Mooney.] d.'4: [jjay 3, 



if Stolen, might be recoverd by burning some of the thatch from over the 

 door. In the city of Limerick the fire is always lighted by the man of the 

 house on May morning, as it is unlucky to hav it done by a woman. 



According to Lady Wilde, "If the fire goes out on May morning it is 

 considered very unlucky, and it cannot be rekindled except by a lighted 

 sod brought from the priest's house. And the ashes of this blessed turf 

 are afterwards sprinkled on the floor and the threshold of the house."* 

 The same author asserts that milk is also pourd on the threshold, and that 

 if a traveler should ask for a cup of milk he must drink it in the house, 

 and with a pinch of salt in it, for no fire, water, salt or milk must be given 

 out on this day. 



Owing to the scarcity of timber the May-pole has long since disappeard 

 from Ireland, excepting in a few isolated districts, chiefly in the south, 

 altho it was once known to all Keltic countries, and was found in Britain 

 as early as the Roman invasion. At Maghera, in the extreme northern 

 county of Derry, the Maj'-pole was annually planted in the market place 

 until 1798.f The custom has even been carried across the Atlantic by the 

 emigrant French, and "unmai" is frequently planted on the shores of 

 the Saint Lawrence in honor of some local celebrity.:]: The tree or pole 

 decorated with garlands was an appropriate symbol of the spring, and the 

 peculiar dance around it may hav had some reference to the circuit of 

 the sun in the heavens. In Ireland and in Gaelic Scotland the dancers 

 always follow the course of the sun from right to left, and one who takes 

 the contrary direction is quickly told to "dance with the sun." Two 

 hundred years ago, in districts where timber was plentiful, tall poles wer 

 set up on May eve, and allowd to stand nearly the whole year, while in 

 front of every door was placed a green bush decorated with yellow floweis 

 (buttercups?). § 



The May-bush, trimd with flowers, is stil more or less general through- 

 out the country, especially in the south. In Meath, in addition to setting 

 up the May-bush, the children formerly slrewd flowers in front of the 

 doorway, while in Kildare, as already stated, the bush was decorated at 

 night with lighted candles. In Clare, Galway and other parts of the 

 •west, a branch of the rowan tree {crann caoran) is put over the doorway 

 or planted in front of the house, and is known as the Crdlnin Bealtuine 

 {Crawnyeen Baidtldimy) OT "little May-tree." In some mysterious waj 

 the crann caoran has power against all spels of witches or fairies, who ar 

 uncommonly active on May-day, for which reason branches of the tree 

 ar put in the haggart or in the fields on this occasion, while smaller twigs 

 ar twisted around the churns and milking vessels, to protect the crops and 

 the butter. The same custom, as it exists in Sweden and Germany, is 



* Lady Wilde, i, 201. 



t Quoted from the "Parochial Survey of Ireland," in The Folk-lore Journal, ii, 212, 

 London. 1884. 



X Bender, "Holidays of the French Canadians," in Magazine of American History, 

 XX, No. 6, p. 467, New York, December, 18SS. 



I Piers, Westmeath, 123. 



