All Discussions Tagged 'Galway' - The Wild Geese2024-03-29T09:58:58Zhttps://thewildgeese.irish/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=Galway&feed=yes&xn_auth=noSome cures really are worse than the illness. The Irish Schools Folklore Collection 1937 has yielded a few!.tag:thewildgeese.irish,2015-03-06:6442157:Topic:1480822015-03-06T13:16:41.079ZBrian Nolanhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/BrianNolan
<p>In France, they eat them! In Germany they race them! In Bikini Bottom they keep them as pets, but here in Galway,..... well, we cure warts with them!</p>
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<p>Yes, imagine having a wet, green, slimey snail suckered onto the wart on your hand or foot. Apparently it works a treat, or so John Lynksey from Barnaderg, Co. Galway wrote in 1937/38.</p>
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<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i> A snail rubbed on the wart every morning and evening until a wart begins to go is said to cure…</i></li>
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<p>In France, they eat them! In Germany they race them! In Bikini Bottom they keep them as pets, but here in Galway,..... well, we cure warts with them!</p>
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<p>Yes, imagine having a wet, green, slimey snail suckered onto the wart on your hand or foot. Apparently it works a treat, or so John Lynksey from Barnaderg, Co. Galway wrote in 1937/38.</p>
<ol>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i> A snail rubbed on the wart every morning and evening until a wart begins to go is said to cure warts.</i></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i> </i><i>Sap of the dandelion squeezed on the wart is said to cure it.</i></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i>Rubbing the wart on stubbes is said to cure it.</i></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i>Rubbing water on a stone (and then ) on a wart (the stone must be found accidentally).</i></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal"><i>If a person who has a wart steals a piece of bacon and hides it under a stone. While the bacon is decaying the wart is decaying also.</i></li>
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<p class="ecxMsoNormal">John’s ‘cures’ forms part of the <a href="http://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/en/schoolsfolklorescheme1937-38/" target="_blank">Schools’ Folklore Collection</a>, a large and important corpus of material, whose compilation occurred between 1937 and 1938. This far-sighted scheme, run by the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Folklore_Commission" target="_blank">Irish Folklore Commission</a>, saw over 100,000 schoolchildren collecting local folklore from their parents, grandparents and older members of the community.</p>
<p>I can just see the pharmacist's face when you ask for a couple of snails, a side of bacon, a couple of random rocks and a bearded man, to fix the verruca on your left foot! 'Aaah, do I need a prescription for this?'. You may well ask. </p>
<p>The Irish School's Folklore Collection which dates from 1937, yielded a whole bunch of rather surprising cures! This <span>far-sighted scheme, run by the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Folklore_Commission" target="_blank">Irish Folklore Commission</a><span>, saw over 100,000 schoolchildren collecting local folklore from their parents, grandparents and older members of the community. the collection has been digitised recently and forms an invaluable part of the Irish National Archive.</span></p>
<p>These cures for healing Warts came from a few schools in Galway. I grew up in Loughrea, in east Galway and our cure for warts was to go to Lough Atorick lake near Woodford after a storm and rub the foam that blew off the wave-tops on your warts. Some of my friends told me of their father bringing a toad down from Ballinakill bog and him rubbing the slimey frog's skin onto their warts! There was also a Holy Well up the hill at Dalystown, the waters of which were supposed to cure warts! And no, before you even ask, I never had the courage to drink from that well. We also rubbed an old Victorian-era silver sixpence that my grand-father kept in his waist-coat onto warts with a little spittle, and hey, I don't know how, but they seemed to wither and go away! </p>
<p>So, here's the question. Did your parents or grandparents pass down a cure to you? Perhaps for headaches, or hives, or dandruff? Did they swear to an asthma cure, had a panacea for toothache, or did your granny brew a special poultice for boils?</p>
<p>Our ancestors did not have access to either doctors or pharmacies and yet they survived and thrived; You are living proof of that. Some of their stuff worked! So, c'mon, tell us of the 'horrible' and 'unlikepy' cures your family have kept secret! You never know, there could be a recipe for the next 'Viagra' in your granny's old diary!</p>
<p>Brian Nolan, Folklorist, Story-teller and Owner of 'Walking Tours of Galway' </p>
<p><strong><em>Notes </em></strong></p>
<p>Cures for warts, related by John Lynskey of Barnaderg, County Galway to Mary Lynskey. <a href="http://duchas.ie/en/cbes/4566063/4563715/4571643" target="_blank">The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0026, Page 0105</a> as referenced on a post by Irish Archeology.</p> Saving 'The Quiet Man Cottage' from Extinctiontag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-08-12:6442157:Topic:1124032014-08-12T22:34:11.145ZRyan O'Rourkehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/RyanORourke
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122493825?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122493825?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> The photo above shows White O'Morn Cottage in Tiernakill, Maumm, County Galway as it was in 1951 when Hollywood came to Connemara. People in Connemara and even in Galway City are <em>still</em> talking about that magical six-weeks to this very day.</p>
