Morning journal and courier., 1889-07-20


Regarding Birds.
CAsHEI, Ireland, July 8.
To the Editor Of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
The superstitions of the peasant folk of
any country are not only interesting with
thought, feeling and belief, but through
them much of the inner history of a people
can often be traced. Ireland is peculiarly
rich in these forgivable vagaries. pro-
found book might be written upon them.
Such book would have much chronological
and sociological value. In a single article
the merest reference to the quaint things dis
coverable on this line of study among the
Irish people can only be made. For in less
than years contact with the peasantry of
Ireland the number of these odd things se-
cured has been astonishing; but an interest
ing fact at least to myself has been the grad
ual change in my own superstition regarding
Irish superstitions When first began set
ting them down I confess that they often
seemed of very savage and grewsome char
acter. But gradually came to know that
however grim-visaged the face of the one
confding the weird assertion of uncanny
belief, that secretly the masses of the peas
antry secuted and fouted them all, save
those OF tender and winsome character.
Indeed among the most unlearned of the
peasantry there is an exquisite vein of
brightness better than wit and more palpa-
| BILE than humor which, rejecting the essen
tial slavery of superstitious practices, in
| sists on retaining the pleasure of subscIi-
bing to the superstitions themselves. Thus
the quaint and weird things which might
seem unaccountable and often repulsive to
Us have become, in lieu Of book lore, folk
and freside lore out of which endless enter.
tainment is secured; and underneath much
of this there is deep and earnest tender
ness such as all hearts know for many things
| without apparent reason, that grow into life
from ancestry, oft repeated homeside tale,
beloved custom and that mysterious hallow-
ing which comes upon changsless places and
objects to men.
The single superstition of which every one
has heard, and which is almost universal in
Ireland, is of the banshse. Bean-sidhe is
the Irish name for this wonderful creature,
and it literally means "the woman of the
fairy mansions" Her Office is to announce a
coming death. For several nights she ap"
pears, sometimes as a decrepid old woman
with long flowing hair, and walls her plain
tive lamentations for the approaching death
If the demise Is to OCCUR by natural ailment
| the "keenipg" of the banshee Is simply meas.
ured and pathetic; but If accident or unto
ward calamity are to be associated with It,
! then her lamentations are loud and clamor-
Gus. But she ia easily disturbed and vexed,
and if ever frightened away, will never 1s-
turn during the same generation. This
would be calamity; for while the Irish
banshse favors no particular class, caste OF
| religion, she only comes to families of long
| and respectable line. She comes as friend
, ly spirit to these, not as an inimical one, and
to be known as family deserving and pos
sessing her pathetic guardianship, is regard
ed as an honor OF very tender ana sacred
character. Many truly believe the banshee
to be the spirit of some former member OF
| the family. In Munster there is a powerful
queen of the banshee. Her name is Cliodh.
| ma or Cleena, and her powerful spells are
well known to the pessantry of the south.
= The Coach-a-bower or death coach
seems to stand in something the same rela
ton to the peassntry as the banshee. This
t Is a black hearse with white plumes of hu.
a man hair and it is always drawn by the
| skeletons of departed friends. 1t passes the
house by night; in some instances thrice en-
? circles it; and the creaking of its wheel
may be plainly heard. This is a certain to
ken of impending death; and where fami
8 ly has not the hardihood among its neigh
a bors to claim superior possession of ban
: shee the "death coach" will pretty general!
be found as its substitute.
The weird supsrstitions concerning th
dead are very many. Every twelfth nigh
t the dead walk. They sit, too, upon ever!
tile of the house waiting to be freed from
purgatory by prayer. The most potsn
q charm known to those given over body an,
- soul to superstition is the hand of an un
:, baptized babe, taken from the grave IL tn
Al name of the evil one. The hand of mur
derer so taken is also very powerful. Th
/ magic or charm of these are in the uncan
IA niest directions. A lighted candle G
"splintsr" can never be extinguished In sue
n all near it must sleep the sleep of the dea
:. | until it is taken away. Garments and oth'
l. articles which have come in contact with Il
Q. dead are very efficacious in disease. Cand
ID ends used at wakes are highly priced fl
!. acalds and burns. Over in Connamara
;, this day funeral procession on its way
y church will halt at some distance away ar
m cast together huge pile of stones. This
is | a trick on the evil one. The latter on h
n way after the soal stops at the heap al
~ rummages within it, searching long al
IT. carefully; and poor Pat, the deceased, n
n~ been in this way given a little advantage
n the race in the territory of the "Beyant
The last one buried in church. yard is
lieved to do all manner of menial service
those having been previously buried. tt
pR accounts for the otherwise inexplicat
NJ. bloody fights wten two funerals happen
nd come to the burial place at the same tin
ma An amicable adjustment of such dihoul
is to have every spadeful of earth turned
ue the same instant and tho bodies simultal
,a1 have the bittereat experiences If buried
> :, apv distance from their homes while livir
u and this belief is so fixed that the keen {
We puish of the aged in leaving their neighb
len hoods ia largely accounted for. VIII
,+b | abroad at night one never turns at the sou
of footsteps behind. For these are Oft
pie those of tho dead hungering for human CO
pie panionship, and their glance ia fatal. WI
CHI the dead are sent back to the earth W
messages announcing other deaths they
themselves thus released from purgato
When corpse retains animal heat overlol
'Aos another member of the family ia to die wi
I'M In the year. Death omens of a minor ch
of acter such as the bowling of dog with
+o head towards the house for near, and av
from the house for distant, relative,
OIL croaking of ravens, ringing in the es
yra- March roosters growing before midnight, f
un- slighting on sick person, butterflies fly
or,- about, and the like, are countless.
Any three idle strokes Of a stiok in
OF ashes, or OF spade or other farm tool
lcan the soil, making figure resembling cof
suls is certain to portend death in ones fam
son. ANY child born on Whitsunday, or the
| after, is doomed to an unnatural death,
trlc' it is invariably named after some partict
law. saint to ward off the curse. Every don
Car in ireland is supposed to fall on its knee
,o,, midnight of Christmas eve and bray Il
times In honor of its ancient noole use.
riod hare be met on May morning the mil
rom likely to be charmed from the COWS.
was tongue of one who has licked lizzard
h,ob Irish, aire luichair, or "the pig of the RI
n'oA es'0 ever after has the power to extract
sting from scalds and burns. It is very
:. lucky to meet in the early morning a b
a' ing dog or a barefooted woman: and a CT
'aoco never taken from one house to another "
,acco removing; but the fishermen of the
GOV. coast make good use Of the cat. They
s' cure favoring winds by burying it in
IN sands of the seashore, with its head opp
stion the desired direction. Persons who G
,ould into compact with satan can raise \