Bridgie Kennedy
A Fairy Story
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
DATE: 5TH MAY 1938”
Once upon a time there lived in Fargureens a tailor named Reilly. He had to travel round to each village to make the clothes for the people.
One night as he was coming home from Tavanaghmore he met a little horse at Sean Mhuileann. He jumped upon the horse's back and rode on him as far as Prizon school.
The next night the horse brought him to the same place again.
The third night as he drew near the horse he opened his mouth and said, "Have you the sharp things with you to night"?
When the tailor heard that he took to his heels and as he ran he kept making the sign of the cross with his scissors behind his back. While he did, the bad spirit could not touch him.
When he was crossing a gap at Colman's in Prizon the scissors touched the horse, and he fell dead. He turns into a black oak stick in the shape of a dog. There it lies still, and it is called the "Maide dubh".
Riddles
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
DATE: 9TH MAY 1938”
It opens like a barn door and shuts like a trap and a many a thing you'll think of before you'll think of that?
It is made every day. It was invented long ago.?
As filled as could be and takes more.?
Why are girl’s eyes like saucepans.?
What is half the moon like.?
"An umbrella"
"A bed"
A pot full of potatoes and it takes water.
"Because they have lids. "
"The other half."
Weather-Lore
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo”
When there is a blue blaze in the fire it is the sign of rain.
If the moon has a ring round it is the sign of a storm.
When there are bright stars in the sky it is the sign of frost.
When there is a shine on the rocks it is the sign of rain.
The old women get pains in their toes when it is going to rain.
A True Story
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
9TH MAY 1938”
A true Story
Once upon a time there lived in Ballafaidereen a woman whose husband was dead. She had so much to do that she stayed up every night after one o'clock.
One Saturday night as she stayed up sewing a knock came to the door at two o'clock. She opened the door and in walked a few women. The woman of the house took no notice of them. She did not know they were fairies.
It was not long until more gathered in and put up a spinning wheel. Some began to spin, others to card and it was not long until they had pieces woven.
The poor woman of the house did not know what to do. She took a can and went outside the house with the intention of stealing away from the fairies.
Outside the house she met a woman who was dead three months and the ghost told her to say to the fairies that the fort was on fire, and when she would get them gone out to quench it to throw out their bag of tricks.
She went into the house and told the fairies that the fort was on fire. They all ran out. As soon as they did so the woman of the house threw out their bag of tricks.
They came back again but the woman had the door bolted. The cloth they wove was on the altar for years.
A Funny Story
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Reilly, Age 79, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
16TH MAY 1938”
One day an Englishman and an Irishman and a Scotchman were walking along a road they had only two-pence and they were wondering what they would buy.
The Scotch-man said it was better to buy Whiskey.
The Englishman said he'd like cheese and the Irishman said that a loaf was the best. They bought the loaf.
It was too small to divide. They said they would give it to the person who would have the best dream that night.
When the next morning dawned, they began to tell their dreams. Well said the Englishman, I saw an acre field. There grew in it one turnip and it was so big that it shoved out its walls into the next field.
Well said the Scotchman I saw the boiler they boiled that turnip in.
The Irish man said I dreamt I was sleeping at a haystack and I got hungry and up I got and ate the loaf.
The Irishman got up during the night and ate the loaf.
A Spinning Wheel
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Mrs Michael Kennedy, Age 35, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
18TH MAY 1938”
A spinning wheel stands on four-legged stool four feet long by one foot wide and a foot and a half in height. There are two sticks erected upon the stool on one of which the wheel is hung and is connected by a cord to the front of the stick to which a spindle is attached.
When you twist the wheel the spindle twists also. Then you put a little piece of carded wool to it and put it gently while working the wheel.
We have a spinning wheel at home, which we spin with in the long winter nights. We have the sheep of our own and then we have the wool of our own. First, we tease it and grease it with oil. Afterwards it is spun and made into socks stockings and jersey for the children.
A Lime-Kiln
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
19TH MAY 1938”
My grandfather Michael Kennedy Rushhill in the Parish of Balla has a limekiln on his own land it is seven feet deep and four feet wide all round.
He used to burn twenty barrels of lime at a time.
First of all he would put in some turf and fill it up with stones. He had to renew the fire every two hours and on that account the people of the house had to stay up for a week while the lime was being burned. Then he let it cool and took it out at hole in bottom of the Pourheen.
The lime was very useful. He sold all he had to spare at four shillings a barrel. He shook some of it on the land and often whitewashed the house with it.
Marriages
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
19TH MAY 1938”
My mother got married on the 4th March 1923 to Michael Kennedy of Rushhill in the parish of Balla.
There was a wedding party in my mother's house the night before the marriage as was the custom.
Then they went on three side cars next morning to the church with fourteen of the nearest friends. After the ceremony they came home. When my grandmother saw them coming she went and made a bonfire and as they drew near she raised up a hay fork with a coal on each prong.
