Marriage Customs
Excerpt from the 1938 manuscriptsof the Irish Folklore Commission.
Kathleen Delaney, Mayo Abbey. Heard from George Hughes, Mayo Abbey.
Long ago people used to get married different to the present time. There were a lot of runaway marriages. The man used to steal the girl to a neighbour's house a week before the marriage, then he and she would go on horseback to the church, and a boy and a girl they would choose themselves would stand sponsor for them.
When a boy would intend to marry a girl, he and another
boy would take plenty of whiskey and when they would have
plenty of courage, they would take a quart bottle of whiskey
to the house, and when they would have the father merry,
they would ask him for the daughter. When they would be
getting married they would bring a married woman to the
church with them, they would get married on a Wednesday,
because it was the luckiest day to get married. Friday and
Saturday are the unlucky days to get married.
"Monday for health, Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday the best day of all,
Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses
And Saturday no day at all".
When the married couple would be leaving the church,
somebody would through an old shoe over the bride's head so
that she would have "good luck". The man used to give the
bride gold, and she should buy something that would last for
a long time, such as furniture.
If they did not meet a man on the way home they would have bad luck. They would not go to mass until the second Sunday and if their sponsors were not with them on the second Sunday they would not go. The first Sunday they would go to mass was called "Eirigh Amach". When they would be going home after getting married, the bride's mother-in-law, if she had any, should break the wedding cake on her head when she would be coming in the door, then she would be friendly with her while she lived. If she had no mother-in-law the married pair should cut the wedding cake and give a bit of it to everyone in the house. If anyone put a piece of it under their head for three nights, they would dream of their future wife or husband. If they spoke at all from once they went to bed, they would not dream at all. They should take the longest road home from the church. If they walked to the church they would have no luck.
The night of the wedding the married couple should dance
first. The neighbouring boys used to dress up in straw, and
go to the wedding house, they used to get a big long pole
and tie a note on the top of it with the words, "send out a
drink".They would put the top of the pole in the door first,
drink was very cheap at that time so the married man would
send out a . When they would have it taken they would come
in and dance.
The Nallys of Rockstown in County Mayo, Ireland
