Moycullen Heritage

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Moycullen Heritage

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Our mission is to record, protect, and share the history and heritage of Moycullen parish — Caomhnú agus Ceiliúradh Stair agus Oidhreacht Mhaigh Cuilinn.

What gives purpose to what we do in our historical society has been cemented by your feedback comments such as ....

"Learning about the people and buildings makes living here even better"
"Even from the other side of the world, this is a great site and a wonderful way to keep in touch"

2016 even saw us link a lady from Scotland with her Moycullen roots and with family she didn't know she had - she now refers to her family tree as a forrest! Remember, that without your contribution, this would just be another copy and paste page that you could see anywhere else.

07/11/2026

04/11/2026

Something for the diary.....our first evening talk of the winter.

Corrib News Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark Aughnanure Castle Heritage Site Oughterard Public Library
Rosmuc Area GenealogyAdmin

31/10/2026

Nósanna na Samhna - Halloween Traditions.
Did or do you practice any of these traditions? Let us know if you still practice any of these?
Many of them or variations of them are mentioned by Padraic Breathnach in MaighCuilinn A Táisc agus a Tuaraisc!

Scary Stories- Scéalta scanrúil
Telling scary ghost stories was a popular pastime around the fireside. Ireland’s Own Halloween special is full of ghost stories and strange events. Anyone remember Kitty the Hare? or do you have any more local scary stories to to share?

Bia & Deoch
Colcannon and the Barm Brack were on the menu. At one time the brack contained a rag (poverty), a coin (wealth) and the ring (marriage)
Sloe w**e was also drunk at Halloween ( the sloes were mixed with sugar and buried for a month or two and dug up for the occasion)

It was believed that food such as blackberries , apples or other fruits shouldn’t be consumed after this night as the síoga or púca had soiled them.

Games / Cluichí
Snap Apple. An apple was suspended from the ceiling on a string and children had to bite the apple while blindfolded.
Bobbing for apples was a popular but messy game. Another challenge was to try retrieve a coin from the basin of water.

Fó-chupáin / Saucers
Four saucers were placed on the table containing Ring (marriage) , a Rosary Beads (Become a priest or nun) Clay or Ashes (Death) and Water (Going on a Journey) Another version was to have grain on a saucer instead of the rosary beads and this signified wealth. The participants were blindfolded and required to place their hand in to one of four saucers.

Turnapa - Carving Turnips
No pumpkin at that time and it's no easy feat to carve a turnip. A scary face was carved in a turnip and a candle put inside. It was put in the window or left outside to scare people.

'The Flour Game'
All you need is a pile of flour and something on top of it usually a grape or small stone. Keep slicing away until the grape falls. The person it falls on has to stick their face into the flour.

30/10/2026

Tús maith

Looking forward to attending three days of the 2026 Genetic Genealogy Galway
and Connemara Conference

https://www.galwaygenealogyanddna.org

29/10/2026

A Letter Home, Kerby A. Miller and Breandán Mac Suibhne (Gill Books)
is on 2026 shortlist for the TheJournal.ie An Post Irish Book Awards Best Irish-Published Book of the Year.

We were delighted to welcome Professor Breandán Mac Suibhne to Maigh Cuilinn for a special talk, A Letter Home: Irish Emigrant Correspondence from North America, 1818–1972, drawn from the IMIRCE Collection in September. It was an interesting and informative insight into the collection and the letters chosen for it.

Please give A Letter Home a vote⬇️

🎉 VOTE NOW for your winner: https://form.typeform.com/to/klH57p6N

Here is the 2026 shortlist for the TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year...

🇮🇪 Seeing What’s Hidden, Manchán Magan - Irish folklore, with , Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin, .sheldrake and Cecilia Vicuña, foreword by (Gill Books)

🇮🇪 The Story of Us, edited by John Gibney & Orlaith McBride (Merrion Press)

🇮🇪 Irish Sport in 100 Objects, Siobhán Doyle (Merrion Press)

🇮🇪 An Asylum for My Affections – Sketches of Maeve Brennan, edited by Molly Hennigan (New Island Books)

🇮🇪 A Letter Home, Kerby A. Miller and Breandán Mac Suibhne (Gill Books)

🇮🇪 Birdstyle, Gordon D’Arcy (Di**le Publishing)

🎉 VOTE NOW for your winners: https://form.typeform.com/to/klH57p6N

TheJournal.ie

29/10/2026

Ag súil go mór le seo. Looking forward to attending this. There’s a packed programme. Moycullen Heritage will be on the panel of speakers tomorrow evening. Go n-éirí libh Noel , Peadar & Jim. More info & booking ➡️ https://www.galwaygenealogyanddna.org/program

Join us for the2026 Genetic Genealogy Galway and Connemara Conference at the Connemara Coast Hotel SIGN UP HERE October 30, 31 & November 1, 2026 Get Your Front-Row SeatAttending the Genetic Genealogy Galway and Connemara Conference 2026 is your chance to immerse yourself in the very heart of Irish....

29/10/2026

Cóiste Bodhar

There are many omens of death, and the Cóiste Bodhar is one of them.
If you happen to see the Cóiste Bodhar, you should stand to one side and say “slán” and probably hope it isn't you that it is coming for! There are many accounts in the folklore collection about the Coiste Bodhar. This story is from Maigh Cuilinn. (Mattie Lydon -as told to Paula Lydon 2025)

'' Two men were travelling the mountain road late one night. They had gone courting, hoping to strike a match for one of them with a young woman, but their visit had come to nothing. As they made their way home along the road close to where the new school at Leamhchoill is now, they heard the sound of wheels and horses approaching behind them. They slipped into the furze for cover. The rattling grew louder, but when the ghostly coach swept past, there was nothing to be seen. The bottle of wh***ey (though it may well have been poitín) that had remained unopened during their unsuccessful visit was quickly uncorked after their fright.''

The Dead Coach
by Katharine Tynan Hinkson

At night when sick folk wakeful lie,
I heard the dead coach passing by,
And heard it passing wild and fleet,
And knew my time was come not yet.

Click-clack, click-clack, the hoofs went past,
Who takes the dead coach travels fast,
On and away through the wild night,
The dead must rest ere morning light.

If one might follow on its track
The coach and horses, midnight black,
Within should sit a shape of doom
That beckons one and all to come.

God pity them to-night who wait
To hear the dead coach at their gate,
And him who hears, though sense be dim,
The mournful dead coach stop for him.

He shall go down with a still face,
And mount the steps and take his place,
The door be shut, the order said!
How fast the pace is with the dead!

Click-clack, click-clack, the hour is chill,
The dead coach climbs the distant hill.
Now, God, the Father of us all,
Wipe Thou the widow’s tears that fall!

Address

Áras Uilinn
Maigh Cuilinn

Telephone

+353852650674

Website

http://www.moycullen.galwaycommunityheritage.org/

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