March 2021 – CLAN CARRUTHERS

HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH LUCKENBOOTH

Worn by Mary Queen of Scots

The enduring appeal of traditional jewelry is captured in our Luckenbooth designs. The Luckenbooth is one of the most romantic Scottish symbols of love, from the 15th century and often given as a token of betrothal, affection and friendship. It is usually in the shape of a heart or two entwined hearts, symbolizing love, with a crown, symbolizing loyalty, topping the heart(s). In addition, a couple may pin a Luckenbooth to their firstborn’s blanket as a good luck charm.

During the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries there were two main styles of brooches in Scotland; one was the ring brooch, often with incised decoration, and used to fasten plaids by both men and women. This design was called a Penannular. The other brooch was a heart shaped one, often given at weddings and engagements as a token of love.

From the eighteenth century onwards, small plain heart shaped brooches were worn to protect against evil spirits, the evil eye or the attention of the sithean (fairy spirits).

Robert Kirk “The Fairy Minister”

These are the famous “Luckenbooth Brooches”.

The name for the Luckenbooth came from there being sold in locked booths. These were small shops, which were in fact very tiny and could be securely locked at night and were a feature of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. These brooches were heart shaped surmounted by a crown and usually made of silver.

The earliest known examples of the luckenbooth design date back to 1503 and were traditionally sold from the stalls and shops of the jewellery and trinket merchants outside St Giles Cathedral on Edinburgh’s High Street (the Royal Mile).

The Luckenbooth brooches became more common in the late seventh century. This traditional gift was given by a man to his sweetheart on their betrothal. It was considered a lucky charm, protecting the wearer against the evil eye. Among other powers the Luckenbooth was supposed to have, was in easing the pain at childbirth and ensuring a good flow of breast milk when it was pinned to a woman’s petticoats near her left thigh.

If pinned to the baby’s shawl, it would protect the child from being stolen by fairies.

During the XVIII and XIX centuries the Luckenbooth became larger and more elaborate with inscriptions on the back such as biblical references or the initials of the couple and the date of their betrothal.

From 1850 onwards, the intertwined hearts were made to resemble the letter M. These came to be called Mary’s Brooches or even Holyrood’s Brooches for Mary Queen of Scots’ whose husband, Lord Darnley, had given her one. See above

Most Luckenbooth brooches today are in the form of two hearts topped by a crown and are made of silver, although some versions of this traditional Scottish brooch can be found in iron and brass.

Victorian ones were generally set with garnets. Garnets were thought to have a lucky influence on affairs of the heart and symbolized a lover’s constancy as well as being an emblem of deep friendship. The Victorian versions of the Luckenbooth brooch were decorated with gems of different colors.

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SKARA BRAE

Long before Stonehenge or even the Egyptian pyramids were built, Skara Brae was a thriving village. Step back 5,000 years in time

It is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland.Consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams that provided support for the walls; the houses included stone hearths, beds, and cupboards.A primitive sewer system, with “toilets” and drains in each house, with water used to flush waste into a drain and out to the ocean.

The site was occupied from roughly 3180 BC to about 2500 BC and is Europe’s most complete Neolithic village. Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up “The Heart of Neolithic Orkney”. Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza, it has been called the “Scottish Pompeii” because of its excellent preservation.

Care of the site is the responsibility of Historic Scotland which works with partners in managing the site: Orkney Islands Council, NatureScot (Scottish Natural Heritage), and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Visitors to the site are welcome during much of the year.

The inhabitants of Skara Brae were makers and users of grooved ware, a distinctive style of pottery that had recently appeared in northern Scotland.The houses used earth sheltering, being sunk into the ground. They were sunk into mounds of pre-existing prehistoric domestic waste known as middens. This provided the houses with a stability and also acted as insulation against Orkney’s harsh winter climate. On average, each house measures 40 square metres (430 sq ft) with a large square room containing a stone hearth used for heating and cooking. Given the number of homes, it seems likely that no more than fifty people lived in Skara Brae at any given time.

It is not clear what material the inhabitants burned in their hearths. Childe was sure that the fuel was peat, but a detailed analysis of vegetation patterns and trends suggests that climatic conditions conducive to the development of thick beds of peat did not develop in this part of Orkney until after Skara Brae was abandoned. Other possible fuels include driftwood and animal dung. There is evidence that dried seaweed may have been used significantly. At some sites in Orkney, investigators have found a glassy, slag-like material called “kelp” or “cramp” which may be residual burnt seaweed.

The dwellings contain a number of stone-built pieces of furniture, including cupboards, dressers, seats, and storage boxes. Each dwelling was entered through a low doorway that had a stone slab door which could be shut “by a bar that slid in bar-holes cut in the stone door jambs.” A number of dwellings offered a small connected antechamber, offering access to a partially covered stone drain leading away from the village. It is suggested that these chambers served as indoor privies.

Seven of the houses have similar furniture, with the beds and dresser in the same places in each house. The dresser stands against the wall opposite the door, and was the first thing seen by anyone entering the dwelling. Each of these houses had the larger bed on the right side of the doorway and the smaller on the left. Lloyd Laing noted that this pattern accorded with Hebrides custom up to the early 20th century suggesting that the husband’s bed was the larger and the wife’s was the smaller.The discovery of beads and paint-pots in some of the smaller beds may support this interpretation. Additional support may come from the recognition that stone boxes lie to the left of most doorways, forcing the person entering the house to turn to the right-hand, “male”, side of the dwelling. At the front of each bed lie the stumps of stone pillars that may have supported a canopy of fur; another link with recent Hebridean style.

House 8 has no storage boxes or dresser and has been divided into something resembling small cubicles. Fragments of stone, bone and antler were excavated suggesting the house may have been used to make tools such as bone needles or flint axes.The presence of heat-damaged volcanic rocks and what appears to be a flue, support this interpretation. House 8 is distinctive in other ways as well: it is a stand-alone structure not surrounded by midden;instead it is above ground with walls over 2 metres (6.6 ft) thick and has a “porch” protecting the entrance.

The site provided the earliest known record of the human flea (Pulex irritans) in Europe.

The Grooved Ware People who built Skara Brae were primarily pastoralists who raised cattle and sheep. Childe originally believed that the inhabitants did not farm, but excavations in 1972 unearthed seed grains from a midden suggesting that barley was cultivated.Fish bones and shells are common in the middens indicating that dwellers ate seafood. Limpet shells are common and may have been fish-bait that was kept in stone boxes in the homes.The boxes were formed from thin slabs with joints carefully sealed with clay to render them waterproof.

This pastoral lifestyle is in sharp contrast to some of the more exotic interpretations of the culture of the Skara Brae people. Euan MacKie suggested that Skara Brae might be the home of a privileged theocratic class of wise men who engaged in astronomical and magical ceremonies at nearby Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.Graham and Anna Ritchie cast doubt on this interpretation noting that there is no archaeological evidence for this claim, although a Neolithic “low road” that goes from Skara Brae passes near both these sites and ends at the chambered tomb of Maeshowe. Low roads connect Neolithic ceremonial sites throughout Britain.

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