School: Cnuicín na hAbhann

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   “When I was a little boy there were many quare customs in the place which are all forgotten now.”

   

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   means we would not be allowed go between the clothes and the fire, and by any means any-one would not be allowed carry out a coal of fire whilst they were churning, and on May-eve there was no chance of carrying out a coal. There was not much matches then and if the men out working would want to redden their pipes they would not carry out a coal, they would come in and smoke inside and leave the pipe cool before they would go out.

   There was a lot of old hags around the place too who were full of Pishogues. They were able by some kind of devilment to carry their neighbour's butter. I knew one of them and every May Eve we used to see her picking herbs in our land. She came one day to my Mother for the loan of the cream-cool. She got it, but the next time we were churning we had no chance of making butter. My mother sent out for the men when they were tired themselves, and the men hammered away until they were tired, but no butter. Instead of butter there was a sort of thick foam on top of the churn. This happened three or four times with the same result. My mother suspected the woman who borrowed the cream-cool, and one day she told her how the butter was gone against her. How

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Dora Reidy

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Barna, Co. Kerry

   Informant

   Dan Clifford

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   82

   Address

   Barna, Co. Kerry