NEW - The 2024 Irish Dresser and Folklore Calendar

and Folklore Calendar

Front: Barbara Somerville, Killanley, Co. Sligo I got to see this dresser in the home of Barbara Somerville back in early May 2023. Barbara’s late husband Billy was a collector and dealer in old furniture and this is one of the dressers he kept for their family home. This fiddle-front dresser came from a farmhouse in Co. Limerick and is a great surviving example.

Fiddle fronted dressers were popular in Munster and South Leinster and this also has a middle drawer which was usually used for cutlery.

There is also an awful lot of detail in the frieze of the dresser and this was certainly a very fine and well made dresser in its day. Great to see it still in daily use and love how it holds centre stage in Barbara’s kitchen to this day.

Michael Fortune on The Dresser Project These dressers that I have recorded are more than just dry pieces of folk furniture or relics of the past. Instead they are an evolving and ever-changing display reflecting the experiences, lives and values of their keepers, serving as shrines as well as practical pieces of furniture. It is clear that the dresser has secured its place in the Irish kitchen for many years to come, and for many of us, they are at the heart of our homes.

This year I have also included a series of QR codes on each page which will take you to interviews, tutorials, texts and posts relating to that month and also the dresser in question. These range from YouTube tutorials on How to make a St. Brigid's Cross to essays on The May Bush Tradition as well as recipes for local traditional dishes.

Acknowledgements: The printing of this calendar has been supported by the Arts Offices of Carlow County Council, Mayo County Council, Meath County Council, Waterford City & County Council, Tipperary County Council and Offaly County Council.

Thanks to everyone who allowed me into their lives and homes to research this work. Thanks to the Arts Officers in each local authority for their support. Thanks to everyone who helped in this particular production. These include Aileen Lambert, Joan Lambert, Sue Russell and Emma O’Grady.

All images and quoted texts used in this production are copyrighted by Michael Fortune/folklore.ie. Design by Michael Fortune.

For more information contact folklore.ie@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/folklore.ie or 087 6470247.

More information at www.thedresserproject.ie

The layers around us I spent two hours in the home of Mags Joyce near Kilsallagh in Co. Mayo on the morning of the 12th of May 2023. We hit it off straight away and her interest in family dressers was very similar to my own.

She had four dressers which all belonged to different family members over the years.

I have included one of her dressers in the calendar but said I’d share a few of the others here too. I suppose I was drawn to how she was as attracted to the mass-produced 1960s dresser (or ‘press’) as much as the older locally made pieces. I find that some people with an interest in vernacular furniture in Ireland can often take a puritan approach to these things. If truth be known, I have found a lot of interest in vernacular furniture to be a bit of a romanticised hobby for some, and most have a completely disconnected reality to the times and to the people who once owned them. I found meeting Mags refreshing as her connection was real and these objects, old and new, meant something to her. She wasn’t precious about them in the right way.

Mags Joyce beside one of her dressers.

Every time we talked, a new story cropped up and each story was important whether it’d be relating to a dresser from the late 1800s or one made in the 1960s. In one incident she took a big serving plate down and showed me the metal staples that were put into it to fix a crack. She remembers the day it was fixed and brought me back to a wet day when she came home from school and found that there was a Travelling man on the floor drilling small holes in the plate with a nail.

The man and his family camped up nearby once a year and she said they loved him coming as children as they brought news of ‘exotic’ places (i.e. another county) and most importantly he fixed the big plate.

Knowing that I was a proud Wexford man, she also pointed out an old commemorative jug to Fr. Michael Murphy from 1798 on one dresser.

The attraction for her wasn’t about it being a collector’s item or how old it was or what it was worth, but instead she told me that anytime her late father put his hand to that jug he would instantly start singing Boolavogue. Simple but powerful. That is why we like these things.

Michael Fortune, September 2023

1798 Centenary Jug. Father Michael Murphy killed at the Battle of Arklow and not Father John Murphy of Boolavogue fame.

Note written by her mother to say when and where the dresser was bought in 1961.

This was stuck to the back of the dresser.

An old dresser/project she got from a relation.

1 JANUARY/EANÁIR 2024 Monday Dé Luain New Year’s Day Lá Coille Public Holiday Handsel Monday First Footing Tradition.

Give a child a coin for luck on Handsel Monday.

