Part 6

Scotland was buried in superstition. Calvin and Luther, both the great heads of the Protestant Reformation, believed in witchcraft, and the King of Scotland, when he ascended the throne of England, by tongue, pen and fire, advocated the rack for the witches.

I believe Italy, Spain and France, three Catholic countries, were the first to reject witchcraft. Germany, although at first very slow to believe in witchcraft, burned them by the thousands, and that in a most barbarous manner. The Puritan fathers of New England had the hangman's rope pretty busy in Boston Common with the witches of Salem, Massachusetts, and the Quakers of other parts of the State. If a man did not believe in witches, he was classed worse than a heretic.

Public execution of witches in England was stopped by law, I believe about the year 1736. During all that time Ireland was trampled under the heels of superstitions. Anglo-Norman lords were a party to the laws which caused so much innocent blood to flow as divine perfume from 1600 to 1736, in cases of witchcraft and "Papists," both in England and her colonies. Naturally, their castles in Ireland had the foul air of superstition and adoration about them. In Ireland they suppressed education, and tried to make themselves the only lords which the people had to serve and adore on earth or in heaven. They abused their powers, and the Irish people at last refused to have those false Gods, and now they are almost driven out of the country.

Irishmen were not ever very much inclined to marry their daughters to those degenerated "false gods," bearing a British or foreign title. They usually left such honors to the ladies of other countries, many of the latter unfortunate vain-minded creatures afterwards returning to their native lands bringing, in addition to a costly bought title, a decree of divorce. It ought to be remembered that even today, notwithstanding England's proud boast of democracy, it is probably the worst country in the world for rank, title and blue-blood lords--one class looking down with contempt on the other. In the House of Lords you have dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, bishops and barons. They cannot understand that "all men were created equal," only when they want the common people to fight their battles.

Notwithstanding the isolated and backward state of Ireland under alien rule, yet as far as the author can ascertain the Irish people never demanded a single life to be sacrificed in cases of witchcraft, and if any individual fell, it was at the command of the foreigner and to satisfy his craving for blood and sacrifice. Ireland appears to be much cleaner from superstition than her neighbors in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Christian era.

The writer is not finding fault with the people of those countries which honestly believed in the existence of witches, but he is protesting against those who leave the very dens of superstition and come to Ireland to magnify trifles, at the same time pretending that they have none of their own. Every country has had people some of whom are more or less superstitious. It is not even confined to any one religion. In many houses in America for good luck you will find the horseshoe nailed inside over the door. There are locomotive engineers in the New England States who will not very willingly take out a train engine bearing the number "thirteen." Persons traveling with me refused to sleep in the next vacant room to me in Seattle, Washington, because the number of it was "thirteen." Among the first who followed the trail of the "forty-niners" to California, were persons who would not start on any part of their journey on a Friday, and through superstition carried the feet of rabbits with them in their pockets.

A lady in one of the New England States in the East, who proudly boasted of her forefathers crossing the Atlantic in the "Mayflower," objected in my presence to rocking an empty cradle because it would bring misfortune to the house.

As late as December, 1910, I saw persons within Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, watching patiently for the resurrection of Mrs. Baker Eddy, the head of Christian Science. These and many of her followers firmly believed she would reappear and deliver a message from the dead to the living. However, the learned lady is still sleeping in silence. What would the English press say if this happened in Ireland?

With regard to Irish kings, they were not inferior to the latter-day kings of England. King John of England in 1204 imprisoned Jews, plucked out their teeth and eyes and slaughtered them. He was excommunicated by the Pope. King Henry VIII murdered four of his wives and ripped one of them open on child's birth to have a son succeed him to the throne. Englishmen ought to read the sad story of the Tower of London before opening their lips on ancient Irish kings.

Then, as to morals, the author believes Ireland will be found as clean from the scarlet plague of the "red-light district" as any country in the world. Look at the British soldiers who boasted that they were going to "defend the Catholic nuns in Belgium from the Huns," destroying the women of their own land by the thousands before leaving for the front!

Now, as to curious customs, you will find boys and girls "courting" in Ireland, "bundling" in Wales, "spooning" until midnight in the United States, and for three long years a young man with window bars between him and his sweetheart is "playing the bear" in Mexico, before he is admitted into her room, even in presence of members of her family. In England, every third county has had a different custom, and many of them are considered pretty objectionable.

The original intention of the author was to have his work printed in Ireland, for Irish readers, but that horrible war in Europe, which has caused the most widespread pain, misery and suffering ever inflicted upon the human race, made him change his plans, and print the book in the United States, but the cost will be much more and the price of each copy proportionately higher.

