School: An Geata Bán (roll number 11992)
- Location:
- Whitegate, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Mícheál Mac Cárthaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0393, Page 047
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- XML “Local Marriage Customs”
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- Marriages take place locally at all times of the year but Lent and Advent, and are not kept over until Shrove or Shrove Tuesday. May and August are supposed to be unlucky months to marry, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are supposed to be unlucky days,
There used to be a custom on Shrove Tuesday of making out a list of the names of maidens and bachelors who were of age to marry and did not marry during Shrove, This was known as the Skellig List, Another custom was of roping all the bachelors and maidens to take them to Skelligs, where they could still be married as Easter was held there later than on the mainland. Matches were made between the farmers sons and daughters. Sometimes a fathers bed was given to the bride, If her people were rich she got a fortune, sometimes stock was given as fortune,
People were married in their own home, A wedding feast was held at the home of the bride. The people used to walk in pairs to the church and back again. Wives used to sit on pillions behind their husbands on horses, Ellie Sheehan of Whitegate who is an old woman, remembers her father say he remembered people being married in their own homes.