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Tuesday Dé Máirt

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Mags Joyce’s Dresser

Bouris, Westport, Co. Mayo

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

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Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

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Little Christmas Eve

Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Little Christmas Nollaig na mBan

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Light 12 small candles before sunset to predict your future. Tradition found in East Galway, North Offaly and Westmeath.

Enjoy a family meal and feet up for the women.

Evenings get longer and a “cock step and jump” in the days from now on.

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Scan QR Code to hear about Handsel Monday and New Year’s Eve Traditions.

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Scan QR Code to read more about The Handsel Monday Tradition.

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Wolf Moon

Scan QR Code to read a piece by Michael on RTÉ website about St. Brigid and Spring

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St. Brigid’s Eve

Gather rushes, make crosses and Bridógs and leave outside with a Brat Bhríde for Brigid to bless.

Colcannon eaten on Old Christmas Day (6th of Jan) in some Irish communities in Newfoundland.

Here is a special dresser that I was shown by Mags in her family home. It was bought by her grandmother Delia Kitterick in 1961 out of money she received from the US Army when her son John Kitterick was accidentally killed in August 1961 while serving in Korea. John emigrated to the States and was conscripted.

The tradition around Nollaig na mBan was not widespread around Ireland and was particular to Munster.

Feast Day of St. Mogue The 31st of January is the Feast Day of St. Mogue, otherwise known as St. Aidan (c.550 - 626AD) Scan QR Code to hear a great Brigid’s Cloak story from Donegal.

Her grandmother had a hard life and this dresser was a practical piece of furniture but it ran deeper due to this connection. Mag's mother made a note of when it was bought and stuck it on the back of the dresser. This served as a record of when it was bought but also marked the date of that sad part of their lives.

2 FEBRUARY/FEABHRA 2024 Monday Dé Luain "Throw the candles and candlesticks away, and eat your supper by the light of day” The evenings get brighter.

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Public Holiday Lá Fhéile Bríde St. Brigid's Day

Tuesday Dé Máirt

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

On Candlemas Day a good goose will lay.

If Candlemas Day be fair and clear, There'll be two Winters in the year.

On Valentine's Day any goose will lay.

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Friday Dé hAoine

St. Brigid's Day Lá Fhéile Bríde Imbolg

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Cropping Thursday

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Candlemas Day

Four drops of hot wax dripped around the home and tools for protection.

Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Feast of St. Blaise

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Some people get throats blessed for protection against coughs and colds.

Scan QR Code to hear Dan talk about his dresser.

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Get your hair cut before Lent.

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Shrove Tuesday Pancake Tuesday

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St Valentine's Day Lá Fhéile Vailintín Lent Begins

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Show some love today and give up something.

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Leap Year

You have an extra day to enjoy this year. Make the most of it if you can.

There is a particular style of labourers cottage in Wexford called a 'two-up, twodown’ which were built all over the county from around the 1880s onwards. Most were built on an acre of land, which was used for growing vegetables and keeping a small meadow while they also had a pig-sty for keeping a pig and a few bons.

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Chalk Sunday

Not a great day to be single in the past.

Scan QR Code to learn how to learn how to make a St. Brigid’s Cross with Michael.

Scan QR Code to learn how to make a 12 Rushes Cross with Michael.

Scan QR Code to learn how to make a Triskel ‘Cross’ with Michael.

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Thursday Déardaoin

The start of Spring.

Make pancakes and place objects (rings, money) in them and play divination games with children.

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Monalee, Ballindaggin, Co. Wexford

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Reflect on nature and the start of Spring.

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Dan Doyle’s Dresser

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Snow Moon Red flannel was left out on St. Brigid’s Day and also blessed on the Feast of St. Blaise. Worn to protect against chesty coughs, sore throats and kidney pains.

“Half your prog and half your hay. Eat your supper by the light of day" Winter provision and Spring verse found in the south-east of Ireland/Newfoundland

On Valentine's Day they say birds choose their partners and start to build their nests on the 1st of March.

It had an open fire with a fanners for cooking and directly across on the gable wall was a built-in dresser. Dan’s grandfather moved here in 1883 and believes the dresser is from that time. He thinks it was made by a man called Denis Sherlock, a carpenter from Ballindaggin and it is rare to find an original surviving these days.

