Gàidhlig / English
Breacadh an Rionnaich

Breacadh an Rionnaich

Posted by Shelagh on Thursday 7th May 2015

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen many changes in the weather, so this week we are looking at a phrase which was used to predict the weather: Breacadh an Rionnaich / Breacadh-rionnaich. This phrase was collected both in Harris and Barra and is the equivalent to the English phrase ‘mackerel sky’ (breacadh meaning ‘speckled’ and rionnaich meaning ‘mackerel’), with a further translation given as ‘a streaky sky with light and dark blue.’

Interestingly, breacadh na rionnaich was seen as an indicator of both good and bad weather. In our Fieldwork Archive, the phrase appears under the heading ‘Foretelling bad weather’ and is also mentioned by a contributor from South Uist, who gave the phrase feusag nan gobhar (literally ‘the beard of the goat’ and metaphorically ‘the beard of the mackarel’) with the meaning “weather indicator similar to breacadh an rionnaich...followed by rainy weather.”

However, in the text Suathadh ri Iomadh Rubha by Angus Campbell (better known as Am Puilean), breacadh rionnaich appears as one of the ‘good symbols’ in a list of signs used to predict the weather. There is also a verse in Alexander Nicolson’s Gaelic Riddles and Enigmas:

“Tha breac an rionnaich air an adhar;
Latha math am  màireach.”

(“There’s a mackerel sky;
Tomorrow will be good.”)

In English folklore, the phrase is also used as an indicator of both good and bad weather – two contrasting examples are ‘mackerel sky, not twenty-four hours dry’ and ‘mackerel sky, three days dry.’

Perhaps those of you with màirnealachd (weather wisdom) will know why a mackerel sky can foretell two very different types of weather – if so, please get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

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