Folklore 2000

2000

We went to the county hall in Portlaoise to look up some of the things that they wrote about. We saw some articles that were written by some past pupils of our school. Years ago they could only use their best hand writing but today we are using modern technology. We used video cameras, scanners, a digital camera and the computer to store all the information we found by interviewing and listening to other people. 

We visited Scoil Mhuire in Tullamore and used their computers to work on our website. Best of all we finished by celebrating in Supermac’s.

Mr Paddy Heaney and Mr Paddy Lowry came to our school. They told us about times long ago. They had no light that time. They had a lot of paper after lunch because they brought their lunch in paper. They played football and hurling at school and one day they hit the glass and it broke. The teacher said left right when they went in to school. They had no shoes to play football and hurling in school and when they went down the field one of the lads said that he would show the gander whos boss. He threw a stone and it hit the pot and it broke . They had an Irish play. He hooked lights to the tractor and turned it on. But the light went out. He went to people and the people told the story. 

People used to kill the pig and give a piece of pig to it’s next door neighbour. They ate bread and butter and honey . The fairies fly from place to place . There’s the road going from Tara to Cashel. The name of it is called the Slidala. The warriors took his heart out and tied it to a tree. 

When they made hay they went around the hay fields catching frogs. They had to turn the hay with a stick shaped like a fork .When a cow has a calf you are supposed say God bless both of them. There are 3 to 4 stones around the giant grave. The army went across the coach road. Swallows fly near the ground when it is going to be bad weather. The crane hits the water when it is going to be bad weather. The blacksmith shoes horse and mends pots. A woman came with a pot to him one day. A last is for mending shoes.

There are 12 to14 castles in the Slieve Bloom mountains . When a fairy blast sucks up hay it goes up into the air The people milk with their hands. If you don’t turn the churn you will get no butter. 

The houses in the old days were thatched and built with red clay and stones. If a horse turns it’s ars to the ditch its a sign of bad weather . If you cut off a horse skin you can make a hurling ball . Some ring forts got bulldozed many years ago .

 A willy wag tail walks and other birds hop. 

John Cuffe married a woman from Cork. That is why the castle is called Castlecuffe.