3 MARCH/MÁRTA 2024 Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

"March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" (And vice versa)

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Anne Russell’s Dresser Roscrea, Co. Tipperary

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

Saturday Dé Sathairn

It is said that the crows start to build their nests on the 1st of March. However if it falls on a Sunday, they will respect the Sabbath and wait until Monday.

In the Travelling Community some girls will get the ends of their hair cut on Good Friday so that it will grow thicker.

The Old Cows Days or The Riabhóg Days It is said March borrows days from April and these dates came with a warning as they were cold and would skin your cow.

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Scan QR Code to hear Ann talk about her “Haunted Dresser’.

Scan QR Code to hear about Sheila’s Brush folklore from Newfoundland.

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"March winds and April showers, bring forth May flowers"

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Sheila's Day (Newfoundland)

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The belief is anything planted on Good Friday will always grow.

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Sheila (St. Patrick's wife) comes today and sweeps away the old season in time for Spring.

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Spring Equinox

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Spy Wednesday

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Find yourself a bit of shamrock and wear it with pride. Last chance to get the spuds in.

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Scan QR Code to hear some St. Patrick’s Day folklore from an RTÉ children’s show.

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Worm Moon

I've waited years to come across a dresser like this. Not because of any regional design or who made it, but because it is part of the folklore of Ireland where a house would be haunted and the conduit for these strange activities would take the form of a dresser, ie. plates would fall off, mugs would dance etc

Maundy Thursday

St. Patrick's Day Lá Fhéile Pádraig Public Holiday

Scan QR Code to hear accounts around the dates for sowing potatoes.

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Good Friday Clipping Friday

Seen as good luck to get the ends of your hair clipped on this day.

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Holy Saturday

Go 'gugging' for Easter Eggs.

Polish community get food baskets blessed.

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Easter Sunday Cásca

Watch rising sun dance in sky. Break Lenten Fast.

Boil a 'clúdog' of eggs outside with children.

Growing up I heard these stories which were usually put down to the activities of 'the fairies'. Anne is a natural storyteller and she told me all the strange and quare yokes that happened and about how it was blessed a 'hape' of times in her lifetime. She tells me the last blessing worked though and it's been grand since.

4 APRIL/AIBREÁN 2024 Monday Dé Luain

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Easter Monday The Borrowing Days April Fools' Day Public Holiday

Time for some codding.

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Catherine Bean Uí Noonan Costello’s Dresser Gilltown, Co. Meath

Tuesday Dé Máirt

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The Borrowing Days

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

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The Borrowing Days

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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April borrows three cold days from March. In some counties these cold days can last until the 12th of April.

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The Borrowed Days End

In some parts of the country the borrowed cold days of March did not end until the 12th of April.

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Scan QR Code to read an account of The Old Cow Days or the Borrowing Days which went to Newfoundland from here.

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Cuckoo Farmer

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Last chance to get crops in or else risk being called a 'cuckoo farmer'.

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The May Bush

Put up your May Bush.

Sprinkle thresholds with flowers. Bless the land.

Shake the 'traan' water.

Traditionally the May Bush was a piece of whitethorn or furze bush but in parts of Tipperary a piece of Mountain Ash/Rowan was also used.

Scan QR Code to view a feature on the tradition of Gugging for Eggs at Easter

by Michael on the RTÉ website.

Scan QR Code to view a feature on the Easter Traditions and Customs

by Michael on the RTÉ website.

Pink Moon

In Ulster, it was said that Borrowed Days would 'skin branny' (skin a cow).

This dresser belonged to the late Mary and Paddy Gough and husband and wife Nicky and Catherine saved it from destruction when they moved into Mary and Paddy's old house twenty-five years ago. Nicky told me that it was on its last legs out in the shed and was weighed down with tins of paint and old newspapers.

"The cuckoo comes in April, She sings her song in May, In June she whistles her tune, And July she flies away"

The May Bush tradition still survives in parts of rural Newfoundland as it was taken over by the south-east Irish in the 18th and 19th century.

In Roscrea, Co. Tipperary they use a piece of horse chestnut tree as their May Tree.

Catherine fell in love with it straight away and re-painted it. The dresser was made for Mary and Paddy by a man from Donore, Co. Meath in the 1940s as a belated wedding present. The dresser is now cherished and also holds plates and bits and pieces belonging to Catherine’s own late mother. A dresser full of memories.

