School: An Charraig (roll number 13839)
- Location:
- Carrick, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Seán Ó Súilleabháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0268, Page 009
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- It was the custom long when they would be going to bury the corpse to place the coffin on a horses cart. It was a rule for two women to sit on the coffin and cry until they would reach the churchyard. They used to carry the corpse on their shoulders and then place the coffin on sticks or poles which they called a "bearer." When a hersow would die there used to be two nights of a wake and all sorts of games used to be played. During the day according as anyone would come in they got a pipe of tobacco and snuf. As each person would come in the keening was raised by all that were in the house. The coffin was placed on four chairs outside the door of the house for a few minutes before they started for the graveyard. It was a belief that if one died three were supposed to die out of the district. If a crane flew over the house one of the members would die. If it rained a shower while the coffin was being carried out, it was supposed their sins where all washed away. During the nights of the wake much marriages took place and games of lined man's buff and the bosehara.
