Various Irish Customs

Above : Irish Church In Glendalough

• Fosterage and Gossipred.—One of the leading features of Irish social life was fosterage, which prevailed from the remotest period. It was practised by persons of all classes, but more especially by those in the higher ranks. A man sent his child to be reared and educated in the home and with the family of another member of the tribe, who then became foster-father, and his children the foster-brothers and foster-sisters of the child. Fosterage, which was the closest tie between individuals and families, was subject to stringent regulations, which were carefully set forth in the Brehon Law. When a man stood sponsor for a child at baptism he became the child’s godfather and gossip to the parents. Gossipred was regarded as a sort of religious relationship between families, and created mutual obligations of regard and friendship. Fosterage and gossipred between families of the two races were important elements in bringing about the amalgamation of the Normans with the Irish, and they were frequently denounced by the English government which tried to prevent their union.
• Public Assemblies.—In early times when means of inter­communication were very limited, it was important that the people should hold meetings to discuss divers affairs affecting the public weal and for other business of importance. In Ireland popular assemblies and meetings of representatives were very common, and were called by various names—feis, dal, mordal, aenach, oireachtas (or ” iraghtes “), etc. They were continued to a late period. The aenach or fair was an assembly of the people of every class belonging to a district or province. Some fairs were annual; some triennial. According to the most ancient traditions many of these aenachs—perhaps all—had their origin in funeral games ; and we know as a fact that the most important of them were held at ancient cemeteries, where kings or renowned heroes or other noted personages of history or legend were buried. At all these meetings national games were celebrated. At the Feis of Tara, as well indeed as at all other important meetings, elaborate precautions were taken to prevent quarrels or unpleasantness of any kind. Anyone who struck or wounded another, used insulting words, or stole anything, was punished with death ; and all persons who attended were free for the time from prosecution and from legal proceedings of every kind.
• Buildings.—Before the introduction of Christianity, buildings of every kind in Ireland were almost universally round. The quadrangular shape, which was first used in the churches in the time of St. Patrick, came very slowly into use; and round-shaped structures finally disappeared only in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The dwelling-houses were almost always of wood. The wall was formed of strong posts, with the intervening spaces filled with wicker-work, plastered, and oftened whitened or variously coloured. The homesteads had to be fenced in to protect them from robbers and wild animals. This was done by digging a deep circular trench, the clay from which was thrown up on the inside. Thus was formed all round a high mound or dyke with a trench outside : one opening left for a door or gate.
• Raths, Duns, Cashels, etc.—These old circular forts are found in every part of Ireland, but more in the south and west than elsewhere, many of them still very perfect; but, of course, the timber houses are all gone. They are known by various names, lios, rath, brugh (broo), dun, cashel and calier—the cashels and cahers being usually built of stone. Some forts are very large—300 feet or more across—so as to give ample room for the group of timber houses, or for the cattle at night. Very often the flat middle space is raised to a higher level than the sur­rounding land, and sometimes there is a great mound in the centre with a flat top on which, no doubt, the strong house of the chief stood. In the very large forts there are often three or more great circumvallations. Round the forts of kings or chiefs were grouped the timber dwellings of the dependents forming a sort of village.

  Stone Forts and Crannoges.—Where stone was abundant the surrounding rampart was often built of dry masonry, the stones being fitted with great exactness. In some of these structures the stones are very large, and then the style of building is termed cyclopean. Many great stone fortresses still remain near the coasts of Sligo, Galway, Clare, and Kerry, and a few in Antrim and Donegal. For greater security dwellings were often constructed on artificial islands made with stakes, trees, and bushes, in shallow lakes: these were called crannoges. Communication with the shore was carried on by means of a rude boat kept on the island. Crannoge dwellings were in very general use in the time of Elizabeth, and the remains of many of them are still to be seen in our lakes.

• Churches.—From the time of St. Patrick downwards churches were built, the greater number of wood, but many of stone. The primitive stone churches, erected in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries are simple oblongs, small and rude. As Christianity spread the churches became gradually larger and more ornamental, and a chancel was often added at the east end, which was another oblong, merely a continuation of the larger building. The jambs of both doors and windows inclined so that the bottom of the opening was wider than the top : this shape of door or window is a sure mark of antiquity. The remains of little stone churches of this antique pattern, of ages from the fifth century to the tenth or eleventh, are still to be found all over Ireland.

  Round Towers.—In connection with many of the ancient churches there were round towers of stone from 60 to 150 feet high, and from 13 to 20 feet in external diameter at the base : the top was conical. The interior was divided into six or seven stories, reached by ladders from one to another, and each storey was lighted by one window—the top storey had usually four large windows. The door was placed ten or more feet from the ground outside, and was reached by a ladder : both doors and windows had sloping jambs like those of the churches. About eighty round towers still remain, of which about twenty are perfect. Formerly there was much speculation as to the uses of these round towers, but Dr. George Petrie set the question at rest in his essay on their origin and uses. It is now known that they are of Christian origin, and that they were always built in connection with ecclesiastical establishments. They were erected at various times from about the ninth to the thirteenth century.