origin and meaning of it ? These are questions which I should be glad to have expounded by the Society, for I have not had time to consult Mr. Fraser's Golden Bough, in order to see if it gives any close parallel to the proceed- ings of the good people of Colby.
Manx has a word quaail (Irish comhdháil), meaning a 'meeting', and from it we have a derivative quaaltagh or qualtagh, meaning, according to Kelly's Dictionary, "the first person or creature one meets going from home", whereby the author probably meant the first person met by one who is going from home. Kelly goes on to add that "this person is of great consequence to the super- stitious, particularly to women the first time they go out after lying-in". Cregeen, in his Dictionary, defines the qualtagh as "the first person met on New Year's Day, or on going on some new work, etc." Before proceeding to give you my notes on the qualtagh of the present day I may as well finish with Cregeen, for he adds the following information : " A company of young lads or men, generally went in old times on what they termed the Qualtagh, at Christmas or New Year's Day, to the houses of their more wealthy neighbours ; some one of the company repeating in an audible voice the following rhyme : —
"Ollick ghennal erriu as bleïn feer vie,
Seihll as slaynt da'n slane lught thie ;
Bea as gennallys eu bio ry-cheilley,
Shee as graih eddyr mrane as deiney ;
Cooid as cowryn, stock as stoyr,
Palchey phuddase, as skaddan dy-liooar ;
Arran as caashey, eeym as roayrt ;
Baase, myr lugh, ayns uhllin ny soalt ;
Cadley sauchey tra vees shiu ny lhie,
As feeackle y jargan, nagh bee dy mie."
It may be loosely translated as follows : —
"A merry Christmas, a happy new year,
Long life and health to the household here.
