School: Abbeytown Convent N.S. (roll number 15043)

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1. May Day Customs

   

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   In olden times many customs were practised on May-day, most of these are gone now-a-days, but some are yet continued and practised. The evening previous to May-day some member of each household goes out into the fields and gathers a hugh quantity of May-flowers. In the towns some poor children go about selling flowers for a little money. On that night, they are scattered on the door-steps and on the window-sills, to welcome the first day of Summer. As the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, an altar is prepared in every Catholic home. It is decorated with flowers, and a small lighted lamp is placed before her statue.
   Long ago it was customary not to put out the ashes, or sweep the floor on May-day. The old people never gave away milk, as they believed they would have no butter on the next churning. Many girls went out into a field at break of day and washed their faces in the dew, under a hawthorn tree. It was said that such people did not get sun-burned during the following Summer. Other customs practised were, the placing of a branch of the mountain-ash in a manure heap in order to protect the cows, and the placing of a "griosach" under a churn so that the

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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)
         1. May (~639)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Nan Rutledge

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Boyle, Co. Roscommon

   Informant

   Mrs Mc Loughlin

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Boyle, Co. Roscommon