School: Naomh Colmcille, Leitir Cheanainn
- Location:
- Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: An Mháthair Ignatius Ní Bhroin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1083, Page 092
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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
- Marriages are very scarce in the district in which I live, owing to the want of employment. The usual time marriages take place here are usually round the half yearly hiring fairs an occasional one about shrove.
The old customs of making matches is entirely unheard of now in this district. There is usually a particular day chosen by the bride to be for the marriage ceremony as there is great superstition about particular days of the week as the old rhyme goes.
“Monday for health, Tuesday for wealth, Wednesday the best day of all. Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses and Saturday is no day at all.”
When the bride is leaving her home in her car for church there are usually a couple of old shoes tied to the car for good luck. A piece of iron or a horse shoe are also considered lucky. If the day of the marriage is bright and sunny the couple will have a very happy life and if the day is wet the bride will often drop tears during her married life or again it is feared she will soon be a widow.
