Irish Penal Laws

In 1695, shortly after the siege of LImerick, Lord Capel summoned a Parliament to enact and re-enact certain Penal Laws.  The object of these laws was to:

            Deprive the Catholics of all civil life

            Reduce them to a condition of ignorance

            Dissociate them from the soil

The Irish Catholic was forbidden:

• To exercise his religion
• To receive education
• To enter a profession
• To hold public office
• To engage in trade or commerce
• To live in a corporate town or within five miles thereof
• To own a horse of greater value then five pounds
• To purchase or lease land
• To accept a mortgage on land, or security for a loan
• TO vote
• To keep any arms for his protection
• To hold a life annuity
• To buy land from a Protestant
• To inherit land for a Protestant
• To receive a gift of land from a Protestant
• To rent any land that was worth more then thirty shillings a year
• To reap from his land any profit exceeding a third of the rent
• To be a guardian to a child
• To, when dying, leave his infant children in Catholic care
• To attend Catholic worship
• To, himself, educate his child
• To employ a teacher to come to his child
• To send his child abroad to receive education

In addition:

• He was compelled by the law to attend Protestant worship
• Any Catholic gentleman's child who became a Protestant, could at once take possession of his father's property
• Any Catholic priest who came to the country would be hanged
• If anyone refused to disclose a priest's hiding place, he was to be publicly whipped and have both ears cut off.
• It was a capital offense to be a priest.  Any priest captured was liable to be hanged, drawn and quartered
• A price of £25 was placed on the head of a priest, and £20 the head of a Bishop as an encouragement to informers.

Irish Cures

• For freckles, anoint the face with blood of a bull or hare. The distilled water of walnuts is also good for this purpose
• To cure fever, place the patient on the sandy shore when the tide is coming in, and the retreating waves will carry away the disease.
• For ague, a few spiders tied up in a bag and worn around the neck will keep off fever; but no-one except the fairy doctor must ever open the bag of the charm will be broken
• To cure tonsillitis, apply a stocking filled with hot potatoes to the throat.

Irish Superstitions

• The bed of a person that is ill must be placed north and south, never crossways.
• If you are pursued at night by an evil spirit, or ghost of the dead, and you hear footsteps behind you, try to reach a stream of running water. If you are able to cross it, the devil or ghost will not be able to follow you.
• There is one hour in a the day when you make a wish it will be granted. No one knows what the hour is. It is a chance that you may stumble upon.
• There is one hour in the day when ghost-seers can see spirits, but only one. The exact time of the day is a mystery.
• It is bad luck to:

Put shoes on a table or chair
Place a bed facing the door
Bring Lilac into the house
Cut your fingernails on Sunday
Wear green (except for a bit of shamrock or ribbon on St Patrick's Day)
Knit at night until you are certain the sheep are asleep
Take short-cuts from established routs along the shore

