Hello Riobard, all, If dancing is a sin, I confess I'm a sinner. I'll be sinning later on this evening, and again on Friday evening, and again Saturday. Nor will my sinning be only with one woman! I'll be sinning with a different woman every time the music starts. Thanks be to the merciful Lord who forgave our ancestors their sinful ways, and watches over us all still. Bill Gawne On Wed, Sep 23, 2015 at 10:11 AM, Riobard O' Dwyer via <beara@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Recenty, I read an article in the paper from a Paula Vallely from > Keady. Co. Armagh, saying that she was researching about dance halls > in rural Iraland during the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s. This is the > answer I wrote her back: > Dear Paula, > My parents' dance hall in the (Ardgroom) Village was > opened circa Christmas 1936. The Priests here were very much against > dancing at the time. One of them used ask people going to Confession > if they were dancing in my parents' hall on the previous Sunday night. > If they admitted it. they would not be given absolution by him, as he > looked upon dancing as a mortal sin. Such rubbish !! Once, he walked > into the centre of the dance floor., and spread out his hands as if to > "clear" the hall of the "sinners". Many of the local people used be > walking up and down the village road outside the dance hall, afraid of > their lives of the damnation of the Priest if they went in. I > remember, as a young lad of about 10., sitting on the 2nd set of the > top left of the Church during Mass, and listening to my father and > mother being denounced from the Altar by the Priest for not closing > the dance at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night ----- dances used be held early > here on a Sunday night. One time, my father held a dance to 12 o'clock > on a Christmas night, and the Parish Priest went to court to stop him. > It used cost 4 pence to go to the dances in those days; later, it went > up to 6 pence; and, later again, to a shilling. The dances in the hall > were the Set Dance (to Irish traditional music), the Waltz, the > 2-step, the Barn Dance, and the "Stack of Barley". The dance band > consisted of my father playing the "button-key" accordeon, and my > mother playing the fiddle/violin, and sometimes the concertina. There > was no such thing as amplification. People kept up as near as he/she > could to the stage. The men used stand on one side of the hall, and > the girls on the other side. During the dance, there used be what was > called the Ladies' Choice ----- when a lady had the privilege of going > across the dance floor and asking the man of her choice for a dance. > Sometimes, the man of her choice would feel he was "fixed up" after > that, and would, later in the week, ask her out for a "date". The > girls wore ordinary-length dresses ----- not like the "up to their > ar__s" that some of them wear nowadays. Before their dance hall of > 1936, my father built a very small hall at the top of the village, up > beside the nearby river, when my parents came back home from America. > It was after the Civil War, and one night during a dance (I heard it > said), when my father and mother were playing their music up on the > "stage", a row/fight started between two men in the middle of the > dance-floor ----- one belonging to Fianna Fail, and the other from the > opposite party, Fine Gael. My father jumped down off the "stage", > knocked out the two of them with his fists; then jumped up on the > "stage", and continued playing for the dance. As the old people used > say: "Them were the days" !! I hope that this will help you with your > research. Best wishes from Riobard (=the Gaelic for Robert) O'Dwyer. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Bill, Sin away, you have a lot of company! Theresa > Hello Riobard, all, > > If dancing is a sin, I confess I'm a sinner. I'll be sinning later on > this > evening, and again on Friday evening, and again Saturday. Nor will my > sinning be only with one woman! I'll be sinning with a different woman > every time the music starts. > > Thanks be to the merciful Lord who forgave our ancestors their sinful > ways, > and watches over us all still. > > Bill Gawne > > On Wed, Sep 23, 2015 at 10:11 AM, Riobard O' Dwyer via > <beara@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > >> Recenty, I read an article in the paper from a Paula Vallely from >> Keady. Co. Armagh, saying that she was researching about dance halls >> in rural Iraland during the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s. This is the >> answer I wrote her back: >> Dear Paula, >> My parents' dance hall in the (Ardgroom) Village was >> opened circa Christmas 1936. The Priests here were very much against >> dancing at the time. One of them used ask people going to Confession >> if they were dancing in my parents' hall on the previous Sunday night. >> If they admitted it. they would not be given absolution by him, as he >> looked upon dancing as a mortal sin. Such rubbish !! Once, he walked >> into the centre of the dance floor., and spread out his hands as if to >> "clear" the hall of the "sinners". Many of the local people used be >> walking up and down the village road outside the dance hall, afraid of >> their lives of the damnation of the Priest if they went in. I >> remember, as a young lad of about 10., sitting on the 2nd set of the >> top left of the Church during Mass, and listening to my father and >> mother being denounced from the Altar by the Priest for not closing >> the dance at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night ----- dances used be held early >> here on a Sunday night. One time, my father held a dance to 12 o'clock >> on a Christmas night, and the Parish Priest went to court to stop him. >> It used cost 4 pence to go to the dances in those days; later, it went >> up to 6 pence; and, later again, to a shilling. The dances in the hall >> were the Set Dance (to Irish traditional music), the Waltz, the >> 2-step, the Barn Dance, and the "Stack of Barley". The dance band >> consisted of my father playing the "button-key" accordeon, and my >> mother playing the fiddle/violin, and sometimes the concertina. There >> was no such thing as amplification. People kept up as near as he/she >> could to the stage. The men used stand on one side of the hall, and >> the girls on the other side. During the dance, there used be what was >> called the Ladies' Choice ----- when a lady had the privilege of going >> across the dance floor and asking the man of her choice for a dance. >> Sometimes, the man of her choice would feel he was "fixed up" after >> that, and would, later in the week, ask her out for a "date". The >> girls wore ordinary-length dresses ----- not like the "up to their >> ar__s" that some of them wear nowadays. Before their dance hall of >> 1936, my father built a very small hall at the top of the village, up >> beside the nearby river, when my parents came back home from America. >> It was after the Civil War, and one night during a dance (I heard it >> said), when my father and mother were playing their music up on the >> "stage", a row/fight started between two men in the middle of the >> dance-floor ----- one belonging to Fianna Fail, and the other from the >> opposite party, Fine Gael. My father jumped down off the "stage", >> knocked out the two of them with his fists; then jumped up on the >> "stage", and continued playing for the dance. As the old people used >> say: "Them were the days" !! I hope that this will help you with your >> research. Best wishes from Riobard (=the Gaelic for Robert) O'Dwyer. >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using SnowCrest WebMail. http://www.snowcrest.net