On Wednesday, the 11th of April two Irish examiners came into the school to test us on our Irish work. We spent the last few months preparing for this. We collected lots of old stories collected about eighty years ago. We got these off Duchas.ie The Schools collection. Most students got theirs off their relatives. I didn't. This is the first few pieces of work I handed up.
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Composer: K Broderick
Informant:
Name & Date: Marian Duffy 13/11/2017
Buying and Selling
Shops were common in the olden times the same as now. People had not far to go to the shops at that time, because there were shops all though the country. Buying and selling was carried on after mass in the olden times and it is still practiced. The articles sold in this way were tea, sugar, leaves, tobacco and matches. Money was not given always for goods, sometimes labour was given in exchange. Saturday was an unlucky day to transact business. But Wednesday is lucky.
Hucksters, pedalors and dealers visited the district in former times and they are still coming. The types of money gone out of use are sovereigns, half sovereigns and farthings.
~K Broderick
Composer: K Broderick
Informant:
Name and Date: Marian Duffy 13/11/2017
A Churn
We have a churn at home. The length of the churn is one foot and a half, and the width at the top and bottom is one foot. The sides are round. It is six years old. The various parts of the churn are the handle and the dash. Butter is made once a week in Winter and Summer, it is my mother that does the churning. If strangers come in during the churning, they always help with the work because it is lucky. The churning takes about half an hour and it is done by hand so that the churn dish always upwards and downwards. Water is often poured in during the process, because it makes the churning easier. When the churning is over, the butter is lifted out and then it is salted and ready for war.
It is said if you gave the loan of your churn to anyone, you would not have much butter afterwards. Buttermilk is kept for making cakes.
~ K Broderick
Composer: Tom Heagney
Informant: Patrick Darcy
Name & Date: Marian Duffy 16/11/17
Giants
There was a giant living near churchhill which was called at that time Lick Mollasey. He also had a brother living on the Benn Hill. This giant used to eat people. This giant's height was 11"11 as his brother was also tall. The giant's brother came down from the Benn Hill to try which of them was the better man.
They picked out two of the biggest stones. The bigger giant threw his stone first and then the smaller giant threw his then and the two stones fell in the one field is now John Brodericks and it is in the village of Boolnsgheragh. Then the giant from Benn Hill went home. The other giant went to his house also. When he went to his house there was a man there before him. When the giant saw him he said "Fe fà`fùm, I smell the blood of an Irish man. His liver and lights I'll eat him tonight, and his blood for my morn's drunk." He then pulled the man who was in the house and eat him. The other giant never came down from Benn Hill again to try which of them was the better man.
~ Tom Heagney.
22/11/1938
Composer: Barbara Savage
Informant: Patrick Darcey
Name and Date: Marian Duffy 16/11/2017
Fuel in the Parish
The fires in this parish are lit on the hearth. Some people have to light the fire in a grate if the chimney smoked. The old houses have heath fires. The fires on the hearth were comfortable.
The fuel the people used was turf. Some people use timber, but very few farmers use timber. Farmers always have bright turf fires a night. Some people have better turf than other people.
There are sayings about the fire. When a sod falls from the fire it is a sign of a stranger coming to the house if the sod that falls from the fire is black the stranger will be dark, but if the sod is red the stranger will be fair.
~ Barbara Savage, Breggan, Portumna.
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Everyone in the class did around four stories. All this work was gathered together and put in book form. I had to create the cover for the book.
The next part of this Irish project was to collect about 4 different pieces from each school Miss Conroy chose on Duchas.ie. This is some of the work I handed up. This was also put into a book.
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Composer: K Broderick
Informant:
Name & Date: Marian Duffy 13/11/2017
Buying and Selling
Shops were common in the olden times the same as now. People had not far to go to the shops at that time, because there were shops all though the country. Buying and selling was carried on after mass in the olden times and it is still practiced. The articles sold in this way were tea, sugar, leaves, tobacco and matches. Money was not given always for goods, sometimes labour was given in exchange. Saturday was an unlucky day to transact business. But Wednesday is lucky.