5 MAY/BEALTAINE 2024 Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

Ann Minchin’s Dresser

Coolnacuppogue, Co.Carlow Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

01 Don't give away on the 1st of May as you will give away your profit for the year.

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Public Holiday The Rogation Days

“Married in May and you’ll rue the day”

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The Rogation Days

Bealtaine/Summer

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

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The Rogation Days

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Rogation Sunday

The 5th Sunday after Easter Sundav.

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Ascension Thursday

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Keep the drawers on

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"Ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out”

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"A wet and windy May fills the haggards with corn and hay.”

Scan QR Code to see hundreds of May Bushes from across Co. Wexford.

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

Welcome the light and drive dull care away. Walk in the May dew. May Bush Festival and bonfires in Wexford.

Land and crops were blessed on The Three Rogation Days with Easter or 'traan' water.

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Scan QR Code to view a feature on the May Bush tradition by Michael on the RTÉ website.

Scan QR Code to hear some May customs from Co. Donegal.

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They say if you whitewash in May, you'll wash all your luck away. Wait until June.

Collect the first May rain or dew in a bottle as a cure for sore eyes. Same in Newfoundland but they collect the first May snow.

Flower Moon

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Scan QR Code to hear a May song by Aileen Lambert.

Ann was born and reared in this house and like all farmhouses at the time they had a dresser in the kitchen. Sadly the dresser fell apart and Ann went on a quest for one. She bought this in Paulstown in Co. Kilkenny and most of the plates and cups were bought at agricultural shows such as those in Tinahely, Piltown and Tullow.

The Feast of Corpus Christi

Some processions still survive.

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Some of the china cups on top belonged to her late mother. She never married and she told me that the dresser and all her bits and pieces will go to her nieces and nephews when she goes on. She also said that this dresser came from a house in Wexford originally and it didn’t have cup hangers when she got it.

John Sweeney’s Dresser

6 JUNE/MEITHEAMH 2024

Monamolin, Co. Wexford

Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

St. John’s Eve/Day bonfires lit all over Europe from France to Spain and Denmark to Estonia.

In Westmeath it was said that bonfires on the 23rd were for the children while the 29th bonfires were for the adults.

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Public Holiday

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Wednesday Dé Céadaoin Bonfires also lit on 29th of June for the Feast of St. Peter and Paul.

In Wexford they were lit on Tulloughanna just outside of Kilmuckridge.

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

01 St. John's Day Bonfires still lit in the Irish communities in rural Newfoundland.

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St. John's Day

Spancil Hill Fair.

Bonfires still lit in the Irish communities in rural Newfoundland.

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Scan QR Code to hear accounts of St. John’s Eve Bonfires from South Carlow.

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Summer Solstice Grianstad an tSamhraidh

The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Wexford in 1798.

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Swimming Time

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

"April and May, keep out of the say (sea).

June and July, swim till you die."

Scan QR Code to view footage of St. John’s Eve bonfires that were filmed in Galicia by Michael in 2007.

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Scan QR Code to hear accounts of St. John’s Eve bonfires from Co. Mayo.

Here’s an image I’ve always loved. I took this in 2005 in the home of John Sweeney who lived alone without electricity or mod-cons. The dresser is minimal and I love the way he kept the silver-foil plates from the apple tarts on it. This was an unplanned call and I was brought by a local woman called Shirley Walker.

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Strawberry Moon

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Feast of St. Peter and Paul

The date to dig and taste the first of the new spuds.

Also time to cut meadows.

St. John's Eve Oíche Fhéile Eoin

Bonfire night around the country. Put a cinder into the drills of spuds.

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Scan QR Code to read about The Feast of St. Peter and Paul.

I took a load of photos that day but not for the life of me have I never been able to find them. John died a few years later and sadly Shirley passed away since then too. Someday I hope I’ll stumble across them on a hard-drive but until then, all I’ve have is this image. Love the mugs and the hand marks on the right-hand drawer.

Issie Somerville’s Dresser

7 JULY/IÚIL 2024 Monday Dé Luain

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Killanley, Co. Sligo

Tuesday Dé Máirt

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Scan QR Code to hear people chat about Mountain/Fraughan Sunday.

