A very in interesting read!
Some other Irish websites:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irishancestors/
http://www.irishclans.com/
http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/igsi_published/math-nam.htm
Nancy
From:
http://www.from-ireland.net/
Location of a home was very important. There were practical considerations,
was the house going to be conveniently located as regards a water supply or
the public road? Or, was there going to be access to the farmers land? Most
of all, a house could not be built in any place where it would interfere
with the comings and goings of the 'little people,' or those who had died.
The house should never interfere with the goings on in the unseen world.
Prehistoric earthworks and megalithic tombs were to be avoided, for these
places were believed to be inhabited by the ancient spirits or the fairy
people. Burial places old and new were not to be built on or too close to.
Old pathways were to be respected and not obstructed in any way, who knows,
but it might be an old funeral path and to build on one of those would be
disastrous. There were 'wise' people, who knew the ways of the unseen world,
the ways of the fairies and these people were consulted when a new house was
to be built. There were solutions though, for those house which were
accidently built in the wrong place, sometimes these worked. If a house was
on a fairy path, then you could have a front and a back door in line, and if
you kept the doors open and a full bucket of water in the house at night,
then the fairies and their cortege could move freely along their path, with
water to satisfy them when they were thirsty. (There are some who say that
this was only a folk tale told to remind people to have their buckets filled
at night, many's a person fell down the well or tripped and broke their leg
while going about through the dark to fill that pail).
There were a few ways of deciding whether or not a site
was suitable or whether it would displease the fairy people. One means was
to lay four little bundles of corner stones or four sticks where each of the
corners of the house would be and if these were still standing the next
morning, then the building could go ahead. In west county Limerick, the
people used to toss a coin in the air, usually a florin of the old kind (the
one with a cross design on the reverse). If the coin landed with the cross
facing upwards then everything was all right and the house could be built,
but if the coin fell with the head up then another place was tried and on
and on until the coin would fall with that cross facing upwards.
There were lots of little 'rules' or pisheogs (sayings) related to the
building of a house. A new house to replace an old one should never be built
across the road from the old one. A room should never be built as an
extension to the "west" of a house. Is fear nios treise na Dia a chuirfeadh
faid siar as a theach. Although in county Westmeath it was said that it was
unlucky to build on the north side of a house and in county Tipperary it was
the south side was the unlucky side.
Now a house was supposed to be lucky, that was important. The home is where
the heart is, the home is the heart of a family, the warmth found in a home
cannot be compared to anything else. There were many customs associated with
making the house or home a lucky place for all involved. Some went into the
building of the house and some others were included after the house was
built. There were two ways of bringing this luck. By prayers or blessings of
some sort or other the blessings being 'good-luck charms' and some of these
it is said, relate back to the pagan times, back to the times before
Christianity came to Ireland, back to Celtic times.
Items were buried in the foundations of the house, these were of two kinds,
religious or superstitious. The main place for burial was under the
foundation stone of a house. A new coin with the date of the year in which
the house was built was the most favoured. A coin was supposed to bring
prosperity, the owners of the hosue would never be without money. Again, the
old English florin was considered very lucky with it's 'cross' on one side.
People liked to have a silver coin, those who were rich enough used a gold
sovereign or a half sovereign.
As with other things, we can see customary items being buried in specific
counties. In counties Offaly (King's), Westmeath and Monaghan the people
liked to place St. Benedict's medals in the four corners of a house. A small
piece of 'Gartan clay' -earth from St. Columcille's sanctuary at Gartan was
put into the foundations of many Donegal houses. Donegal people also used
clay from Tory Island, another sanctuary of St. Columcille, the patron saint
of Donegal. We are told that if this clay was in the foundations, the house
would not go on fire.
