School: Wilkinstown (roll number 1917)
- Location:
- Wilkinstown, Co. Meath
- Teacher: Máire Ní Failcheallaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0711, Page 024
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- XML School: Wilkinstown
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- XML “A Custom of Long Ago”
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- Long ago it was a custom when a person was dead to make a cake of wheaten bread. This cake was generally made beween the hours of three and six o'clock.
When the cake was baked it was taken out of the oven and it was wrapped carefully in a piece of brown paper. The name of the dead person was written on a slip of paper and put in along with the cake. Then all was placed in a box and it was hidden away in some safe place.
It was believed that as long as the cake remained unharmed the body of the dead person remained fresh in the grave.
- Collector
- Patricia Reilly
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Demailestown, Co. Meath
- Informant
- Hugh Reilly
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Demailestown, Co. Meath
