BSW3A 2. The hungry month

Speaker: Mary MurphyFrom The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.Patrick Campbell writes that 'scarcity would still be felt in and around the small mountain farms until midsummer or even the end of July. Indeed July was called ‘the hungry month’, ‘the lean month’ (the old Irish speakers named it Iul an ghorta’) ‘the shaking of the bags ‘ which when emptied were left ready and waiting for August and the golden harvest. Then the saying was ’we’ll soon be on the pig’s back’ for Lunasa Eve is at hand. In Donegal, St. Cron’s Day, 7th July was the day set to dig the first basket of new potatoes – it is said that 'potatoes are early if dug for the feast of St. Cron’. Another proverb around our mountains was ‘Let St. Patrick set the potatoes and King Billy can dig them’ meaning the early potatoes planted on 17th March, the feast of St. Patrick, could be ready for digging on the 12th of July, the date of the Battle of the Boyne.  In our audio piece, we tell you about the Irish superstition that is the hungry grass.