School: Teampall Mhuire

Location:
Carbad Beg, Co. Mayo
Teacher:
Eithne, Bean Uí Mhaonghaille
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0144, Page 169

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0144, Page 169

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Teampall Mhuire
  2. XML Page 169
  3. XML “The Rush Candles of Long Ago”

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

  1. Long ago when the people had no lamps or paraffin oil to show them light or even candles. The method was to make use of fir chips which they split off blocks of fir taken from the bogs. They lit those in the fire. This was called a "fir candle", and showed good light while it lasted.
    Then they began to make what was called rush candles. To make those candles they got a quantity of strong rushes, which those were best suited for making these candles. The people cut bundles of these rushes with a reaping hook and took them home. Then they peeled off these skins, and tied them in little bundles and left
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. activities
      1. economic activities
        1. trades and crafts (~4,680)
          1. candle-making (~728)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Margaret Rogers
    Gender
    Female
    Informant
    Michael Rogers
    Relation
    Unknown
    Gender
    Male