Pagan bull sacrifice ends for Celts

1778 The last pagan sacrifice of a bull to be conducted publicly in the Celtic world, was performed on the island of Eilean Maree (Maelrubha, formerly Eilean a Mhor Righ – Island of the Great King), in Loch Maree, a lake in the Ross and Cromarty region of the Scottish Highlands.

The sacrifice was to ensure the healing of mental disorders. Libations of milk were also poured out on the hills, ruined chapels were perambulated, wells and stones worshipped, and divination practised each year on this date, the alternative feast day (his primary one being April 21) of St Malrubius ...

Tagged: pagan, celtic, calendar+customs, scotland