*Ø* Blogmanac | June 9 | Columba and the lucky monk
Today is the Feast day of Saint Columba (or Colmcille), abbot and apostle of the Picts (Barberry, Barberis vulgaris, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint)

We know that animal sacrifice was practised in Britain at least until 1778. While scholars argue about the practice of human sacrifice in pagan Britain, some say it was customary, when starting construction on a new major building, to sacrifice a person, preferably a virgin, and place the body beneath the foundation stone. The gods were appeased by this act, as they thought mere mortals presumptuous to design and create prominent buildings. Furthermore, the spirit of the sacrificed person, because they had been honoured by being chosen as the lucky one to die, was thought to reside in the building, protecting all who went in inside.


Even after Christianity came to Britain and Ireland, the practice continued for quite some time. It is said that when St Columba (he who drove away the Loch Ness Monster) came to Iona off the Scottish west coast and began building monasteries there and on neighbouring islands, the walls of one of them kept falling down. Saying that this was because the customary sacrifice hadn’t been made, Columba’s superstitious monks demanded that a human being be buried beneath the foundation stone. Persuaded, the saint allowed the horrible practice to be performed, and a monk named Oron was chosen by lot to be the lucky one. After he was buried under the stone, the problems in construction ended.

It's interesting to note that there is a Hebridean island named Oronsay, and on it are the ruins of an ancient priory reputedly founded by St Columba. Perhaps the name of the sacrificed monk is commemorated in the name of the island.

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St Columba is associated with the story of how the robin got its red breast by pulling out the thorns piercing the crucified Christ’s forehead.

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St Columba's Day: the luckiest day of the year in Highland Scotland, especially when it falls on a Thursday.

Day of Colum Cille the beloved
Day to put the loom to use
Day to put sheep to pasture
Day to put coracle on the sea
Day to bear, day to die
Day to make prayer efficacious
Day of my beloved, the Thursday.
Carmina Gadelica

St Columba's herb is the St John's Wort which flowers around now in the Northern Hemisphere; if found accidentally and kept beneath the armpit (where the saint is said to have worn it) this will ward off all kinds of evil. Say this charm when you pick it:

Arm-pit package of Columba the kindly
Unsought by me, unlocked for
I shall not be carried away in my sleep
Neither shall I be pierced with iron
Better the reward of its virtues
Than a herd of white cattle.

Hypericum, or St John's Wort, is one of the few medicinal herbs to receive full validation of efficacy by Western Science. It is effective in cases of depression and anxiety.

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1838 Myall Creek Massacre, Australia
Bad day at Myall Creek
On Saturday, June 9, 1838, twelve European stockmen rounded up approximately 20 Kwiambal aborigines at Myall Creek (a branch of the Gwydir River in New South Wales), and killed them with knives and guns. The stockmen, who had accused the aboriginal people of pilfering, were acquitted at a trial on November 15, but faced trial again on November 29 and were found guilty. Seven of the twelve murdered were executed under Governor Sir George Gipps’s authority.