of people who eat too much of it and who had to be roped that is a soft rope or sugan was wound around the stomik to prevent them from bursting This Macroon meal was used more in Summer than in WinterThe people of the district did not use their own home made flour as wheat was not grown in the district There is not Record of stampy or boxty bread being used Bread was sometimes made from the Macroom oaten mealAnother article of food which became popular in the district was Salt herrings. The herrings one for the whole family were boiled in a saucepan When it was boiled it was poured out in a deep plate in the centre of the table The water in which it was boiled was also poured out with the herring. This water was called dip Each member of the family dipped his or her potato in the dip and took a small pinch of the herring This pinch of the herring was

and wouldn’t be happy unless they had a son “to carry on the name”. “They never made much of a little girl and their people didn’t either“.
2 When the expectant mother entered a house where food was being cooked or where food was being eaten she was always offered some and partook of it. “Didn’t you know Kit Cremin” said Biddy ‘No! Biddy’ I answered but I heard of her”. “Well God bless the hearers, when Kit was dying and during her life her tongue - God save the mark - always protruded between her teeth and the doctor had to cut away a part of her tongue when she was dead. I’ll tell you, why. When her mother went into a neighbour’s house in Shrone (Rathmore Co Kerry) before Kit was born the woman of the house - and she must be the devil of a woman -was frying a herring on the tongs and when she saw Kit’s mother coming she hid the herring under her in the chair and never offered a bit to the woman - and you know the woman smelt the roasting herring and got mind for it”

In olden times people used only have three meals a day their breakfast, dinner and supper. The people used to have potatoes for their breakfast and dinner and Indian Meal called "Engine" Meal for their supper. With the potatoes they might have a salt herring occasionally. Very often they had nothing. Long ago, people used a good deal of thick milk as people in those days used to make all their own butter and drink the butter milk.
They used have no separator machines in those day only set the milk in "keelers" and skim the cream off the milk and drink the milk then as it would be very thick. They used to drink the milk out of timber mugs called pigins with straight handles. When people were eating, the custom was to place the bastable which the gruel was cooked in, on the centre of the table; all then had wooden spoons and pigins.
Sometimes a whole family of poor people had only one herring and dip with the potatoes. So the saying arose "Dip in the dip and let the herring to your father."

Once upon a time an Irish man crossed over to England and he was very hungry. He went into a house and the people were selling red herrings. He took one and he went down the street.
He was passing by a church and there was a preacher preaching. He went in to hear him and the man had the herring inside his breast.
The preacher said "Take it from thy breast". The preacher knew nothing about the herring and he looked down at the man. "How well you knew I had it"and he threw the herring at the preacher.

wall like a huge shutter – the legs folding also and in this way it took up no room. Sometimes a salt herring which was called a red herring would be cooked on special occasions as a great treat. This would be hung by a cord over the centre of the table with the other end fastened to the roof. Each man had the privilege of rubbing each potato to it before putting it into his mouth, and in this way from the constant rubbing only the bony skeleton of the herring would remain suspended. The sour milk used to be drunk from wooden vessels called peggins.
If the supply of potatoes ran out then it would mean a diet of Indian Meal stirabout, twenty one times in the week, - that is outside parish of Fews.

milk, and for the supper they had bread and butter - milk. In olden times the people had the table behind the door and when they were going to eat they got the table from behind the door and placed it on the middle of the floor and when they were done eating they put it back to its place again. In olden times the people had no bread to eat except barley meal bread. It was counted the best lasting bread of all. When people used be going across the sea in ships they always baked this bread because it was good for lasting. It was made from flour and water and it was baked on a grid - iron. This was not like a pan, it was a flat piece of iron with one lug. A long piece of iron was put under the edge of it and the lug was put on the hob. In olden times the people had not much meat to eat so they got herrings and they hung them up in the chimney to get smoked and after a while they would cover them with salt. They called them kipp herrings. In the very hard times they had not a herring for them all, and sometimes they would only have one for four or five. So they tied a string out of the roof and tied a herring out of it and they could not get a good pinch out of the herring because it would go from them when they would touch it.
Sometimes people had herrings if they had nothing to catch any other kind of fish. The people

