More from Irish Folk Customs and Belief: Seán Ó'Súilleabháin: Published for the Cultural Relations Commitee, Dublin: 1967 The festivals of the Virgin Mary in Spring (March 25th ) and in Autumn (August 15th ) were not important, so far as the popular lore attached to them is concetned. Fishermen did not put to sea on the eve f the first-names feast. It was considered a bad omen if it coincided with Eastr Sunday (díol do bhó agus ceannaigh lón: if it happens, sell your cow and buy food). People tried, if possible to start the reaping of their grain crops around the August festival. Many patterns (local festivals) took place on both feasts, and rounds were made at Holy Wells popularly dedicated to Our Lady. Shrovetide was a popular time for weddings, and the last night of it was an occasion for feasting. Meat, if available, was eaten that night, and a boiled piece of it known as Tadgh an Gheimhridh (Tim the Winter) was hung on a spike in the kitchen for the duration of Lent, which began the next day. Pancakes, baked in some areas over the blazing Christmas Holly, were a popular food on Shrove Tuesday night. Lent was a much more strict period of fast and abstinednce in olden times (the flesh of barnacle geese, said to have the nature of fish, was eaten in some areas, however.) "Bia bocht" (poor fare) was the general diet. On Ash Wednesday people were wont to take some turf ashes to the church to be blessed and some of it was sprinkled over the house and land. Palm Sunday was known as Domhnach na Slat from the sprigs of yew worn as palm, and on that day children started to collect eggs from the neighbours for the Easter Sunday feast. Many customs and taboos centred around Good Friday: no meat should be hung on a nail that day, nor should any nail be driven, or wood burned; no blood should be shed on that day, when the sun was said to grow darker after noon; no milk was drunk; cakes baked on that day had the Sign of the Cross marked on them; women and girls allowed their hair to hang loose. It was supposed to be lucky to plant some seed potatoes that day, and anybody who had his hair cut would be free from headaches for a year. Eggs were the most popular food on Easter Sunday - meat was also eaten. Blessed Easter water was drunk, and some of it was sprinkled on the fields. The shells of used eggs were used to decorate the May bush in those areas of Ireland where such bushes were erected - it does not seem to have been a native Irish custom at all. Whitsuntide wasa dangerous time for bathing:"Tá stiúradh ag an gCincís ar an bfaraige" (Whitsuntide has control of the sea) To judge by the hundreds of customs and beliefs which were associated with May Day, it must have been the most important annual festival in ancient Ireland. Both the eve of May Day and the day itself were important as signifying the start of Summer and the coming in of the milk and butter produce which were staple foods of our forefathers. Almost every custom and belief associated with them seems to have sprung from the need the people felt to protect their livestock ad preserve their luck at this crucial time. Summer was welcomed in by the carrying of green branches and flowers into the house or strewing them around the doors and windows. "Thugamar féin an Samhradh linn" (We have brought the Sdummer with us) s the name of an Irish song which was associated with this custom, which is still popular in many rural districts. A description of the precautions taken to protect the live, stock at that time of year would fill a large volume. Holy water was, of course, sprinkled on the byre and cows in later times, but older precautions involved the recitation of charms, driving the cattle between blazing bonfires, and the tying of rings of rowan on the animals' tails (red ribbons were attached to the manes and harness of horses, too). Reference has already been made to the means traditionally adopted to protect the cows, the milk, and the churn, and all of these were more important than ever at Maytime, when evilly disposed persons would try to steal a whole year's "profit" by magic. So people guarded their wells on May Eve and May Morn, as it was believed that they were intimately connected with the family's prosperity. By hailing a neighbour's well water in the direction of her own home or by drawing a rope or cloth over the dew on a neighbour's grass on May Morn, while chanting "Come all to me!" a hag was supposed to be able to steal the potential produce of milk and butter for herself As a counter to this, salt and holy water were put into the well. I have already described how no coal of fire would he allowed out of a house while churning was in progress. Similarly, people did not light their fires early on May Day as a further precaution. In olden times, and still in some districts, people did not work at all on May Day. Being associated with a ceann féile (chief festival), May Eve and May Day were supposed to be times of greater than usual activity among supernatural beings. Every lios ( "fairy fort") in Ireland was said to be open that night, and their inhabitants moved abroad in great numbers, often changing their residence at that time. Thus, people were loth to be out late on May Eve, and many stories were told of the strange experiences of those who took the risk. Other strange things were said to happen too : enchanted riders like Donal O'Donoghue rode on a white horse,, with silver shoes, over the lakes of Killarney; bewitched rocks moved from place to place; and mermaids were often seen. Like all chief festivals, May Eve was a great tmie for attempts at divining the future, but these cannot be listed here.