A baby was once about to be christened when an old gipsy woman called at the house. When she saw the baby boy she muttered a few words and went away. When the baby came back from church he asked for his pipe and tobacco. The people got frightened and asked for cures. One old woman told them to get a red hot shovel and put the baby on it. When they had heated the shovel well one man

Many old people have old cures and they are quite simple and they are easy. These are some. If you have chillblanes on your hands or your feet get a piece of fresh lard and mix it with a pinch of mustard then put it on the range in a saucer and wait till it melts then rub it on your chillblanes. There is also another cure for them as well it is to get a raw onion and it to the chillblanes.

Long ago the people of Ireland had many old cures. One of them is a cure for warts. Get a rush and bless it with holy water. Make the sign of the cross on the wart with the rush. Bury the rush in an old dung-hill and do not disturb it. According as the rush withers the wart withers.

An Old Well in Trim. 10-11-'38
Long, long ago there was an old well in Trim
In this well the Druids saw the coming of Saint Patrick to Eire. Some of them were greatly alarmed but there was one old druid who was so very wise that he knew that this holy man would teach the people to adore a God of infinite power and majesty. He knew that when the people heard of this Good God he would be no longer needed with his magic, so he resolved to bury all his books of magic. But when burying them he chanced to bury a very valuable book of cures.
This book contained the names of all the herbs and the way to mix them and was a very rare book indeed. The years passed as only years can and one day a young girl when planting flowers came upon the old book. It of all the books the druid had buried was in good condition owing to some preserving powers which were in a mixture in which the Druid had steeped it. The young girl tried many of the cures and found them very effective

daughter that was born after their father dying had the power to cure this complaint; They blew their breath into the persons mouth that was complaining and he or she was then cured. The old people had many other old cures also.

There are many old cures for ailments,and some of them have proved very useful. Some people have more belief in them,than in the present modern cures.
RHEUMATISM; An old cure for rheumatism is to boil a quantity of celery in new milk,and take a wine glass full every morning and it gives great relief.
RHEUMATIC JOINTS; An old cure for stiff rheumatic joints is to rub them with goose grease.
WILDFIRE; A cure for wildfire is to smear a mixture of gunpowder and black cats blood on the part effected.
SORE THROAT; An old cure for a sore throat is to put baked salt in a woolen sock to the throat as hot as can be borne,and to repeat

old people have are better than the cures which the doctors have, because they are quicker remedies. After a few years these old remedies may be forgotten and it is a pity if they are let die down.

The old people around Bundoran have many old cures. This is one of them. If two people of the same name marry their children have a cure for the mumps. The person getting cured is led by a halter to the nearest south-running streams, and made to drink three egg-cups full of the water.

The country people and the old people are great believers in old cures. One of the most common cures is the cure of the sprain. They have a special cord for it, and prayers are said. On the death of the person the cure is given to a member of the family but he must never tell what prayers he says when making the cure.

