School: Cluain Uí Chuinn (roll number 5844)

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1. The Wake (continued)

   

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   The coffin is left outside the house until the relatives are all arrived for the "coffining." When all have kissed the corpse, the coffin is closed and carried out generally by four or six of the same name. At the churchyard the same rule holds good.
   During the walk across the graveyard it is considered a sign of death within twelve month if anyone staggers or falls.
   People meeting a funeral invariably turn back after saying a prayer for the dead, and follow the cortege for a piece of the road.
   In towns the custom is to close all doors while the funeral passes. This is general in the country also.
   I heard of a peculiar custom from a policeman who was stationed on Aran Islands. At a funeral there he said, the young lads run before the funeral, and make "corrys" on little heaps of stones along the roadside till they reach the graveyard.
   They say this prevents the return of the spirit which departed.

   (continues on next page)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. social activities (~7)
         1. entertainments and recreational activities (~5,933)
            1. games
               1. wake games (~170)
         2. rites of passage (~573)
            1. death (~1,076)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   M. Mc Glynn

   Age

   45

   Address

   Killynagh More, Co. Roscommon