School: Cloneygall
- Location:
- Cluain na nGall, Co. Cheatharlach
- Teacher: P. Ó Síothcháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0911, Page 078
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Cloneygall
- XML Page 078
- XML “Old May Customs”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Fúaireas an méid seo thios ó - ( Feach Scéal I)
In the old times people of this locality got up at sunrise on the first day of May. Then they would scratch or cut each of their cattle, and they would get a drop of blood out of each, and mix it with milk, and taste it. Men and women also bled themselves a little, and their blood was sprinkled on the ground.It was also a custom in the olden days to set fire to the May-Bush, and the children were lifted through the fire, and the cattle were also driven through the fire. The people who were dancing around the May-bush were supposed to take home with them a lighted branch of the tree. It was supposed to bring luck to the family during the whole year following.
- Informant
- Padraig Ó Nualáin
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 50
- Occupation
- Feirmeoir
- Address
- Mainistir an Dúin, Co. Loch Garman
