Piseogs

cormacocomhrai

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

They are two different things: the 'caul' is the amniotic membrane - like cling film - which covers the fetus. It's like a kind of waterproofing from the fluid in which the fetus swims in the womb.

The placenta is a large liver-like thing from which the fetus derives its nourishment. The umbilical cord connects the placenta to the fetus. When the umbilical cord dries up and falls off, your belly button is left. While some babies are born placenta previa ie the placenta comes out first, rather than later, it's not the kind of thing that anyone would keep! BUT it is the thing that animals will eat after giving birth.

Sorry to butt in.

Thanks for that. Don't apologise for butting in. I'm delighted to have been corrected seeing as I was wrong. My wife is expecting so it looks like I have a steep learning curve ahead of me

cormacocomhrai

Rasheed wrote: »

Well as far as I know with my limited maternity training, every child is born with a placenta, common knowledge.

A caul is much much rarer. Yes it is a membrane that covers the child in the womb but what makes a caul a caul is if the child is born with some membrane attached to it's head.

The older midwives would get very excited if a child with a caul was born o them and keep the caul if the parents allowed it, for its healing properties. True story!

Sorry about that. I was under the impression that it was the manner in which the placenta came out rather than it being a different thing entirely that made it the caul.

cormacocomhrai

Some other beliefs
Fód an bháis: The death sod. There's a spot ordained for all of us. If you step on it you die.

Féar gortach'the hungry grass: Supposedly if you step on this you collapse of the hunger and are in danger of dying if you don't eat something immediately. It was felt that someone had died of hunger there during the famine.

Fóidín mearbhaill/ fóidín meara: The wayward sod. If you step on it you go around in a circle even if you know the area very well. You have to turn your coat inside out to get out of the spell.

A ghost won't cross salt, or running water. You can use a knife on a ghost if the handle is black as well.

slowburner

cormacocomhrai wrote: »

Féar gortach'the hungry grass: Supposedly if you step on this you collapse of the hunger and are in danger of dying if you don't eat something immediately. It was felt that someone had died of hunger there during the famine.

I experienced something like this, once.
I was about five miles out into a treacherous bog in Connemara. The path was marked with painted sticks, most of which were so covered in moss etc. that they were difficult to see.
We had a hearty lunch at the end of the trail, but on the way back I was suddenly overcome with hunger and my legs felt like jelly.
It was dark when we got back to the road on a low hill overlooking the bog.
As we scrambled up the hill, I was amazed to see luminous particles falling from the peaty black topsoil.
The local man with me called the sensation ocras an portaigh (sp?).

I put the experience down to a product of walking on something which behaves like a waterbed for so long.

Some years later, I was reading an angler's account of the area, and he had an entire chapter devoted to seeing ghosts in this very spot.

Mind you, I once saw a poitín operation there, on a small island, amongst the ruins of cottages.
Must have been strong stuff.

cormacocomhrai

Logically it's probably something like that, working too hard on an empty stomch, diabetes etc. Interestingly having eaten before hand wasn't necessarily a protection from the hungry grass.

growler

Clare was certainly rife with piseogs and there are still a lot of superstitions about, eating strawberries / blackberries when pregnant led to birthmarks apparently. The cursed eggs was a very popular one around Liscannor and I hear it stil happens to this day, an cursed egg is left on the driveway / entrance to a house and the curse is invoked when the egg is broken. Hats on tables, shoes on a bed all brought bad luck. The Child of Prague under the hedge to bless a wedding with good weather.

Used to hear loads of Biddy Early stories in my youth, must try and recall a few more.

Someone mentioned the traveller connection with superstition: a couple of summers ago a traveller girl knocked on the door and asked for a glass of water, being a kind hearted soul my mother duly went off to got her a drink, when she got back some money that was in the hallway was gone, as was the traveller (if you can suspend your disbelief). Shortly after, while out for a walk she saw the girl again in the company of a few older women and she confronted her about the money, usual denials ensued and not being one for confrontation my mother left with the words "that money will bring you no luck" (or to that effect). The travellers followed her for nearly 20 minutes begging her to take back those words and not to be "so cruel " etc. eventually they left and when me mum got home wasn't the money returned inside the letterbox.

pedroeibar1

When the cousin in England, a keen man in the kitchen, was getting married I mentioned to the mother that I was giving him a good set of kitchen knives. She was horrified and said that knives are never given as a wedding present as they ‘cut the knot’, eventually adding that this could be counteracted by also giving a coin with them (she still puts a coin in a purse when giving it as a present). I diligently taped a coin to each one before giving them to him. It did not work as his marriage did not last very long!