Small containers of holy water have been recovered from foundations, written
prayers or holy pictures in containers. Small pieces of iron in houses in
Carncash, Co. Sligo; Emyvale, Co. Monaghan; Dualla, Co. Tipperary; in
Inistiogue in Co. Kilkenny a horseshoe has been found; a piece of tobacco in
Co. Monaghan and some whiskey in Kerrykeel, Co. Donegal. Only the people who
put in their good luck charms know why they included what they did in their
foundations, we can only guess.
Attainment of the highest point in the building often called for some
special note or celebration. The highest point was generally considered to
be either the top of the gable or the top of the main chinmey.
In northwest Connaught, the top of the gable was regarded as the highest
point of the house and may have been because there were no stone
chinmeystacks in many houses in the area in former times. The stone that
crowns the gable was known as "cloch an phréacháin'', the crow's stone.
When
this was set in position the owner of the house called the workmen together
and provided them with a drink of whiskey or póitín, or, at the very least,
tea. In Louisburgh, County Mayo, the neighbours gathered on this occasion
and were entertained by fiddlers. An informant from Co. Mayo reports: "For
some reason, which so far I have not found out the cloch phréacháin was
never finished. The mason would leave some opening or space around it
without finishing with mortar, he would deliberately use up the mortar so
that he would not have sufficient to plaster around the stone, or if he had
enough mortar he would, when the work was almost finished accidentally (mar
dheadh!) tumble the bucket of mortar and say "We must leave that!" or some
words to that effect." (From The Luck of the House, Information from Mr.
Mícheál Mac Énrí, Bangor Erris, Co. Mayo.)
At Inistiogue in county Kilkenny, the mason marked a cross on the plaster of
the highest point of the gable. A religious medal, a piece of blessed palm,
or a little bottle of holy water, was tied to the ridge pole as soon as it
was set in a number of places.
In other places where the main chimney was regarded as the highest point,
the first fire was laid on the hearth, and the workers in places in Clare,
Limerick and Tipperary expected to be treated to drinks or some other form
of minor celebration. The same custom is reported from Beltra, county Sligo
and Carrigtee, county Monaghan. From county Monaghan too we hear of the
placing of a bone on top of the newly completed chimney.
From the Castleblayney district of county Monaghan we are told that
'when a
house was built up as far as the ridge board it was custom to have a
party
to celebrate the occasion. All the friends, family and neighbours were
invited A night of feasting, dancing and story telling was spent. It was
known as a 'topping up party'. Another source from Monaghan says that this
occurred when the wall-plate was reached.
Care was taken to begin the building of the house on a lucky day. Lucky days
depended on local tradition, also in taking possession of a new house the
timing was very important. This could not take place during Lent. It seems
that Friday was a lucky day to move, and Monday in general an unlucky day,
although there is an old saying which restricts this: "a move to the north
on Friday, to the south on Monday, or to the west on Tuesday never brought
any luck in its train." While Dean Jonathan Swift says "Friday and
Childermas day are two cross days in the week and it is impossible to have
good luck in either of them." Irish tradition agrees with Dean Swift as
regards Childermas Day: this is the 28th of December, the feast of the Holy
Innocents, which in Irish is known as 'Lá na Leanbh' (Day of the Children),
but also as Lá Crosta na Bliana, 'the cross day of the year' when no work of
any kind should begin.
