J - Comhaltas Archive

Back in the year 1930 or thereabouts
the people of Ireland lived a different
life than that of today. People had their
own milk , made their own butter and
bread. The flour used was got from milling
the wheat which they grew on the
land .
They had no electricity or electric or
gas ovens. They used a " bastible" or
pot oven. The bastible was the main
way of cooking. Turf was used to make
the fire . They cut the turf in the bog,
dried it and drew it home with donkeys
and baskets or if they were lucky they
had a horse and stide. To come back to
the "bastible" it was used as I have said
to take bread . The turf coals were
placed on the lid and the fire distributed
under and around the sides. It was
also used to boil meat and potatoes,
roast chicken , duck or goose. It was the
most useful utensil around the house.
The main meat used was bacon. Pigs
were fattened by boiling small potatoes
which again were home grown, mixed
with crusted oats or barley to which a
little sk im milk was added. The chicken
was usually a Sunday treat. Then once
a month when the man of the house
would go to the fair he would bring
home a piece of fresh meat, - what we
now know as round steak. That was the
only meat purchased. All the rest was
home produced.
Another very important food was
fish. It was to be got by fishing from
the rock in Summer. A quantity of that
was salted in a timber barrel to preserve
it. It was then dried in the sun and
stored up for the Winter. Every Friday
was a fast day . The fish was placed in
co ld water overnight to remove the salt,
then boiled and served with onions,
white sauce , butter and potatoes and
very nice it was too.
The tradition always was to have a
fish supper on Christmas Eve , place a
light to Our Lady and St. J oseph on the
dark and lonely road to Bethlehem.
The big treat at Christmas was to
have currant cake, wine, apples and
oranges. People went to early Mass in
the dark of the morning on foot , and
odd bicycles, others went by horse and
trap. All exchanged the same greeting­
"Happy Christmas" and I firmly believe
everyone was happy.
If people were lucky they had a turkey
for dinner on Christmas Day. If
not they had a goose, again their own
Some Old Customs And Cures
Aine Ni Mhaolchathail
produce. They had no radio o r television
, perhaps · they h·ad a gramophone
and some records like "The geese in the
bog", " Dan MCCann" or " Flanagan
Brothers". That enterta.inment was
usually kept for Christmas night. No
one left their home on that night, as
home was the place to be.
The next day was St. Stephen's Day
and the Wren Boys were out bright and
early . They carried a little wren on the
top of a holly bush and wore anything
from mother's apron to sacks in disguise
with faces blackened with shoe polish
and so on..... They sang and played the
tin whistle and accordion at every house
and got a bit of money everywhere they
went.
A t the end of the day, they counted
all the sixpences and shillings and
maybe two bobs and odd half-crown
and divided the cash between them.
They finished up tired and happy.
Hallowe'en was another time of the
year looked forward to especially by the
children. They tied an apple from the
ceiling and whoever managed to get the
first bite got the apple. The mother
made a brack and put a ring, a match
and a rag in it. There was great excitement
to see who would get the different
items. As the saying goes - he who gets
the ring gets married within the year,
and so on. Blind Man's Buff was another
favourite game on that night. CandIes
and parafin oil lamps were the main
source of light.
May Day - the beginning of summer
was another traditional day. Whoever
got out of bed first on that morning
brought in the Summer. This was
usually a green slip of a tree or shrub. It
was said to be unlucky to travel on May
Day. The belief was some misfortune
would follow. It was also deemed un-
lucky to lend anything on May Day, or
give milk or butter away as for the remainder
of the year there would be
very little cream on the milk.
People had no water on tap, they
drew the water for the kettle in buckets
from the spring well. They collected
the rain water in a barrel from the roof
of the dwelling house for washing
clothes and for the many other uses
around the house.
During the long winter nights, knitting
was the pastime for the women
folk, while making baskets from twigs,
playing cards or an odd house dance
kept most of the men happy.
There were cures for the usual
coughs and colds. Anyone suffering
from Asthma for example took a hot
drink of carrigeen moss and lemon juice
going to bed. The carrigeen moss was
picked on the sea shore, dried and
stored until needed. It was also used as
dessert. Camphorated oil was another
cure to rub on the chest and cover with
red flannel, and of course, beat up the
white of an egg very stiff, add sugar and
a teaspoonful of whiskey and take every
couple of hours. All those cures were
known to be very effective.
A cure for warts was to get a snail in
a shell. Rub on the wart making the
sign of the cross nine times. Then hang
the snail on a skeach bush, by the time
the snail fell off the wart would have
disappeared .
There were very few doctors or pills
in those days. The family Rosary was
said every night. Money didn't matter
that much. If there was anything they
thought they needed and couldn't
afford, they always found a way to get
on without it. Everyone seemed happy
and content.
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