When they arrived at the door of the house they dismounted, and my mother went into the house first.
There was a big wedding party in my father's house that night. Sixty people were invited. Forty straw boys came. My father had four half-barrels of stout and plenty to eat. The straw boys knocked at the door and came in and danced. Then my father gave them drink or they would pull down the thatch.
How the Killeen Got its Name
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Margaret Kennedy, Age 76, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
26TH MAY 1938”
In olden times there lived in Keelogues in the Barony of Carra a man named Isaac Beckett. He had a small mill and he ground oats in it. The mill became so crowded that he had no place to dry the oats so he paid men to come to Rushhill and build a little house in our farm as no other man would allow him to build such a house in his land. They built it and afterwards called it a Killeen, because after building it they never used it, and afterwards priests said Mass in it. The walls are there yet.
Herbs
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
26TH MAY 1938”
There is an herb growing to cure all diseases if only we knew it. That's why people think to the present day that there is a cure in cow dung for a lump under your arm because she eats all herbs that grow.
There is a cure in an ivy leaf for a corn. Steep it in vinegar and then put it to the corn for three nights.
The Comphory is a healing herb for a cut or a wound. By scraping off the skin off the root you will get a little sticky ointment inside, if you rub it on a cloth and put it to the wound for a week it will cure the sore.
A cure for warts is to boil docken on milk and rub it on them three times in honour of the Father Son and Holy Ghost.
Cures
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
30TH MAY 1938”
Hairy molly - A hairy caterpillar
There are many cures for the Chincough, one is to catch a hairy molly (A hairy caterpillar), tie the little animal in a red cloth and put it round the person's neck who is bad with the cough.
By catching a bumblebee and holding him in the milk you are giving to a sick person it is a cure.
If you put in a stone by mistake with the potatoes it is a cure for a toothache.
Tinkers
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
30TH MAY 1938”
The tinkers are a tribe who do not like to work. In olden times they tricked Saint Patrick with a bad two shilling piece that they made themselves, and the saint wished that they would never rise any higher in this world. That is the reason they cannot get a good living for themselves.
They go about from door to door selling tin cans and saucepans, buying asses and selling them again at a small profit.
They come into every house asking alms such as flour, meal, butter, bread, turf.
They ask until they are refused and then when they are going they curse you if you refuse them.
Story of a Fort
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31ST MAY 1938”
There is a fort in Carramore in the Parish of Balla in the Barony of Carra. Men who passed by it at night heard great nice singing and one of the men began to dance and he could not stop.
On another occasion as Patrick Hyland of Ballinhoe in the Parish of Balla was passing by it going with pigs to the market, he looked into the fort and he saw a crowd of cattle on it and the fairies buying and selling the cattle.
He was filled with fear, as he went on a few miles of the road. He could hear them talking over his head.
Willie Hyland
Our Home District
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31ST MAY 1938”
Mary Kennedy
My Heritage photo colour restoration was used for this photo.
Our house was built one hundred years ago by four gobáns namely Jack Larch, Mick Welsh, Patsy Mahon and James Morris. They built it for five pounds and only spent six days working at it. It is a thatched house.
It is in the townland of Rushhill, Parish of Carra. In Rushhill there is a small population . There are only eight houses which are Delaney's with a family of three, Ansbro’s, two in family Kennedy's twelve, P. Kennedy's four, Brady's two, Reilly's four, Farrells two.
It is a mountainous district and generally the wild ducks build and bring out their young here.
There are six people over seventy in Rushhill who know a little Irish. Michael Delaney, Margaret Kennedy, James Reilly, Delia Reilly, Michael Reilly, Bridget Farrell.
Rushhill got its name from all the rushes that are in it.
The Famine
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
1ST MAY 1938? POSSIBLY 1ST JUNE”
In years gone by there was a famine all over Ireland. The blight fell early in the year and on that account, there were no potatoes. The people had to pay high rent and having no money they had to sell their oats and wheat to get money.
There was a big population of nine million. They got their passages free to America and many a ship load was brought out but, never reached a shore again.
They had not even enough of yellow meal to eat. The second year the priests gave out off the altars to set cabbage, turnips, and mangles because the priest said, never again would a potato grow in Irish soil.
A little boy went about seeking food, nobody knew him.
He died of hunger outside Prizon school gate. He was put up on the ditch lest a pig might eat him, because they had no money to buy a coffin.
Was he not buried? Yes. But without a coffin
Weeds
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
3rd June 1938”
The farrabaun is the most useful of the weeds. It fattens sheep very quickly and if it is saved as hay it fattens cows and they like it.
The docken is the next best but it is only used by some people for pigs when the potato crop is used up in the Summer time. The sheep eat the Raithneach while it is young. The ass eats thistles and likes them too.
Young ducks eat boiled nettles and are very fond of them.
