Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-02-18
OLD IRISH CUSTOMS.
Curious Rites at Funerals, Weddings,
Etc


Etc.
OF wedding customs the most pc
culiarly Irish is the coming OF the
straw boys" This, with the custom
of killing a wren on st. Stephens
Day. is merely a pastime, and as
such is eagerly kept up by the young
men and boys.
| Although a great number Of peo-
pie can be happily dancing on a mud
floor, says the Ave Maria, still space
does curtail the possible hospitality
Of a newly-married pair and there
are always some neighbors who can
not be included among the wedding
guests.
Any young men who have been
omitted dress themselves up In white
garments and on their heads they
wear masks plated elaborately In
straw. Thus disguised they join the
wedding party and each one In turn
claims the bride for dance. To take
any refreshments would be quite In
correct; the straw boys" merely
dance and go away. Er
The custom belonging to st. Stephl
ems Day is still observed in the east
ern counties Of ireland, where straw
boys" are no longer known. 1t must
be a very old custom, for the killing
of a wren dates back to the times
when Ireland was invaded by the
Danes, and a wren by dropping onto
the Danish sentineps drum is said to
have given warning to the invaders
that the Irish army was at hand.
Now the wren is killed by boys who
have never even heard the origin OF
the custom, and It is carried from
house to house, tied to q furze bush,
the bearers being disguised In any old
rags they can lay hands upon, and
at each door the sing the doggerel
lines: S
The wren. the wren, the king Of all
birds,
On st. stephens Day was caught in
the furze.
Though his body's small, his familys
great,
Come out, Mrs., and give US a
trate!
And there are very few who do not
give a copper toward keeping alive
this old, old custom.
Another Christian custom-but this
| is custom Of religious sentiment
is that Of placing a lighted candle In
every window on the night Of Christ
mas Eve, the. idea having originally
been to show that II the holy family
had to come to that house they would
have found welcome, instead Of the
repulse Of the householders Of Bethie-
hem. 10 #
"To light In the birth Of the Re-
deemer Of the world" so It was ex-
planned by an old woman. who still
possessed one Of the triple holders
| for rushlights that In the old days
every one kept safely for use at
Christmas time. Now that manufac-
tured candles have taken the place Of
tallow dips those who keep up the
custom are satisfied with setting
sometimes one, sometimes three can
dlesticks in each window.
The custom Of keeping a goat with
COWS and bantam with hens may be
traced to an idea of luck, though 1t
| is also maintained that goats eagerly
seek out pasture and soon clear 1t
of all herbs that would be injurious
to COWS II they were left for them to
eat when the grass began to fail.
The most interesting as well as the
Oldest and still most cherished Gus
toms are those that have gathered
round deaths and funerals. The
caoine or "keen," so often mentioned
by Irish writer's, is now to be met
with only in the west, where the SOFT
plaintive voices seem to lend them
selves peculiarly to 1t.
No one who has not heard real
keen can imagine the wild melan-
choly Of the call that brings an un-
sought for lump to the throat OF the
passer-py. AS soon as person dies
the women raise their voices In high
minor key, letting them fall away
and die in most heartrending wall.
This keening is undoubtedly a relic
from pagan days, and indeed the
blind. upouestioning way In which so
many customs are clung to makes II
easy to believe that they date back
| to remote times. The question is
whether in these material days the
fact of their having been clung to 80
tenaciously, without any reason nav.
ling been assigned for them, Will not
lead to their being abandoned al
together.
house where a child lay dead, We
found the furniture all turned upside
down, chairs and tables alike standing
with their legs In the air.
sis that to make more room Tor
neople coming to the wake?" we In
auired of a woman standing near.
"Sorra room, daughter" was the
reply. "'Tis Just fashion we have"
''But why?" we insisted. What
Not a know do I know" she con-
fessed. Maybe the corpse's father
could be tellin.''
But neither from the "corpse's
father" nor from anyone else have we
/ Oeen aDle W uioSONOt ohJ SoH~~~~~~--
of a singular custom that Is not con-
fined to Connemara alone.
or late years wakes had been made
such excuses for drinking that they
have been much discountenanced, and
| I'm certain dioceses they have gone
back to being what they originally
were, the watching Of a dead persons
family around the coffin. In some
places the rule against the indiscri-
inmate distribution Of drink at wakes
have been somewhat hard to enforce.
"Thank God, then. that my man
Mick is dead and buried dacent!"
was the exclamation Of a certain old
widow on hearing the bishops reg
ulations.
When q person Is near death a
brown habit that has been previously
blessed with the blessing Of the scapu-
liar of Mount Carmel Is put upon him
SO that he may die wearing Our Ladys
livery. No house is without a habit
blessed and laid by in case Of sudden
need. Formerly two saucers were al
ways placed on the dead mans chest
or on his coffin, one containing snuff.
the other earth that had been blessed.
It is only within late years that ad-
vantage has been taken OF the tacit