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Dig Spuds

A date to dig the new spuds for many northern counties.

"Plant with Paddy and dig with Billy"

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The date for Fraughan Sunday on Tory Hill in South Kilkenny.

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Scan QR Code to learn about Fraughan Sunday.

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The Eve of the Feast of St. Declán

Vigil at Holy Well in Dysert, Ardmore, Co. Waterford.

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Buck Moon

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The 24th of July is St. Declán's Pattern Day in Ardmore in Co. Waterford.

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Struell Wells

Visit Struell Wells in Co. Down. Last Friday before Lammas.

The month of July was often referred to as 'The Hungry Month' or 'Hungry July' around the country.

Here is an interesting 'new' dresser made in the early 1990s by cabinet makers working for Billy and Barbara Somerville as a present for their daughter. Billy and Barbara worked for 28 years buying, restoring and selling country pine furniture and exporting huge amounts to the United States where there was a market.

Fraughan Sunday

"He who bathes in May will soon be laid in clay; He who bathes in June will sing a merry tune; He who bathes in July will dance like a fly.

"A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly.”

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Reek Sunday Garland Sunday Fraughan Sunday Mountain Sunday

Climb 'the Reek' in Mayo.

Take to the hills around you and pick fraughans.

Make a fraughan cake.

Scan QR Code to hear Jim Byrne chat about picking fraughans as a child.

Issie moved to England in the 1990s and the dresser was shipped over to her. It spent the first part of its life in England but when Issie and her family moved back home, the dresser came back and is now on home turf in Killanley a few yards away from where it was made.

8 AUGUST/LÚNASA 2024 Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

The Nire, Co. Waterford

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

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Many Lammas Fairs were held on the 1st of August in the past. New spuds were dug and barmbracks were cooked and eaten.

"After Lammas corn ripens as much by night as by day.”

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Public Holiday

Grace O’Meara’s Dresser

Lughnasadh Lammas Day Start of Autumn

It is said that if you find money on the 1st Monday in August you will have luck for the year.

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Friday Dé hAoine

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Puck Fair

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Sturgeon Moon

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Lammas Fair

The Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.

Puck Fair

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Lady Day

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St. Moling

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The date for the annual Pattern at Mullinakill in Co. Kilkenny.

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Lammas Fair

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The Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.

Here’s a dresser for you from the home of Grace O’Meara in the Nire Valley.

Grace got it about 15 years ago from a man in Clonmel and was told it came from Co. Tipperary. It has those lovely little flying wheels and hearts cut into the frieze and an unusual centre leg for extra support which you don’t see on many dressers.

Puck Fair

Traditional dates for Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry.

Scan QR Code read more on Our Lady’s Island Pilgrimage in Co. Wexford

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Saint Bartholomew’s Day

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“Of all the tears that Saint Swithin can cry, Saint Bartholomew's Day will wipe them dry.”

Scan QR Code hear about cutting the hay on Lady Day.

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Dip your feet in water or the sea on this day. Start of Pilgrimage to Our Lady's Island, Wexford and St. Odhrán's Well, Tipperary.

Start of Borris Fair in Carlow.

Traditional dates for Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry.

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Traditional dates for Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry.

Scan QR Code to read more about Lady Day.

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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31 If a cold August follows a hot July it betokens a hard winter. A warm dry August betokens a snowy winter."

It appears to be from the early 1900s and doesn’t have plate laths which you see a lot on dressers from more western counties. It also doesn't have sledge feet which too is a feature from many western counties. I love that it's in its original paint and hasn’t been dipped and as you can see it is in regular use in Grace’s home.

Maureen Carroll’s Dresser

9 SEPTEMBER/MEÁN FÓMHAIR 2024 Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

30 Thirty days has September, April, June, and November.

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Coolderry, Co. Offaly

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

Saturday Dé Sathairn

Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

Harvest dances were held in September around the country. In South Carlow and North Wexford 'Collickers' in straw costumes would attend these dances.

On Michaelmas Day people would visit St. Michael's Well in Tinnahinch, Co. Carlow.

Local fair was held on this day and mutton pastries made from a sheep that was killed the day before.

'Harvest Home' meals were eaten when the harvest was done. Straw 'Cailleachs' (The Last Sheaf) were plaited, cut and hung in the house for luck. Straw loops, knots and bows were made and gifted.