Every weed is of some use except the red knees, a tall weed with little red hard flowers on the top of it. It spreads very quickly and makes the land poor.
Our Cows
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
14th June 1938”
We have three cows and four calves on our farm. We call them the Bigle cow, Long Horns and White leg, the black calf, the Castlebar one, Short Horns and the suck calf. We drive them to the farm every day. When we are putting them into the field if they rush and start fighting, we say, "How, hursh, go back.
When my mother milks the cow she puts the sign of the cross on her side with milk and says "God bless you.
They are tied in, in the cow house and barn. They are tied with a chain which is coming from a buck awn in the corner of the barn. It is put in crossways in the building.
Our Farm
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
20th June 1938”
The following are the names of the fields on our farm. It is the townland of Rushhill in the parish of Balla in the Barony of Carra.
Garra cam
Molly ruaidh
Big house's garden.
Gairdín bán.
Lágana brón.
Cillín.
Gairdín árd.
Molly
Setting a Clutch
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
24th June 1938”
When a person is setting a clutch he gets a box, puts hay into it the eggs are put into the box and the hen is left on them. The hen hatches on them for three weeks. Then the chickens come out of the eggs. It is said that thirteen or fifteen is a very lucky number to put under a hen. Six or eight or any other even number is very unlucky number.
St John's Night
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
1st July 1938”
The bone-fire night is always on the 23rd of June. On the eve of St John's day all the men of the village go to the bog with asses and creels for turf and sticks. They put the turf in a heap at the nearest crossroad.
They get half of it and build in the shape of a V. They leave a small hole in the middle of it for coals of fire. They also put a bone in it. The small children go out looking for a bone a month before the bone-fire night.
When the fire is kindled, big and little go around it saying the rosary. When they are going home they throw a coal in the stalks, to keep the blight off them. The coal is lucky.
Houses in Ancient Times
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
11th July 1938”
The houses long ago were made of sticks and clay. They had no glass in the windows and when the cold winter's breeze would be blowing into the Crannogs as they were called they spread a canvas bag on the windows to keep it out. For a door they used a few lats nailed together and left it up against the door-way without being hung on hinges at all.
Inside in the house there was a flagged floor, One or two beds, and a few stools. Shelves for delph in a press made in the wall which are to be seen to the present day.
Ansbro’s house Tawnaghmore
A Story
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
19th July 1938”
One day a man went to thrash oats for a man who happened to be a freemason.
On finishing the man said to the freemason "If you have any power bring me here the devil if you can."
"Ah! you would be too much afraid laughed the freemason. "Not at all " said the man.
The free-mason lit a candle and shut the barn door. At once the devil put up his head out of the floor The man said, "He's not up far enough yet and when he got a little further he hit him with the flail.
The free-mason told him to stop and he asked the devil did the man hurt him.
The devil said, "No, his faith that has hurt me most.
Class of 1966
Food
For breakfast the people long ago had porridge. Potatoes, herrings or porridge were also eaten at dinner.
The men, women and children had boiled loaf on milk for supper. The old people call it Pobs. They had only three meals a day and sometimes only two. They wore no shoes; even the men went bare-footed.
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
15th July 1938”
Fairy Forts
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
21st July 1938”
There are three forts in Prizon, parish of Balla. Each is a round mound of earth with bushes growing round it.
One of the forts is in Colman's field in Prizon.
One night there were two boys coming home from visiting. It was about twelve o'clock. They heard lovely music inside, they stood and listened for a while. They started to dance, and they could not stop, until the cock crew in the morning.
One-night John Murphy of Prizon was put astray in the same fort. He was coming home from visiting and came into the field where the fort is. He did not know where he was, he could not stop walking up and down. He saw woods and trees and rivers everywhere he went. Something was before him, he saw lights in the sky. At last he turned his jacket inside our and he saw where he was, and he went home.
Local Ruins
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Reilly, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
21st July 1938”
There is an old ruin of a castle on Patrick Reilly's land in the village of Prizon parish of Balla barony of Cara Co. Mayo. All the side walls have fallen in now, but the gables and chimneys are standing yet. There is tradition that Tobias Bourke the man who caused the castle to be built had the mortar mixed with blood and at the present day when you look at the mortar you can see that it is a kind of red colour.
A Story
“COLLECTOR: Bridgie Kennedy, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
30th August 1938”
One day Our Lord and St Joseph and the Blessed Virgin were out walking. They came to a house and they asked lodging for the night. The man of the house was very rough, and the woman was mild. The woman would give them lodging but the man would not let her.
When the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph came out they said-:"A mild woman and a rough man, and the Son of man lying in the shower.
They then went into a Killeen to shelter themselves for the night.
The hens went up on the Killeen and began to scrape away the scraws from over them, and let them get wet, but the ducks came and sheltered them and that is why a duck never gets wet.
