School: Díseart, Inis

Location:
Dysert, Co. Clare
Teacher:
Séamus Mac Glúin
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0613, Page 065

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0613, Page 065

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  1. XML School: Díseart, Inis
  2. XML Page 065
  3. XML “May Day Customs”

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  1. There are a great many customs connected with May Day. Some of the customs are religious and some of them are superstitious placed on May Day the children of Mary place flowers on her altar and the flowers are called may flowers. The people shake holy water on the cows on that day and it is said it increases their milk. The people do not let fire out of the house on May Day. If a man comes in to light his pipe he is made smoke it inside. If a person gets up early on May Day he should not kindle a fire unless he sees smoke out of the priest's house. On May morning the man of the house goes to the nearest stream separating his land from his neighbour's and he takes a jar of water home with him, and he also picks a branch off the whitethorn tree. The water is left in a safe place and the branch is hung on the rafters and it is left there until the following year. People do not give away milk on
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)
        1. May (~639)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Eileen Keane
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Drumcurreen, Co. Clare