Swimming the Cattle in Westmeath

Sir Henry Piers, describing County Westmeath in 1682, wrote that on the first Sunday in harvest, that is in August, the people were sure to drive their cattle into some pool or river and swim them. They kept to it as strictly as a point of religion, believing that no beast would live out the year unless it had been drenched in this way. Piers allowed that swimming cattle at that season was healthy for them, but thought doing it on that Sunday exactly was superstitious and profane. Brand quotes him from Vallancey’s Collectanea.