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Wedding Superstitions and Customs
Taken from 'Romantic Inishowen' 1947 by Harry Percival Swan
You, my reader, may claim that you, being a wise and practical
person, are not superstitious, but you will doubtless prefer to
be at any rate on the safe side, like the young ladies in the following
story:-
Ladies Beware
The members of a learned society were on one occasion visiting Ballyliffin
and were taken to see the "Cathair-an-Tholais" (locally
pronounced kiro-tollas) or "Chair of Leisure". They were
told the legend associated with this natural stone chair, which
is to the effect that any unmarried lady who sits in it will never
be wedded. Amongst the party were a large number of educated and
sophisticated young ladies, many of whom were graduates of Universities.
These young women doubtless would scorn being labelled superstitious.
But when the leader of the party called for volunteers to sit in
the chair, would they? Not one of them. Oh no, thank you - they
were taking no risks - there might be something in this old legend
after all.
S.H. Sandelford
"Cathair-an-Tholais" or "Cahir of
Leisure"
Saturday Weddings
Saturday is for a wedding "no day at all." Mention of
a wedding brings to mind another custom, namely, for brides to wear
for luck something old, something new, something borrowed and something
blue", and for them to send their friends a piece of wedding
cake "to dream on". Again an old shoe is frequently thrown
after newly-married couples for "happy travelling" on
the honeymoon.
Heatherberry Sunday
One of the old customs of Inishowen consisted in all,
or nearly all, the grown-up boys and girls of the six surrounding
parishes meeting on Heatherberry Sunday at the spring-well called
Suil-a'-Tobair near the top of Slieve Snaght
(the highest mountain in the peninsula). Heatherberry Sunday
was the Sunday before the "Gooseberry" fair day of Buncrana
(26th July). Met ostensibly for the purpose of gathering heather-berries,
the boys and girls when they came together on the mountain, turned
the event into a social occasion. They danced, frolicked,
sported and generally enjoyed themselves. Amongst the games played
were Leap-frog and Rounders, but "Duck" was the most popular
game. As a sequel to these chance meetings and mountain-top flirtations
many weddings resulted. The period of courtship usually continued
from Heatherberry Sunday till "Runaway Sunday" or "Galloping
Tuesday" as the Sunday before Lent and Shrove Tuesday were
popularly called. A country wedding was generally a big event. It
ended with feasting and merry making and a "Ceilidhe"
lasting into the small hours of the morning. The origin of Heatherberry
Sunday (which was not confined to Inishowen) is lost in the mist
of antiquity. But fashions have changed, and this old custom has
in recent years almost entirely died out. I myself was for many
years a regular attendant until the year 1909.
Honeymoon
The word for honey is meala in Irish. The word for honeymoon is
mi na meala, the month of honey, and refers to how the bride and
groom spend that period of time.
Irish monks first produced the fermented honey brew
called mead for medicinal purposes, then found it could make well
people feel even better.
Following the wedding, a sufficient amount of mead
was given to the bride and groom, along with special goblets, so
they could share the unique brew for one full moon after their wedding,
thus the term honeymoon was coined.
It was believed that this delicate yet potent drink
was the best way to ensure a good beginning for a new marriage,
and was also believed to endow powers of virility and fertility.
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