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v
Do not burn playing cards v
When you are going to Mass don’t turn back v
When a person is sick, it is not right to go on a
trip to see him on a Wednesday or Friday v
When you take out sciollauns (seed potatoes) to sow
them do not bring them back to the house v
When a garden has been sown the implements should be
burned v
When going to sow the potatoes take ashes or hot
embers and holy water to shake on the first ridge for good luck v
If you meet a red haired woman on your journey some
misfortune will befall you v
Do not put fresh meat into a cart being drawn by a
mare in foal. If you rub some meat to the mares tongue no bad luck will come to
you v
Don’t give a hatching hen to anyone or your
husband will die v
If you hatch eggs when the tide is ebbing you will
have all pullets v
Do not bring back butter you take to the market v
It is not right to open an umbrella inside a house v
Do not put a spade on your shoulder inside a house
v
Don’t give embers (from your fire) to anybody on
this day for fear of bad luck v
Don’t give a drop of milk either v
Don’t allow hatching eggs to go from house to
house on that day
v
A sally stick is put into the fire until red. Then
it is removed and the sign of the cross is made with it on the left shoulder
v
People lit fires in the garden and in the
wheatfields
v
Never rock an empty cradle v
Don’t put a small child into a cradle in which
another child died v
Don’t bring an unbaptised child into a house v
Don’t cut a child’s hair or nails until he/she
is one year old v
Don’t allow a pup into a house until a child has
his/her first tooth v
A child should be put to sleep in his/her
christening robe v
Don’t make or buy a christening robe – get one
on loan v
Don’t allow a child to look at himself/herself in
the mirror until he/she is one year old v
When you meet a newborn child you rub saliva to
his/her face v
You should put silver (money) in a child’s hand so
that he/she will comb grey hair – i.e. he/she will grow old v
It is bad luck to carry a cradle upside down v Put a young child into a sling before going into a cradle.
v
A hen with a wisp of grass attached to her is a sign
that a neighbour will die v
Do not cut the top sod from a grave on Monday, cut
it on Sunday v
People put a crepe on a beehive v
No funeral was held on January 1st v
People stopped the clock when somebody in the house
died v
Water used to wash the corpse was kept until after
the funeral v
The bed was washed before anybody else would sleep
there v
The clay in the grave has healing properties v
A person’s clothes should not be burned after his
death v
It is bad luck to fall in a graveyard v
People turn chairs and tables upside down when a
funeral leaves a house v
Every coffin should be facing south (in a grave?) v
During the wake the corpse should be facing east v
Young people should not see their parents being
placed in a coffin v
A corpse is borne feet forward v
A Priest’s corpse is borne head forward v
Taking the running wax from a candle at a wake will
prevent drowning
e.g. Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and previously all Fridays of Lent v
If you plough land on a black day you will not see
that day the following year v
It was bad luck to find a person dead on a black day v
It was bad luck to put ivy on a grave on a black day v
A reed taken from the ground had to be pulled
completely. It was bad luck if resown
v
On Christmas Eve everybody should be in his/her own
house v
The doors should be left open (unlocked?) v
If a member of the family died during the year a
meal should be prepared for him/her on that night v
A portion of the Christmas candle should be kept to
give protection from storms v
A piece of the sciollog (a potato cut for sowing)
was kept and put to one side v
The youngest boy in the house lit the candle and it
was not quenched until the following day v
People left one meal of potatoes to be dug on
Christmas night. They were also eaten on that night v
Fresh
meat taken into a house should not be taken out again v
The same
applied as far as eggs were concerned v
On St.
Brigid’s Eve a white sheet was left spread on a bush but was collected before
morning. Five Our Fathers and Five Hail Marys were said and then the sheet was
put into a press and this was to prevent fire v
Sometimes
eggs were placed in another person’s garden and they would bring bad luck if
buried in the clay v
When a
person had ringworm he/she placed stones in a bag and threw it on the road. The
first person to take the bag would also take the ringworm |
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