School: Baile Rua (Buachaillí)

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1. Festival Customs

   

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   Here are a few festival customs which are very popular around here. All the boys gather together on St Stephen's day and dress in funny clothes and get a mouth- organ or a flute and start playing them as they go round from house to house gathering money. Then when they have a lot of money gathered they divide it in equal shares and buy a barrel of porter and drink it in some mans house and get drunk. On the first night of November which is called Halloween everybody gets a tub and puts water in it and then they throw in a few apples and start ducking their heads trying to catch the apples. Then they throw in six-pence and they have to put their head's down to the bottom of the tub and take it up with their mouths and whoever takes it up can keep it. On St Patrick's day all the people in Ireland wear a piece of Shamrock in honour of him. Long ago the old people used to go into a public house and get drunk. Then they used to go out to the Kilnalag cross roads and have factions fights with black haw-thorn stick and many a young man that lost his life there. When they were drinking in the public house it was called "drowning the Shamrock." On the night before New Year's day to blow out the old year and bring in the new year this is how it is {down} done. Two young boys would get two bottles and break the bottom out of them and then they start blowing into them. One of them are blowing out the old year and the other is bringing in the new year. The big men of the district gather together in St Bridge's the same way as St Stephen's day dress in funny clothes and put false-faces on their faces. Then

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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

   Michael Kirrane

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Williamstown, Co. Galway

   Informant

   Mrs Mary Kirrane

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   78

   Address

   Williamstown, Co. Galway