“Gawk Stane” is the name applied to very specific stones in Scotland. A gawk stane can be an ancient standing stone, or it can be a glacial erratic stone (a large piece of rock that differs from size and type of rock that’s native to its area, which arrived to the site after being carried by glacial ice), but not all standing stones or glacial erratics are gawk stones.
While the connections between certain stones and Scottish Gawk myths and legends isn’t particularly clear, there is the general sense that when a stone receives the added label of “Gawk Stane” that there is some connection with the arrival of springtime and the cuckoo bird (called a “gawk” in Scots).
One such example is an old stone cross in Nevern, Wales. On April 7th villagers would wait around the stone for the first cuckoo to land and sound its call. The villagers would then sing to celebrate the arrival of spring.
Of course, Scottish cuckoo folklore is so diverse – signifying everything from storms, bad luck, and good luck; to being voices for the dead or seers of prophecy – that there’s no one answer as to how a certain stone became a gawk stane.