MIONNBHAR NA BOINNEFolklore Competition.I promised some time ago to say a word in this column on the Folklore Competition at Feis na Midhe. Since then the word has been said by an expert in the subject - a man to whom this work of saving the national tradition is indeed a labour of love. It is a thousand pities that every man, woman and child in the county had not the privilege of hearing Mr. Dulargey's lecture, or at the very least that there was not one old person from every parish in the county there. If there had been I am sure that within a month there would be enough material forthcoming to keep the Folklore Commission working overtime.Rhymes.
One point which Mr. Dulargey emphasised was the importance of recording facts, stories, rhymes etc. which seem to the ordinary person too trivial or too well known to be worth attention. He gave as an example the rhyme:-
"One moonlight night as I sat high,
Watching for one and two passed by,
The leaves did quiver and my heart did quake,
To see the cunning hole that the fox did make."Probably every reader has heard that. Nevertheless it is of interest to know the exact version of it that is current in each district and what explanation is given of it. How many know the very quaint prayer used to cure toothache, which embodies a dialogue between Our Lords and St. Peter.
"Oh, Peter, Peter, why do you quake?"
"Oh, my Lord and Saviour, my tooth does ache".A collection of such rhymes would in itself make a most interesting entry.Old Cures.
In one parish I know there is a traditional cure for almost every known disease from rheumatism to ringworm. Some are pure herb cures, others are charms like the mearing water (Uisce na dtrí-dteorann). A list of these from each parish would be most interesting, particularly if accompanied in each case by the name of the family who has the cure and how it has been transmitted as far as local memory goes. It seems that many of these cures are traceable to some great traditional healer, perhaps of pagan times, while others owe their virtue to some saint who left the cure to his family. In our days of specialists in every branch of medicine we are inclined to underestimate the deep knowledge of Nature and her cures which the learned men of old so painstakingly acquired and so jealously guarded. Fireside Stories.
Have we forgotten all the old stories that entertained our less sophisticated fathers on the winter nights? How many know "Hudden and Dudden" or "Mac a Ban Rian Dubh" or the story of the man who strayed into the house of the sheep-stealers? Even fragments of these are worth collecting as well as all the tales of ghosts and headless coaches and black dogs. They all have a meaning to the folklore expert. It will be most interesting to see how many parishes in the county will send us the story of the men sleeping under the ground waiting to be recalled to life. Who is the leader of the army? Who is the chosen spelled as well as you can according to the old pronounciation. You may be the means of helping to discover the site of some famouse fight of the Fianna or of the burial place of some saint or hero - it may be that in your own field is another Brugh as famouse as that of Aongus by the Boyne, or an ancient dwelling as worthy of excavation as the crannog of Lagore. Lastly, put doen the old names of fields, boreens, streams, etc. which are not recorded on the map. If they serve no other purpose they give a clue to the pronunciation of the Irish Language in Meath. How to Enter.
I hope I have said enough to awaken interest in this most fascinating of studies and that we will have collections pouring in from all over the county. Remember it is neither literary style nor learning that counts. If the older people supply the information, the school-children will write it down for them, and for their consolation I may add that there will be no teacher to comment on bad writing or spelling! When you have it all written down, put a pen-name to it: call yourself "Old Fogey" or "Daisy" or anything else you fancy. Enclose the pen-name and your own name and address in an envelope and send the lot to the Secretary of Feis na Midhe before the day of the Feis, or bring it with you that day and hand it in. Now, get to work at once, agus go muiridh dia rath ar an obair.Cu Midhe.

The old people have cures for all sorts of sicknesses, and hurts. There are cures for headaches, and many other sicknesses.
The cure for a headache was to go to an old woman known as a curer. She got a ribbon and measured from the back of the head to the forehead, and then measured from the chin to the top of the head. If the headache was bad the head was usually three fingers wider. Then when the person was normal this old lady (woud) would kneel down, and whisper this prayer into the right ear.
"Mé sin rádh m mbean romansa t-cliabh is me i dToghearna Dia go de sin ort ta fiabhrac mór ort. Muir agam agat big a cuirim cugat baing-rion m Flaitic go do fuadach agus go do chimrigh go dtagaid mise."

Story
Long ago this country was full of witches or old hags. When the people were sick or had sick cattle they went to these old hags for cures. Some of them prayed and others used charms for cures. There was an old man or witch who lived in Toberscanavan in County Sligo. People went from this district for cures to this man.
There was a man in this district and his child took bad with a sore foot and could not be cured. The father heard of this witch and one day in summer another member of the house family and he started for the man. In the middle of the day they reached the witches mudwall cabin. This witch had to be given tobacco to make the cure. They made two parts of the tobacco they brought with them, thinking one half would be sufficient for the witch. When they offered him the tobacco he paused and told them

Ring-worm is a contagious disease which the doctors are nearly unable to cure or overcome. The old people have a certain cure, but there are very few of them surviving who have it. I know a very old man whose name is John Boles. He lives in the parish of Killargue and he has the cure of the ring-worm. He is famed for the success of this cure and I know several people who got it. It is made from herbs and fresh butter and is made into seven parts. On each part he says particular prayers which are supposed to perform the miracle. It is believed that whenever you want a cure you should go to the person who has it before sun-set. Some people say that these old cures were got from foreign lands, but the old people say that they were handed down to them from their ancestors and have proved in many cases highly effective.

