School: Dungourney (roll number 3501)
- Location:
- Dungourney, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Pádraig Ó Rignigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0387, Page 301
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- (continued from previous page)Incidents attendant on births in Dungourney were common to most rural parishes in Ireland. Boys were much preferred to girls, and large families were welcomed, a dozen children in one family being not remarkable. The selection of name for the newly born followed the common plan of giving preference to the grandparents, the fathers father being taken first, unless that he lived and the mother's father was dead. In some cases the boy and man earned his history in his name as John Pat Sheain of Rathcanning Dungourney.The selection of the godfather and godmother or gossips was an act requiring the keenest consideration. The gossips should be persons of spotless reputation and the higher their social position, the better for the infant and parents. The gossip was looked on as a member of the family, and at fairs and markets and such gatherings, a person was often introduced as "me gossip". There was much rejoicing at the birth of a boy. Nurses and doctors were conspicuous by their absence, the obligations being readily discharged without fee or reward by some kind neighbour. Births in Dungourney have greatly declined.
