Recent changes

I know of only one house where this custom still prevails but I have seen numerous samples put up in roofs perhaps a hundred years ago. So crumbled & crusted were they that they had more the appearance of soot than meat.
To be effective as a cure the meat must be left up Shrove Tuesday night, the person who uses it must eat no meat all during lent and must be first to tast the Tadhg on Easter Sunday morning.