By the campfires of California, and in the sandy desert of Nevada, over five thousand miles away from his native land, this book has been written by the author during his spare hours. Therefore, the writer knows that faults will be found with the work, and errors discovered therein. However, he is confident that it is free from serious errors. Apart from the honest critic, of course, there will appear the natural-born "fault-finder." To men of the latter disposition the writer has no apology to offer, and it is his intention to take no notice of anything said or written by such persons, further than to express his regret that they did not undertake the work themselves, and, whenever his rights shall expire, they will have an opportunity to improve, alter, or amend his plans--probably about forty-four years' time.

This work is not expected to satisfy all classes. The author has no intention whatsoever of giving offense to any person, religion, race or nationality, but it is to be feared that in his effort to establish truth and equity passages may appear herein which will displease some individuals. If so, the writer very much regrets it, but at the same time the reader should remember that it is his duty to record those regrettable events and set them in a true light for the judges of the future world.

In style and arrangement of this book there is a slight departure from the plans of his previous works, namely, that each subject set forth herein will be found in alphabetical order. This he trusts will prove satisfactory to the reader.

AUTHOR.

Dated in the State of Nevada, this 4th day of July, 1915.

_Erin, though far from your mountains now, with me, you are still Achusla Geal Machree._

_All Fools' Day._--This falls on the first of April, when it is customary to play tricks upon each other. The young people find great diversion in sending persons on errands which end in disappointment for the sendee and merriment for the sender, the laugh at all times being in proportion to the trouble given.

Among some of the tricks played was at a very early hour in the morning to knock at a window and call a farmer out of bed, telling him that cattle had destroyed his potatoes and corn fields. He would run with all his might, sometimes half undressed, to find no cattle before him.

Pieces of paper would be pinned onto the tails of a coat and valuable looking packages containing a stone or a piece of iron would be left in the track of a passerby so that if he kicked it he would remember it. Sometimes a stiff purse would be placed on the road or footpath with a string attached to it, and it would be jerked away by those hiding behind a fence, gate or doorway when the fool would be in the act of grasping for it. Probably this custom originated in France and was borrowed by England, to whom we are indebted for it.

_Ancient Crossroads and Burial Customs._--At funerals to the west of Dingle, a custom prevails of lowering the coffin containing the remains at certain ancient crossroads and praying for the dead. This is not practiced on the Castle Gregory side of Brandon Mountain, but there, on lowering the coffin into the grave, the nails are drawn from the cover of the coffin.

The custom of lowering the coffin at crossroads is a very ancient one, not alone in the Dingle district, but in other countries outside of Ireland. The origin of it was due to persons who committed suicide not allowed to be interred in consecrated ground, were buried upon the nearest crossroad thereto, i. e., at the junction of four roads.[12] Whenever a funeral passed by, the corpse was lowered, people knelt and prayed for the soul of the persons buried at the crossroads.

In the course of time the custom of burying dead bodies on the crossroads went out of practice, and the names of the persons buried there were forgotten, but the habit of lowering the dead body continued and a prayer was offered to God for both those buried on the crossroads and also for the soul of the person whose funeral then took place. Then when the penal laws were enforced, with military in Dingle, the religious rites which should be said at the graveside for the deceased were recited at the old crossroads.[12] Praying for the dead at ancient crossroads nearest the graveyards, therefore, is an act of piety and charity of an old standing.

_Ancient National Dances._--The most common dances[13] in our locality were jigs, reels, hornpipe and country dance, or Reencafadah. These were followed by a form of dance called "sets," and the German "waltz" was transmitted to us by the English. Movable platforms for dancing upon them were placed on the country crossroads, and boys and girls danced in the open air in the afternoons on Sundays. The clergy took a dislike to all dances, with the result that open-air dancing was almost suppressed, but of recent years it was revived by the Gaelic League.

_Ardnane._--Carding, spinning and story telling by night is now gone out of fashion--newspapers are driving away the latter.

_Banshee._--This is supposed to be a fairy visitant in the shape of an old woman whose wailing around the home of a sick person foretold death. Of course, it is superstition to think that an old woman dead and gone will return from the grave wailing or calling for her victim, or carry off a member of any family.

Nevertheless, there must be something of an unknown nature existing in the shape of a wireless telephone, electric feeling or otherwise in the blood, flesh or nature of certain Celtic families whereby some relative of a sudden feels, pictures and imagines death, trouble or misfortune approaching without apparently any means of knowing it at the time. I hope science will soon more clearly solve the cause of this and thereby strip off all superstition and uncertainty.