01 In the Julian calendar, September was the 7th month. In Irish, the number 7 Meán Fómhair is the Irish for September and means is 'seacht' which comes from 'Middle-Harvest' Latin and corresponds to the name of the month.

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Scan QR Code read about the Cailleach and the Harvest Churn Tradition.

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10 Pick some sloes and make sloe wine. This was traditionally buried in the ground and dug up at Hallowe’en and tasted on that night.

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Keep an eye out for the Daddy Longlegs (The Crane Fly) laying their eggs in the grass. Their larvae were called 'traans' in Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford.

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Harvest Moon

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The swallows begin to gather and prepare to leave. It is said they usually wait until the first cold spell and they leave shortly after that.

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Autumn Equinox

Gather your thoughts and prepare for the dark time of the year.

Scan QR Code read more about placenames associated with St. Michael.

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Scan QR Code to read more about Michaelmas Day.

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St. Michael's Eve Michaelmas

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St Michael's Day Michaelmas Day

Mark the end of harvest with large meal. Some people would kill and eat a goose if People would visit holy wells or church sites dedicated to they were lucky enough to St. Michael. have one.

I took this photo in September 2023 after Maureen’s granddaughter contacted me and said I had to see her grandmother's dresser. So off to Offaly I went one day and glad I did. To be honest the whole setting was just perfect as Maureen greeted me in her overall and the kitchen itself was like stepping back in time.

The dresser belonged to her late husband and has some great carved detail in the frieze and fine detail around the drawers and doors. The whole scene was complemented by a Sacred Heart picture and some Blest Palm, a St. Brigid’s Cross over the door and prints of The Gleaners hanging over the turf-fired stove.

Derek Warren’s Dresser

10 OCTOBER/ DEIREADH FÓMHAIR 2024 Monday Dé Luain Pots of colcannon made on Halloween night for household and visitors.

Tokens put in colcannon in Leinster and also over in Newfoundland

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Tuesday Dé Máirt

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Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

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Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Scan QR Code to hear Michael chat on RTÉ about Hallowe’en Customs in Ireland.

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Deireadh Fómhair is the Irish for October and means the 'end of Harvest'

Halloween is also known as: All Holland, All Hallows' Eve, Vizzarding Night, Blackmens' Night, Collicking Night, Snap Apple Night.

The Geese Arrive

Note the arrival of geese in October. If they graze on any leftover corn in the fields it is known as 'The Harvest of the Geese'.

Scan QR Code to view Michael’s video called “We Invented Hallowe’en”

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Ballindaggin, Co. Wexford

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In the Julian calendar, October was the 8th month.

In Irish 8 is 'ocht' which comes from Latin and corresponds to the name of the month.

Fishermen along the east coast of Wexford claim the October full moon is a good time to catch herring.

Hunter's Moon

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Scan QR Code to learn how to made a traditional Wexford colcannon dinner.

Scan QR Code to view a collection of Hallowe’en folklore from Donegal.

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Public Holiday

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Hallowe’en

The night for the living and the dead. Disguise, role-play, divilment, games and feasting. Bonfires lit.

Now here is something you don’t see too often, an old dresser and a ‘new’ cabinet side by side and still in use in a family home. I love these on loads of levels. The scene is completely true and I love the visual layer of the old to the new. I also love how Derek took an the easy route with the painting and used the same colour.

In Ulster and Leinster teenagers and young adults went out in disguise on Halloween night to gather money, food etc for a Halloween party.

The ‘new’ cabinet/press in this case is 60 years old now and normally the old dresser was thrown out when the new one arrived. The hinged doors on the dresser is unusual and the ornate decoration on top is very fine. You can also see that it has middle shelf supports which I see a bit in dressers in North Wexford.

Laura Egan’s Dresser

11 NOVEMBER/SAMHAIN 2024

Ballycallan, Co. Kilkenny

Monday Dé Luain

Tuesday Dé Máirt

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

In the Julian calendar, November was the 9th month. In Irish 9 is 'naoi which comes from Latin and corresponds to the name of the month.

Fishermen avoid going to sea in Wexford on the 10th and 11th if they can. Some commercial boats still follow this rule. Also no watermill wheel turned on this day.

Church and graves visited on All Souls' Day. People light candles to remember the dead. In the past some people also did The Visits outside the chapel and graveyard.

