Advent: my journey through the moorland year. “Ditch of Mary; Heron legs under you, Bridge of warranty before you…”

Advent: my journey through the moorland year. “Ditch of Mary; Heron legs under you, Bridge of warranty before you… “When a cow hesitates to cross [boggy moorland], the person driving her throws a stalk or a twig into the ditch before the unwilling animal and sings the Feith Mhoire, Vein of Mary, to encourage her to cross, and to assure her that the bridge is before her.” p.162 and p.613 ‘Carmina Gadelica’, Alexander Carmichael, Edinburgh 1899