School: Briscula, Mountrath (roll number 15197)

Location:
An Briosclach, Co. Laoise
Teacher:
Bean Uí Choinnigh
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0833, Page 071

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0833, Page 071

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  1. Many people in this district still believe in superstition and consider it unlucky to touch certain things.
    People imagine some evil would befall them if they broke a looking glass - a mirror, spilled salt or counted the teeth in a comb.
    If you meet a red haired woman or if a sow crossed the road on your wedding morning, it is considered unlucky.
    If you see one magpie it is unlucky if you see two it is for good luck. It is considered unlucky to see a new moon through a window or to cut a baby's nails till it is a year old, or to let a child see itself in a mirror till it is six months old or to take a baby out after sunset without putting salt and holy water on it.
    A person is considered unlucky if he did not say "God bless it" when he sees a child or animal. If a dog comes in with a straw on his tail it is a sign that some near friend belonging to you is dead or will soon die.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Nora Phelan
    Gender
    Female