St. John's Day :- Bonfires are lighted on St John's Eve.
Assumption :- There is a holy well in this parish and the people visit it on the feast of the Assumption and make rounds.
Hallowe'en :- It is the custom to have a barm breac for supper on Hallowe'en. In the breac there is a ring, a pea, a bean, a stick and a rag. The ring signifies marriage. The pea, poverty. The bean, riches. The stick, masterhood. The rag, spinsterhood.
Christmas :- On Christmas Eve a Christmas candle is lighted when it begins to get dark. It is left lighting all night.
On Christmas night a candle is kept lighting until twelve o'clock.
On New Years Eve and New Years Night a candle is kept lighting until twelve o'clock.
On the Epiphany a candle is kept lighting until twelve o'clock. It is said, that on that night the water turns into wine.

Even in recent years we hear of the making of "pishoges." Sometimes eggs are hidden in the hay of a neighbour or in the potato garden People shake holy water and Easter water on the "four corners" of their farms to avert harm.St. John's Day. On St. John's Eve bonfires are lighted on the hill-tops.Michael mas - On Michael Eve a goose is killed and the blood is sprinkled on the door-posts.Hallowe'en - There a barm brack for supper in every house. It contains a ring, and it is said that the finder of the ring will be married during the year.If a girl looks into a looking glass at midnight on Hallowe'en it is said she will see her future husband.Obtained information from my father (R.I.P.) William Lundon late M.P. for East Limerick. He died in 1909.

are invited to the home of the bride and this hass been called the 'hauling home'.
The custom of making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and dropping a ring into the mixture still exists. The young boy or girl who was 'lucky' enough to discover the ring was supposed to be the next to marry.
Om Hallow Eve this custom of pancake meeting is still also practiced .
May, October and some other months were and still are considered unlucky for marriages.
On St John's Eve (23rd June) the country was ablaze with bonfires in honour of St John. Few fires are lit nowadays, the custom appears to be dying out.
On St Brigid's eve a silk handkerchief is sometimes spread out on a bush. This is supposed to cure a headache if tied around the head of the sufferer.
The Sunday after Shrove Tuesday is called 'Chalk Sunday' from the custom

On New Year's Eve at twelve o-clock the old year is rung out and the New Year is rung in. If a person does anything out of the ordinary on New Year's Day, it is said he will be doing it for the year. On Shrove Tuesday pancakes are eaten. The day before Shrove Tuesday is called "Puss Monday". It is so-called because everyone who was not married during Lent is supposed to "puss" that day.
On Easter Saturday water is blessed. Every person takes three sips in honour of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It is also sprinkled on the crops. On Easter Sunday everyone eats more than the usual number of eggs. Chalk Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent. On that day a group of boys used to go around and chalk everyone who was not married during Shrove. This custom is now discontinued.
On St. John's night bonfires are lit in honour of St. John. On St.

In this district bonfires are lighted on St. Johns Night the eve of 24th of June. This is to remind us of the miraculous preservation of St. John by Almighty God from being burned when he was cast into a cauldren of boiling oil, not even the hair of his head was injured.
John Conway
Ballinamorsough

Long ago on May Eve the farmer used to send a member of his family out with a piece of mountain ash to stick it on the potato crop and one on the corn crop and turnips and mangold.
The reason was that it kept people from taking their crops.Story
When Brian Boru was at war with the Danes, he used to kill alot of them but next day they used to be alive and fight against him again. an old woman told him to stick a scolip of mountain ash on them and they would never rise again.St John's Eve
Cattle were driven through fire on St John's Eve to prevent

St John's Day - Fires are lighted on St John's Eve to honour him.
Michaelmas - Blood is spilt to honour St Michael.
St Martin's Day - Blood of a bird is sprinkled on the door.

Eve is to put a snail into a pan of flour and it is said that he would write the name of the man that you would marry.
Good Friday
The custom carried out on Good Friday is to stay silent from eleven o'clock to two o'clock the three hours that our Lord was dying on the cross.
St. John's Eve
One of the oldest customs carried out on St. John's Eve is the lighting of fires in the evening and playing music, and dancing.
St. Martin's day
On St Martin's day the people of Cratloe had a custom of killing a goose and sprinkling the blood in the four corners of the house, and in some houses they would spare up the blood to cure a headache. The only custom carried out on this day is the killing of a goose.

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St John's Day
St John's day falls on he 24th of June.On that day people visit a well in Newhall which is two miles from Ennis.and this well is called St John's well. On St John's Eve it is an old custom to have a bonfire .
It is said that there are many cures in this well.Many people go and do a certain amount of rounds,more people go on their knees back and forwards ,several times .The people who do these things are those who have faith in the well.More people drink this water or bring it home with them.

The people in olden times used make a black fast day of Good Friday. They used to eat bread made with water and used drink black tea.
The people used to eat a great many eggs on Easter Sunday long ago.
It is an old custom on May Day to bring in a May bush before the sun would rise.
On St. John's Eve the people make bonfires in honour of St. John.

