Cailleach or escape, and spring is able to progress. However, it seems that most of these tales are modern variants of just one story collected by one folklorist, which got spread about in the folklore revival of the 20th century. This in no way devalues this story, but it is an oversimplification to say that "This is the Cailleach story." The theme of the Cailleach holding a prisoner also comes up in some local tales where a hunter or fisherman is imprisoned by an amorous Cailleach. In these tales, it may be that if the fellow is willing to kiss or make love to her, she will be young again. Meanwhile, other variants on the Cailleach/Bride theme have them as one and the same entity, where the Cailleach cyclically grows old and is renewed annually by a well of youth or some similar device.
There is also a famous poem from around the 9th century, known as The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare. This is the complaint of an old woman who has lost her beauty and wealth. Almost a kind of female Job. She says things like, "When my arms are seen, all bony and thin, they are not, I declare, worth raising around comely youths." and "My hair is scant and grey; to have a mean veil over it causes no regret." This atmosphere of bitterness and anger is one of the things which runs through the different tales of the Cailleach. Inevitably, she is portrayed as ugly and misshapen, often a giantess. Her skin is blue, she has only one eye, red teeth and other horrors - and she is not happy about it.
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Sometimes she has a number of cohorts or sisters of similar appearance and they are frequently credited with having created large features of the landscape, either by the action of their enormous feet or with hammers. One strong geographical association is with the Corryvreckan whirlpool, which lies between the Isle of Jura and the west coast of Scotland. This is a very real and dangerous stretch of water, and is said to be the place where the Cailleach washes her plaid (a shawl or cloak).
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The Corryvreckan today
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The Scots have a talent for irony, and the name "Gentle Annie" is a great example of this. Gentle Annie is the Cailleach figure known to fishermen of northeast Scotland, where "Gentle Annie weather" refers to the rough seas and gales of spring, which begin around the equinox and may continue until the end of April.
I Know Where I'm Going
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In my mind, even the 1945 Scottish film "I Know Where I'm Going", with its situation of people stormbound, and its famous scene at the Corryvreckan whirlpool, is somehow a continuation of the theme of the young gaining the upper hand over the old, as the heroine, who is destined to marry an older man is wooed and won by the young laird who overcomes him and reclaims his lands. The only thing missing is an actual old woman -- the weather itself takes that role. Or perhaps that part is taken by the young laird's mysterious, slightly older ex, living a strange, elemental life with her deerhounds and shotgun. If you have never seen this film it is a real cracker -- but I digress...
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I'm deeply indebted to "Seren" for her article on this topic on the Tairis website. It's well researched and well presented information helped to remind me of what I already knew, as well as giving me one or two new snippets of information. This helped me get my thoughts in order and made writing this piece much less of a chore. I also looked at the Cailleach from the angle of my oracle work in First there is a mountain... some months ago.
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