School: Keeny
- Location:
- Keeny, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: E. Ó Cléirigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0972, Page 491
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- XML School: Keeny
- XML Page 491
- XML “Churning”
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- The size of a churn depends on the numbers of cows kept by a farmer. Our churn is three feet high and six feet in circumference at top and bottom and somewhat narrower in the middle. The churn's age is about three years and a half. The principal parts are the churn itself, the dash, butter spades and the lid.
Churning has to be done oftener in the Summer months than in Winter as milk is more plentiful. In Summer we churn three times per week and in Winter we churn once or twice a week.
The churning is generally done by the farmer's wife and the younger members of the house. It is a very old. custom in Ireland that when a visitor enters the house where churning is in progress he takes a 'brash' and this is counted lucky. "I must leave the weight of myself of butter on this churn", they say.
The dash is used to seperate the butter from the milk. It takes one hour when the weather is warm to do a churning and when the weather is cold boiling(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Pat Mc Kiernan
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Drumbrawn, Co. Cavan
