School: Cnoc na Groighe (B.), Ráth Mhór

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1. Old Customs (continued)

   

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   but the great people they were – the wonderful feats they did and the great old stock they were descended from. Their antecedents for generations are traced but anything which would strike a discordant note is strictly avoided. There is more and more dancing and some of the party goes to supper. The happy pair are seated at the top of the table and the nearest and dearest are gathered to have supper – the more distant relatives and neighbours are to wait over for the second batch or perhaps third. The ‘Gander’ is not there. It is not known why this event in the lives of all young girls (or nearly all) in the district should be so named. Mrs Sheehan says that of course geese were killed and cooked for this supper but there was other meat also – bacon and beef and veal – She thinks that as people were in the habit of keeping the same gander year after year with their flock of geese that people jocularly remarked that they must have got a piece of the gander when the match was broken at this stage of the arrangements ‘Was the Gander tough?’ was a common question the day after, which meant ‘was the match broken or did things go alright’. However eating the Gander it was and is.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Languages

   Irish

   English

   Collector

   Díarmuid Ó Múimhneacháin

   Gender

   Male

   Occupation

   Príomhoide