Part 7

_Gates of Glory._--These are Gallauns standing at Milltown, Dingle. Probably they were first erected as landmarks. At a later period they served another purpose. Persons amenable to the town court for certain acts, such as debts and the like, were considered outside its jurisdiction when beyond those stones or landmarks. I was told that it often happened orders were obtained against deceased persons who owed money and the body arrested and held without burial up to, but not exceeding, nine days, unless some friend paid the debt. However, if the corpse escaped beyond the "Gates of Glory" the court was unable to follow it and those in the funeral could stone the bailiff. Consequently those stones were designated the Gates of Glory.

_Ghosts' Spirits Cannot Cross Running Water._--The reasons for persons believing that a ghost or a fairy will not follow them through any river or stream which is not bridged over or has no stepping stones is because when they with fear suddenly plunge into a deep hole in a river the cold water gives the nerves such a shock that it drives away all terror. If a man was hounded by an enemy and believed his life was in danger, he would quickly forget the ghosts and even hide in a graveyard if he thought that by so doing he would escape from his pursuer.

_Glas-Guineach._--This cow was remarkable for giving a large quantity of milk. She belonged to the monks then residing at Kilmalckedor, was well fed and grazed upon the best patches of sweet pasture in the district. A thief attempted to steal her, but was captured in the act. To make an example of him, his finger prints and the impression of the cow's hoofs for future reference and to warn the people of the district to be aware of him were cut or set into the stones by some natural art touching finger prints then known to those monks. The stories of the Glas-Guinach are numerous and interesting. Children inclined to steal were reminded of what happened to the thief who stole the monk's cow.

_Gospels._--These are received from a priest, sewn into a piece of cloth, worn on necks of some children.

_Haunted Houses._--Three houses in the whole barony of Corkaguiny are all I can discover to have the reputation of being haunted now. Thieves, robbers and persons of fraudulent and dishonest intentions manufactured ghosts and imposed them on their innocent neighbors as haunting certain places, while in other cases where an unnatural death took place, such as murder, suicide or the like, a fear would seize the person finding the corpse or one hearing about it. Children seeing white boys assembled by night in open places and not knowing who they were prolonged the belief in the ghosts and fairies.

_Headless Coach Stories._--These are wicked lies which were told on winter nights at the firesides by old people and imposed upon children as real truth. To make it more serious, the storyteller would put on a long, solemn face and speak in whispers. He would start and describe in detail the make, appearance and movements of the headless coach, thereby terrorizing the very lives in us children, so much so that we would not willingly come home after dark unless accompanied by another. There never was such a thing as a headless coach in our parts, and some old people there are guilty of a very serious crime in poisoning and destroying the minds of young children with such horrid tales.

_Hold Out the Hand and Split the Difference._--In selling or buying horses, cattle, sheep and hogs at fairs and markets a peculiar custom prevails. When the buyer and seller are within a few shillings of a bargain a friendly neighbor asks them to "split the difference" and places their hands together. Another habit is for a buyer, when making an offer which he expects will be accepted by the seller, to ask the seller to open his hand. This being done, he slaps the open hand in token of an agreement as he makes what he pretends to be his last bid.

_Holy Water Bottles in Canoes._--There is a custom among fishermen to the west of Dingle of carrying very small bottles containing holy water tightly corked and fastened by a strong string to their canoes when going to sea.

_Holy Wells_ (See "His. Co. Kerry"--Corkaguiny).--Pilgrims to holy wells leave rags, copper coins and other quite valueless tokens behind them in paying rounds, at Brandon Mountain shrine and other like places.

_Horn Dance._--This peculiar dance was introduced into these parts by persons of foreign descent in gentlemen's houses, and it disappeared with them. In dancing, they wore horns and had bells on their feet.

_Horseshoe Nailed Over the Door._--This class of superstition I find more common in the United States of America than elsewhere. Of course, it is brought by Europeans into the country, chiefly by Jews.

_Hurley._--In former times this was considered a very fine play in those parts but now is altogether extinct. Two men courting the same girl often challenged each other to a hurling match in front of the girl, and the man successful claimed her affection.

_I Usga Bagha, i. e., the Water of Life._[15]--This was the name applied to whisky. A custom of hanging a bush, a jug and a glass in front of a house having spirits for sale, and such notices as refreshments for man and beast, disappeared with the enforcement of the license laws and were replaced by the show card.

_Judges Bringing Bad Weather to Kerry._--Many persons believe that the judges of the assizes in their circuit bring with them bad weather to the County of Kerry, due to so many false oaths being sworn before them and therefore so much wrong done in the name of justice. Consequently, apart from any other reason, their lordships are considered very undesirable visitors to the county by most of the people outside of the legal profession. It is quite true that at nearly all times in the last century when the assizes were held in Tralee it was either raining or the sky was dark and gloomy and the weather bad. This probably was due to the season of the year in which the assizes were usually held. However, more noticeable was the weather on the mornings of the executions in Tralee Jail of persons condemned to death by judges and packed juries, but innocent in the minds of the people.

