School: Killmallock Convent School
- Location:
- Kilmallock, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: An tSr. Dimpna
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0528, Page 317
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)people came and when they heard their own name the bad angels came and threw branches of trees in the in the form of a cross on him saying at the same time "Criss-cross, jolly moss" and they got the answer: "All except the still-born babes, the wicked angels and wiful murderers."
Ever afterwards it was a custom to throw little crosses, or pieces of them, into the graves, or earth was shovelled in the first in the form of a cross, in that locality - somewhere near Bruree. This was done to keep the bad angels away. It was said that the boy took with him into the grave three little wooden crosses and he believed that these saved him from the fury of the fallen angels. For all night long they threw branches on him but they quietened as morning came and the child got safely out holding his little wooden crosses tightly in his hands.
- Collector
- Kathleen O' Connor
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- Patrick Kelly
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 78
- Address
- Kilmallock Hill, Co. Limerick