A woman who can grow parsley is supposed to be very hot tempered.

You must say ‘Mac an Oighe slán’ when when you first hear the cock crowing in the morning.

Cauls were mentioned above - it is believed a person born with one will never drown, which is why sailors value them.

Déan maith in aghadh an olc.

gobnaitolunacy

Cutting down a black alder tree was said to bring bad luck, the Cross that Jesus was crucified on was supposed to be made of it.

Also, a cockerel crowing at night is a bad sign.

cormacocomhrai

The knives as a wedding present remind me, you're never supposed to give a watch as a present to a boyfriend/girlfriend.
I'd have my doubts about exactly how old that particular superstition is

Xivilai

My mother sprinkles holy water at Halloween to frighten away piseogs

Ipso

Not sure if it falls under the same category but a few sea related ones are:
Don't whistle as you tempt the wind
Don't mention cows or foxes in boats
Don't point where you just saw something

nuac

Some other sea pisreogs

To stick a knife in the mast for a fair wind, or if someone whistles

Not to take a red-haired woman on board

If having a drink on board, to pour some into the sea - I recall something similar mentioned in Homer's Odyssey

General

Horseshoes displayed with toe facing downwards, so that the luck won't fall out.

To go out same door as you came in to a house.

Fairy forts etc - do not disturb.

Féar Gorta - hungry grass - heard of that in Achill on hill before Keel. Sudden onset of hunger when walking over it. Said to go back to famine deaths.

Cursing stones - Tory Island. See book on HMS| Wasp

Curses - man believed in them. "Marbh Fháisc ort" - The embrace of death on you - my father heard this in Achill area about 1920.

When I was young ( 1940's or so ) many houses and places were said to be haunted, or had poltergeists. Some of these still vacant, even thru the Celtic Tiger. Some turned out to have a tragic history.

Travellers have a tradition of leaving a place where there is a death, burning the deceased's caravan - burning the house unless discouraged or restrained by the local authority. This may partly to avoid infection

Rasheed

Be wary of offending a traveller or a widow as their curses are thought to be the most powerful.

And adding to the one above, if my neighbour, even to this day, meets a red haired woman, he'll turn back and not leave the house for the day.

They're also a place near us, that is considered a 'bad luck place'. Any body that ever owned, apparently had no luck. No local would ever buy it or even put stock on it.

Fox_In_Socks

Rasheed wrote: »

And adding to the one above, if my neighbour, even to this day, meets a red haired woman, he'll turn back and not leave the house for the day.

That must be difficult in Ireland!:pac:

My parents were "blow ins" when they moved to a rural parish (where they settled), about 15 miles from father's home. Someone left eggs in hay in the ditch quite visible when they had just moved in. Nice welcoming gesture.

This would have been the mid 70s.

Rasheed

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

That must be difficult in Ireland!:pac:

My parents were "blow ins" when they moved to a rural parish (where they settled), about 15 miles from father's home. Someone left eggs in hay in the ditch quite visible when they had just moved in. Nice welcoming gesture.

This would have been the mid 70s.

Yeah, I'd love to have seen my neighbours foreign doctor's face when he was explaining why he missed a hospital appointment. The doctor must have thought he was cracked with his fear of red heads!

What was the eggs one again?

gobnaitolunacy

Rasheed wrote: »

Yeah, I'd love to have seen my neighbours foreign doctor's face when he was explaining why he missed a hospital appointment. The doctor must have thought he was cracked with his fear of red heads!

What was the eggs one again?

Read post 8 for a version of the eggs-in-the-hay thing.

Fox_In_Socks

Rasheed wrote: »

What was the eggs one again?

You won't have any luck if there are rotten eggs in the hay.

pedroeibar1

nuac wrote: »

Some other sea pisreogs

To stick a knife in the mast for a fair wind, or if someone whistles

Travellers have a tradition of leaving a place where there is a death, burning the deceased's caravan - burning the house unless discouraged or restrained by the local authority. This may partly to avoid infection

Whistling on a boat is considered bad luck. Rubbing/scratching the backstay supposedly brings wind.

Piece in today's Irish Times on an empty halting site in Killarney :-
Director of Pavée Point Ronnie Fay said taboos or other factors surrounding accommodation of a dead person were long gone among Travellers and were no more prevalent than among settled communities. As such it was not surprising to hear if Traveller families had vacated accommodation after a tragic event – settled people too sometimes moved from an area after a death, Ms Fay said.
here

thadiisgirl

Not being Irish born myself, but with 100% Irish ancestry, is the tradition of 'first-footing' on New Year's Eve well-known amongst the Irish at all?

