Traditional Lore, Cures, Sayings and Curses

echo beach

daviddonnelly wrote: »

Yeah I heard this one before, I think if I remember right it was said that the fairies and spirits didnt like iron or something like that and the swapping thing centered around the belief in changelings whereby a baby would be swapped while still in the cradle with one of their own. Strange that this belief was carried on well into the 20th century

The traditional description of a changeling - sullen, temperamental, uncommunicative, disruptive and sometimes violent - is close to what is now termed autistic behaviour. Without any medical knowledge and faced with a child who is physically normal but who doesn't 'belong' the explanation that the fairies had swooped them for your child would be attractive to those who believed in 'the little people'.

The changeling stories include the parents making superhuman efforts and braving all sort of hardship to try to get their own child back. Today a parent will try anything to get a treatment or cure for their child so perhaps we aren't any different.

daviddonnelly

Has anyone heard the term a blackthorn winter? Or can anybody give any details on blackthorn lore

donegal_man

I thinks it's something like the borrowing days, a spell of bitterly cold weather in the early spring

donegal_road

Blackthorn that flowers early and produces many berries is supposed to be a sign of a cold winter, for reasons mentioned earlier.
Blackthorn tincture or tea is mean to be beneficial for people who suffer from heart disease and high cholesterol.
The sloe is the berry of the blackthorn which ripen and sweeten after the first frost, and a cold spring was traditionally referred to as a Blackthorn winter as stated above.

Local-womanizer

I was at a family do a few years ago and me and my brothers were at a table for the meal with 5 other strangers. 1 guy, in his 50s and with his wife had a dry way of going on, and we thought we were in for a long meal. He turned out to be the funniest man we met.

It started when the conversation turned to a funeral, the deceased had a bit of money that was left to grandchildren and other family.

He was conversing with an aul fella and was saying "wasn't he great leaving the money for the family"

The aul man replies "left it? Sure he had no choice, he couldn't take it with him!"

daviddonnelly

I was at Doon holy well at the weekend, its a beautiful spot and well maintained, certainly has the mystical air about it. Beside it is Doon Rock where the chieftains were crowned, well worth a visit (sorry for the pun)

donegal_road

just heard this today. Donegal County Council are looking for help locating holy wells in the county. Story here

tayto lover

donegal_road wrote: »

I have a few more for you.

Gartan clay has been associated with safe travel, and it can only be one particular family that gets it for you. My uncle has some still in his car from years ago.

The cure for warts can be got at the holy well in the graveyard in Convoy.

There is also a holy well in Drumkeen with the same wart-healing power, but it has to be a Drumkeen local that brings you the holy water.

The colour green was considered unlucky, green garments were avoided. I knew a lady who would never buy a green car.

It is still considered very bad luck by some people if you are discharged from hospital on a Saturday. I dont know the origins of that one, but its hilarious

Or moving house on a Saturday.
"Saturday's flitting, short sitting" is a common saying around our way.

tayto lover

Ladywell Shrine in Dundalk has a well where the water rises on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption every year.It is well known and there are huge attendances.

http://freegroups.net/library/The_Reading_Room/False_Teaching_n_Teachers_2/Miraculous_Water.shtml

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography/physical-landscape/louth-louthiana/louthiana-archaeological-/dundalk-ladywell/

daviddonnelly

donegal_road wrote: »

just heard this today. Donegal County Council are looking for help locating holy wells in the county. Story here

thats good news that the wells wont be lost to future generations

daviddonnelly

Ive always heard that to cure a nettle sting you split the stalk of a dock leaf and rub it on the sting but recently a person told me that you actually split the stal of the nettle itself and rub it on. Does anybody know which is right or have heard anything similar. Another using nettles seems to suggest that you rub an arthritic area withh the leaf and it eases the pain.

mathepac

daviddonnelly wrote: »

I... Another using nettles seems to suggest that you rub an arthritic area withh the leaf and it eases the pain.

No, it just distracts you temporarily .

donegal_man

daviddonnelly wrote: »

Ive always heard that to cure a nettle sting you split the stalk of a dock leaf and rub it on the sting but recently a person told me that you actually split the stal of the nettle itself and rub it on. Does anybody know which is right or have heard anything similar. Another using nettles seems to suggest that you rub an arthritic area withh the leaf and it eases the pain.

Always heard of the dock leaf as a remedy for nettle stings according to a herbalist friend mine the dock contains a natural anti-histamine which helps to reduce the reaction of the body to the formic acid in the nettle.

