School: Cromadh (B.)
- Location:
- Croom, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: Dáithí Ó Ceanntabhail
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0507, Page 053
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- Customs at births etc.(Of the prevalence or otherwise of these beliefs and customs at childbirth, I cannot generally speak, but they are undoubtedly known here, and sometimes at least still observed.
D.O.C.)A pregnant woman is not to enter a graveyard, at funeral, or otherwise. If she should do so her child is like to be a cam-roilig.If a hare should cross the path of a pregnant woman there is danger that her child will have a hare lip. She can avoid this calamity by making the sign of the cross on some concealed part of her person.In Tiob. Ár. long ago I used to hear that the proper place to make the sign of the Cross on such occasions was the back of the "Shleesta". On public occasions this required a good deal of moral courage on the part of the poor woman concerned, but there was a story to prove that such a person had existed totally, had complied with the ritual suitable to the malcontre and had transferred the blemish thereby from the lip of her future baby to its sleestha. That was the substance of it, but there were details which I cannot recall).The after birth was always buried in the soil. This custom was vigorously observed until trained maternity nurses changed the procedure.(continues on next page)
