![]() ![]() It was a great honor to have your hair selected, and to this day, many women in NW Europe carefully save their long braids as long as they live for this purpose, even though the reason for this has long been forgotten. The cable with which the boat was tied to the anchor stone was woven out of the long braids that young women cut off for this purpose. From the high viewpoint at the far north tip of the island everyone could observe the tragedy. This name referred to the many people who annually arrived like an invasion to attend the sacrifice and to watch the life struggle of the young man in the coracle, which was anchored in the whirlpool, all observers watching in dead silence. The island where they gathered used to be called “Hinba” from hinbasio (invasion). It was the only such annual sacrificial place in NW Europe and the ordeal was attended by thousands of people coming from as far away as Norway, Denmark, the Baltic region, Scotland and Ireland, even Russia. The most dramatic of the Tammuz sacrificial deaths took place, not in the Mediterranean, but in the Whirlpool of Corrivreckan, located 50 miles west of Glasgow, Scotland. The following link explains what could have happened: And according to the Celtic mythology ritual human sacrifice took place in the north of Jura. In Irish Celtic Mythology the Monk St Columba established a settlement on the Isle of Hinba, there are various schools of thought on this, Hinba is Iona, Hinba is Saints Isle, or indeed that Hinba is actually Jura. This third view finds support in the name of the island being recorded as Doraid Eilinn in AD678, the year in which Jura was said to have been the site of a major battle fought between native Picts and Scots from Ireland.”īut is there a fourth option perhaps? A more sinister and dark one? And was Corryvreckan the scene of human sacrifice? Gavin, a regular reader of this blog, sent me a couple of interesting links to another possible explanation for which I’m very grateful. Ken Lussey of Undiscovered Scotland gives a third possible explanation: “A third opinion is that it comes from a blend of Old Norse and Gaelic meaning Doraid’s Island. Other explanations are that the name is derived from the Old Norse for Udder Island reflecting the shape of the paps. When I heard about the island for the first time and started reading about it in several books and online, the most common explanation for the name was Island of Deer. The name Jura is believed to originate from the Norse ‘Island of the Deer’ but do we know that for certain? I know I have it written down on the main page of my website which doesn’t mean it’s true of course.
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