School: Ceathrú na Laithighe (Brownsgrove) (roll number 12138)

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1. Customs and Beliefs in Connection with Certain Days

   

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   The Twelfth Night. This night occurs on the eve of the sixth of January (fifth of January) and is called in some places Little Christmas Night but nearly all the people of this district call it the Twelfth Night. It is the last and also the twelfth night of Christmas. The twelve nights of Christmas are from the twenty fourth of December (Christmas Eve) to the fifth of January.
   On this night in almost every house in this district twelve candles are lit in memory of the twelve days of Christmas. A table is placed in the middle of the kitchen (or room) and twelve little coloured candles are placed on it. All the members of the family now gather in a circle round the table each holding in his hand a lighted match or piece of paper.
   The woman of the house now tells them to light a candle which each one promptly does; all lighting their candles at the same time. In some cases some members of the family are obliged to hold two lighted matches; one in each hand that is when there are not twelve members in the family. The candle which each member has lit is said to represent the length of time he will live; and whatever candle is worn out first the person who lit that candle will be the first to die in the house and so on until the twelve candles are worn out.

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   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

   Mary Mc Gagh

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Beagh (Browne), Co. Galway

   Informant

   James Kennedy

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   77

   Address

   Beagh (Browne), Co. Galway