School: Dún na Lochlannach (roll number 11987)
- Location:
- Lisduff, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Áine, Bean Uí Mhainín
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0060, Page 0037
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- XML School: Dún na Lochlannach
- XML Page 0037
- XML “Churning”
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- We have a barrel churn at home, it is set on a stand about four feet high, and when the churn is on the stand it is about six feet high. There is a number on the lid 806. The churn can be lifted off the stand when you want to change it.
There is a small(round shaped) bit of glass on the centre of the lid, and when the butter assumes the size of a grain of on this glass it is a sign that the butter has come.
Every number of the family must twist the churn, and if a stranger calls to the house he must also take the churn. There are many superstitions connected with churning, some of them going back hundreds of years ago, namely - before churning a pinch of salt, and a coal of fire should be put under the churn and in some families when a death occurs butter does not come at all. In that case it is the custom that the woman of the house writes the Angelus on a piece of paper and leaves it under the churn, then the butter comes at once.
- Collector
- Mary Kelly
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Ballybroder, Co. Galway