Pheasant shooting season opens on the 1st of November and ends on the 31st of January.

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Saturday Dé Sathairn

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Scan QR Code to hear about St. Martin’s Eve folklore from Co. Wexford.

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St. Martin's Eve

In the past a fowl or beast was killed on this day.

No fishing in Wexford.

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St. Martin's Day

Fowl or beast eaten.

No fishing in Wexford.

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St. Martin's Day is practiced across Europe and shares many links with our Halloween tradition in Ireland.

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Beaver Moon

Scan QR Code to hear about St. Martin’s Eve folklore from Wexford Town.

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Scan QR Code to hear about St. Martin’s Eve folklore from Co. Mayo.

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Scan QR Code to hear about St. Martin’s Eve folklore from Co. Kildare.

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This dresser belonged to Laura’s grand uncle Paddy Webster who passed away in 1995. Paddy’s mother, Mary Webster bought the dresser at an auction in the 1930’s and it spent most of its life in their home in New England, Tullaroan. The house was sold six years ago but the new owners did not want the dresser.

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In the past on the 10th a fowl or sometimes a beast was killed. Its blood was sprinkled on the four corners and thresholds of the house.

A cross also made with blood on the foreheads of the people of the house.

It is now homed in Laura’s house and she sent me a photo of it when Paddy was alive, complete with an old Eircom phone mounted on the side and the Sacred Heart picture beside it. The dresser comes in two parts and this was common with some carpenters from the 1920s to the 1960s as it was easier to transport.

Tara Brady’s Dresser

12 DECEMBER/NOLLAIG 2024 Monday Dé Luain

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Tuesday Dé Máirt

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Let out the old and bring in the new.

Scan QR Code to hear about how people did not have Christmas Trees in the past.

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New Year's Eve Oiche Chinn Bhliana

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Robinstown, Co. Meath

Wednesday Dé Céadaoin

Thursday Déardaoin

Friday Dé hAoine

Saturday Dé Sathairn

On Christmas Eve, the youngest in the house lit a candle at sunset which was put in the window to guide Mary and Joseph.

Ham boiled in many homes on the 24th. In parts of Mayo, families had their main meal on this day and not the 25th. Fish eaten by many Eastern European families living here.

A piece of straw is taken from the crib and kept in your purse with the hope that you'd have money for the year. Some Polish people in Ireland keep a scale of the Christmas Eve fish with the same belief.

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Bags of sticks gifted by neighbours to each other in parts of North Wexford on Christmas Eve.

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The Eve of St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas visits some children in Ireland on this evening.

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The Feast of St. Nicholas

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24 Holly wreaths and lit candles left on the graves of loved ones on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Cold Moon

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Observe the location of the setting winter solstice sun where you live.

Scan QR Code to hear about a visit from St. Nicholas on the 5th of December.

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Christmas Day Lá Nollag Public Holiday

Santy magic in the morning.

Food and feasting galore.

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St. Stephen's Day Lá Fhéile Stiofáin Public Holiday

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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Scan QR Code to read about the tradition of lighting the candle at Christmas.

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Scan QR Code to hear about holly a story from Dublin City.

A Holy Day when some country people went to the towns to shop. Also a guide to put up Christmas decorations.

Celebrations in some homes in Ireland today by people from various European countries.

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Sunday Dé Domhnaigh

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Winter Solstice

Visit Knockroe Passage Tomb on the borders of Kilkenny/Tipperary to witness rising and setting winter sun.

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Putting up the Christmas decorations

The weekend closest to Christmas was the date many people put up the holly and ivy in the past.

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Hunting the 'Wran'.

Christmas Mummers call.

Get out, sport and play.

Hear the Kilmore Carols.

This ‘new’ dresser was made by the brother of the woman standing in this photo.

His name was Joe Fitzsimons and he made it in their home in Parnell Park in Navan in 1984. Tara tells me it had pride of place in their home until Covid when their mother Anne moved out and sold the house and then moved in with Tara.

Joe was doing an apprenticeship with a joinery company but it closed down, so her father, wanting him to carry on, bought some wood and set him the task of making a dresser for the family home. I love the shamrock design on the head and the Sacred Heart picture behind it. Tara’s mother Anne passed away in Jan. 2022.