The wind was fair East, so the bodies were driven ashore in under Bally-saggart. Peter Kennedy and James Brown were got by Micky McCallig at a place beside the pier called the gut. They were carried up and laid William Mc Cready’s yard and then the news was spread to their people in Inver and they came down with a cart and five or six men. They put the corpses on the cart and covered them with a white sheet and took them up to Inver. These men had be at the white fish before they went to the herring, and on the day they were drowned they were away in the yawl digging lug for bait for their lines when they came home they heard about the herring and it is said they never drew up their boat. They had seven spades, seven cans and their lines in the yawl also and were going to bait them when they would return. When they hauled the nets they got a certain amount of herring and it is believed that nets,

Food eaten here in olden days.
The food that people ate long ago was different from the food we eat nowadays. The people in this locality long ago ate three meals a day.
For their breakfast they ate oatenmeal cakes and drank new milk out of porringers or wooden noggins. For their dinner they ate potatoes and salt and buttermilk. They boiled the potatoes in a three legged boiler called a skillet. When they were boiled the skillet would be left in the middle of the floor. All the children would sit around in a ring about the skillet on small stools called "creepies" They each took a potato and peeled it with their fingers, and ate it. They each had a noggin or porringer of butter-milk to drink with their potaoes.
For their supper they boiled porridge made out of oat-meal or Indian meal.
In the Autumn time of the year when they caught big shoals of fish they salted them and put them in a barrel for use.
When they had a lot of the herring eaten, and wanted to spare the rest they would boil one herring and leave it on a place where every one could see it. When they were eating their potatoes, they would point their potatoes at the herring. They would think they were eating the herring. This dinner was called "potatoes and point."

They got lead and melted it through the key of a door into a bowl of water and whatever shape of utensils it took denoted the trade or profession of the future husband of the person who melted the lead.
They also raked a hay ruck in the name of the devil and the future husband or wife appeared.
They also combed their hair in the name of the devil and the future husband appeared.
They ate a herring in the name of the devil and the future husband or wife appeared with a drink.
They threw two nuts in the fire, put the name of a girl in the neighbourhood on the nut and the name of a boy upon another. If they burned together without sputtering out, the boy and girl would get married and live happily together. If they jumped out they would quarrel.
The story on the next page tells how the people believedd these tricks could tell them the future. It is also told that a girl who ate a herring in three mouthfuls and expected her future husband to appear with a drink, dreamt of nothing all night but a "herring". She got married afterwards to a very thin man and believed dreaming of a herring foreshadowed him correctly.

When the next year came the servant boy went gathering the money he brought a herring with him. On his way up the robber came out before him and said "give me your money." The man said that he would give him the money but he to give him a sign that he was very nearly shot before he gave him the money. The robber asked him what sign did he want and he told him to put two bullet's throught his trousers and some through his cap, jacket, and shoes. At last the robber told him that he had no more bullets and the other lad pulled the herring out of his pocket and the robber thought it was a gun. He went home with the money to the landlord. The servant went down the next year and he brought a bag with him for the money. He brought another bag with

Potatoes were also eaten at dinner time. They were usually eaten with a kind of porridge called bruchán which was water and oat-meal
and salt and pepper and onions (if the people had them) boiled together. This was supposed to be very healthy food. The potatoes were also eaten with a salted herring or two because for an egg you would get a salted herring (red herring) at Chresham's shop and the people thinking that a herring would last longer than an egg at a meal used to exchange eggs for herrings. Cabbage and turnips were also eaten at dinner time but meat was seldom eaten except on special days such as Christmas Day.
At baggin'-tea the meal consisted of boxty-cake and oat-meal bread with milk or sweeden or prásán. Boxty cake was like a potato-cake. It was kneaded and shaped like an ordinary cake and was baked in an oven or pan or griddle the ingredients consisting of potatoes;
some caiscín (wheaten flour); salt and pepper. Oat-meal cake was supposed to be the best food for keeping the hunger away from you and for that reason men who used to be walking to Dublin to cross on the cattle-ships to England used to bring two oat-cakes with them in
their pockets. Mike Cáit of Graiguechullare used to do this. Sweeden or súidín was oat-meal and water and sugar mixed. Prásán was oat-meal and milk mixed.
The supper nearly always consisted of Indian-meal stirabout or oat-meal stirabout eaten with a cup of milk. At every meal the table
which used to be resting against

There lived an old man some hundred years ago in the old castle that part of it still stands in Castlemagee. A man named Bourke lived in it and herring fishing was very good at the time and boats very plentiful. A woman from Coolcarney was in Ballina and she saw a lot of herrings selling in Ballina Market. When she returned home, she told her son of all the herring she saw in Ballina and she said she knew of a place that if he was there, he would be brought fishing. He, being only sixteen years old, he wore no shoes. She told him it was Rathfran in the parish of Killala and he came direct to the place when all

