School: Drumacoon (roll number 351)
- Location:
- Drumacoon, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: P. Ó Grianáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0950, Page 386
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- When anyone dies in a house there is always a wake held. There is a wake held two nights after other before the person is buried. In Co. Monaghan the neigbhours all gather into that house, and they go into the room in which the corpse is. There are a lot of things said and done about the wake or the funeral.When the person dies the window is opened. They say this is to let the soul out. Also the clock is stopped. The coffin is left open and as the people go in they touch the body so that they will never see a ghost. As the people go in they look at the dead person they very often say, "Isn't he like himself". In the room the people all sit round and every man gets a clay pipe and tobacco and smokes. They play all sorts of games, also, till near morning. When they are burying the person if he is not stiff they say that another person will soon die. They even say you shouldn't take a near-cut with the coffin to the graveyard. When they are burying him the friends throw in the first few shovels full
