Folklore of Ireland

1 May

Folklore from the old calendars

Driving the cattle through the May fires No longer kept Connacht, MunsterGeneral Vallancey wrote in 1772 that in Munster and Connaught the poorest cottager who owned a cow and a wisp of straw still drove his cattle through fire on the first of May, to keep them free of disease for the year.
No fire given out on May Day Lore and belief IrelandCamden, writing of the manners of the Irish, said they counted any woman who came to fetch fire on May Day a witch.
O’Donoghue’s white horse Lore and belief MunsterFrom Crofton Croker's Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland, Hone gives the belief that at first light on May morning the princely O'Donoghue rides his white horse over the waters of Killarney.
Stir-about for the first day of summer No longer kept LeinsterSir Henry Piers wrote in 1682 that the Irish of Westmeath counted May Day the first day of summer and always had one formal dish at their meal that day, stir-about or hasty pudding, flour and milk boiled thick.
The Dublin May bush No longer kept LeinsterOn May morning young men and boys of Dublin went a few miles out of town to cut a May bush, a whitethorn four or five feet high, and planted it in the middle of their street.
The Finglas maypole No longer kept LeinsterA Dublin correspondent told Hone that Finglas, a village two or three miles out on the great northern road, was the only place near the city where May Day was still kept in the old style.
The May ball for the newly married No longer kept Ireland, MunsterOn May Day the young men of each district in the south of Ireland went in procession in ribbons and garlands, their leader carrying a pole with a double hoop and a gilt ball hanging in it.
The May mummers of Ireland No longer kept MunsterHone quotes the Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, just published, on the Irish mummers, whose proper festival was May Day.

Folklore of Ireland

1 May

Ascension Day

Whit Sunday

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