School: Tullycasson

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1. The Care of the Feet (continued)

   

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   on his back, and do whatever work fell in his way. I was in the upper part of Glangeatin that the family of shoemakers lived. It was but very seldom that the people suffered from coins. There was a very good cause, and this was that they always went barefooted. The men used to cut the turf this way. The soft sod is always known to be great for taking out coins.
   Hacked feet were cured by wax. Wax was melted by a candle and let drop on brown paper. This paper was rolled round the sore spot. It was by this method frost bites were also cured. Often a person would chance to hurt his foot in a way that the blood couldn't be stopped. Only gifted people had the cure for this. There was a sergant here long ago who had the cure and he cured many. It was a charm.
   Some years ago the people here and especially the women used to cut their nails on Shrove Tuesday and secure them in a paper during Lent. When Lent was out, they would hide them in some secret place. Old people say that this was done, as it was believed that whatever would be scattered during Lent it would have to be picked by the owner on the last day. There were many old sayings, about the toes also. For instance if the first toe were shorter than the second on a man, it was believed that he would be quarell

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. clothing and accessories (~2,403)
         1. shoes (~1,841)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Jim Mc Govern

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   James Mc Govern

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Corneenflynn, Co. Cavan