School: Com Liath (Scoil Brighde) (roll number 8924)
- Location:
- Coomleagh West, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Muircheartach Ó Cróinín
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0282, Page 511
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“When a person dies in a house the first and most important thing is to stop any clock or watch that might be in the house.”
When a person dies in a house the first & most important thing is to stop any clock or watch that might be in the house. The corpse should then be washed and laid out facing east if possible but never for any reason across the house.
The woman of the house never went for Feasta an torraimh as she had to stay to receive friends and neigbours and caoin with them over the corpse as they came to the wake. Caoining or ollagóning was in fashion in places here until quite recently. During the wake food drink tobacco and snuff was supplied to all who came to the wake.
On the funeral day when the corpse was coffined the "settle" on which corpses were always laid out should be turned and left so until the corpse was buried.
A story is told of some people who left an oinseach of a woman minding the house on the funeral day. She set to work immediately to put things right after the wake. She turned up the "settle" and fixed it in its usual place. No sooner had she done so than in walked the man that was being buried and stretched in the settle. The poor oinseach fled after the funeral and the priest had to return and read over the dead person for three hours before he disappeared. Then he(continues on next page)