School: Mullagh (B)
- Location:
- Mullagh, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: James Drury
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1003, Page 122
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- XML School: Mullagh (B)
- XML Page 122
- XML “Marriage Customs”
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- Marriage, particularly among the farming classes was very often a serious business transaction. There were no professional matchmakers in the district but there was always a good number of amateurs. These discussed the ways and means of marriageable parties in the locality, compared the acreage and the fortune expected +c.
A person getting married made it a point to wear something borrowed.
On the return from the church to the wedding-house there was a certain amount of rivalry and anxiety as to whether the bride's friends or those of the bridegroom should arrive there first as it indicated which of the married pair should outlive the other.
As a result of this belief the best runners on each side competed in a race from the church back to the wedding house.
Little by little the custom developed a more sporting character and horses were used in the race, a bottle of whiskey being the prize.
Stories are still told of weddings where the "Race for the Bottle" developed into a famous cross country steeplechase. This custom existed(continues on next page)
- Collector
- J. Drury
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Múinteoir
