School: Baile an Oileáin (B.) (roll number 2808)
- Location:
- Ballinillane, Co. Kerry
- Teacher: Eoghan Ua Muircheartaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0460, Page 556
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Baile an Oileáin (B.)
- XML Page 556
- XML “Local Marriage Customs”
- XML “Clothes Made Locally”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)[-]
- There is no tailor in this district. Up to fifty years ago, shirts were made from flax in this district (Ballinilane, parish of Ballyhar, Co. Kerry). The flax was first tied in bundles and then steeped in a stream for then days or so. It was then spread out on the ground for a week to dry and to bleach. It was then bound into sheaves and placed on a shelf in the kitchen where it was left for a month or so. It was next made into smaller sheaves and pounded (beaten) with a "túirgín" (a wooden hammer) so as to soften the stalks. It was then twisted into táithíns (like the súgán for a cock of hay). Every táithín was about 1 1/2 ' long. The táithíns were made into bundles. Then they were cloven with a cloving tongs which was made of wood. When cloven the flax was like thread. Next, it was hackled. The hackle was a piece of wood having spikes of iron driven into it - [drawing] - (hackle). The object of hackling [?]
(continued on page 152)
