May Bush

Last May when I visited Danny Dowling I showed him a photo of a May Bush that was outside his brother Pat’s house in Cappagh, Glenmore. Danny’s face lit up when he saw the May Bush, but he remarked it was a bit small. Danny spoke briefly about the old traditions associated with May. Danny noted that the first of May, or May Day, in the traditional Irish calendar was considered the first day of summer. All the fairies, and their like with malign intent, would be out the first of May. The traditions associated with May Day were rooted in the pagan Bealtaine Festival where people sought protection from supernatural forces. For a concise article on May Day traditions see, http://irisharchaeology.ie/2011/05/mayday-and-bealtaine/.

A lot of piseógs are associated with May Day. Sometimes for a number of factors the cream would be churned and churned and would not form into butter. Often the farmer would believe that the cream had been stolen and replaced by a “neighbor in league with the fairies.” According to Danny this belief was held well into the twentieth century by some Glenmore people. When the Glenmore Creamery was starting Fr. Crotty was very supportive of the creamery. When a local farmer said to Fr. Crotty that he was unable to make the butter and he believed that his neighbours in league with the fairies were stealing the cream on him Fr. Crotty instructed the farmer to “send the cream down to us and we will make butter out of it.”

Danny said that his wife Mollie, being a girl from Wexford, always put out a fine May Bush as did most of the other women in Glenmore Village. Danny also recalled that several years ago in an effort to keep the tradition alive he was asked to judge a May Bush competition in New Ross. We were unable to find any old photos of Glenmore May Bushes, but we did locate a 1994 newspaper account of “the Glenmore folklorist Danny Dowling judged the competition, with SuperValu sponsoring the prizes” (New Ross Standard, 12 May 1994).

In attempting to find a set of instructions for the making of a traditional Glenmore May Bush the only thing that everyone seemed to agree on is that the bush is generally a young sceach (white thorn). Some people insisted that the May Bush had to go up at the stroke of midnight others insisted that it had to be decorated before sundown on the 30th of April. Most people said that they gathered wild flowers and strung them into chains to hang on the sceach. Others added ribbons, bits of bright rags and even the shiny tops from the old milk bottles. Whether you are in Glenmore, or anywhere in the world, we invite you to revive this ancient tradition, which could provide your children with an interesting craft project, and the fairies will pass your house to find an unprotected house. Please post a photo of your May Bush on the glenmore history facebook page. For details concerning the tradition in Wexford see, https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0213/1115073-the-wexford-may-bush-festival-keeping-an-irish-tradition-alive/

Update

We are happy to report that Glenmore native Eddy Synnott is our guest author today. His interesting article on Cardinal Wiseman (1802-1865) is entitled “The South Kilkenny and Waterford Connections of the first English Cardinal since the Reformation – Nicholas Wiseman.” The article may be accessed via our homepage by clicking on the guest author button and selecting the article. Cardinal Wiseman’s mother was a member of the Strange family of the Aylwardtown House of Glenmore. To mark the 400th anniversary of the house the Kelly Family in conjunction with the South Kilkenny Historical Society organised an open house on the 8th of August 2009. The photo to the right was taken at the Aylwardstown Open House on 8 August 2009 and features James Kelly (RIP) and his daughter-in-law Mary Kelly. Further photos provided by Eddie Synnott from the day are posted with his article.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh