John Kennedy
COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
Riddles
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
5th May 1938”
A man without eyes saw apples on a tree. He took no apples off it and he left no apples on it and how could that be?
It is too short and if you cut a bit off the end of it it's long enough?
What makes more noise at a gate than a pig?
Answers
A man with one eye saw two apples on a tree. He took one apple off it and he left one on it.
A grave.
Two pigs.
Weather-Lore
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
9th May 1938”
Where you see crows lying on a wall it is the sign of rain.
When the smoke goes up straight in the sky it is the sign of rain.
When there is a ring round the moon it is the sign of bad weather.
The cricket sings loudly when it is going to rain.
When the rocks shine it is a sign of rain.
When it is cold it is the sign of rain.
Making Baskets
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
12th May 1938”
Baskets are made at home at present. This is the way they are made: -
First of all my father gets a bundle of sally rods. He sticks a number of them in the ground in the form of a square 11/2' x11/2' . Then other rods are woven in between the rods which are stuck in the ground. When they are woven about a foot and a half high, then the basket is pulled up.
The rods which are left standing up are woven down between four or five thick rods which are left across the bottom.
Then the creal is turned up and the tops of the rods which were stuck in the ground are cut off. An earis is put in one side of the creal to hang it on the scuróga.
The strong rods which are standing are stretched from side to side to make the bottom of the basket.
Hedge-School
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
12th May 1938”
There was a hedge school in Michael Brady's land in the village of Rushill in the parish of Balla, Co. Mayo.
This hedge school was held under a hedge.
I do not know what the master's name was.
They spoke English as well as they knew it.
The master had no desire for the Irish. The children wrote on slates.
They would be punished if they spoke a word of Irish.
Roofing a Thatched House
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
16th May 1938”
We have a thatched house at home at present.
This is how it was roofed. The rafters were put up on each side of the house 3 feet apart, and were brought together at the top. The latts were nailed two feet apart across the out side of the rafters. Scraws were then settled along on the latts.
Wheat straw is settled on the house every three years and is tightened with scallops, this is called thatch.
A Marriage
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
18th May 1938”
My grand-father got married forty years ago.
He had a party the night before he got married, which was the custom.
He walked to the church in Balla the next morning at twelve o-clock and was married by Father McDermott. When the Mass was over himself and his wife and some of his friends walked home, and he made a wedding feast that night. He invited all his friends to the feast and they had great fun dancing and singing until twelve o'clock in the night. Straw-boys came to the house. My grandfather gave them a pint each but they were not pleased with that so they went out and kicked the door and pulled down some of the eave of the house. They got another pint and they then came into the house and they danced and played a fiddle. They went out at two o'clock in the morning and they got a bundle of straw and made a fire of it on the boreen. After this they went home whistling and playing the fiddle.
The Famine
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
25th May 1938”
There was a famine in Ireland about 96 years ago. The people were very poor, and the crops failed, because blight fell on them. There was a great population of people and they had not much food except the potatoes and yellow meal. All the potatoes failed only a stalk here and there which they had to keep for the next year. About half of the people got hunger and diseases and died by the ditches and the other half lived on yellow meal and weeds which they called blisscons. The people who died were buried without coffins and some of them who tried to go to other countries died on the ships and were cast into the sea. The famine lasted a year and six months until the potatoes grew next year.
Travellers
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
25th May 1938”
Travellers go round begging until the present day. They go into the houses and they ask flour, tea, sugar, and a lot of things.
If they do not get everything they ask they curse you. They have a carriage which they sleep in at night. They are called caravans. These travellers buy a lot of old asses.
Birds
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
25th May 1938”
The following are the birds which are mostly seen in the parish of Balla in the Barony of Carra.
The robin stays in Ireland and does not migrate. She builds her nest in a bunch of briars. She lays five eggs.
The pigeon builds in a tall white-thorn bush and does not migrate. She lays two eggs.
The pheasant builds her nest in rushes. She lays six eggs and does not migrate.
The curlew builds in a wild bog or near a lake. She lays five eggs and does not migrate.
The cata-fhada is a gray bird which lives on eels and fish. She has long legs and big wings. She builds in a bush and lays four eggs. She does not migrate.
The wood-cock builds in a wood. She is a gray bird the shape of a hen. She lays three eggs and does not go away.
The swallow is a small blue bird who builds in the rafters of a barn. She lays six eggs and she migrates.
The cuckoo does not build any nest but lays in another bird's nest. She is a gray bird with a very long tail who migrates.
The Ball-court is a black bird with long legs. She is the shape of a duck and she builds in the reeds near a lake. She lays nine eggs and does not migrate.
The partridge lays in the heather. She is a big gray bird. A shape of a brown horse-shoe comes on her breast when she is over a year old. She lays fifteen eggs and does not migrate.
27 May 1938
The Magpie is a black and white bird who builds in an apple tree.
The partridge lays in the heather.
The philibian is a gray bird which builds in rough grass on a bank. She lays five eggs and does not go away.
The magpie is a black and white bird who steals other birds' eggs. She builds in an apple tree and lays four eggs. She does not migrate.
The seagull is a white bird the shape of a duck. She builds her nest on rocks near a lake or sea. She lays seven eggs and does not migrate.
A Road
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
27th May 1938”
In the time of the famine there was a road made in Bollinhoe, in the Barony of Carra. The people who worked on it were very poor and they got bad pay. They lived on yellow meal and on that account the road was called the yellow road. A little traffic goes on it now but it is a bad road.
Games
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
We play games at home at the fire, one of which is, that one person gets a stick and lights it in the fire. Then it is passed round to the rest and each one says while it is in his hand, Biorín a mharb, biorín a bheo; má gheobhann tú bás idir mo dhá láimh, beidh an púicin orm. When the stick quenches in some-body's hand a cloth is put on his face. Some other person puts something in his hand and the person with the cloth on his face keeps guessing until he says the right thing.
Ansbro - Tawnaghmore
Road-Making
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
There is a road leading from Loughal in the parish of Straid in the Barony of Gallen to Cragagh which is called the Stirabout road because it was made in the time of the famine.
The people who worked on it got a stone of yellow meal every week for their pay.
Potatoes
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
My father sets potatoes at home now. First of all he ploughs the land and harrows it. Then he rises drills with a plough and he scatters yard manure between every two drills. Then slits are laid on the manure and he closes the drills with the plough.
He sets lea land too. First of all he raises sods leaving three feet between every two sods and also leaving a furrow between every two ridges. Yard manure is spread on the ridges then, and he spreads the slits over the manure. Then he closes them in with a spade and sometimes gets a mahill. The potatoes we set are, Arran Banners, Kerry Pinks, King Edwards, Garden Fillers, Champions, May queens, Eppicures, and Arran Victors.
When the stalks come up through the clay, they are sprayed to keep the blight away from them. The king Edwards are the sweetest potatoes that grow in our district but the Banners grow big also and are the best for pigs.
St Stephen's Day
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
I go out with the wren every St Stephen's day. The night before that day I go out with a light and I catch a wren in the thatch of some house.
Then I put it in a cage until morning. I get up early in the morning and I take the wren with me round to every house and I say "Honour the wren." The people of the house give me a penny or two.
When I have visited every house I come home and I let the wren go.
I give the money to my father and he buys shoes or something for me with it.
November's Night
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
On November night all the people have great fun ducking for apples. The children hang an apple to the roof of the house and they spend the night trying to take a bite of it with their teeth.
After ten o'clock the woman of the house makes a big cake and she puts a ring, a thimble and a sixpence in it. The person who gets the ring will be the first to get married.
The person who gets the thimble will be a tailor and the person who gets the sixpence will be rich. When they have the supper eaten they say the rosary and go to bed.
Houses Long Ago
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
Long ago the people had small houses which were thatched with rushes. They had the chimney in the gable and they had a floor of flag stone. They tied all the stock they had in the end of the house at night. They had a half-door for keeping out the hens and chickens. They had no lamps or lights except rush-candles and bog-deal splinters. They made the fire with bog deal blocks and all sorts of sticks. They had a very small window with one pane of glass in it.
Story
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
Once upon a time there lived a man who was very fond of card-playing. One night as he was returning home he met a strange man on the road with a pack of cards, a table and a candle. He asked the man to play a game of cards with him, so the two got seated and they started to play. After a while a card fell on the floor. The man stooped to pick it up but he saw that the strange man had hooves instead of shoes. Then he started to pray loudly and the candle went out and the devil disappeared. The man ran home and he never went out card-playing at night again.
Story
“COLLECTOR: John Kennedy, Address, Prison, Balla, Co. Mayo
INFORMANT: Michael Kennedy, Age 48 Rush Hill, Co. Mayo
31st May 1938”
Once upon a time a man and his wife were going to a fair. As they came near to a bog they saw a leprachán lying on a bunch of heather. The man rushed at him and he caught him. The fairy told him he would give him three wishes if he let him go. The man let him go and he came our of the bog and told his wife. So they went on to the fair. When they were drawing near to the town the woman saw a tinker selling sauce-pans and she said "I wish I had a sauce-pan" and it came into her hand. After a while the man said "I wish I had a drink" and it came into his hand. Then the woman said "I wish we kept our mouths closed" and the three wishes were gone. So the two of them went home sadly.