School: Gaddyduff (roll number 16642)
- Location:
- An Ghadaigh Dhubh, Co. Dhún na nGall
- Teacher: P. H. Kavanagh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1121, Page 60
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Big Nights and Songs of Long Ago
“Long ago big nights or dances were not the same as they are now.”
Long ago the big Nights or dances were not the same as they are now. The people gathered in and sit in forms along the side of the house. The forms were made out of tree roots or rope stools called "Sugans". Melodeons weren't very common that time; fiddles were the most common instrument of music. The house in which the big night was in would invite a few fiddlers for the nights music. All the old women and old men would gather in and they would resite poems and songs and resitations. First of all they had a few dances then they had songs and songs till the were tired of them selves. Then they had another dance and this carried on till one or two o'clock.
They had an Irish song which was very common in this parish of our own. It was about a girl who was married about five or six years in Urris. She had four of a family living along a wood. She was sitting one day along the wood one day before dinner time gathering some wood to boil the pot of potatoes. She cas her eyes out to the sea; she saw a ship coming into(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Brian Devlin
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 13
- Address
- Allt an Chalaidh, Co. Dhún na nGall
- Informant
- Mary Anne Devlin
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 40
- Address
- Allt an Chalaidh, Co. Dhún na nGall