School: Crosskeys
- Location:
- Cross Keys, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Thomas Greene
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0977, Page 252
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- XML School: Crosskeys
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- XML “Omens”
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- Around here the people firmly believe in the many omens that foretell the happiness of the future. These signs are very numerous and some of them foretell the same thing. Some of our domestic birds give us very vivid signs of future happenings. If we see a straw round a hen's leg we are sure that a visitor is coming. The loud cackling of the hens at night foretell a death. When we hear ducks quacking it is a sign of broken weather. The magpie is another prophetic bird as the following rhyme shows.
"one for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a marriage
Four for a boy
Five for death
Six fro silver
Seven for gold
Eight for a story that was never told"
The cuckoo is also noted for she is also possessed(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Norrie Maguire
- Gender
- Male
