School: Clooncullaun (roll number 13163)
- Location:
- Clooncullaan, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Liam Mac Leastair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0250, Page 226
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: Clooncullaun
- XML Page 226
- XML “The Bonfire Night”
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
- The old custom of lighting a bon-fire on the 23rd June, the eve of St John's Day, has been observed from time immemorial and is still observed, but to a less extent, in this part of the country.For weeks previous to the event the young people look forward to the fun and merriment that always accompany the occasion. It is one of the big events of the year for the youngsters. Days beforehand they start to gather material for the fire and a collection of fuel in the shape of turf and old sticks is piled on the site of the fire. Early on the evening the children gather to the chosen site, generally a cross-roads or some central place and proceed to light the fire. Gradually the grown up folk and the old people arrive and all sit round the fire. The old people relate stories of the doings and carrying-on that were practised in their boyhood-days and recount the many tricks they played.(continues on next page)
- Informant
- Mr John Nolan
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 76
- Address
- Clooncullaan, Co. Roscommon