A long time ago there were fishermen out in the sea in boats fishing for herring at Lenadoon Point, There were a number of boats together, and they got a good catch of herring ; when they were taking in the nets for the last time, what was in one of the nets but a beautiful baby boy, with black eyes. The baby kept staring at the men all the time & didnt speak or cry. All the boats turned towards the shore, and when they were rowing for some time a great storm arose. The men kept on rowing as hard as they could and instead of coming to land they found the [?] drifting out to sea. And the men feared they were going to be lost. One of the men suggested putting the baby out in the sea and all the men agreed as they believed they were going to be drowned. They lowered the baby boy into the sea and the sea got calm instantly, and all the boats landed safe.

Local Roads are known as boreens or carways or lanes or bog-roads. The local roads lead from one main road to another. The local names of the boreens in my district are, Moore's lane. It got its name from a herd who lived there a hundred years ago. Daneen's lane. It got its name from a prophet who lived there years ago. The big wells lane. It got its name from a well that was situated at the corner of the lane. Glass worn lane it got its name from a glass of water. The herring lane. It got its name from a man delivering herring in the District.

Mr. Bill Linane, decided to leave his employer (in Elton), after dinner. He went upstairs & got his parcel of shirts etc.
The employer's wife: "Are you going away, William?
William: No, Ma'am, they are taking me away"
(William feared the fleas)
In another employer's house a herring was placed on one plate for William & a fellow worker. William (Bill) cut a potato & put half on one eye of the herring because, he explained, if the herring saw the two hungry men it would leave the plate.

This same Seainin was, as I said, a very clever man, and anything he wanted he could get it done. He had a great friend, a lady who was a Protestant. She used help him in every way he wanted. One day some of her friends said to her that in spite of all her friendship for Seainin, that he would tell her that she would go to hell when she'd die. Should she put him that question, she being a Protestant. The lady was annoyed about it, and she made up her mind that she'd try out Seainin.She gave a big dinner, and invited him. He came and when things were going well, she brought down the subject nicely, for she was a clever woman, until she led up to the question, as to where she'd go if she should die that minute. I forgot to say that 'twas on a Friday the dinner was held, and so it happened that 'twas a fresh herring Seainin was eating. Well anyhow, the minute Seainin heard the question he knew 'twas a trap, and the answer he made was. "This herring I'm eating is the best fish in the sea, yet he cannot be taken on a bait, no matter how 'tis set and so he has to be taken in a net. He's dead when taken out and then the one that kills him never knows the bait to catch him. I'm like the herring", and the woman understood him.
(Ed. O'Connell)

93. As an Irish man was going along a valley he fell into a cave and there was a black man living in it. He said to him "You are in hell now and you must stay in it. "The Irish man said. "I will give you all I have if you will let me out." The Irish man gave him a herring and a bottle of porter and he let him out. When he was coming home he met a priest and he saying. "out of hell there is no redemption." The Irish man said it is a lie Father I got out for a herring and a bottle of porter.

Once upon a time a farmer had two labourers working for him. One day they had a herring for their dinner between them. As they were eating, the farmer came in. He had a fat pig to be killed and he asked one of the men, "what time of the year is it right to kill a pig." One said, "When the moon is swelling." Then he asked the other man who said, "It is right to kill a pig when you see a herring between two for dinner."

During the long years in our grandparents' times and for years before that Lent was kept very strictly and for the entire 40 days no meat was used in the house.This must have been a pretty "lean" time for the butchers and they showed their delight when Lent was drawing to a close.In Drogheda on Easter Saturday all the butchers' boys assembled at an early hour when the people were gathering for the market and a few of them tied a herring to the end of a rope.One of them ran through the principal streets with the poor herring dragging after him with sticks trying to get a blow at the fish, while at the same time each boy shouted to his heart's content.This "ceremony" was called "beating the herring out of town" and my grandmother often told me it was great fun especially for the butcher's boys.

There was in this locality a work man who worked with a farmer. The farmer was a terrible miser, and did not like giving the work man a good dinner, so he bought herrings and cooked one for dinner. They both sat down to eat the one herring. The first thing the workman did was to cut a potato in two halves and put it on the herring's eye. The old farmer asked him why did he do that, and he answered "I thought it would be disgraceful to have the poor lad watching two of us attack him".