School: Skryne (roll number 1210)

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1. Pishogues (continued)

   

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   (contd)
   district bear on this old belief. If a person looks badly after an illness it is a common way of explaining his ill appearance by the expression. "You would think he was swapped" (exchanged) or "You would think he was overlooked." I remember on one occasion about twenty years ago when out shooting, passing a certain man in a field milking his cow. I said when passing as was the custom "God bless the work" and in a casual way admired the good condition of the animal. Shortly afterwards the cow died suddenly. What was my surprise to hear later that the owner believed that I overlooked the cow. To use his own words to the neighbours who told me the story:- "Only for his decent mother I would have gone straigh to the police." This particular family called "Bans" McMahon was the proper name firmly believed in witchcraft, etc. Often as a boy I tied a red rag on a briar near a path they used travel, and watched a member try to get by the red rad. And one of them used go on his knees and bless himself when approaching the rag, and again having gone past used turn round, go on his knees, and bless himself again. The last of that family died a few years ago and

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Brian Smyth

   Gender

   Male