School: Cill Thiomáin, Durrus, Bantry (roll number 15989)

On this page

1. Customs Observed in Iveagh Peninsula (continued)

   

   Share Share Post

   (continued from previous page)

   It is not right to dip a milky vessel into a well. The person that pours out the first cup of tea at a meal must also pour out the others. The after birth when a cow calves must be placed on a nearby hedge. It is lucky to be licked by a cow. It is not customary to comment on the condition of cattle and horses without adding :"God bless them". No important work is started nor new journeys undertaken on Monday. Before a new dwelling is inhabited sheep must be housed there first. It is unlucky to find a strange pig in one's garden or to leave empty spaces in a ridge. When the farmer kills an animal for table use it is never one of his own rearing. After the cream has been churned nobody leaves the dairy without giving the handle a few turns lest the butter would not come. Three candles are lit in every window of the home on Christmas night. The Christmas candle is kept burning at night and no door is locked or barred. Slips of seasonal flowers white thorn and furze cherry and apple blossoms are plucked before sunrise on May morning and brought into the house to usher in the summer. The head of the household is up betimes to watch his cattle from the ingenuity of evil-minded people. Bonfires are lit in the fields on St. John's Eve and the farm stock are supposed to receive a blessing if the fire is

   (continues on next page)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. belief (~391)
         1. folk belief (~2,535)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eileen O' Driscoll

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Kilcomane, Co. Cork