The Day of the Straws Today commutation is a thing we take for granted, but in 1832 the following is an example how information travelled from one end of the country long before telephone or internet, when most of the population could not even read or write. At various times in history, fever has been endemic in Ireland, typically following crises such as crop failures Typhus was common, and there were frequent outbreaks of dysentery, smallpox and other diseases. Two things were suspected of spreading disease: the practice of attending wakes and social gatherings. Cholera was endemic in India, but until it moved along the trade routes, it didnt cause much concern in Europe. It reached England in 1831 and by February 1832 it arrived in Ireland. A Cholera Board set up in Dublin issued recommendations about hygiene inside and around the exterior of homes. Nevertheless, this was a disease that struck the able-bodied and in a few hours left them past recovery. There were reports of people driven mad with fear of the disease. Thus began the Day of the Straws on Saturday June 9th, 1832, ending on Friday the 15th. The earliest report of the mass hysteria which was sent to Dublin Castle came from Major General G H Barry, Ballyclough House, Co. Cork. He stated that the Virgin Mary appeared in Charleville church, leaving certain ashes, which she warned were the only protection against cholera. These were to be delivered to four houses, and then these four householders were to proceed to four more homes to spread the message. By the following Tuesday evening, the messengers had reached the borders of Ulster. The message changed on its northerly progression, ashes, turf and stones were used in the east, while straws were used further west. The straw distribution reached Ardara on Thursday June 14th 1832, with a large crowd of locals running into the town bearing lighted straws. However great the pandemonium, there were only two reported acts of violence in the whole country, one being in Ardara where a local constable was wounded in a fracas. Such was the fervour surrounding this project that politicians suspected a sinister motive. By the catholic peasantry, on Friday June 15th, distributors had crossed Lough Foyle into County Derry, prompting Robert Ramsay, the Bard of the Swilly to write in the Londonderry Sentinel: With holy straws the Popish millions Were put in motion And traversed Erins Isle unto the ocean. However, all these efforts didnt stop the spread of cholera, as the disease killed 50,000 between 1832-1834. Storytellers interviewed in the 1930s by the Folklore Commission had heard that it was a device invented by the Liberator Daniel OConnell to ascertain just how quickly he could spread a message throughout Ireland.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 10:29:43 +0000
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