<p>This old site, which now lies in ruins, is better known to the world as "The Quiet Man Cottage." The structure was…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122493825?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122493825?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>The photo above shows White O'Morn Cottage in Tiernakill, Maumm, County Galway as it was in 1951 when Hollywood came to Connemara. People in Connemara and even in Galway City are <em>still</em> talking about that magical six-weeks to this very day.</p>
<p>This old site, which now lies in ruins, is better known to the world as "The Quiet Man Cottage." The structure was depicted as the home of Sean Thornton (played by John Wayne) and Mary Kate Danaher (played by Maureen O'Hara) in the 1952 motion picture "The Quiet Man."</p>
<p>As you will see in the video below, something needs to be done quickly if this lovely old place that survived the famine years and countless other hardships is to be brought back from the edge of final extinction. Maureen O'Hara, in 2004, called the state of the cottage a "national disgrace," and I think most will find it difficult to disagree with her assessment.</p>
<p>What can be done? What is being done? There are multiple groups and organisations currently trying to work with the current owner of the property and Galway County Council to bring this dream to fruition, but complications and red tape still stand in the way.</p>
<p>In this discussion thread, I'm hoping to hear from the groups and individuals involved in this ongoing saga. That includes the groups trying to raise awareness, the property owner, and the Galway County Council. I'm also hoping to hear from anyone who has seen that grand old film "The Quiet Man" and anyone who understands the inherent value in restoring and preserving this important piece of Ireland's past.</p>
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<p><strong>Related:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://thenewwildgeese.com/profiles/blogs/the-quiet-man-cottage-on-the-brink-of-extinction" target="_self">Q&A with Mike Ward from the "Save The Quiet Man Cottage" group</a></p>
<p></p> The Spanish Armada Catastrophe of 1588tag:thewildgeese.irish,2013-08-19:6442157:Topic:411582013-08-19T20:54:53.371ZRyan O'Rourkehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/RyanORourke
<p>Taking part in the inaugural hangout in <strong><span style="color: #339966;">The Wild Geese</span> Virtual Síbín</strong> made me realise that next month (September 2013) will mark the 425th anniversary of the Spanish Armada wrecks along the Irish coast. Fran O'Neill gave us the background and some glimpses into her upcoming stage production, "The Last Torch" (the interview can be viewed below).…</p>
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<p>Taking part in the inaugural hangout in <strong><span style="color: #339966;">The Wild Geese</span> Virtual Síbín</strong> made me realise that next month (September 2013) will mark the 425th anniversary of the Spanish Armada wrecks along the Irish coast. Fran O'Neill gave us the background and some glimpses into her upcoming stage production, "The Last Torch" (the interview can be viewed below).</p>
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<p>Our house sits within almost a stone's throw of where two of the doomed Armada ships wrecked off the treacherous coast of Galway, and these events fascinate me. The fact that 425 years have elapsed since this historic event have dampened the frequency with which they are inserted into discussion along the west coast of Ireland. It seems to me that there has never been a bigger event than this one in the west.</p>
<p><strong>I've heard more than one of my neighbours here in Connemara insist that a few of the sailors made their ways deep into the hills and bogs of Connemara where they made a new life, married Irish women, and had children.</strong> True or not? Certainly not outside the realm of possibility.</p>
<p><strong>And how about all the references to the "black Irish"?</strong> Many folks are convinced some of the darker physical features displayed by some Irish are attributable to the fact that a handful of the Spanish sailors almost certainly escaped the hangman's noose. Any validity to that? </p>
<p>Let's discuss ...</p>
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<p></p> 'Angela's Ashes' -- Best Irish Memoir?tag:thewildgeese.irish,2013-04-16:6442157:Topic:172302013-04-16T13:58:43.484ZThe Wild Geesehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/TheWildGeese
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJFSC/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=thewildgeeset-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000FBJFSC&adid=1T9ADHHST1V6QD79QE639zLHlbTJwYEDyPlW3t7*T0*3m-O4HR1TXHrsfcwHDe1D5kmQ8716zq1-6PUT*PcdS09pwGX2kr6*8dh4m6Vk/anashcov2.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" height="209" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122479207?profile=original" style="padding: 10px;" width="145"></img></a> Did you read '…</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJFSC/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=thewildgeeset-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000FBJFSC&adid=1T9ADHHST1V6QD79QE639zLHlbTJwYEDyPlW3t7*T0*3m-O4HR1TXHrsfcwHDe1D5kmQ8716zq1-6PUT*PcdS09pwGX2kr6*8dh4m6Vk/anashcov2.jpg"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/122479207?profile=original" height="209" width="145"/></a>Did you read '<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJFSC/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=thewildgeeset-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000FBJFSC&adid=1T9ADHHST1V6QD79QE63" target="_blank">Angela's Ashes</a>'? How many years ago? What did you think? The book, while widely lionized, had a fair share of critics, who questioned, among other things, its accuracy. What, in fact, do you consider the greatest Irish memoir of all time? [Read our interview, in either <a href="http://thenewwildgeese.com/profiles/blogs/l-ightheoir-nua-ag-angela-s-ashes-as-gaeilge" target="_self">Irish</a> or <a href="http://thenewwildgeese.com/profiles/blogs/angela-s-ashes-gains-admirers-as-gaeilge" target="_self">English</a>, with <strong>Pádraig Breathnach</strong>, the translator of 'Angela's Ashes' <em>as Gaeilge</em>, published in 2011 by <a href="http://www.limerickwriterscentre.ie" target="_blank">Limerick Writers Centre</a>.]</p>