Kilcullen/Brannockstown life of 1930s now online
In the late 1930s schoolchildren from all over Ireland, including County Kildare, collected stories about buried treasure, weather lore, cures, riddles, proverbs and childhood games and wrote them down in their school copybooks. Those copybooks are stored in the Department of Folklore, UCD as part of the national Schools' Folklore Collection. Back in November, 2013 there was an event in Kilcullen Community Library to commemorate the participation of local pupils in that project.
A selection of the material is now available online and, of particular interest to locals, the Kilcullen Girls National School and Brannockstown National School contributions can be viewed. If you want to read about Hallowe'en traditions, how to cure menara fever or how to play Blind Man's Buff, you can read all about it on the duchas.ie website — duchas.ie/en/cbes. This website is constantly updated so you might want to revisit it occasionally.
Technology has allowed all of us the opportunity to see the original beautifully formed handwriting and read the charming stories they collected. I would encourage everyone to take the time to visit the website. We are very fortunate to have some of the pupils living locally. Check out their handwriting and stories and, the next time you meet them, congratulate them on a job well done. Their contributions are a little treasure trove of information about the area.
