Faoilleach or Faoilteach, anglicised as Fulteachs, futtick, furtock etc, is a Scottish Gaelic term which originally referred to a certain period in the agricultural calendar and which refers to the first month of the year, January, in modern Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

.

Nowadays, the term has fallen out of English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Lowland Scots

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

, but is still used in Gaelic for the month of January specifically. It would appear to be a very old term, as it seems to come from faol or faol-chù meaning a wolf, a creature which has been extinct in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 for centuries.

The Gael

Gaël

Gaël is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.It lies southwest of Rennes between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Mauron...

 of old regarded stormy weather towards the end of January as prognostic of a fruitful season to follow, or vice versa, as shown in various proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

s.

Variations

In Lewis

Lewis

Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....

, Faoilleach fell on the Friday nearest to three weeks before the end of January, and ended on the Tuesday nearest the end of the third week of February. It was said to be three weeks of winter, and three weeks of spring.

A shorter Faoilteach consisted of the last fortnight

Fortnight

The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....

 of winter, and the first fortnight of spring, in the Old Style calendar

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...

, proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

ial for its variable weather. Sometimes the first half was called Am Faoilteach Geamraidh (Winter Faoilteach), and the second half Am Faoilteach Earraich (Spring Faoilteach).

Na Faoiltich is also used to mean the equinox

Equinox

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...

es according to Dwelly, presumably the vernal equinox.

Proverbs

• "In Faoilteach, the three furrows side by side should be full of water, full of snow, and full of house thatch." (presumably referring to climate and growth)
• "For every mavis
  Song Thrush
  The Song Thrush is a thrush that breeds across much of Eurasia. It is also known in English dialects as throstle or mavis. It has brown upperparts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies...
  
   that sings in Faoilleach, she’ll lament seven times ere spring be over."
• "It comes on Friday and goes on Tuesday."

John Jamieson

John Jamieson

John Jamieson FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, lexicographer, philologist and antiquary.The son of the Rev John Jamieson, Minister of the Associate Congregation, Duke Street, Glasgow, he was educated at Glasgow Grammar School.He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and subsequently...

 records another saying:

"they wish the Fuilteachs in with an adder

Vipera berus

Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...

's head, and to go out with a peacock's tail, i.e. to be stormy in the beginning, and mild towards the end."

This is very similar to the Highland sentiments.