• Irish children were often seen as barefoot and scruffy. That is to protect them from the good people. Beautiful things, including children, were a much sought after treasure, so Irish mothers made certain their offspring looked as unattractive as possible. Saying a baby is cute was definitely tempting the fates - as was admiring a piece of jewelry.
• It is customary for country girls to be blindfolded and led into a field where they pull the first cabbage they can find. If it has a lot of dirt attached to the roots, her future loved one would be wealthy. Eating the cabbage reveals his nature - bitter or sweet!
• Friday is the most unlucky day of all the week, and no one should begin a journey, move into a new house, begin a business, cut a new dress on a Friday. Most of all never bring a cat from one house to another on a Friday.
• Beware of speaking ill of fairies on a Friday for if they are present, they will work some evil.
• It is not safe to take an unbaptized child in your arms without making the sign of the cross over it.
• A hazel switch brings good luck and has the power over the devil
• A whitethorn stick is very unlucky to take on a journey
• Pipes are never lit from the hearth fire on May Day, nor are the embers taken outdoors
• On St Brigid's Day, February 1st, a straw from the Christmas nativity scene is put up into the rafters to protect against evil spirits (or as a cure for ringworm!)
• Whitsuntide is associated with drowning and there are those who will not put to sea - unless the boat was steered by a new bride.
• Changing the name of a boat will change it's luck
• Coins dropped overboard will cause a storm
• Fisherman consider it unlucky to keep the first salmon of the season.
• Inishowen anglers are reluctant to paint their boats green
• Water in which feet were washed is never thrown out at night
• When water is discarded, it is never thrown without a warning to the good people
• Big shoals of herring foretell a plentiful harvest.
• Three boats were lashed together when leaving a harbor because it was bad luck to be the third boat out.
• Along the northwest coast, some of the catch was always left on board
• Sharks should not be hunted on Sunday
• No family called Cregan or Kerry will ever be drowned
• Greedy pollock are a sign of bad weather
• A coal thrown after a fisherman as he boards his boat brings good luck and he always boards from the right
• In Wicklow, the fisherman always puts to sea in a sunwise direction.
• By accident, if you find the back tooth of a horse, carry it about with you as long as you live and you will never want money; but it must be found by chance.
• The first person seen by a cat that has wiped its face with its paw may be the first of a household to die.
• If the palm of you hand itches you will be getting money
• To breakfast by candlelight on Christmas morning is lucky
• Two people washing hands in the same basin at the same time are courting disaster
• If a chair falls when a person stands up, it's an unlucky omen
• A son born after his father's death has the power over fevers
• If you want a person to win at cards, stick a crooked pin in his coat
• It is good to cut your hair at the new moon, and especially by the light of the moon (Remember: NEVER on a Friday)
• A shoe of a horse nailed to the doorpost will bring good luck. (The shoe must be found, it cannot be given)Never disturb the swallows, wherever they may build, and neither remove nor destroy their nests; for they are wise birds, and will mark your conduct either for punishment of favor.
• If a man is ploughing, not one should cross the path of the horses.
• Thinking of building an extension to your house? It's supposed to be unlucky to extend from the rear - especially if it faces west. (This belief probably originated on the Aran Isles where they were reluctant to build in that direction 0 no doubt, because of the weather. As the story goes, one family defied the custom with tragic results 0 two to their menfolk were lost as sea and a third went mad.)
• Livestock fairs are still widespread in Ireland and it's common practice to give a "luck penny" which means returning a portion of the sale price to the seller when a deal is made. The deal is then settled by spitting on the palm and slapping the hand of the customer. Interestingly, a man's status in the area is often determined by the size of the "luck penny" he is in the habit of giving.
• When yawning, make the sign of the cross over you mouth, so that the evil spirit won't rush down your throat and take up residence.
• It is unlucky to carry fire out of a house where anyone is ill
• Never take an infant in your arms without saying, "God Bless it". This will keep the influence of the "Evil Eye" away
• Fire is considered the holiest of all things. If you walk around a fire on St John's Eve (sunset of June 23rd - mid-summer's eve), you will be safe from disease for the whole year.
• Never cut an infant's nails until it is a year old, or it will be addicted to stealing
• A child born in the morning cannot see spirits or the fairy world; but the child that is born at night will have the power over ghosts, and can see the spirits of the dead
• On Good Friday, while little work is done in observance of the Crucifixion, it is a lucky day to sow potatoes.
• On All Souls Day - November 2 - people avoid taking short cuts for fear the good people will lead them astray
• If a cat strays into a house, every effort is made to make it stay. But, if a family moves, the cat is left behind
• Crows flying directly over a home are an omen of death
• "God between us and all harm" is always said on hearing the crow of a rooster - no doubt, a throwback tot he betrayal of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
• You can tame a young wild horse by whispering the Creed into his left ear on Wednesday and into his right ear on Friday. The procedure is repeated until the animal is calmed.
• If a bird flies into the house, it is a portent of death
• A purse made from a weasel will never be empty
• It is fortunate to hear a cuckoo call but only if it is on your right side
• It's considered very risky to refer to the good people as fairies, wee fold or little people
• Shaving on Sunday encourages toothache - but carrying a haddock's jawbone helps prevent it.