School: Árd Phádraig
- Location:
- Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: Pilib Ó Conaill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0509, Page 438
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- XML “Cures for Disease”
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On this page
- 12-12-'38.
Sometimes an ailment called locally 'wildfire' occurs on people. Red patches appear on the ribs of the nature of a rash. It may be the disease known as shingles.
Old people said that to cure this a juice was obtained from wheat by pressing on the grain with a red hot bar? This juice was rubbed on the eruption & formed a coating which prevented the spread of the disease.
It was also believed that if you wrote your name with a finger all round the affected part, the affliction would pass away. That is the attendant would go through all the motions of writing the name on the skin as if he held a pen repeating the name till the patch was 'ringed round'.
There was a belief that if the eruption formed a ring completely round the body, the person would die.
- Collector
- Pilip O Conaill
- Gender
- Male
