Bidding stick

In Scotland, such a token (Scottish Gaelic: crann-tara,{{cite web|title=Crann-tara |publisher= at Dwelly's Gaelic Dictionary| url=http://www.cairnwater.co.uk/gaelicdictionary/index.aspx?txtSearch=crann-tara}}{{cite web|title=crann-tara |publisher=ann Am Faclair Beag| url=http://www.cairnwater.co.uk/faclair/?txtSearch=crann-tara}} translated as "fiery cross"The Royal School History of Scotland. 1873. London: T. Nelson and Sons, p. 247.Pittock, Murray. 1999. Celtic Identity and the British Image. Manchester: Manchester University Press, p. 5. or "cross of shame") was used to rally clan members to arms. The practice is described in the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott. A small burning cross or charred piece of wood would be carried from town to town. A widely known use was in the 1715 Jacobite rising, although it was used more recently among Scottish settlers in Canada during the War of 1812.Crann-tara – "The gathering beam, a signal formally used on occasion of insult or impending danger, to summon a clan to arms. It was a piece of wood, half burnt and dipped in blood, in token of the revenge by fire and sword awaiting those clansmen who did not immediately answer the summons. It was passed from one permanently appointed messenger to another, and in this manner the alarm was spread across the largest districts in an incredibly short time. In 1745 the crann-tara traversed the wide district of Breadalbane, upwards of 30 miles in three hours." {{cite book|last=Dwelly|first=Edward|title=The Illustrated Gaelic English Dictionary|edition=8th|year=1973|publisher=Gairm Publications|location=Glasgow}} page 264 In 1820, over 800 fighting men of the Scottish Clan Grant were gathered, by the passing of the Fiery Cross, to come to the aid of their Clan Chief and his sister in the town of Elgin.{{cite web|title=Clan Grant History & Facts|url=http://www.clangrant-us.org/history.htm|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113001532/http://www.clangrant-us.org/history.htm|archivedate=2008-01-13}}

The name Crann Tara was used for a Scottish Gaelic current affairs programme on Grampian Television (ITV)[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1988/jul/20/gaelic-and-welsh Gaelic and Welsh House of Commons Debate], Hansard, 20 July 1988 vol 137 cc641-2W and a political magazine edited by Norman Easton between 1977 and 1982.Easton, Norman (ed.), Crann-Tàra No. 1, Winter 1977, Aberdeen.

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File:Arpakapula.jpg

When an enemy had arrived, bidding sticks (Old Swedish: buþkafle (sg.)) were sent in all directions. In Sweden, they consisted of clubs, or just wooden chunks; in Norway, there were repurposed arrows. Sometimes the bidding sticks had a string attached to one end and were charred on the other end; Olaus Magnus (1555) relates that those who did not bring the club to the next village would be hanged and their homesteads burnt down.

When the people were assembled to a thing, the object was in the shape of an axe, or if the meeting concerned blasphemy, it was a cross.

The objects were signed with runes or other marks in order to indicate the reason for the assembly (e.g. election of king at the Stone of Mora), and who had sent them. During the Middle Ages, using buþkaflar was the official method of assembling people, and they were only allowed to be carved by certain officials, e.g. governors and sheriffs.

They were especially efficient, however, when they were used to levy people against royal oppression and high taxes. After the Dalecarlian rebellion of 1743, strong checks were placed on the use of bidding sticks.

In Sweden, the bidding stick was standardized during the village reorganizations in 1742, and it was at the village level that they were frequently used. During the 19th and 20th centuries, more specific messages were attached to the clubs or inserted into a hollow space. Still in the early 20th century, there was a paragraph in Swedish law that stated that the bidding stick would be sent between the villages if there was a forest fire.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} — Similar paragraphs were also present in the Finnish legislation concerning the correct use of arpakapula, or budkavle in Finland's Swedish, till the 20th century.Hakkila, Esko (ed.): "Arpakapula." Lakiasiain käsikirja, p. 40. Porvoo: Werner Söderström Oy, 1938. — The most prominent regulations were in the Criminal Code of 1889 (chapter 44, §§ 23–24).

{{about|text= For disambiguation see Bidding stick newspapers (disambiguation)}}

The concept of the bidding stick has been used as the name for several newspapers,{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=Sons of Norway "Cultural Corner" April 2014 Item of the Month The Budstikke |url=https://sonsofnorway5.com/programs/cultural_corner.php |access-date=May 29, 2025 |website=Sons of Norway}}{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=budstikke |url=https://snl.no/budstikke |access-date=May 29, 2025 |website=STORE NORSKE LEKSIKON}} including the Norwegian papers Budstikka, Budstikken, and Bremanger Budstikke, and the Faroese paper Tingakrossur.{{Cite web |date=April 5, 2017 |title=The illegal newspaper Budstikken |url=https://www.arkivverket.no/utforsk-arkivene/andre-verdenskrig/samfunnslivet/den-illegale-avisen-budstikken |access-date=May 28, 2025 |website=ARKIVVERKET}}

Bidding stick has many ways it can be grammatically in Norwegian.{{Cite web|url=https://no.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=budstikke&oldid=1176059|title=budstikke|date=January 18, 2024|via=Wiktionary}} There's the bidding stick the object, and bidding stick as a name for something like a newspaper. Different newspapers might use different grammatical ways for spelling the word. These entities containing bidding stick as "names" can be completely unrelated to each other. Terms such as "Budstikken", "Budsikke", "Budstikka",{{Cite web |date=2025-05-29 |title=Muck Rack {{!}} For journalists and public relations |url=https://muckrack.com/media-outlet/budstikka |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=muckrack.com |language=en}} all refer to a Bidding stick in newspapers.

Budstikken Weekly newspaper by a governmental commission (1808) Note: There's other newspapers with this name such as one from WW2

Romsdals Budstikke used to be a newspaper for the Liberal Party, published in Molde, Norway (1884){{Cite web |title=Romsdals Budstikke |url=https://snl.no/Romsdals_Budstikke%20Romsdals%20Budstikke |access-date=30 March 2013 |website=Store Norske Leksikon}}

Fredrikshalds Budstikke Norwegian newspaper published in Halden in Østfold county, by Chr. Olsen (1844)

Note: Originally had the name "Budstikken av Fredrikshald"

Flekkefjords Budstikke was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Flekkefjord (1874)

Budstikka Daily local newspaper published out of Billingstad in Asker, Norway, by Jørgen Chr. Kanitz (1898)

Søgne og Songdalen Budstikke local Norwegian newspaper covering the municipalities of Søgne and Songdalen (1990)

Bremanger Budstikke a local Norwegian newspaper published in Svelgen in Vestland county by Geir Nybø. (2009)

Tingakrossur (1901 published) was a Faroese newspaper, written primarily in Danish. Name comes from the Faroese common noun tingakrossur 'bidding stick'. Many of the newspaper's editors were leading politicians in the Home Rule Party and later it became the organ and party newspaper of the Home Rule Party (Faroese: Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) in 1906.

Smaalenenes Amtstidende (1832 published) In 1852 the owner of Fredrikshalds Budstikke bought Smaalenenes Amtstidende and amalgamated the newspapers, but publishing continued under the latter name and Fredrikshalds Budstikke became defunct. Smaalenenes Amtstidende was the first newspaper in Østfold county.

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Category:History of telecommunications

Category:Scottish folklore