18S9.] "^<^ [Mooney. 



In the city of Cork tlae celebration is lield on " May Sunday," the first 

 Sunclaj- of May, perhaps because the working people ar then more at 

 leisure. For some nights beforehand parties of j'oung men make secret 

 forays upon the demenes of the neigliboring gentry in order to secure 

 tall, straight-growing oak trees, which ar cut down and trimd off to serv 

 as May-poles. These ar then carried into the town and set up in every 

 convenient gathering place throughout the city. The poles ar as high as 

 a tall flag-staff and ar firmly planted in the ground, but not decorated in 

 any way. The work must all be done by night, as the whole business is 

 an offense against the peace and dignity of the law, which woodrangers 

 and police consider it their bounden duty to prevent. There seems to be 

 a tacit understanding that the sports shal not be interfered with after the 

 poles hav been set up. On the evening of May Sunday small parties col- 

 lect and proceed toward their respectiv poles, with numerous tar-barrels 

 placed upon doors which ar borne upon the shoulders of the men, while 

 on other doors carried in the same way ar placed chairs in which ar seated 

 a piper and fiddler. With music playing and shouts and laughter ringing 

 out on the air, they march in this fashion to the pole, and, on reaching it, 

 the barrels ar piled around its base, together with a plentiful supply of 

 turf. Tiie musicians ar then installd on a temporary throne, the pile is 

 lighted and the dance begins, to last until daybreak. Parties from dif- 

 ferent poles pay mutual visits to each other during the night, each party 

 headed by a musician, and dance three times around the pole of the party 

 visited. As the poles ar green they ar but little injured by the fire 

 and ar afterward cut down by those who procured them and sold for a few 

 sliillings apiece, the proceeds being spent for drink or other refreshments, 

 A small collection is also taken up outside the church in the morning to 

 pay the musicians. 



Another May eve observance in this city is thus described as it existed 

 forty years ago : "Another old custom prevails also to some extent. May 

 eve, the last day of April, is called ' Nettlemas night ;' boys parade the 

 streets with large bunches of nettles, stinging their playmates and occa- 

 sionally bestowing a sly touch upon strangers who come in Iheir way. 

 Young and merry maidens, too, not infrequently avail themselves of the 

 privilege to 'sting' their lovers ; and the laughter in the street is often 

 echoed in the drawing-room."* 



Fire is held saci'ed in Ireland, and there ar a number of May-day be- 

 liefs connected with it. None wil be given out of the house on this day 

 for any consideration, as such an act brings all kinds of il fortune upon 

 the family, and especially enables the borrower to steal all the butter from 

 the milk, so that any one who should ask for the loan of a lighted sod of 

 turf on May-day would be regarded as a suspicious character, whom it 

 would be just as wel to watch. To giv out either fire or salt on this day 

 is to giv away the year's luck. One old writer states that fire would be 

 given only to a sick person, and then with an imprecation, but the butter, 



♦Hall, Ireland, i, 25. 



PROC. AJIER. PHILOS. SOC. XXVI. 130. 2x. PRINTED MAY 27, 1889. 



