Editing Cailleach (section)

===Scotland===
The Cailleach is prominent in the landscape of [[Argyll and Bute]], Scotland. In later tales she is known as the ''Cailleach nan Cruachan'' ("the witch of [[Ben Cruachan]]"). Ben Cruachan is the tallest mountain in the region. Tea-towels and postcards of her are sold in the visitor shop for the [[Ben Cruachan|Hollow Mountain]], which also features a mural depicting her accidental creation of [[Loch Awe]].<ref name="LegendCruachan">'[http://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/about/history.asp The Legend of Cruachan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028132707/http://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/about/history.asp |date=2007-10-28 }}', from the Ben Cruachan visitor's website. Access date 21-11-2007.</ref> Legend has it that the Cailleach was tired from a long day herding deer. Atop Ben Cruachan she fell asleep on her watch and a well she was tending overflowed, running down from the highlands and flooding the valleys below, forming first a [[river]] and then the [[loch]].<ref name="LegendCruachan" /><ref name="MysteriousBritain">'[http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/folklore/calleach.html Cailleach Bheur] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009222651/http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/folklore/calleach.html |date=2006-10-09 }}' from the ''Mysterious Britain'' website. Access date 21-11-2007.</ref> The overflowing well is a common motif in local [[Gaels|Gaelic]] creation tales - as seen in the goddess [[Boann]]'s similar creation of the [[River Boyne]] in Ireland.<ref name="McKillopBoann">MacKillop, James (1998) ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-280120-1}} p. 45.</ref> Other connections to the region include her above-mentioned strong ties with the fierce whirlpool in the [[Gulf of Corryvreckan]].<ref name="McNeill" />

She is also associated with other Scottish mountains. [[Ben Nevis]] was said to be her "mountain throne".<ref name="Mackenzie" /> The two mountains on the [[Isle of Skye]] named Beinn na Caillich ([[Beinn na Caillich (Red Hills)|western]] and [[Beinn na Caillich (Kyle Rhea)|eastern]]) after her, from which fierce storms of sleet and rain descend, wreaking havoc and destruction upon the lands below.<ref name="McNeill" />

[[File:Tighnacailleach.jpg|thumb|right|Tigh nan Cailleach, near [[Glen Lyon]] in Perthshire, Scotland]]There is a Gleann Cailliche in [[Glen Lyon]] in Perthshire with a stream named Allt Cailliche which runs into [[Loch Lyon]]. This area is famous for a pagan ritual which according to legend is associated to the Cailleach. There is a small [[shieling]] in the Glen, known as either Tigh nan Cailleach (Scottish Gaelic for ''house of the old women''<ref name="MacLennan">MacLennan, Malcolm, ''Gaelic Dictionary'', Acair and Aberdeen University Press, 1985 photolithographic reprint of 1st edition, 1925</ref>)  or Tigh nam Bodach, (Scottish Gaelic for ''house of the old men''<ref name="MacLennan" />), which houses a number of heavy water-worn stones, resembling miniature human beings.<ref name="McK">McKerracher, Archie, ''Perthshire in History and Legend'', 1st edition 1988, John Donald Publishers, {{ISBN|0859762238}}, pp55-56</ref> Roughly rectangular, the building originally measured 2m by 1.3m by 0.4m high with a stone roof.<ref>''National Record of the Historic Environment'' (Canmore), ''Tigh Nam Bodach'', ''Archaeology Notes'', https://canmore.org.uk/site/23898/tigh-nam-bodach</ref>  A replacement roof of a wooden pallet having collapsed and the whole building having become somewhat ruinous it was rebuilt by a local dyker in 2011.<ref>''Tigh nam Bodach stones of Glen Cailliche get makeover from dyking expert'', ''Daily Record'', 11 May 2012, https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/tigh-nam-bodach-stones-glen-2729865</ref>

According to local legend the stones represent the Cailleach, her husband the Bodach, and their children<ref name="RossAnne">{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Ross |date=2000 |title=Folklore of the Scottish Highlands |pages=114 |publisher=Tempus Publishing |location=Stroud}}</ref><ref name="StonesInSun">''Sacred stones out in the sun'', ''Daily Record'', 4 May 2012, https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/sacred-stones-out-sun-2729746</ref> and the site may represent the only surviving shrine of its kind in Great Britain.<ref name ="McK" /> The local legend suggests that the Cailleach and her family were given shelter in the glen by the locals and while they stayed there the glen was always fertile and prosperous. When they left they gave the stones to the locals with the promise that as long as the stones were put out to look over the glen at [[Beltane|Bealltainn]] and put back into the shelter and made secure for the winter at [[Samhain]] then the glen would continue to be fertile.<ref name="RossAnne" /> This ritual is still carried out to this day.<ref name="StonesInSun" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/oct/30/there-is-power-in-them-mysterious-stone-figures-gaelic-winter-ritual-cailleach|work=[[The Guardian]]|title='There is power in them': mysterious stone figures to be moved in Gaelic winter ritual|first=Libby|last=Brooks|date=30 October 2020|access-date=31 October 2020}}</ref>