As for nettles as a treatment for arthritis, they are used either as a poultice or applied directly to the affected area. The latter usually for joints that have become imflamed, apparently the high boron content in the nettle leaves is the magic ingredient there.

daviddonnelly

Is the old tradition of placing a candle in the window at Christmas still practiced in Ireland, apart from the usual electric lights etc..? I heard this was a tradition used to welcome strangers walking the roads something of the past really.

donegal_road

daviddonnelly wrote: »

Is the old tradition of placing a candle in the window at Christmas still practiced in Ireland, apart from the usual electric lights etc..? I heard this was a tradition used to welcome strangers walking the roads something of the past really.

yes, we do this every year

echo beach

Heard today that the old cure for a stye on the eyelid was to stick the thorn from a gooseberry bush into it. Wouldn't fancy trying it myself but I suppose in the days before antibiotics there wasn't much alternative.

curlymo

Was told that if you rub a gold wedding ring on the stye it will go away. And anyone who's father died before they were born was supposed to have the cure for thrush. So Bill Clinton had a cure and probably didn't know he had one as his Dad died before his birth. One thing that Bill had was "charisma" which no other president after him ha, or has.:)

Maldesu

echo beach wrote: »

Heard today that the old cure for a stye on the eyelid was to stick the thorn from a gooseberry bush into it. Wouldn't fancy trying it myself but I suppose in the days before antibiotics there wasn't much alternative.

Used tea bag over the eye will do the trick.

muffler

curlymo wrote: »

Was told that if you rub a gold wedding ring on the stye it will go away. And anyone who's father died before they were born was supposed to have the cure for thrush. So Bill Clinton had a cure and probably didn't know he had one as his Dad died before his birth. One thing that Bill had was "charisma" which no other president after him ha, or has.:)

Bill probably give thrush more than cure it :pac:

Madam

muffler wrote: »

Bill probably give thrush more than cure it :pac:

Oral?

muffler

Madam wrote: »

Oral?

tut tut Madam

Madam

muffler wrote: »

tut tut Madam

Oops sorry - could stop myself for some reason(I'll blame the flu meds:().

tayto lover

Maldesu wrote: »

Used tea bag over the eye will do the trick.

A friend of mine went to the doctor (who was a lunatic God be good to him) with a stye on her eye many years ago. He asked her if she treated it with anything. She replied that she rubbed cold tea-leaves on it. He said to her "you might as well be rubbing it up against a camel's arse".
He had no heed in that cure at all.

donegal_man

tayto lover wrote: »

A friend of mine went to the doctor (who was a lunatic God be good to him) with a stye on her eye many years ago. He asked her if she treated it with anything. She replied that she rubbed cold tea-leaves on it. He said to her "you might as well be rubbing it up against a camel's arse".
He had no heed in that cure at all.

Brilliant! I'd love to hear his opinion of homeopathy :pac:

Noreen1

tayto lover wrote: »

A friend of mine went to the doctor (who was a lunatic God be good to him) with a stye on her eye many years ago. He asked her if she treated it with anything. She replied that she rubbed cold tea-leaves on it. He said to her "you might as well be rubbing it up against a camel's arse".
He had no heed in that cure at all.

Isn't it supposed to be a hot teabag?
Theory being that the heat opens the pores and "draws" the infection to the surface.

donegal_man

Noreen1 wrote: »

Isn't it supposed to be a hot teabag?
Theory being that the heat opens the pores and "draws" the infection to the surface.

Pores opening and closing, isn't that a bit of an old wives tale? I was led to believe that the tea was a natural anti-inflammatory and astringent. Although that's probably just as much of an old wives tale, as the amount of any active ingredient in a tea bag is unlikely to be much. But sure if it makes you feel good that's half the battle

goat2

daviddonnelly wrote: »

Ive always heard that to cure a nettle sting you split the stalk of a dock leaf and rub it on the sting but recently a person told me that you actually split the stal of the nettle itself and rub it on. Does anybody know which is right or have heard anything similar. Another using nettles seems to suggest that you rub an arthritic area withh the leaf and it eases the pain.

yes you are right about the nettle sting helping with artheritis, as nettle has got anti inflammetry properties in it, i have got a bit of artherites in one elbow, and when it bothers me during nettle growing time, i stick my elbow into the nettles and lo and behold it stops the pain and i get a good night sleep, i dont mind the stinging for the little while because i am painfree for hours,
i guess it heats up the area also,

daviddonnelly

Has anyone ever heard of planting crops by the moon and if this is carried out in Ireland