School: Gartbratten
- Location:
- Gartbrattan, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Miss W. Price
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0976, Page 275
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Gartbratten
- XML Page 275
- XML “Old Customs”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Hallow e'en was an old time feast which is dying out. Many games and tricks were played on this night which was generally considered a night when intercourse with spirits could be held.
There was an old time belief that the spirits of the dead used to visit the places of their earthly abodes on that night and not many old people would go out after dark for fear of seeing a ghost.
The youngest people wear masks and false faces and travel around the country in bands disguised on this night. They enjoy surprising the people in their homes dancing acting and sometimes collecting pennies, apples and pieces of apple pies. Many pranks are played in some places such as removing gates, carts, barrows and other farm implements, which would cause the owner trouble searching for them.
This night is a night of merriment in the houses. The people eat boxty. This is made from raw potatoes grated finely. There are mixed some boiled potatoes with the grated ones. It is shaped like a cake and put in an oven to(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Patsy Leinster
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Breandrum, Co. Cavan
