School: Sruthar (C.)
- Location:
- Shrule, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Bríd, Bean Uí Éanacháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0102, Page 151
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- XML “Weddings and Matchmaking”
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- About sixty years ago there were a lot more runaway marriages than matches. If the boy and girl liked each other, they appointed a night to meet and the boy took the girl to a friend’s house. This was called the “runaway.” There was great excitement when the girl’s parents heard that their daughter had gone with a man. They took her home again, and arranged a match between them. But they never do that now. In Annaghadown, runaway marriages were so prevalent that the parish priest, Father Lawrence Hansbrough, announced a penalty for every man who stole a girl. This was the penalty. He had a sheet, and he made the couple walk from the church door to the altar rails, with the sheet around them before the whole congregation. This put a stop to the runaway matches, as they were ashamed and afraid of the parish priest.
There was also the custom of match-making and it is practised to the present day. If a man wanted a wife, he gave a bottle of whiskey to a friend and sent him to ask the girl he wanted. He asked her father, and if he consented, they made the match. They invited a lot of friends to the girl’s house on the night of the receiving of the fortune.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Máirín de Búrca
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Tonacooleen, Co. Galway
- Informant
- Mrs Burke
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 40
- Address
- Tonacooleen, Co. Galway
