1SS9.] ^*'^ [Moouey. 



and many of the observances which wer once general ar now confined 

 to remote mountain districts or liv only in the memory of the older people, 

 while others, again, ar stil common throughout the country. As there 

 is but little communication amongst the peasantry of different districts, 

 excepting at the fairs in the summer time, the customs common in one 

 parish ar sometimes entirel}' unknown in another hardly ten miles distant. 

 In this paper we shal describe the beliefs and customs connected with the 

 observance of the principal Irish holidaj's, omitting those of lesser impor- 

 tance. As a number of these holida]^ observances ar more or less com- 

 mon to all the Aryan nations, especially to those of Western Europe, it 

 must suffice to note the fact here without entering into a detaild com- 

 parison. The features more peculiarly Irish ar mainly derived from the 

 (•Id druidic worship. Where authorities ar not given, the statements ar 

 the result of personal investigation. As a matter of convenience, all 

 those customs which wer in use within the present generation ar described 

 as stil existing, altho some of them ar now obsolete. 



The essentially foreign customs found only in those districts — chiefly in 

 the north — occupied principally by Scotch and English settlers, hav no 

 place in this connection. Aside from these, however, many of the genuin 

 Irish observances hav evidently been considerably modified by English 

 influences. This is especially true of the May-day and Christmas celebra- 

 tions, while in regard to the many holiday rimes it is hardly too much to 

 say that they hav been imported bodily from England. The same may 

 be said of many of the children's rimes, riddles and other formulas, even 

 in the remote west where the Gaelic is the ordinary language of the peo- 

 ple. This may be due in some slight degree to contact with the English 

 colonists in Ireland, but by far a more efficient cause is to be found in the 

 annual summer exodus of the Irish harvesters. As soon as the corn begins 

 to ripen troops of the poorer laborers from every part of the country turn 

 their faces toward Dublin and Queenstown, where, embarking by thou- 

 sands, they cross over to Liverpool and range in small parties from one 

 end of the country to the other until the harvest is over and cold weather 

 approaches, when they return to their own land with a few pounds apiece 

 to pay the rent and perhaps a few shillings extra to buy salt for the pota- 

 toes. During these summer months they mingle constantly with the 

 rural English population, by whom the old customs ar most cherisht, be- 

 come familiar with their habits, games and sayings, and enter into a 

 friendly intimacy such as is never extended to those of the same race in 

 Ireland, where they ar always regarded by the natives as foreign usurpers, 

 and disliked and avoided accordingly. 



Saint Bridget's Day, February 1. 



The observances connected with New Year and Twelfth-night wil be 

 described in treating of the Christmas holidays, of which these festivals 

 form a part. Proceeding onward in the calendar the first great festival is 

 that of Saint Bridget's day, February 1. The ceremonies in this case, as 



