School: Killea (roll number 3219)

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1. Wake and Funeral (continued)

   

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   Some of the women are also supposed to smoke "fags" (cigarettes). All the people except three or four usually go home before two o' clock. These people remain in the house till after sunrise next morning. After the second night in the house the corpse is brought to the grave. It is dressed in a brown habit or "dead-dress." It is laid in the coffin and four men of the same surname as the deceased bear the coffin to the hearse. People go in "droves" after the hearse to the graveyard. In this district offerings are paid and the amount varies from a shilling to half-a-crown. Generous neighbours and relatives often pay five or ten shilling or sometimes a pound. Some of the offerings are collected in the house but the remainder is gathered at the graveyard. The names of the people who paid offerings are written down in a note-book and called out by the graveside. Two people are before the funeral to dig the grave. When the person is buried the people return to their own homes. It is said to be unlucky to bring a "comora" into a house other then the house of the deceased and it is equally unlucky to leave a wake alone. Once the coffin is lifted off the chairs it should not be left down until the grave is reached and the chairs on which it rested should be turned up-side-down.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. social activities (~7)
         1. rites of passage (~573)
            1. death (~1,076)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary Rooney

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Lugasnaghta, Co. Leitrim

   Informant

   Mr Dennis Rooney

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Lugasnaghta, Co. Leitrim