School: An Clochar, Cathair Saidhbhín (roll number 13542)
- Location:
- Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry
- Teacher: An tSr. M. de Lourdes Stac
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0476, Page 325
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- The footwear of the present day differs very much from that worn in the days when our fathers, and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers were young. In fact they wore neither boots nor shoes until they were grown up men and women. It very often happened that a girl did not wear shoes until her wedding-day and even then she borrowed them. A girl who wore shoes before her marriage-day was considered delicate and she would find it difficult to get a husband. Therefore girls who wore shoes during the year would be careful to take them off during Shrovetide. The old people too preferred to go barefoot than to wear heavy awkward shoes. When they went to town or to Mass they usually carried their shoes on their shoulders and put them on outside the town or near the church as the case may be. Very few men went about without shoes. It is said that a man was barefooted once and he hurt his foot and though he felt the pain still he said:- "beirim buideachas le Dia nach bhfuil mo broga orm mar dá mbeadh, bheadh tairgne asta anois". Knitted stockings were worn by men and women. Young girls wore cotton stockings knitted by themselves. Women wore stockings known as "lóipíní". These were stocking without vamps, which were worn in Winter and early Spring to prevent the painful ailment of windgall. From walking on the hard dry roads especially in March and May sores(continues on next page)
