A question for the Irish?

Question

My Mothers family came from Ireland,I would like to know if there are any old sayings or wives tales that you have heard.I would like to see if the family brought any of the old tales with them.They came to the us in the early 1800's,but most things are told from generation to generation,also are there many pagans in Ireland?

(many blessings)

Answer 1

giorann beirt na bothar

finn maccool

the king with donkey ears

The brown bull of cooley

The Giant from scotland

those are all the i can think of

Answer 2

There are loads of great old wives tales and traditions, I would be interested to know if any of them survived in your family. A random few are as follows.

-Hares are witches, so don't bother them.

-The "turas tuathail" (walking anti clcockwise around something) is a method of cursing someone.

-It is lucky to have a stranger call in on halloween.

-Throw out your dish water at night or the fairies will come in.

-Baptise your child or the fairies will take it and leave a changeling in its place.

-Disguise your male babies as girls until they are baptised or the fairies will take it.

-At halloween the barm brack contains various charms. The bean (which means you will be rich), The ring (which means you will be the next to get married), the rag (which means you will be poor), the stick (which means you will beat your spouse).

God, I think I will stop there. There are no longer any pagans here, although some pagan practices have survived in the church. Halloween was a great pagan festival. There are many wells, which originated as places of pagan worship, but which are now regarded as holy wells, associated with Christian saints, but which are still used superstitiously. etc etc. June  23rd is now celebrated as "oiche fheile eoin", st John's eve, where a bonfire is burned and the whole community congregates. This was originally a pagan midsummer festival.

Answer 3

well we don't call them "pagans" anymore, it's "atheists". old wives' tales are much the same, like these irish-language phrases > http://www.maths.tcd.ie/gaeilge/general....

my favourite is "bhuel go dtachtaí an diabhal thú!" ["may the devil choke you"]

this is a list i found of irish phrases in the english language, it's easier than me typing them all out> http://www.irishabroad.com/Culture/Slang...

well if you're part-irish, why not try out for next year's Rose Of Tralee!? >http://www.roseoftralee.ie/catalog/about... unfortunately, they haven't updated the site for next year, but have a look anyway

Answer 4

When St Patrick chased all the snakes from ireland - it is a metaphor meaning that he had chased all the pagans from ireland.

Liked the stories about Tir Na Nog too - brief mention of it in Titanic (the movie)

Answer 5

Cucullain

Finn macool

The salmon of knowledge

The red branch nights of abhainn macha ect.

There are not many pagans in ireland.

Answer 6

giorann beirt na bothar which means two makes the road shorter