Give us some money to bury the wran.On St. Brigid's Day rush crosses are made, and hung in every room of house, and also in the stables.
On May Eve a May-bush covered with flowers and lighted candles is made in front of the door. On May Day nobody gives away milk before twelve o'clock.
On St John's Day bon-fires are lit in honour of St John.
On Hallow Eve all the ahes are cleaned out of the grates, and no water is kept in the house. The door is not bolted during the whole of the night.
On St. Columkill's Day, people go to Columkill's Wells at Strinagh and say the Rosary round the well, and take home some water from it. It

10. St. John's DayBonfires are lighted on hills and at crossroads on St. John's Day.11. Feast of the AssumptionThe people go to visit Lady Well in Slane on the feast of the Assumption.12. Hallow E'enPeople eat nuts and apples on Hallow Eve night. It is the custom to have a big feast, consisting of tea, and a cake with a ring in it. Whoever gets the ring will be married before that day twelve month. The children duck for apples and money and everyone enjoys looking at the children playing their tricks. Fairies are supposed to be roaming around on Hallow Eve night so nobody throws out water on that night lest they should drown a soul.

Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
Give me some money to bury the wren".On Shrove Tuesday the women make pancakes for the tea.On Easter Saturday people go around gathering eggs for Easter Sunday.On St. John's Eve the boys make bonfires at crossroads and they gather sticks and turf and light a big fire. There is also an old legend connected with St. John's Eve as follows, it is said that the ferns are supposed to shed their seed on that night the person who catches it before it reaches the ground and puts it between two pewter plates and puts it under his head for three nights in succession he will dream of hidden treasure.
The person who does it must be very brave and strong so they have to suffer a lot and keep the secret, if they tell what is wrong with them the spell is broken. Some years ago a poor man tried to do it, the second night he moaned so much that his people sent for the doctor when the doctor was examining him he knocked the plates from under his head the seed was spilled on the floor and that ended his dream of wealth.

There is a pillar in Old Kilcullen Graveyard. On the top is a hollow. If you dip your finger in it when you have worts
It will cure them. This cure does not be unless the holllow is full is full of water.
On Knockaulin there is a well called St John's Well. If you wash your face in it on St John's Eve, you will be cured of skin disease.
Long ago the people used to hang mitsleto over the door as a sign of peace & friendship

let the min. They used to dance and the people gave them money.
People put up "May bushes" on May day. They cut a white-thorn bush and put it in the ground before the door. They put floors flowers on it. they put ribbons in it. They put egg-shells on it. The people do not like to give out milk on May day. The people do not like to give out money on May day.
On St John's eve the people used to light a bone-fire. St John's Day is on the twenty fourth of June.

Shrove Tuesday.
It is customary to make Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In olden times the people used to make the Pancakes in the night.
St John's Eve.
On St John's Eve the people light bonefires on the hills.
St Stephen's Day.
On St Stephen's Day the boys go around with the Wren to each house. When they come to a house they say a rhyme for the people of the house.
All Hallows Eve.
On All Hallows Eve the people make colcannon for the dinner.

On St John's Eve there used to be a bonfire on the Fair Green. All the young girls and boys used to have a dance.On one St John's Eve a girl - who was one of the dancers afterwards on Green - went into the neighbouring church yard, stole the wooden crosses off the graves and with them started the bonfire. While the girl was dancing a sheegee came and swept the girl away and it said that screams of her going through the air were awful and it is said that she was never seen afterwards. And that finished up the dances and fairs at The Fair Green of Nashe.
Faction Leaders :New Ross : Gunnips, Bearneys.Nash : Roches, ConnicksTerrarath : KentsLoughnageer : Whelans

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Festival Customs
There are many customs which the people carry out in this district on certain feast days such as Easter Sunday,St.John's Eve and the Eve of All Saints.
On Easter Sunday the children of this district have a feast out of doors.They light a fire outside and on it boil eggs,they bring bread and other eatables with them while sitting round the fire.
On the evening before the first of May the people get May flowers and spread them on the door step of all the out-houses as well as the dwelling house.Some people say that if the flowers were not there that the fairies would come and take away the good luck and others say that they are there for the Blessed Virgin to walk upon.
On St. John's Eve fires are lighted all over the district and people spend the night singing

and they stop from talking from one o clock until three o clock. On Easter Sunday a great feast wa held every-body eats a great number of eggs. All the children have a picnic on that day, the chiefly consists of eggs, sugar, tea, sweet-cake, sweets and milk. On May day all the people make a may bush and place flowers near it in honour of the Blessed Virgin. On St John's night bonfires are lighted and the people dance and sing around them. On St Martin's day a cock or a sheep is killed and the blood is sprinkled around the yard. No miller works on that day because St Martin was a miller. On hallow Eve sweet cakes are made and there is a ring put in each

There was a man long ago and he used to be at every bone-fire. As soon as he had finished with one bone-fire he would go off to another one. St John's eve falls on the twenty third of June every year. It a custom to throw a bone into the middle of the fire. There is a bone-fire on the top of every hill because the first fire was lit on the top of a hill. It is a custom to have a fire