On the night of Holy Saturday, cottagers in the middle districts of Ireland put a fat hen and a piece of bacon in the pot, but no one dared taste it before the cock crew. At midnight came clapping of hands and laughter and the cry that Lent was out, and a few hours of merriment followed. The household then went to bed and rose about four to watch the sun dance for the Resurrection. Hone’s correspondent T. A. added that wealthy families kept the custom as carefully as labourers.
Out with the Lent at midnight
Easter Saturday · Midland Ireland
No longer kept
At twelve is heard the clapping of hands, and the joyous laugh, mixed with “ Shidth or mogh or corries,” i. e. out with the Lent
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, col. 421. Read the original
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