_Lady Day._--This was the patron day of Dingle. It was held on the 8th of September.

_Leprachawn._--This is the name given to a shoemaker appearing in several fairy tales. He is supposed to be a very rich little gentleman and a native of Teer-Na-Oge, who appears very often amongst briers, bushes and boulders. He is not more than six inches in height, is often dressed in a nice green coat ornamented with gold and silver lace, wears knee breeches and a red cap. They tell me he works very hard at mending shoes. His shelves are covered with stacks of gold coin, and in addition he has many crocks of this precious metal. While he is working it is very easy to steal upon him and catch him. I am told that whenever you lay your hands upon him you should seize him quickly and, although his shrill screams will be heart-rending, do not loosen your hold, and at the same time you must not take your eyes off the gold, for if you do he will surely change it into brown leaves and pay you off with a half-sovereign. I fear that most of those who saw the Leprachawn were paid off with brown leaves. If a remarkably poor person became suddenly rich, and was anxious to keep his neighbors in the dark as to the source of his changed position, he was sure to tell them that he captured a Leprachawn.

_Lycanthropy._--Here is another wicked superstition, viz., that persons in league with the devil can assume other forms, such as a dog, etc. I am very glad I cannot now find one person to credit such tales.

_Marriages and Weddings._--Many of the peculiar customs attached to marriages and wedding feasts are slowly but surely changing for the better. Imitations of the false standards of "decency" set up by the middlemen of the previous centuries are fast disappearing. However, the people, both in town and country, are still too extravagant with their marriages and weddings, and in some instances the marriage fees are unreasonably excessive when compared with the offering made for a like ceremony in other countries. Rare cases of this kind unfortunately rob the marriage of its sacramental appearance and bring it to the level of a civil contract. The practice of making a collection amongst the parties attending a wedding feast and offering it to the curate and clerk is now almost out of fashion.

_May Day._--The superstitions connected with May Day were numerous and widespread. That day people watched their cattle. Bad women with their wooden milk gallons placed under their aprons watched for an opportunity to steal upon their neighbors' cows to milk them. Witches were believed to go about as hares. These superstitions, I am glad to say, are now very rare.

_Mistletoe._--Kissing under the mistletoe was a custom which is now almost dead and gone, at least in West Kerry. In our part of the county it was a very innocent amusement, and I never heard of a single instance in which it was abused. The custom was this: At Christmas a piece of mistletoe was hung up over the doorway leading into the kitchen or some other favorable place, and whenever a young girl stood under it a young man claimed--and nearly always exercised--a right to kiss the girl and pluck off a berry for each kiss. Sometimes in the town of Dingle two or three young men would stand on a street corner having a piece of mistletoe with them and would kiss every girl that happened to come their way. A girl who would make persons believe that she was running away trying to avoid being kissed by the boys was sure to be hunted until caught; then the mistletoe would be held over her head until she was given at least a half-dozen kisses by each of her captors.

Although it is the relic of pagan days, the mistletoe was hung up in churches during Christmas, but because young people, instead of praying and assisting properly at mass, were kissing, courting and rehearsing the marriage ceremony over eligibles, thereby causing the whole congregation to pass from one uproar of laughter into another, both the mistletoe and the kisses were abolished, and the holly, with its numerous thorns, substituted for the mistletoe, thereby warning them of the fact that going through marriage was like drawing them through a thicket of holly and briars, the thorns of which might pierce them to the quick.

_Mother Carey's Chickens or Stormy Petrels._--This was the term applied to flocks of small web-footed birds about the size of a chicken or even smaller than blackbirds. Their appearance is neat and they are always on the wing. They are found pretty numerous at times in the Blasket Islands and Skellig Rocks, but their whole time is spent on the ocean. The reason they are called "Mother Carey's Chickens" is because fishermen and local sailors say they are the first and most reliable birds to give sailors warning of the approach of a storm by rushing in flocks towards them whistling "Wee, wee!" But I do not know how correct that can be, for I find that their greatest delight is in rough weather and storms. The meaning of the expression, "Mother Carey," is said to be "Mother Dear," and is intended for the Virgin Mary, due to the fact that she was considered the patroness of sailors.

In the daytime these birds never seem to swim, but while on the wing allow their feet to touch the water, and naturalists say from its walking appearance upon the waves like the Apostle Peter, the name "Petrel" was applied to them.

