Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-29

Each OF these names has significance:
Ballyragget means a town where there IS
e. q ford: Ballyroe is a red town; Ballysal-
lagh is a dirty town: Ballybunion was
named In honor of man called Bunion
Ballydoo is a black town; Balykeel is a
narrow town: Ballyki1l is the town Of the
wood or the town Of the woods. The
prefix XIII or "KilP' also means
Church
kilcooly is the church of the corner;
Kilcarne Is the church Of the carne or
glen: Kiiboy is q yellow church: Kilduff
is church Of black stone: Killroot is a
red church, and so on. Almost every
name in Ireland has some significance.
Old Customs Abandoned.
There is a great deal of regret, which
all Of us must share, that the common
people of Ireland have abandoned many
of the quaint and odd customs that gave
them their individuality and are taking
UP modern English notions instead. The
old sports and games, people tell me,
which were inherited from the Gaelic an
cestors are becoming obsolete. The peas
ants never dance In the fields nowadays
and their festivals are very like those Of
the English peasants. They are taking
up cricket, golf, tennis and other English
games, which they play in the parks
and on the commons. instead Of the dis
tinctively Irish anusements that were SO
Celtic League is working for a revival
with little success.
Tossing the Pancake.
The old custom Of pancake tossing, for
example, which was unique In Waterford,
IS so completely obsolete that found it
,dif1cult to get somebody to tell me how
it was done. Fifty and even twenty
five years ago. in the winter evenings.
the boys and girls of the neighborhood
used to gather around the freside and
try their skill in tossing the pancake.
They took their turns in the order Of age,
the oldest unmarried woman present try
ing her luck first She lifts the cake
from the griddle with a ladle and losses
it into the air. She must either catch 1t
upon the ladle again or let it fall into
the pan. II it falls among the ashes of
the peat fire or strikes the griddie with
the wrong side up she will have no chance
of marriage for that year at least. while
the lucky girl who catches the cake on
her ladle or lands 1t with the proper side
up on the griddle will have her wedding
before the end of the year.
Saint Declan's Penance.
July - is the name day of st. Declan.
who lived in the time of st. Patrick and
built an oratory. cathedral and a mon
astery at Ardmore, as early as $50. His
oratofy Is rude hut OF stone thirteen
feet by nine in size, with walls thirty
inches thick. 1t has lasted nearly fifteen
centuries, and many thousands of people
formerly came here on pilgrimages every
summer. though very few come now, to
perform the penance of crawling three
times under st. Declans stone, q large
boulder resting among the rocks on the
strand which Is believed to have foated
over the sea from Rome carrying the
vestments of the saint, the bell that used
to hang in the tower and lighted candle
for the mass. Such a penance was be-
lieved by the peasants to be certain
specific for rheumatism and other chronic
ailments. but they seem to have lost their
faith. This important and venerated day
is now practically ignored. but an old
granny sits beside the rock selling little
balls of clay which are still believed to
be certain protection against evil spir
it's misfortune and sickness and she
sells bushels OF them every year.