School: Séipéal na Carraige (roll number 5478)

On this page

1. Festival Customs - Saint Stephen's Day (continued)

   

   Share Share Post

   (continued from previous page)

   dance on the kitchen floor, whilst 2 or 3 others play for them. When the step-dancing is finished, they sing a few songs. Then they ask something to "bury the wren". They get a shilling or two in most houses.
   It is a very pleasant sight to see fine manly fellows, in their colourful garments, march along, in step to some fine old Irish tune.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

2. Festival Customs - Saint Bridget's Day

   

   Share Share Post

   

   You are not logged in, but you are welcome to contribute a transcription anonymously. In this case, your IP address will be stored in the interest of quality control.

   On this day, years ago, school girls wore crosses, on their right shoulder, known as Saint Bridget's crosses. These crosses were made by themselves, of bright coloured pieces of silk, sewn together on a cardboard foundation, out in the shape of a cross. These crosses had to be burned on Lady Day. On Saint Bridgets night, young fellows dressed up like the wren-boys and went from house to house, preceded by one of the company, who carried a large Rag Doll, and asked for something for the "Biddy". On receiving money they danced or sang. These customs on Saint Bridget's Day have died out altogether, and nothing is heard now of the crosses, that little girls collected such nice pieces for. Each little girl tried to have a better cross than the other.

   Save Cancel

   Transcription guide »

   By clicking the save button you agree that your contribution will be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License and that a link to dúchas.ie is sufficient as attribution.

   Topics

   1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)
         1. Feast of St Brigid (~366)

   Language

   English