School: Cillín (Portomna)
- Location:
- Killeen South, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Seosamh Ó Dúnadhaighe
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0053, Page 0180
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- XML “Local Cures”
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- Local Cures.
There was a lot of old cures in former times. Sugar and honey and sugar and candy melted and mixed together was a cure for a cough or a cold. It used to be taken going to bed fasting and also in the morning fasting.
The old cure for consumption was to feed a cow upon garlic and give the milk to the patient. The cure for a sore throat was to burn salt upon a griddle and put it around the neck in a cloth. THe cure for a toothache was to rub a dead persons finger around the gums.
The old cure for a burn was to lick a lizard. "Black cats" or Welsh's blood was a cure for wild fire. A nettle is good for a frsh cut mixed with salt to keep it from festering . Dandeline and bog beans mixed are good for purifying the blood. A horse skin is a cure for a pain in the back. "Dock leaves" are used for stings. There is a lot of holy wells to which the people used to go to pray and to get rid of certain complaints. The food left by a ferret is the cure for measels and the whooping cough.
Hagers were used for curing the "mumps". If a person had a wart they used to cure it by finding a snail without looking for him(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Clare Mc Donagh
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- Laurence Felle
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 80
