Eibhlís de Barra: Northside, Gender, Childhood Games

Eibhlís de Barra: Northside, Gender, Childhood Games

Life History;

Eibhlís was born on the Southside of Cork. Her husband was from Blarney Street, on the Northside.
She recalls childhood games such as The Chaineys, and The Gobs, and Scaa, the latter two played with small stones. She quotes some of the skipping rhymes and remembers the rope games.
Eibhlís comments on the value of the Irish language, and on English as spoken in Cork.
She talks about home births, and about the process of dying at home, comparing it to sanitised hospital scenarios. Traditions of All Souls and All Saints Day.
After marriage, it was traditional for the woman to live near her mother and grandmother; for the man to move to her area. She recalls the important role of women in families; men were left to their hobbies and remained peripheral.
She talks about the importance of storytelling and tells a story about a clever man making a wish with a fairy. She muses on Irish history and concludes that the rich always betray the poor. She tells a story about two Scottish men who died fighting for Ireland at different times, one being ‘Colkitto’ [also known as Alasdair Mac Colla (d.1647)].
Eibhlís remembers Mardyke in her youth, says it was better then. There was a men’s part to the area, where men gathered to play cards.
She talks about the rivalry between Northside and Southside and the sometimes violent rivalry between GAA clubs Barrs and The Glen (St Finbarr’s and Glen Rovers).
There was a shop in Barrack Street where women could leave their children while they went to work.
She describes people from the Northside as a distinct people, who were rogues but could be very nice.
She speaks about the War Of Independence and Black And Tans drunken rampages during the curfews. She speaks of two brothers who were on opposite sides during the Irish Civil War where one shot the other.

17 November 1997

CFP_SR00176_debarra_1997

Ireland, Cork, 1900s

Published Material:

Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English; Irish

Sound

.wav

70min 78sec

Friars Avenue, Blarney Street, Cork

Cassette

E. dB: Yeah. And of course then like the old home, like, they believe in this month like, the Snap-Apple there, the Samhain, that the Almighty gives permission to the people to come to their house, that are gone. To visit their house that night. And again, like, some of the older women would light a plum candle, that night, and clean it, and have the house nice and clean. And there was no fear. I mean there wouldn’t be fear of anything like it was just done.

S.H: Yeah. On the All Saints’ Eve, 31st of October?

E. dB: Yeah. The candle would be lit, by them.

S. H: What was the common name in Cork for that eve, was it All Saints’ Eve, or Hallowe’en or Snap-Apple Night?

E. dB: Snap-Apple Night, sure when we were children it would be Snap-Apple Night, you know?

S.H: There seems to have been some confusion. You know how All Souls’ Day is the 2nd of November, the feast following All Saints’. But in earlier times people sometimes referred to Hallowe’en as All Souls’ Night, is that right?

E. dB: Well that only came with Christianity. The Church like were kind of crabbid like that, and you see, pre-Christian it was a big, big, big ceremony, with you know different things all the, you must remember, the apples are in, the harvest is in, the men are coming in, they won’t have to watch the shores for the Vikings with the storms and things, and you see like it was a big huge thing. But like the Church, they didn’t take it from us, the little magic. But they had to put “All Saints’ ” and they had to put “All Souls’ ” in it to diminish it a bit because you know, what we believed is, you know is, to hold us, to bring us into a different belief. So that would have been that.

S. H: Yes. Did you ever hear it referred to as “All Souls’ Eve,” as well?

E. dB: I did. Oh yes, “All Souls’, ” oh yeah?

S. H: And people would know that you were meaning the 31st. of October, rather than the 1st of November?

E. dB: Oh, they would, sure that’s the night, long ago then, we’d have to try and be home before 12 o’clock, we’d be frightened, you know now. You wouldn’t be out that night late. You see, on the streets.

S. H: And did you hear of people making visits to graveyards around that time, pray for deceased relatives?

E. dB: Oh, I did of course. There is an indulgence now, they say like, you know. I’ve been out now in Douglas there in the graveyard last week, I was doing a bit of work, and I be going around to Saint Finbarr's now, doing a little bit of work this week, please God, and I’ll call into Saint Finbarr's, we’re supposed, you know, to remember him and pray for him and they say like, you know, that time you could get out very easy, out of you know, if you were down, paying for your little wrongs, you could, you know, get a small bit...

S. H: Yeah, a discount.

E. dB: Yeah, it was a grand bit, yeah, that’s the idea, sure that’s what’s lovely. Indulgence. No fear or nothing, but, a thinking of those that are gone.