people get up very early to see the sun and the moon dancing. It is an old proverb, that the sun and the moon dances in the east on Easter Sunday morning.May Day. = People put a leaf of Maypole hanging on the door. It is said that if you sleep out of doors on May Day you would get a stroke from the fairies. You should never pick flowers on May Eve, or May Day.St John's Day. = Some people go to Wether's well on that day. On St. John's Eve bonfires are lit. St. Martin's Day. = It is an old saying you should draw some blood. In olden times the blood was kept, and it was a cure for a pain in the side.

supposed also that one of the priests that was saying holy mass there was caught and killed by the Danes and that a blessed well sprang up where he was slain. It is also supposed that the water used to boil there at certain periods.
One day a neighbour took home a bucket of this water to boil it, but if the water was down (on the fire) since it would not boil, because this silver trout that used to be seen was in the pail of water.There are three days on which rounds are performed there namely the Saturday before May Day, St John's Eve, and Michaelmas Eve.
Disabled or crippled people or the blind must bathe in the waters of the well. A long time ago a great miracle happened here one St John's Eve. Three disabled boys came to the well with three pairs of crutches. After paying their three rounds they went into the well and bathed in it and they were immediately cured they left their crutches after them. This is how they perform the rounds there (ie) They say two rosaries around a bunch(clump) of trees (b) they say three rosaries around the well and after each rosary they kneel down and ask their request (c) they finish up praying at the altar stone.
There are three stones there shaped like a heart and they are supposed to be seating (perspiring) at certain periods and when people rub their fingers to them

St John's eve was another festival in olden times where certain customs were observed. "My father told me" says Aine Lynch - "that in his native village of Cappa, West Kerry, a large bonfire was lit in the centre of the village. This was a village of about 12 houses which were situated almost adjacent to one another A level patch of ground in the centre of the village, known as the "street" was cleared by the children after school, and

size of him, and said he was as big as an old sheep and he looked very fierce. They passed him by and he disappeared into the fort again. At certain times of the year lights are seen in the fort. The time of the year lights are seen in the fort is May Eve, November Eve and St John's Eve.

bachelor's coats on that dayOn May Eve the people long ago used to sprinkle holy water on the bounds of their land so as to keep all harm away. Some people set Pishogues on that Eve. People watch May eve night for fear any one might go to their wells for water for they would have Pishogues on going. On May eve night cows are often milked by people who are not the owner of them but people could set Pishogues on you by milking the cows because they would take all the good of the milk for the year.St. John's day is the longest day in the year. On St. John's night the people light bon-fires.On St Martin's night

On St. John's Eve there is a sheaf lighted and taken out and each beast is struck with it. The end of the sheaf is them brought in and placed between the thatch and the rafters. This was done to protect the cows from all harm during the year.

St John's Day:-
Bonfires are lighted at the cross-roads on St. John's Eve, 23rd June. The young people gather for a dance and the instrument played is usually a melodeon. In some districts the bonfires are lighted and the dance takes place on the following Sunday Eve.Chalk Sunday is the Sunday after Ash Wednesday, or the first Sunday of Lent. Any man over 60, or thereabouts who is not married is given a rub of chalk on the back of his coat, to remind him that he is an old bachelor, and to try and shame him into getting married at an early date. This is done on the bachelor's coming out from Mass. In villages & towns the "Chalking" is done the evening before or on a Saturday, especially if it happens to be a market or fair day.
The Chalk is often a piece of freshly burned lime, called Roach Lime. Young lads usually do the "Chalking"

The custom of lighting bone-fires on St John's Eve still prevails but many of the attendant ceremonies such as throwing in a bone, etc. have fallen into disuse. At the present time people usually light a bush in the corner of

This is old custom in County Waterford. On St. John's Eve people light bonfires on the side of the roads or in a field and try and make the cows jump them when they are going out after being milked

St.John's Eve is still the greatest festival outdoor in rural Irish life. Bonfires have always been a sign of rejoicing, it was natural to expect that the birth of John the Baptist was an occasion of great rejoicing among God's chosen people. The fires are lit on some eminence and it is a pleasing sight on a calm summer evening to watch them blazing from hill to hill. Cattle were driven with hazel switches through the smoke of the bonfires as a preventative against disease. The switches were afterwards consigned to the flames.