_Begrudging._--Persons admiring beasts or individuals and praising them without saying "God bless them," if they died or became sick the blame would be laid onto them, and some would say such a person possessed an "evil eye" and his visits thereafter would not be very desirable. However, this superstition can be found as bad in other countries.

_Bellman._--The bellman with his hand-bell still survives in Dingle. He usually announces sales by public auction. Missing or impounded cattle, also property lost or found, money lost about thirty-three years ago and found by another, were nearly always recovered by giving a shilling or one shilling and sixpence to the bellman. I am sure this was due to the moral influence of the clergy over the people.

The most notable bellman at the end of the last century was Markim. He was succeeded by Michael O'Sullivan.

_Blind Fiddlers and Flute Players._--The custom of blind fiddlers and flute players, accompanied by members of their families, going on a quarterly circuit among the villages has now fallen into disuse. Formerly, when one of them entered the village he would be entertained, given two or three nights' lodging and a collection started for him. The boys and girls of the surrounding villages would assemble and these would be dancing until cock-crow in the morning.

_Boats and Canoes Haunted and Made Useless._--A great trick to make a boat or canoe useless was to pretend to see it on sea with some mysterious persons in it, and that on approaching the boat or canoe for the purpose of speaking to its occupants, they disappeared suddenly as if the "earth, sky or sea swallowed them." If the crew were at home and not fishing that night, and the tale was told by a respectable person or corroborated by one who was not a notorious liar no person would venture into the boat or canoe forever after.

One-third of these visions were imaginary; two-thirds were founded by jealous neighbors and malicious persons who saw themselves outstripped by the success of some local families or crew as fishermen, consequently this superstition more rapidly died out.

_Bodach._--This is represented by parents to children as the figure of an old beggar-man, at night looking through windows and making horrible faces against panes of glass, carrying a big sack and prepared to take with him children who he might find crying without cause or wandering out into undesirable places in the dark.

Children ought to be told the truth, namely, that faces made against the windows are done by members of the family in order to frighten them. These false impressions created in the minds of innocent children at such an early age make their lives so miserable to them in after years that they imagine every bush that shakes after dark is a ghost or a fairy.

_Bone Fires._--The custom of lighting bone fires on St. John's Eve is very much on the decline in this peninsula. In Castle Gregory boys and girls used to remain awake all night, dancing around them for amusement. Bone fire is said to be derived from the Canduaoin "baun fire," a beacon fire. A bone fire might mean a fire of bones, a fire of corpse, a funeral pile or a fire for destroying heretics, but whatever be the origin of it, one thing is certain, that bone fires existed long before the dawn of Christianity.

_Bone Setters._--These were persons who made it a practice to set broken bones, but the dispensary doctor quickly sent them out of business.

_Brack-an-Tobar._--All the holy wells in the country are supposed to have enchanted fish which never grew larger or smaller, and some believed that water containing the fish, if taken from the well, would never heat nor boil until both water and fish were returned. People of the present day treat this as a fish story.

_Brandon Mountain's Western Slope Held Sacred._--For a long time the inhabitants treated the western slopes of Brandon Mountain so sacred through reverence for St. Brandon and his monks as not to allow any living animal to be killed thereon except fish caught in the rivulets of Feoghanagh and Shaunakyle and given to the poor or taken by them as charity. The fish taken from these streams had to be eaten at once and could not be kept beyond the second night without eating. Birds within that sacred ground were nearly tame and hares when pursued by the hounds following in their tracks, as soon as the hares crossed the River of Feoghanagh, the hounds were stopped by the hunters. Cattle, wild deer, boars and all like animals therein were protected. I believe "Park Garrive" was about the last place here wherein hunting was strictly forbidden.

_Brendon (Saint) Feast._--This was held on the 22nd of March, but from time immemorial is gone out of practice.

St. Brendon died on the 16th of May.

_Changelings._--Fairies at one time were supposed to steal or spirit away a fine, rosy-cheeked, healthy-looking child or young person and take him off to Teer-Na-Oge, leaving a very thin, pale-faced, silent weakling instead of the person stolen behind them who in the dead of night changed into a withered crone. Medical science has proved this change to be done by consumption and other like causes, therefore the fairy thief is disappearing here faster than in other countries.

_Charms._--Not very long since, "respectable" people went to "wise" old women to seek foolish cures for sickness by means of charms. I believe I heard about one hundred diseases mentioned, each of which I was told could be cured by a charm--consumption and the "fallen" sickness were amongst them. Men also pretended to heal horses and cattle by charms.

