School: Westland (roll number 8428)

On this page

1. Festival Customs

   

   Share Share Post

   On St. Stephen's Day all the local boys gather up in gangs. Some of them kill a wren, others pretend they have a wren but they have none. They go from house to house, saying over the same rhyme.

   "The wren, the wren.
   The King of all birds.
   On St Stephen's Day she was caught in the furze.
   Put your hand in your pocket or into your purse,
   And if you dont do it you will have the wren's curse."

   Whatever money they get, they divide among themselves at ten or eleven o'clock that night. The most of it is spent on drink. As a rule they used the money collected to have a party for themselves.
   On St. Patricks Day nearly every one wears a shamrock, the emblem of Ireland.
   An old custom that went on in Ireland was, men would go off to a public house and they would call for a "Patrick's Pot", which is a glass of "The real Old mountain dew" whisky. Before they would taste this whisky they always put down their shamrock in it, and they call that "drowing the shamrock". Then they went home singing songs.
   On Shrove Tuesday it is a custom to make pancakes for tea. No one would get leave to eat them till after six o'clock in the evening and then they were not to eat anything else till they were going to bed. Everyone was supposed to have happy dreams after eating the pancakes. It is supposed that anyone who gets up out of bed

   (continues on next page)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Doris Ormiston

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Mullagh, Co. Cavan

   Informant

   Mr W. Ormiston

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Mullagh, Co. Cavan