School: Baile 'n tSléibhe (B.) (roll number 1344)

Location:
Cornalee, Co. Roscommon
Teacher:
Máirtín Mac Conchradha
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0269, Page 157

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0269, Page 157

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Baile 'n tSléibhe (B.)
  2. XML Page 157
  3. XML “Wake and Funeral Customs”

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

  1. (continued from previous page)
    58. (Contd)
    (b) Fox - harrow.
    A piece of straw rope about fifteen inches long - thick and well woven is obtained. Nine or ten boys, seat themselves on the floor. The boy holding the rope - the fox as it is called - stands in the middle of the ring of boys who are seated. He passes the fox to one of the boys who shouts "Fox harrow & passes it round under their legs. The fox is kept going - all shouting. Fox harrow- narrow ?? and at the time giving an occasional stroke to the boy standing on the floor. The boy on the floor is continuously turning on all sides & grabbing down among the boys - between their legs to try & get the fox. Finally he succeeds & boy on whom the fox is found is the next victim.
    This is continued until the boys are all fairly well exhausted. The game has been practised for generations & is still practised at the wakes of old persons.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. activities
      1. social activities (~7)
        1. rites of passage (~573)
          1. death (~1,076)
    Language
    English