School: Cooley

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1. Festival Customs (continued)

   

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   they put on a roaring fire because they believed that the dead belonging to them would come in and sit round the fire. On Bonfire night before the sun would set and before the cows were driven in from the field the people used to "put out" a bonfire and it was a custom to take a coal out of the bon-fire and to place it at the head of every field in which their crops grew, they believed that they would have a good crop that year. On Candlemas Eve the people used to put the rushes for making the crosses out on a wall and it was always a man had to take them into the house. Then they used to put the rushes on the table and eat their dinner on top of the rushes. On Shrove Tuesday long ago the people used to make nettle broth and pancakes. The men used to get some out to the field and when they came in at night they got pan-cakes for their supper. On May Eve the people used to gather large bunches of flowers and they strew them on all the window-sills. They also put some at the two sides of the door. Then they got a grape and tied a bunch of may flowers on to the handle of the grape and drove the handle into the ground. They always put it where everybody saw it. At the same time they had a candle burning in the kitchen.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Maria Mc Elhinney

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Cooly, Co. Donegal

   Informant

   Mrs Bridget Mc Elhinney

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Cooly, Co. Donegal