'There is power in them': mysterious stone figures to be moved in Gaelic winter ritual
Figures of the ‘wise woman’ Cailleach deity and her family are part of a tradition that may be centuries old
The stone family huddle by their turf-roofed shelter, looking eastwards to the shrouded summit of Meall Daill, Perthshire, as the mists roll down from the burnt orange mountainside. The tallest of the figures, still under a foot in height, is a water-worn rock with a feminine torso and slim neck. She is the Cailleach: a seasonal deity in Gaelic mythology who bestrides the winter months, known variously as an earth-shaper, wise woman, storm-raiser and
