School: Headfort
- Location:
- Virginia, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Miss J.E. Browne
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0999, Page 145
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: Headfort
- XML Page 145
- XML “The Local Fairs”
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
- There is a monthly fair held in Virginia, Mullagh, Oldcastle, Kells, Bailieborough and Ballyjamesduff. Virginia fair is held on the third Wednesday of the month.
Cattle are the chief animals sold and marketed at this fair and next come pigs and sheep. Horses are the most common live-stock sold in Kells fair which occurs every second Friday of the month. Sheep and lambs are usually sold about mid-summer in all the fairs of the district.
In Virginia the cattle etc. are sold in the street as there is no proper fair green. When the buyer is about to make a "bid" he exclaims:-
"Hold out your hand"
Sometimes he spits on his own hand before giving the seller's a hearty slap whilst he shouts out the price he will give for the animal. Some sellers use emphatic exclamations in their dealings such as:-
"Head over heels for life and for ever" but they do not aid in the making of a bargain very much.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Maureen O Connell
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Lislea, Co. Cavan