Whenever superstitious sailors of other countries see a flock of these merry sea birds following their ship, they try to kill them, owing to the birds' delight in storms. They believe bad luck follows their trail, that they cause storms, and they call them the "devil's birds," but the truth is that as they don't appear to dive like other sea birds they more easily pick up their food from the surge than in calm water. (See my "History of the Skellig and Blasket Islands" for an account of these birds.)

_Mug._--The large wooden mug, cups and gallons are now out of use. However, a few can still be found in country homes.

_Mugs._--A name given to a party of striplings who went around first kissing the pretty girls and making mouths at the coarse and older ones. In course of time, rough and ignorant characters joined in and became such a nuisance that the girls protested against them and called them "Mugs," no doubt after the Muns of England, who carried on much the same practice with the breaking of windows, wrenching of knockers added. The latter too was extended to those parts by the rowdy element.

_Pagan Wells, Lises and Fairy Tales._--Lises are found everywhere in the barony. They were erected within view of each other, so that in event of an attack on one lis or a fort a fire kept burning would be extinguished as an alarm signal. These forts are surrounded by the best quality of land in their immediate vicinity. Fairy tales are connected with every one of them. Some people frightened the lives in little children with fairy tales and ghost stories. Those stories had this much of a foundation in our locality: In the beginning of the Eighteenth Century when the British law prohibited the exportation or sale of wool to any other country but to themselves, farmers became engaged in smuggling wool to France, where they received as high as two shilling, sixpence (sixty cents) a pound from France. Cutters brought wines and brandies with them, which were often hidden in specially prepared chambers in forts, lises and cahirs, near the sea coast. To keep children away so as not to give information, they told them that the men seen in those forts and lises were fairies. This helped to prolong the life of the old tales. Every cave to the west of Dingle was filled with wool, trying to smuggle it to a convenient place for loading it into ships. The French pretended they were carrying from Ireland emigrants called the "Wild Geese," i. e., Catholics who were forbidden by law to live in Ireland. The magistrates who were supposed to stop it were engaged in this illicit trade. Amongst the most objectionable was their description of the headless coach leaving a burial ground going in the direction of some dying person and returning with its victim, the Banshee's lonely wail, the appearance of a golden-haired woman courting with fairy pleasure some fine young man trying to take him into fairyland. However, worse still were their representations of dances at the ancient crossroads by young men and maidens years in their graves, long funeral processions of the dead at night through certain roads in which a living companion of the dead would pretend to see and recognize some of his dead neighbors and at the same time he would order those in his company who could see nothing wrong to step aside and let the dead pass.

The least objectionable fables are the mermaids and their enchanted capes and the enchanted music of the dead, how St. Patrick tricked the snakes and serpents, the appearance of strange and mysterious ships at sea leading sailors and fishermen to their doom, the Broack-an-rubber, Feon Macoal, Diamond and Grana, chieftains clad in white armor riding on horses shod with gold shoes galloping through the country every May morning and serpents in lake.

Pagan wells, too, were deemed sacred because old Druids washed and dressed the wounds of soldiers and persons injured in them.

_Patron Days._--These are held where Christian churches were erected, consecrated and dedicated to that particular saint whose festival falls on or about the day on which the patron is held. It was so very hard to overthrow pagan celebrations, which continued for a long time after the dawn of Christianity in Ireland, the clergy, and wise Christians, too, admonished the people to abandon the custom of attending pagan meetings in mountains and other like places and started sports on patron days close to their churches, and in this manner completely exterminated the adoration of idols.

In the middle of the last century, excessive drinking and an occasional street fight tended to degrade them. Long ago they served their purpose and at present no objection could be held against them if they were held completely dry.[16]

_Penitent Pilgrims of the Cat-Brack._--Catholics attending Protestant Bible classes, reading their literature or listening to a funeral service during the fearful religious quarrels of what is known as the "Souper campaign," as a part of their penance had to go from Dingle to Killarney, a distance of over forty miles. Some very old men did the journey on foot. Amongst the reasons for taking exception to a funeral service was that Protestant writers, in boasting of the success of their mission, classed Roman Catholics standing around the coffin while the funeral service was read at the graveside as "converts" to Protestantism. The result was that Catholics attending the funeral of a Protestant neighbor or relative would accompany the corpse no further than the gate to the graveyard or burial ground or keep a reasonable distance away until the religious services were ended.

_Racing at Weddings._--The custom of men riding saddle horses, racing with each other to see who would be the first to reach the newly married girl to bring her home to the wedding, is now almost dead and gone, but the spirit survives.

_Red Lighted Coals of Fire Given Out of the House._--Old women in country villages prevented fire to be given out of their houses, and insisted on all men smoking extinguishing all the fire in their pipes before leaving the house was, I believe, the most ignorant superstition I ever saw practiced. A farmer's wife feared that if you should carry a lighted pipe from their house into another, it would enable the person carrying same to transfer milk and butter from one farmer to another, and he could do many other things.

