School: Cúige (roll number 10773)
- Location:
- Coogue Middle, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Mícheál Ó Briain
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0108, Page 009
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- XML School: Cúige
- XML Page 009
- XML “Local Marriage Customs”
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- The luckiest time of the year for people to get married is on Shrove Tuesday. It is a custom on that day to make flan cakes and also to throw a fist of salt on every person. The unluckiest time of the year to get married is in the month of May. When the party got married they usually used to have a wedding feast in the girls house, that is in the olden times. They used to go to the wedding in what was called a drag. This consisted of people on foot, on horseback, or on side-cars. On the way home they used to race the horses and whoever would arrive at the house first would be the guest of honour for the night.
There is an old custom that is sometimes carried out for the bride to cut the wedding cake with her left hand. It is also an old custom to put a piece of the wedding cake under the pillow when going to bed. The reason for that is you will dream of the one that you will marry. Sometimes straw-boys go to the house where the wedding is held and they disguise themselves so that the people present at the house would not know them.
- Collector
- Annie Egan
- Gender
- Female