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Féile na Bliadhna The principal feasts of the year that have folklore connected with them are ,Xmas day.St.Stephen's Day. St.Brigid's ,St. John's and hallow Eve.The people of Ennistymon call Xmas night the 25th December.
St.Stephen's Day is on the 26th December.The wren boys go around to the house gathering money and dancing on that day,St.Brigid's Day is on 1st february .The people make crosses out of wood and hang them on the wall .It is said none of the family shall be in want of food if a crossis made.St.John's Night bonfires are lighted to honour him .On Hallow Eve every game is played.

On the 24th of June St. John's Eve occurs. Before bon fires used to be lit in honour of the Feast, but now that custom is dying away in most places. People used to sing and dance and jump over the fire. It is an old custom to drive the cows over the fire so no harm could come to them during the coming year.

On St. John's Eve a bon-fire is lit. Long ago a dance was held at the bonfire and each person took home a burning stick.

evening comes the younger boys divide the money equally among them and spend it on sweets and other things. But with the older people the story is entirely different. They repair to a public house and spend their money on drink of all kinds.On St. Patrick's Day the people all wear a harp and shamrock and attend Mass. May Day is celebrated in this district by erecting a May Bush in front of the door and by decorating it with all kinds of flowers such as:- primrose, cowslip, hyacinth, buttercup, crowsfoot, daisy and various other flowers.
St John's Feast was widely celebrated in this district in the olden days but not as generally now as formerly. On the eve of St. Peter and Paul instead of St. John's Eve; however the celebrations were held and on that night as many as one hundred people gathered together and the neigbouring "ditches" and hedges were stripped to supply fuel for the bonfire which was lighted on Cummin's hill which

say that if you give away things on May Day that you will be giving them away all the year. Some of the people never sell milk on that day as they think that the people to whom they sell it would steal the butter.
If the people did sell milk they would put a grain of salt in it, in order that the person to whom they sold it could not steal the butter.
The night before, the children gather cow-slips and they throw them at the door and some people make a may-bush. If you washed your hands in the dew on that morning you could open any knot that would come before you that year. St. John's Eve.
St John's Eve always falls on the twenty-first of June. A couple of days before that day the boys go around collecting turf and sticks. Then they get more turf in the bog.

On the eve of St John's day and also on the night of St Peter and Paul's day the people have bonfires. It is the children that are usuall at the bonfire on the eve of St Johns day but on the 29th June the grown up people have bonfires on the bye roads and the boys and girls dance at the bonfire until bed time.

They do not like to give anything on May day.
On St John's eve the people used to light a "bon-fire". A lot of people used to gather to-gether and they would go to a certain place. They would light a big fire of turf and sticks. They would stay there half the night dancing and singing. Then the old people come a-long. They pray over the fire. Then when they are coming home. They get a stick and stick it in a coal of fire. They bring the coal and throw it out in their own field and they pray to St John to protect them from evil during the year.
On Christmas eve night the people in my district light a candle in every window in the house. The Blessed Virgin goes round from house to house on that night. They leave the candles lit to show her light. On that night the people remain up until twelve o'clock. Then they go out into the stable to watch the ass bending his front knee at twelve o'clock to adore the new

waited eagerly for May Eve. So as St. Patrick went through Ireland converting young and old he found it difficult to keep the young men converted to his faith (and idols) from patronising the great Pagan Bonfire. The Saint and wise man as he was thought the best and only means to prevent his converts from intercourse with the Pagans and their fires was to have a bonfire in memory of St. Peter and St. Paul on the eve of the 23rd of June and on St John's eve, So that is how the first bonfires started and continued to be held but alas they are gone never to return.

in the street and all the children gathered and sung and danced around it. The children used to gather egg shells for a month before May day.
Bonfire Night.
On the Eve of St. John there used to be bonfires all over the country. They put up a platform and danced and sung while the old people told stories around the fire. It lasted until nearly morning and was always held about cross roads. For a month before St. John's Eve the people gathered to the bonfires.
Hallow Eve
On Hallow Eve the people played a number of tricks and games. The children got apples and nuts to eat, and a sweet cake was made in which a ring was put to see who would be married first in the house. Long ago boxty

and it is called a cingcise
St. John's EveOn St. John's eve which falls on the 23rd June a bonfire was lighted nearly in every townland. All the young boys and girls gather together they go to a bog and take turf (and turf) and sticks when night comes. They carry these to the top of some high hill and when it gets dark and when the people gather to where the fire is lighted. Sometimes a person plays a fiddle or a melodeon and the boys and girls dance until well on in the night.
Long ago when the people were going home from the bonfire each person took a lighted branch or coal with them, and they threw it into the field in which they had oats or potatoes.