_Rounds._--Paying rounds around holy wells and shrines are very much on the decline.

_Shea-Hated by the Mermaids of the Sea._--It is almost impossible for persons bearing the name of Shea or O'Shea to obtain partners to join them fishing in any harbor in the barony, due to the fact that people are afraid that if they had an O'Shea or Shea in their boats or canoes they would be drowned. For this belief a thousand reasons are sometimes given. However, after setting aside tales appertaining to mermaids, spirits of the deep, legends and superstitions, the striking fact remains that of the names of persons drowned in this peninsula within the last century the surname of Shea or O'Shea outstrip all others, and this is the more remarkable when taken into consideration that through fear in storms very few of them will take the risks of their fellow fishermen. Possibly when caught in sea trouble the want of confidence arising from superstition may have something to do with it.

_Snap Apple Nights, or All Hallow Eve._--This night falls on the 31st of October. Up until near the end of the last century, it was a night of sport by young people in those parts by trying to extract fun and prophecy from fruit and beans. Amongst other things, they place beans together in pairs in the ashes close to the heat of the fire for the supposed lovers, one named for the boy and the other for the girl. If the beans burn brightly and quietly together, it indicated that the young man and the young girl so indicated would be married, but if they cracked and jumped apart from each other they would never be married. From the ashes many a strange tale would be foretold. After one pair jumped apart, another pair of beans would be tried and some other likely lovers named for each.

Young persons also would dip for apples in tubs of water and endeavor to bring one up in the mouth by pressing it against the bottom of the tub. Sometimes an apple would hang from a cord and they would try to catch it with their mouths while in circular motion. In catching apples, hands should not be used.

I knew of one girl who privately melted lead several times and each time threw it into water, in hopes that she could foresee her future husband to be a ploughman possessing horses, cattle and ploughs. I know that she got married to a farmer, not because the lead and water conveyed anything of the kind, but her heart and mind was set on having a farmer as her husband.

This is a superstitious practice handed down to us from the Druids. Formerly these things were a ceremony of belief, but with few exceptions in our parts this superstitious belief has disappeared and now they have become things of pure sport. Other nationalities in Europe are still found quite superstitious about All Hallow Eve.

_Steel-Pen Coats._--These steel-pen frize woolen coats and knee-breeches ornamented with brass buttons and commonly worn up toward the last quarter of the last century are now nearly extinct in those parts.

_St. Martin's Eve._--It appears that St. Martin was buried on the 11th of November. In some country homes amongst farmers I noticed that on St. Martin's Eve some animal was killed, such as a goose, a duck, a hen or a cock, and that the outside threshold of the door was sprinkled with the blood of the animal killed for St. Martin. Some went as far as to sprinkle the four corners of their dwelling houses with blood. I believe this had a Christian charitable origin and in the course of age lost its true meaning and character. Whether Christian or pagan, it is a very curious custom, and I see no good in it for the present age.

_St. Patrick and the Snakes._--Are there any snakes to be found in Ireland? Did St. Patrick banish them? These are questions which Americans ask me daily. My answer to the first question is that I never saw nor heard of any snake living in Ireland since the days of St. Patrick. Ireland does not produce any venomous reptile. The following are _not_ to be found there, viz., snakes, tortoises, scorpions or dragons. Leeches, lizards and frogs are numerous, but these are harmless. I am told that snakes brought over to Ireland will die or lose their venom before they land. Sailors who say they have tried it tell me that as they were drawing near the land the snakes died. Circuses will not attempt to cross the Irish Sea from England with their snakes for fear of losing them. People living in Ireland never saw a snake. The reasons given by some naturalists for snakes not living in Ireland are not identical.

Now, with regard to St. Patrick banishing the snakes and all other poisonous reptiles out of Ireland, both tradition and legend says he did it but it is not supported by historical documents. According to ancient writings, snakes were found in Ireland before the Christian era. There is full and clear evidence that some of the people adored idols made into the imitation of snakes, and also dead snakes, and that these were collected and delivered up by newly converted Christians to St. Patrick and with their full accord the idols were destroyed by him and thrown into a lake. Beyond that I cannot go, and I regret to say here I must leave the reader to draw his own conclusions.

The very early Catholic Church historians in Ireland did not mention a word about St. Patrick's connection with the snakes. St. Patrick left behind him a written document called his "Confession," and in this there is no mention of the snakes. However, many years after his death--some centuries--Irish historians stated clearly that it was St. Patrick who banished the snakes. English historians up to the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries agreed with the Irish historians of that period, and, for the reason that snakes would live in the Isle of Man, they (the English) classified that island as more properly belonging to England.