School: Carley (roll number 5332)
- Location:
- Crooked Wood, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: Brigid Cooke
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0738, Page 316
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- XML “Marriage Customs”
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- (continued from previous page)bride must wear "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue".
The man who is going to be married gets a "match-maker" to go with him to the girl's house. They always brought a bottle of whiskey with them. When they came to the house the treated the girl's father. The match maker then introduced the man and told the girls father the amount of land and the number of stock he had. The girl's father then went to look over the man's house and land. If the father had not enough ready money at hand for the girl's dowry he gave stock instead. Long ago people were sometimes married in houses where stations took place.
There is a custom of throwing old shoes after the couple as they left the house. They also tied old shoes to the cars.
The night after the marriage the wedding feast was held at the bride's house. The barn was cleared and swept for the dancing. All the neighbours were invited to the wedding. An Irish piper was also employed. There was also two fiddlers at the wedding. About midnight the "straw-boys" came. There was usually eight of them – four of them dressed as women and four as men. They all wore masks and were dressed like wren boys. They wore straw tied round their waists with a belt and this straw hung to their knees like a kilt. The "straw(continues on next page)
