School: Dhuish
- Location:
- Dooish, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: P. Ó Murchadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1013, Page 246
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- (continued from previous page)A stray man was called in when any misfortune overtook the family for instance if the butter would not come on the churn. He went about the farm yard saying certain prayers or at least some unintelligible formula. After this the butter was supposed to come back again to subsequent churnings.
Butter could also be bought back by getting the churn into the kitchen, putting on a very big fire, containing certain irons (any loss of iron) and stuffing up all holes and crevices. Then the churning was proceeded with and the result was that all the butter previously taken all came back again on the churn. For the people who stole the butter got such a scorching through the irons that represented them that they had no option but to finally give in.
Butter could be removed from the milk in various ways. It could be removed directly the person taking it changing themselves into the form of some animal like a hare and sucking the cow. But more usually it was removed through a spill or charm being cast over the animals or the land on which they grazed. The greedy person, for example, would go up on a hill overlooking the victims farm with a huge ball of yarn. The thread(continues on next page)
