In August, we had the opportunity to visit a close friend from Edinburgh, who has now returned to her paternal family home in Orkney. Carrie Paxton is becoming increasingly well known in the Orkney Islands and beyond, for her excellent hand fired, painted glass work, crafted in her workshop at St. Ola, with many pieces which have been inspired by Orkney’s past and present.
Whilst doing all the things which visitors to Orkney do – seeing the Ring of Brodgar and the Brodgar Ness dig in progress, Skara Brae and Maeshowe – we visited the old farm at Corrigall, which has now been preserved as a museum, including buildings from the 16th to 18th Centuries.
The well-preserved family home, with its hearth and box beds, is open to look around, handle objects, and generally soak up the atmosphere, as you imagine what the lives of its past generations of inhabitants must have been like. Basic and hard are the obvious conclusions, though not without occasional pleasures, as attested to by the wonderful example of an Orkney Cog, just lying on a shelf in the farmhouse’s living area.
As you can see from the images above, a cog is a circular drinking vessel made from wooden staves bound by wood or metal hoops. This example has sturdy yet ornate metal handles. The term Bride’s Cog refers to the drink contained within the vessel, a potent mixture of hot ale, spirits, sugar and spices, which is brought out at the end of wedding celebrations. The mixture tends to finish off any guests who had still been sober before the cog was circulated. The bride is the first to drink from the cog, then the bride and groom circulate clockwise (sunwise) around the room for luck, offering guests a drink.
This ceremonial act has obvious parallels with the use of larger quaichs at weddings, which we mentioned in our last quaichshop blog. An old recipe for the Bride’s Cog appears below:
1 bottle whisky
1 bottle dark rum
1/2 bottle brandy
1/2 bottle gin
1/2 bottle port
5 pints dark beer
1lb soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Handle with care – sip responsibly!