There is a lot of cures in this district such as for the pain in one's back and the cures for warts. There was a man named Dolan living in this district long ago. He was covered with warts all but his face. He didn't know what to do. He met an old man on the road one day. He asked him did he know any cure for warts. This is the cure he told him, to rot a piece of bacon in the ground and then rub it to his warts. When the man did that he got better.In former times doctors were not so numerous as they are at present. The old people used to make their own cures. For the cure of Measles the old people would pick some nettle leaves and boil them in sweet milk and five the juice of it to the patients and it cured them. The cure for the whooping Cough is to catch a young trout in the river and give three drops to a young child. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and let it back into the water. The child will never lose the Breath when coughing.

An old cure 19/9/1938.
When the old people had cures of their own they were much better than the doctor's cures.
The old people had a cure for a toothache. It was a poppy leaf. the lead is put on the tooth. It cures the tooth immediately and ceases the pain. The leaf is poisinous and it is the poisinous leaf that cures it.

Long ago an old woman who lived in the village of Cluin was supposed to be highly skilled in diabolical arts. When cattle got sick, the owner would visit this old woman and obtain a cure from her. She treated everything likewise, and all her cures proved successful. Her fame spread far and wide. One day an old woman visited her. She had been suffering from rheumatism for a number of years, and came for a cure. The old woman knew that her visitor was a great miser. She told her she should go to a warm climate, but the miser thought this too expensive. The old woman told her she could give her no cure without money. The miser then went home. Every day she visited the

The old people had lots of old cures and spells. They believed that many things could be cured by the power of the devil. These are some of their old cures. - When a calf is dying, to knot a cord three times over him and at the same time to say three times "Glory be to the Father". When a person has some certain disease in his stomach. He will get cured if he will boil dandelion and camomile and drink the water which he used in boiling it. If a person has a wart on his skin it will go off if he will make the sign of the cross over it three times with your finger after spitting on it for nine mornings before your breakfast it will get better. If a person has Rheumatism it will go away if he will carry a potato in his pocket. If you have a boil it will get better if you will wash it with water which you got in a hole in a rock. If you have a sprained ankle and if you put it under a spout it will get better

In olden times the people had no doctors only their own old cures made out of herbs growing in the fields, such as the wild sage. This was a cure for a hurt. It was boiled for hours and was then strained and put into bottles to drink. Bism a green shrub was a cure for Rheumatic pains. When teh children had the whooping cough it was an old custom to give them donkey milk to drink. Butter milk was also used for Consumption. Herb poultice applied to burns and sores. There was an old person in the district where I live who made use of herbs and made them up for every one needed them.

In olden days doctors were known as "leeches" and their knowledge of herbs and cures was collected, handed down and to by successive members of the same family. Every big chieftain had his physician or leech who was provided for by the chieftain.
The name "leech" is also applied to a very small animal of the lizard family. This animal gave the old doctor his name, as it was the custom for old doctors to use the leech - generally in blood-letting cases. The leech sucked up the bad blood until he was so swollen that he dropped out. Then he was put up on table-salt where he disgorged. This was a method employed by old doctors to get rid of bad blood and cure diseases which are now known as cases of sceptic poisoning. A person was bled in other diseases also. Besides the cures effected by leeches, there were domestic cures, carried out by local people. We would think at the present time that some of these cures favour of "superstition".

A tradition still exists in the district that in the early days of Christianity - a very holy man - or hermit lived in Keelclogherane. He lived such a life of penance + prayer that after his death numerous cures are supposed to have taken place there. Rounds are still paid to the wells in the old ruin. These will be explained later under "Holy Wells"
The following lovely little story was got by a school boy - Darby Doona from an old resident James Mannix regarding the building of the old church:-