No woman thinks of taking any concern in her household affairs until she has been churched after childbirth. Marriages are the scenes of festivity and mirth; a bridesman and bridesmaid are indispensable attendants on this occasion; and the ceremony of "throwing the stocking" is too well known to need description. A fine day for the bringing home is reckoned an omen of good fortune, according to the popular adage:
"Happy is the bride that the sun shines on."
A similar proverb renders a wet day desirable for a funeral:
"Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on."
The wakes of all ranks of people here are conducted pretty much on the old Irish plan. The corpse is kept in for two nights during which time the Irish cry is seldom interrupted.
The funerals are generally attended by crowds, summoned by the bell of Ballymahon. Gravestones with crucifixes mark the respective burial-places. There is also another kind of monument here, viz. heaps of stones on the sides of the roads, marking the spot on which untimely deaths have occurred. Some of these are inclosed and planted with one or two ash-trees.—(pp. 346-350.)
Tracton Abbey, county Cork.
The great patron day is that of St. John, on 24th of June, on the eve of which innumerable fires are lighted on every hill, in the streets of every village, and at the meeting of every cross-road. On the festive day itself, and the subsequent week, myriads of persons of all ranks and ages flock to the holy well of St. Zonogue, where booths and tents are erected, and wondrous cures announced to be performed by this miraculous water.—(p. 472.)
Tintern, county Wexford.
St. Martin, whose day is kept on 11th November, is patron of the parish. On that day numbers of people perform pilgrimages to a weir dedicated to him; and there is a fair or market held on that day for which no patent has been granted.
The people . . . wear wisps of straw in their brogues; call women by their maiden names, and illegitimate children after their mother.
They are addicted to superstitious practices, and believe in apparitions;
