In Scottish tradition, winter was the seasonal domain of the Cailleach or Hag. She was an ancient figure who helped create the landscape, carrying mountains and boulders in her apron that shaped the land wherever they fell. She lived in a cave filled with the bones of oxen, as numerous as the many years she has existed. Her name means "The Veiled One," and she was a powerful divine figure who presided over the fertility and abundance of the wilderness, herding flocks of wild deer and guarding springs and wells. Make an offering to the Cailleach by pouring mead or cream on a holed stone, saying:

Veiled One, Old One, Mother of Snow
Who stirs the cauldron of the waters below,
I honor you and pour on stone
This offering to the dark of bone.