School: Fothanach (roll number 7980)

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1. Festival Customs

   

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   1. On St. Stephen's Day boys go around to all the houses playing and dancing and gathering money. They put old clothes and masks on themselves and they sing the following song:

   "The wren, wren, the king of all birds,
   St. Stephen's Day he was caught in the furze,
   Up with kettle and down with the pan,
   Give us a penny to bury the wren"

   In the evening they divide the money equally. Until lately boys used to go out stealing gates on St. Brigid's Night. The people used to put a stalk of corn and a potato up on the rafters of the houses + these would be the first to be sown. They used make little crosses of wood and straw and nail them to the the rafters. On St. Patrick's Day people used get drunk, they called it "drowning the shamrock". On Shrove Tuesday Night a lot of pancakes are made. On Easter Sunday everyone eats a lot of eggs. On May day a little pole is stuck in the ground and flowers are tied on it. No one throws out ashes on May day. If a cow calved on May day a red rag would be tied to her tail. On St. John's Night bonfires are lit. On the day before Saint Martin's Day a cock is killed and his blood is sprinkled in the shape of a

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   James Miskill

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Doon Lower, Co. Galway

   Collector

   John Kenny

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Callow, Co. Galway

   Collector

   Stephen Cahill

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Lisnascreena, Co. Galway