School: Clonalvy
- Location:
- Clonalvy, Co. Meath
- Teacher: Máire, Bean Uí Mhurchadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0685, Page 166
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- XML “Old Cures”
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- There are many cures for warts: the principal one is, to wash your hands in potato water every night for nine nights in succession, and the warts will leave your hands. A very common cure is to prick a black snail with a thorn, and apply the snail to the wart. Old people say that if you are walking along a road or in a field, and if you are not thinking of the wart, to bathe your hand in a pool of water, and bless yourself the warts will go. A very good cure is to cut a potato into nine pieces, and for nine nights in succession rub a fresh piece of the potato, on the wart, & on the ninth night throw away the nine pieces and the warts will disappear. A cure for blackeye is to tie a piece of beefstake on the black place.
Another cure for warts is to put the milk of a fairy churn staff on the warts, & they will disappear in a day
These small churn staffs are shaped like a daisy and are only found in certain places in the north of Ireland.