One of the most pitiable cases to come under my notice was at Cloushguire, Castle Gregory, where an old man at a very early hour of the morning was carrying on his performance over an old horse. It surprised me to find in such an enlightened place as Castle Gregory any person guilty of such folly as to believe in curing ailments by charms. Corkaguiny in general, I believe, stands as clean from superstition and charms as any barony in the British Isles, judging by the latter actions in foreign lands. The ignorance and superstitions of the few now amongst us are all nearly melted away before the bright rays of science and education.

_Contracts with the Devil._--Some time ago quite a few were to be found who believed that noted card players had attained the art of winning as a result of a contract made by them with the devil, which contract was confirmed at a general meeting of the witches and ghosts over which the devil himself presided and the persons signed the articles of agreement with their own blood. To obtain possession of the soul was the main object of the devil. For a wise spirit like "Old Nick," he used to sometimes make very silly contracts. Then they thought of sleight-of-hand and other tricks. When the country became properly policed, the robbers and thieves, with the ghosts and devils, disappeared.

In England persons were hanged for selling their souls to the devil, and by virtue of the contract raised storms.

_Cross Thursday, or La croista na blianna._--In olden times people would not like to start doing anything on Cross Thursday, especially the grandmothers of the present age. Carding, spinning, etc., were sure to be suspended. Ask them why suspend spinning, etc., on that day, and they would only tell you that it was not for them to break an old custom which was accompanied by an old saying that if anything was started on Cross Thursday it would never be completed.

I believe that this day must have been observed at some time as a holiday in Ireland. No doubt but it had a religious origin connecting it with the order given by Herod the Great to murder the children of Bethlehem and its coast in order to cut off Jesus, who was born about the same time. Jesus escaped by being taken by His mother into Egypt.

This day is also known as Innocents' Day.

_Death Warning._--The following were considered as sure warnings of impending death if any of them were seen or heard by a relative, namely: Dogs barking at the moon or the ghosts of the living; headless coach approaching; weeping of women; the Banshee's wail; sounds of a carpenter's hammer making a coffin; funeral processions; spots of blood on the floor, ground or roadway.

Of course, there were several others, but the above were most commonly mentioned.

_Easter Sunday Sun Dance on Easter Sunday Morning._--That the sun can be seen dancing in the heavens on Easter Sunday morning is a widespread superstition, more or less all around the whole globe. It is quite true that almost every Easter Sunday morning in our parts we have fine, bright sunshine, but this is due to the fact that at that season of the year everything in the ground is springing out fresh and green, and the warm heat of summer is approaching. When I was a little boy of about nine or ten years of age, I was often told that if I got up very early on Easter Sunday morning, I would see the sun dancing with a lamb, a cross, and a bird on its face. I did so, but of course I was disappointed. I dare say that many of those who were telling me then that I could see the sun dance on Easter Sunday thought Lent so dreary and long that they wished to see the Easter Sunday morning sun so that they could be at liberty to dance. Eggs are eaten in no small quantities on this morning.

On Easter Sunday dancing on the old crossroads called "Coughlanes" started. However, if one immoral case or any immodest transaction occurred in a parish, it often happened that dances and dancing schools in the entire district were wholly suppressed by the word of the parish priest and the dancing master turned away.

Sun dancing on Easter Sunday may be traced back to a heathen custom when the spectators themselves danced at a festival in honor of the sun after the vernal equinox.

_Eastern, Protestant and Catholic Winds._--A member of the Protestant Episcopal religion came under my notice who made it a practice to remain out on the night of the 31st of December until New Year's morning that he might see with his own eyes if the wind was favorable to the Protestants. If at midnight it blew from the east, it would indicate to him that the Protestants would be very prosperous that year, but if it blew from any other direction he would become restless and uneasy. Should it happen to blow from the west, he would express such words as "God help us poor Protestants; everything is going against us and in the way of the Roman Catholics this year." I have no doubt but some Catholics might then be found possessed of a like superstition.

_Fallen Angels._--These were supposed to be in the air, in the house, and everywhere, and had the power "of good and evil." They could use a bush for a horse and ride all over the country. As they were considered pretty active gentlemen by night for hurling persons, standing in their way was not always safe. If they gave you a blow of their hurley on the head, you would not know what happened to you. Physicians now have found a cure for nearly all diseases, consequently such ignorance quickly disappeared.

_Funeral Bells._--The custom of tolling bells slowly and solemnly three times for funerals is carried on in Dingle both in the Catholic and Protestant churches.[14] The ringing of a hand bell through the streets of Dingle to summon the people to mass is many years gone out of practice.