School: O'Brennan, Baile Mhic Ealgóid, Tráighlí

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1. Festival Customs - May Day (continued)

   

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   in the Kitchen the woman of the house invited the evil minded woman to see her dairy: When they were going down to the dairy the evil minded woman produced a drop of whiskey in a bottle and told the woman of the house to go back to the kitchen for a glass so that they would have "a little drop". While the woman was procuring the glass the other woman must have done the harm with the milk because from that visit onwards the cream and butter vanished from the house and she had not a quarter of her former butter in the churning of the following week. In putting two and two together she put the loss down to the evil minded neighbour - as she saw "with her own two eyes" that the neighbour's butter was doubled. She made up her mind to get her butter and pruduce back - so when her evil minded neighbour had gone to town one day selling her butter - she stole to her neighbour's dairy and brought back a Pannikin (?) of cream with her and from that day on she had her usual yield of butter and cream.

   Mrs Reidy also says "that it was a custom during the month of May to put a tiny knob of butter into each cooler and when this cream was made into butter you had the May butter and therefore the May yield of cream and produce continued through the year."

   She also says that "a certain woman visited a house on the day previous to the 1st May with the intention of footing or cutting turf on that day. She stayed in the house that May Eve and was first up on May day

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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)
         1. May (~639)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Mrs Reidy

   Gender

   Female