School: Colmán, Fíodh Árd (roll number 14081)
- Location:
- Colman (Cramptmore), Co. Tipperary
- Teacher: Caitlín Ní Dhomhnaill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0559, Page 201
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- XML “Wakes in Olden Times”
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- Wakes in former times were altogether different from what they are today. In the country places in Ireland when an old person died great preparations were made for the wake. The barn was cleaned out a bed was suspended from the rafters and on this bed the dead person was laid. If the old Caoiners were not to be had in the district they were sent for to the nearest place and paid to "Caoin" over the dead person. They walked around the corpse and told the good qualities of the dead person, raised a most terrible cry and clapped their hands as if in sorrow, wailing and crying. They renewed this several times during the wake. All this custom is done away with except in the north-western parts of Ireland where the custom is still carried on.
- Collector
- Teresa Hartigan
- Gender
- Female
