Irish_Folklore

This assignment will attempt to look at pregnancy, childbirth and young children in Irish Folk tradition past and present. It will do this by focusing on the beliefs, customs and traditions that surround the above mentioned headings. Even thought the three will be looked at individually, it is important to remember that it is inevitable that they will overlap at certain stages, most notably with pregnancy and childbirth. Firstly let us look at the idea of pregnancy in traditional Ireland and the beliefs, customs and traditions that came attached to it. Even though the pregnancy of a woman in traditional Ireland was seen as a joyous occasion, it was also known as a time that “is characterised by vulnerability and danger” (Jeay, M., 2002, 832) both for the mother and the unborn baby. The reason being is because the woman during pregnancy is considered not to be herself and “driven to extravagant desires” (Jeary, M., 2002, 832) and it is some of these desires that could cause harm to the unborn child. “To protect the infant from birthmarks and malformations, she must respect prohibition on sexuality, food […] and on some contacts, for example, with red fruit” (Jeay, M,. 2002, 832). Two of the more feared malformations that could come onto an unborn child were harelip and clubfoot. The harelip was believed to occur because the woman had come across a hare at some point. However, it was also believed that “if the woman, on meeting the hare, tore the hem of her garment, thereby transferring the blemish to it” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 41). As for avoiding the child getting clubfoot it was advised that no “pregnant woman should enter a graveyard lest she turn her foot on a grave” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 41/42). Other beliefs included that the woman would have a miscarriage if she was near an animal giving birth or where an animal was being slaughtered. Also previously mentioned was the belief that the colour red would leave birthmarks on the child; this included the belief that if blood of any kind landed on the woman it would also cause a birthmark to the unborn child. The protection of the unborn child was not just considered the mother’s job but also that of the community and because of this, the closer it got to the day of birth the more the woman was kept from the outside world so as to protect the unborn child from anything bad happening. Now let us look at the beliefs, customs and traditions that surround the activity of childbirth. The event of the birth was considered an important occasion as it was thought to be “the first crucial transition the individual makes as a living being” (Funk and Wagnall., 1949, 946) and because of this there were many beliefs, customs and traditions that surrounded it. So many in fact, it would be impossible to fit them all in here, however, there were a few that stood out more than others. For example, the time in which the child was born. “A child born at night would have the power of seeing ghosts and fairies” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 42). One important custom that sometimes took place was the “custom couvades” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 43) which “hoped to lessen the pangs of childbirth for the mother by transferring them to the father” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 44). This was usually done by the woman wearing some “garment belonging to the husband” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 44) or by him doing a “type of work […] until the baby had been born” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 44). Some other important traditions that surrounded the child birth event were that it was a social occasion and the important tradition of having a Mid-wife there. So important was it to have a Mid-wife at your birth that people would go in search for them. They would stay up all night with the mother until the job was done, and then they would leave. Generally at night the men would provide tobacco and drink in the morning. Lastly, let us look at the beliefs customs and traditions that surround young children in traditional Ireland. Once again there are many more than will fit in this assignment, however some of the most important beliefs in relation to young children revolved around the safety of the them, most notably in relation to fairies and changelings. It was believed “that the fairies were always trying to take off-newly born male children” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 42). However there were a range of customs to try and protect the child from this fate, some of these included the “Brat Bhride (St.Brigids cloak: a cloth exposed on the eve of her feast” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 42) or “oatmeal (given to the mother when the baby had been born)” (O Suilleabhani, S., 1967, 42). When the fairies did succeed they would leave “sickly changelings behind in their stead” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 43). One of the more important traditions relating to young children is there burial if they died unbaptised. “Children who died unbaptised were not buried in consecrated ground […] there were special places, known as cillinigh (little graveyards)” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 43). The belief was that if any young child that died came back you would be able to tell if they had been baptised or not as “the baptised children appeared as strong clear lights, while the unbaptised ones shone weakly” (O Suilleabhain, S., 1967, 43). This assignment has attempted to look at pregnancy, childbirth and young children in Irish Folk Tradition. It did this by focusing on the beliefs, customs and traditions that surround them. However, there are many that surround each one so it was the most relevant ones that were focused on. Hopefully by doing this it has given a clearer explanation of the assignment topic. Total word count: 1,083