Folklore of Munster

26 December

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.
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.
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.