I know the Scottish are great ones for it and may have even started the whole thing off, yet we've always done it in my family (both sides) too..

Perhaps it is just a mainland UK thing adopted over the years by the Irish immigrants and their descendants?

nuac

thadiisgirl wrote: »

Not being Irish born myself, but with 100% Irish ancestry, is the tradition of 'first-footing' on New Year's Eve well-known amongst the Irish at all?


First footing still observed in Mayo

I know the Scottish are great ones for it and may have even started the whole thing off, yet we've always done it in my family (both sides) too..

Perhaps it is just a mainland UK thing adopted over the years by the Irish immigrants and their descendants?

First footing still observed in Mayo

nm_gaeilge

Rasheed wrote: »

And adding to the one above, if my neighbour, even to this day, meets a red haired woman, he'll turn back and not leave the house for the day.

Any chance you could tell me what county this man is in??

Have heard that it's bad luck to 'get with' a red haired woman on friday 13th

Also waving at magpies and wishing them a good morning/afternoon/evening is another one!

cormacocomhrai

Seeing a rough sea in action would make anybody superstitious. There would be folk memories in Connemara and Donegal families of red haired women, stories of women who stayed indoors until the fishermen had passed the house in the morning, that kind of thing. Someone once told me that their Connemara grandfather (c.100 years ago) was supposed to have slept with his back to his wife (red haired) and used to get up in the morning without looking at her. The person who told me certainly believed that it happened.

cormacocomhrai

nm_gaeilge wrote: »

Any chance you could tell me what county this man is in??

Have heard that it's bad luck to 'get with' a red haired woman on friday 13th

Also waving at magpies and wishing them a good morning/afternoon/evening is another one!

Judas Iscariot was supposed to have had red hair in folklore. The Friday 13th (Jesus plus 12 apostles, crucified on Good Friday) put it to mind

Rasheed

nm_gaeilge wrote: »

Any chance you could tell me what county this man is in??

Have heard that it's bad luck to 'get with' a red haired woman on friday 13th

Also waving at magpies and wishing them a good morning/afternoon/evening is another one!

He's in Roscommon. Has done it all his life apparently!

dan dan

My mother heard the Banshee,circa,1950. When offered possible explanations like vixens in heat ETC,. She always explained, If you hear the Banshee, all those causes go out the window. It is a sound like no other. Yes a man died that night. who lived where the Banshee cried.
My friend the local postman RIP. was a person who heard the Banshee quiet often.He once told me of a Banshee of a different manifestation. He was called to a cottage by the Widow to be ,to lend her support and assistance in the coming inevitable death of her husband. He kept vigil with her and during the night, he walked outside for air.or something.The thick hedging of boxhedge about chest high suddenly,acted as if there was a bull or such like creature charging up and down through the solid hedge. He called it a silent Banshee.
I knew this man very well and am certain he was genuine.

david75

Does anyone know how the egg one works? What's the procedure? I have a bad minded malignant fvck of a neighbour I want rid of.

cormacocomhrai

david75 wrote: »

Does anyone know how the egg one works? What's the procedure? I have a bad minded malignant fvck of a neighbour I want rid of.

Not sure of the egg other than relations of my own had an egg buried on their land in the hope of spoiling a crop. Don't know if there was anything else that went with it.

There was something like a voodoo doll in Irish culture. It represented the person you wanted to harm. As well as that people used to hide their hair (when they cut it) and their finger nails (when cut) rather than destroy them. Not fully sure why but I think it had to do with the belief that they would be needed when the dead arose. It was said that a mailicous person could use discarded hair or clippings for evil in what were effectively spells.

gobnaitolunacy

nuac wrote: »

Cursing stones - Tory Island. See book on HMS| Wasp

http://dailyscribbling.com/historical-writings/hms-wasp-and-the-cursing-stones-of-tory-island/

slowburner

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

http://dailyscribbling.com/historical-writings/hms-wasp-and-the-cursing-stones-of-tory-island/

There is a developing school of thought which argues that cursing stones and bulláns were originally used for primary processing of metal ore and ochre.
This would be a difficult thing to prove or disprove empirically since few, if any, metal traces are likely to survive the processes of weathering for 5,000+ years.

Simon.d

Had a conversation with my grandmother (From rural Kilkenny, lived her adult life in Dublin, and in her late 80s) on this issue. She is still most certainly a believer and specifically mentioned a fallen tree close to the family home in Kilkenny which no one could touch because of fairies.. Must get her talking about it again..