Wedding pisreogs, strawboys, blessings and some curses

By Tom Gillespie

DOWN the centuries there were many superstitions surrounding Irish marriages.

In his book Through Fagan’s gates, author Tom Higgins reflects on many of them.

In 19th century Ireland, marriage was the wished-for destiny of younger people. It meant a settled life and a degree of independence unknown outside it.

Marriages were still being arranged, and matchmaking certainly took place into the latter part of the 19th century.

But usually the young couple had already met, and in many cases had the right of refusal if the match did not appeal to them. Frequently there was already an understanding between them.

The first step was taken when friends of the young man visited the parents of the intended bride for the purpose of ‘drawing down’ the match with her.

It was necessary that there should be social parity between the boy and the girl. Once it was learned that the parents were not against the match, discussions between the parties would commence.

These discussions would have centred on the dowry and the man’s expectations. The amount of the dowry depended on the size of his holding, perhaps about £50, which was about four years wages for a labourer. Dowries were sometimes paid out of emigrants’ remittances.

The next step would be an invitation to the proposed bride’s people to visit the home of the would-be groom. In preparation for this, the young man and his family would have worked hard, whitewashing, repairing fences and generally tidying up around the farm.

It was the custom then for an uncle, cousin and a brother of the girl to visit the man’s farm on a Sunday afternoon.

When they arrived they would be welcomed and offered tea before they looked around the place. This was called ‘walking the land’.

If everything measured up to their expectations, the dowry would be settled.

It was sometimes customary for only half the amount to be paid on marriage and the rest on the birth of the first child.

All the arrangements having been made, the visitors then produced a bottle of whiskey and drinks were had all round.

In some cases, the match was arranged by the parents of the young couple meeting in a pub at a fair or market in the town to discuss the matter, and argue over the dowry and other details of the marriage settlement.

On the day of the wedding, which took place in the girl’s house, a group of entertainers known as Strawboys, young men from the village - they wore masks made of straw - visited the house after dark, usually at the invitation of the family.

Their coming was a token of esteem for the married couple and their people. When they were admitted, their leader wished the bride joy and happiness and asked her to dance, while three of his companions asked other girls, and they all danced an eight-hand reel to their own music.

When the dance finished they were all treated to drinks. If there was a noted singer or dancer among them then he was asked to entertain the guests. Then they all raised a loud cheer for the bride and groom and took their leave.

Before they Famine people tended to marry people from their own village or at least go no further than the parish boundaries.

The village structure of houses built in close proximity disappeared as a result of the Famine. In pre-Famine times the villagers held the land in common, in a system known as ‘rundale’.

After the Famine the landlords began to stripe the land into farms and leased them to individual tenants on which they built their own houses.

It was an end to the closely-knit communities of pre-Famine times.

People met their neighbours less often. Roads were improving and new roads made. The result was that people roamed further afield in search of a marriage partner, and often married later in life.

There were many ‘pisreogs’ or superstitions associated with marriage. A fine day meant luck, especially if the sun shone on the bride. A wet day foretold hardship. It was unlucky to marry on a Saturday.

A man should always be the first to wish joy to his bride. Many weddings took place just before Lent, so it was a sign of good luck to hear a cuckoo on the wedding morning, or to see three magpies.

To meet a funeral on the road meant bad luck.

The wedding day was a big day for the whole townland and nothing should be allowed to cast a shadow over it.

It seems our ancestors were obsessed with ‘luck’. This is understandable in an age when everything about life was so tenuous and unpredictable, balanced as it was on a tightrope between hope and fear. ‘Pisreogs’ entered into every aspect of the lives of people and many of them survive to this day, and not just in reference to marriage.

As well as the ‘pisreogs’ there were also blessings and curses. When the occasion arose, people were not slow to vent their feelings in curses.

An old Irish expression, perhaps still familiar to older people, was Marbhfháisc ort. A ‘fháis’ was a bandage tied around the chin and head of a dead person. The meaning of the fháis is, ‘May death strangle you’.

Another like-minded expression is Th’amam ‘on diabhal, meaning, ‘your soul to the devil’, or as we might say nowadays, ‘Go to hell’. Droch-rath air, meant ‘Bad luck to him’.

But there were also greetings. Céad mile fáilte - ‘A hundred thousand welcomes’- is a greeting familiar around the world through the efforts of Bord Fáilte.

On the occasion of some celebration, or at times like Christmas and the new year, you might hear ‘Go mbeirimid bro ar an am seo aris’, meaning ‘May we all be alive this time next year’.

‘Bad cess to him’ was another expression often used by the old people. The word ‘cess’ was the term used in Ireland in the 16th century for money levied for the upkeep of English military forces.