From the keening to the chanter: Feminine lineage in Scottish lament
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Abstract
This paper explores the theological and cultural lineage between the women’s caoineadh (keening) traditions of pre-Reformation Scotland and the later development of the pìobaireachd lament. It argues that the suppression of keening by the seventeenth-century church silenced a feminine mode of communal grief-transformation, a function preserved in part through the bagpipe’s cumha repertoire. Restoring balance between masculine and feminine energies in ritual music, it suggests, may recover heart-resonance and communal healing. The article traces the displacement of communal lament into Gaelic song and pìobaireachd as continuing vessels for grief and transformation.
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