School: Feighroe, Inish

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1. An Cuigeann - Churns

   

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   We have a dash churn at home. It is three and a half feet high and it is five feet in circumference. It contains ten gallons. We have it twenty years. In Summer the churn is made every week and in Winter it is only made every fortnight. When a person comes into a house and the people of the house are churning it is a custom to make a start of the churn. They do this in order not to bring the luck of the butter. On May night it is a custom not to let out any butter or if a person came into a house and the people of the house churning it was a custom not to let them out until they had it made.
   Before making the churn they scaled it and when making it they put a coal under it to warm it. They also leave it into a keeve of hot water and they put warm water in with the cream to warm it during the Winter or in the cold weather. During the Winter the people made the churn by the fireside and in Summer they made it in the dairy. Some people do not like to make the churn on a Friday. They say it is a unlucky day and also they make a resolute not to churn on a Friday if their cattle were dying and especially with black-quarter.
   When the churn is made small particles of butter form on the churn-cup. The staff is a long stick with a round board attached to the

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. butter and churns (~3,280)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eily Neylon

   Gender

   Female

   Informant

   Patrick Neylon

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Connolly, Co. Clare