In my family there is the tale of Annie MacGillivray and Cian the Selkie which goes back over 300 years. Jilted by a lover and disconsolate, Annie walked into the sea as the tide was going out with the intent of ending her life. As she was nearing death, something saved her and pushed her toward shore. Arriving on the beach, Annie’s eyes lifted to behold the most beautiful man she had ever seen. They became lovers and Annie bore him a son. However, she soon learned the truth of the Selkie legends. He could not linger on shore with her for more than a year and a day. Not wanting to leave her, he gifted her with a strange orange candle, telling her to burn it in the window at midnight when she could no longer stand the pain of separation. That original candle was eventually replaced with another and another until Annie and Cian had 13 children. On the night Annie died, the Selkie candle was burning in the window and that same candle was preserved for over three centuries. Near midnight, when the winds are high, they whisper that you can see a candle faintly flickering in the window of Annie’s auld cottage and the seals still come to that spot and sing their songs.
by DeborahAnne MacGilivray