Some coals of fire from the old house were often taken into the new one, but
the croch (chimney-crane for hanging cooking vessels) was always left
behind. So too was the cat, and various tricks and restraints were employed
to make sure the cat would not be brought, however, if it was sent to the
new house a few days previously then that was acceptable in some places. A
new cat straying in betokened the best of fortune, if it happened to be a
black cat it was an extremely happy omen. . Sometimes also, a fragment of
mortar from the old fireplace was laid upon or built into the new hearth
In the past, the fire was physically and socially at the centre of the
house. In very early houses (peasant cabins) it was literally in the centre
of the floor. Turf-fires were the norm in most parts of rural Ireland, and
they were smoored or banked (covered with ashes) each night . Some stories
claim that many domestic fires remained burning for hundreds of years. "To
fail to keep your fire raked betokens bad luck". If the hearth had to be
repaired or cleaned then some of the old burning fire was set aside in a
bucket in order to replace when the repairs had been done. It was a real
indication of bad housewifery to have to go to a neighbour in the morning to
ask for some burning embers had your fire died! No one liked letting a
lighted coal out of a house "for fear of giving luck away." On Candlemas day
the fire could be completely doused after a bogdeal cipín had been lighted
and from it the blessed candle. The hearth was cleaned out and a new fire
set and re-lit using the blessed candle and this was kept going until the
next candlemas day. A prayer was commonly recited when
the live embers were being covered with ashes each night:
The fire was kept burning or smouldering day and night and not allowed to go
out completely but for one or two reasons. If a member of a family died
outside the house, the fire was put out before the corpse was brought into
the house. Or, when the corpse was brought to church to remain there
overnight until burial, the fire was allowed to go out and not lit the
following day. Another example of the deliberate allowing of the fire to go
out was on the occasion of the 'need-fire' as described by Wood-Martin
(Wood-Martin, W.G. 'Elder Faiths: Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland (2
vols. 1902) I, 36.) as a remedy for a cattle disease all the fires in the
townland were quenched, a fresh fire was then made by rubbing sticks
together, the cattle were treated with smoke from this fire and the hearth
fires re-lighted as soon as the remedy had been applied. It is said that
this cusom appears to have been confined to a few places in Ulster where it
probably spread from Scotland, however there are similar customs associated
with May day celebrations which are through to go back to pagan times in
which people jump through the fire.
Various objects were hung in a house or kept there to ensure good luck. A
caul-clay from Tory island off the coast of Donegal, or house-leek
(Sempervivum) would save the house from being burned and from lightening,
this was grown on the roofs of thatched houses, or in specially made niches
or nooks in or about the roofs or porches of houses covered with other
materials. It is known by various names: 'houseleek' is widespread, but
'roofleek' occurs in parts of county Cork, 'buachaill tí' (houseboy) in
Galway and Mayo, 'luibh a' tóiteáin' in west Limerick and Kerry,
'tóirpín'
in Clare and Tipperary, and waxplant in Offaly and Westmeath. It was also
valued as a medicinal herb. Other plants grown on or about the roof of a
house brought good luck and guard against fire, 'stonecrop' (Sedum acre)
around Tramore, county Waterford and 'snapdragon' (Antirrhinum majus) in
county Westmeath. The elder tree which grew near many houses, would protect
them from lightening; the skin of a king-otter would avert general harm;
there is seldom a town in Ireland where a horseshoe may not be found nailed
over some house or dwelling.
Bunches of yarrow collected on the eve of St. John (June 24th) as well as
May flowers (but not Whitethorn), would keep illness and misfortune away.
People were careful never to sweep out the floor dust
on a Monday, lest they sweep out their luck as well
In the everyday life of the household there were numerous omens pertaining
to the luck of the house, and these are a selection:
It was considered very lucky if a bird or a honeybee flew into the house and
great care had to be taken to capture the creature and release it or
otherwise ensure that it left the house unhurt. On the other hand it was
believed that if a frog or a worm came into the house it was very unlucky
and should be killed. Bread or meal and salt should always be in the house.
The hearth should be swept clean at night, but sweepings and ashes should
never be taken from the house on a Monday.
The person who enters the house by one of two doors must go out again by the
same door. Whitethorn or elder blossoms must not be brought in. Inside the
house no umbrella should be opened (or you'd bring rain).
Do you realise that in learning about the customs and traditions and
implements of a county, you may find hints as to where your ancestors came
from? Different farming implements and other home made items had different
designs or were made slightly differently in some cases from one county to
another.
Nancy
Websites:
www.geocities.com/twincousin2334
www.thepastwhispers.com
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