Hucksters, pedalors and dealers visited the district in former times and they are still coming. The types of money gone out of use are sovereigns, half sovereigns and farthings.
~K Broderick
Composer: K Broderick
Informant:
Name and Date: Marian Duffy 13/11/2017
A Churn
We have a churn at home. The length of the churn is one foot and a half, and the width at the top and bottom is one foot. The sides are round. It is six years old. The various parts of the churn are the handle and the dash. Butter is made once a week in Winter and Summer, it is my mother that does the churning. If strangers come in during the churning, they always help with the work because it is lucky. The churning takes about half an hour and it is done by hand so that the churn dish always upwards and downwards. Water is often poured in during the process, because it makes the churning easier. When the churning is over, the butter is lifted out and then it is salted and ready for war.
It is said if you gave the loan of your churn to anyone, you would not have much butter afterwards. Buttermilk is kept for making cakes.
~ K Broderick
Composer: Tom Heagney
Informant: Patrick Darcy
Name & Date: Marian Duffy 16/11/17
Giants
There was a giant living near churchhill which was called at that time Lick Mollasey. He also had a brother living on the Benn Hill. This giant used to eat people. This giant's height was 11"11 as his brother was also tall. The giant's brother came down from the Benn Hill to try which of them was the better man.
They picked out two of the biggest stones. The bigger giant threw his stone first and then the smaller giant threw his then and the two stones fell in the one field is now John Brodericks and it is in the village of Boolnsgheragh. Then the giant from Benn Hill went home. The other giant went to his house also. When he went to his house there was a man there before him. When the giant saw him he said "Fe fà`fùm, I smell the blood of an Irish man. His liver and lights I'll eat him tonight, and his blood for my morn's drunk." He then pulled the man who was in the house and eat him. The other giant never came down from Benn Hill again to try which of them was the better man.
~ Tom Heagney.
22/11/1938
Composer: Barbara Savage
Informant: Patrick Darcey
Name and Date: Marian Duffy 16/11/2017
Fuel in the Parish
The fires in this parish are lit on the hearth. Some people have to light the fire in a grate if the chimney smoked. The old houses have heath fires. The fires on the hearth were comfortable.
The fuel the people used was turf. Some people use timber, but very few farmers use timber. Farmers always have bright turf fires a night. Some people have better turf than other people.
There are sayings about the fire. When a sod falls from the fire it is a sign of a stranger coming to the house if the sod that falls from the fire is black the stranger will be dark, but if the sod is red the stranger will be fair.
~ Barbara Savage, Breggan, Portumna.
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Everyone in the class did around four stories. All this work was gathered together and put in book form. I had to create the cover for the book.
The next part of this Irish project was to collect about 4 different pieces from each school Miss Conroy chose on Duchas.ie. This is some of the work I handed up. This was also put into a book.
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We then had to complete a project on one topic in many areas. For example, I did my project on "Clothes made locally". I had to gather lots of information on this topic from different schools such as Killimor, Tynagh, Killeen and Portumna. I had to write a small amount on each town and then had to compare their similarities and differences. This was put into a book. All these books were given to the examiners when they arrived.
Finally, Miss Conroy translated some of the pieces that we had handed up earlier in the year. We were each given one piece and had to perfect reading it. I got a piece on churning. When the examiners came we had to stand at the top of the classroom and say it. Half way through all of the speeches there was a few musical performances. Sarah Jane and Álsun played Irish tunes on the piano, Fiona played a piece on the accordion and sang a song in Irish accompanied by her guitar. Kyle also preformed on the fiddle. At the end of the speeches the examiner thanked us and presented us with a ring shaped badge and a certificate.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project. I felt like we had lots of time to prepare. I enjoyed researching how people lived long ago. It was a very interesting, worthwhile project. Its purpose was to encourage those to use Irish more often and to help others understand. I definitely felt like this happened.