Patricia Dohey, St. Bride's, Newfoundland - Folklore, Customs, Beliefs and Stories

List of Contents:
00:00 - Early life and where she was born
00:30 - Walsh before she was married and took on her husband's name.
2:21 - The men took on their fathers name. They also gave them a name based on the looks or their jobs.
3:14 - Families are so small these days. There are less children and people in the area now.
3:51 - Talks about how fishing is better now compared to the past.
4:50 - When she moved from St. John’s she noticed women didn’t work in jobs outside the home.
5:10 - More money these days. Cod is a poor fish. Talks about fishing in the 1970s and early 80s.
6:03 - Her husband fishes out of St. Brides, Fortune and St. Lawrence.
6:28 - Fish shipped all over the world.
7:06 - Not many eat fish apart from cod fish or a crab.
7:48 - Fish stew recipe.
8:40 - Colcannon - didn’t have it. Eat salt fish on Good Friday.
9:19 - No meat on good Friday. Eating fish or white beans.
9:47 - You wouldn’t plant or use a hammer or nails on Good Friday. You don’t touch wood on Good Friday. No working on boats on Good Friday.
10:42 - No fishing on a Sunday.
11:30 - Certain days. Weekday verse which is found in Ireland but they use it for setting nets. Saturday was the best day of all with them. Great stuff here. 12:34 - 1 crow is unlucky. They don’t have magpies so they brought the superstition over from Ireland.
14:16 - “Happy is the corpse the rain falls on”.
14:38 - Death customs. Clocks stopped. Great accounts of the chairs were turned upside down to keep the devil at a wake. Another one was to “never to leave a priest by themselves when a person was dying”. Open the window when someone is dying. Wakes were all at home too and she tells us of wakes games and tie down the corpse.
17:34 - She remembers people wearing the IHS robes on the corpse.
18:52 - Handmade coffins.
19:26 - Funeral custom where the hearse will stop at the dead person's home. It was done in Branch - not in Kilbride.
20:56 - Filling in the grave immediately. “Close in the grave” in front of the family years ago.
21:45 - Seeing ‘the Fetch’ of someone after they died. Fetch was used in Wexford. Dog saw a ghost.
25:19 - When her mother’s mother died - there were signs. Her father accepted her ghost.
26:06 - Strong minded mother. Independent minded. Left Cape Shore to St. John’s.
27:07 - Electricity killed the ghosts.
27:49 - Ghost lights and ghost car in Branch country.
29:50 - Dogs sensing something. Story about her father dying.
30:50 - Signs. Dream of a wedding - a sign of death.
31:25 - 3 in the grave. One opens it, one fills it and one closes it. People die in 3s.
32:18 - Knocks on the door - death sign.
33:24 - Cock crowing - sign of death.
33:45 - “Three on the match” - WW1 folklore. People didn’t light 3 cigarettes on one match. She shares great WW1 and WW2 stories from the locality.
36:22 - Indifferent to the monarchy.
37:26 - Stories of Ireland. Locals from Ireland who settled. Associate with Ireland more than Canada.
39:06 - The Famine in Ireland - remembered in Newfoundland.
40:55 - Went to Catholic school. Talks about school. Talks about working and surviving in the outports. Food they ate and great accounts of no meat in stew. Didn’t know what a ‘store’ (shop) was growing up.
42:39 - No meat and mutton or beef for Christmas. No Turkey.
43:10 - “Cape St. Mary’s pays for all” - a saying about the fishing in Newfoundland.
44:21 - Talks about her mother in law working the daylight hours.
45:02 - ‘Cock step in the evening’ saying.
45:44 - She talks about Mass Paths.
47:40 - Holy Wells. Fr. Duffy’s Well and visiting it on a Sunday. Used for ailments. Priest blessed the house.
48:46 - Putting money in the corner foundations of the house. “You’d never be broke”.
49:38 - Miraculous medals. Blue in May and red in June. Blue for Our Lady and Red for Sacred Heart.
50:12 - The May Tree. Her husband remembered it in St. Bride’s.
50:59 - Medal in cills of houses. Blessed Palm in house and boat. Candlemas Day - dripping the wax to bless the house.
52:02 - George put a bottle of holy water in the boat. Also a St. Christopher medal in the boat. Boats blessed by a local Priest.
53:07 - Hang rosary beads on the clothes for a fine day.
53:42 - Pray to St. Anthony if you lost something.
55:11 - Leave candles in the window on All Souls Night in Kilbride. Candle in the window when someone was waking.
56:28 - Don’t go out on All Souls Night. “You don’t know who you are going to meet”. This was from Kilbride.
57:53 - Hallowe’en was big in Kilbride. They had to sing or dance to get their sweets. They wore a mask.
59:06 - Animals were kneeling on Christmas Eve night.
1:01:30 - St. Peter and Paul’s Day (29th June) and Lady Day (15th August). Fishing for the Parish of St. Peter and Pauls. Mass at 4am. Can’t do it now due to fishing rules/times to fish.
1:04:47 - Fishery changed due to Moratorium. Talks about fishermen not being able to swim.
1:06:07 - Shotguns fired on New Year’s Eve and at Weddings.