School: Síolach (roll number 12266)
- Location:
- Sheelagh, Co. Louth
- Teacher: S. Ó Gnímh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0664, Page 007
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- XML Page 007
- XML “Wakes”
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- (continued from previous page)In this district there used to be four rhymers at every wake. The corpse used to be placed under the table and the candles pipes tobacco and snuff on the table. Only inside the last twenty years has the corpse been waked in a bed.
In those days the wake used [to] be held in the barn. Two tethers were tied from gable to gable and a white sheet spread over the tethers to make a canopy over the table. Two sticks were left hanging at either end to make four pillars & each sheet was tied in the middle with a black band.
The four rhymers would scatter out and one would hold each white sheet. They would let go the sheets together and the four would clap their hands. When this was done they would wipe their eyes with the tail of the sheet as if they were crying. Then they would begin praising the goodness of the corpse - his(continues on next page)
