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Gearran Rùmach. Tha ainmhidhean mar seo air an comharrachadh anns an ainm a th’ againn airson dàrna mìos na bliadhna, An Gearran.
Highland ponies, like this one from Rum, are often known as garrons, from the Gaelic gearran. The Gaelic for February is An Gearran, recalling a time when Gaels named the winds in late winter and spring after animals.
Animal months
The Gaelic calendar is strongly linked to both the Scottish environment and our Celtic heritage. Only one month (Am Màrt/March) has anything in common with the English names for months, with both being based on the Roman style of naming. Three Gaelic months are named after animals. January is Am Faoilleach (sounds like um FOEUIL*-yuch, where * is similar to the vowel sound in the French oeuf). This is the ‘wolf month’, when these wild animals were reputedly at their most dangerous because of hunger. The following month is An Gearran
(un GYAR-un). The word gearran originally meant ‘gelding’, but has become applied to Highland ponies and entered the English language as ‘garron’. The old Gaels recognised a series of winds in the late winter and spring that were important for calculating when to carry out farming activities. They named these winds after animals. The ‘horse wind’ has survived into modern times as the Gaelic for February. Finally, October is An Dàmhair (un
DAAV-ur), the time of the ‘deer rut’, a very apt descriptive name for that month in the Scottish Highlands.
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