School: Boireann

Location:
Burren, Co. Cork
Teacher:
Eibhlín Ní Bhriain
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0313, Page 160

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0313, Page 160

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  1. XML School: Boireann
  2. XML Page 160
  3. XML “May Day”

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  1. Long ago people vied with each other to get first water from the well on May morning. They said there was a cure in it.
    (Mrs Wm. O'Driscoll)

    Nobody gave away matches or any light out of the house that day for fear of giving away the luck.
    (Mrs O'Driscoll)

    A piece of Sycamore or Horse-chestnut tree was hung up on each door and also in the stall and stable for luck on the cows and horses.
    (T. Holland)

    Nobody gave milk on May day for fear of giving away the butter for the year. An old story told by William O'Driscoll Burren is - according to his father's telling:-
    Long ago a farmer at the eastern side of the parish used to be up at dawn on May day and stand at the cross roads. He used to wave his hand in each direction saying "Leath chugham-sa". That year he had baskets of butter while no neigbour in the locality had more than half his ordinary supply.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)
        1. May (~639)
    Informant
    Mrs William O' Driscoll
    Gender
    Female
    Age
    c. 60
    Address
    Burren, Co. Cork
    Informant
    Timothy Holland
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    61
    Occupation
    Feirmeoir
    Address
    Clooncalla More, Co. Cork
    Informant
    Timothy Kelly
    Gender
    Female
    Age
    c. 65
    Occupation
    Fear oibre
    Informant
    William O' Driscoll
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Burren, Co. Cork