Having the right words can be a challenge under the best of circumstances, but knowing what to say at a funeral can leave us all struggling at one time or another.... Legs were extended so that the soles of their shoes touched. The wake became a party.The body would be prepared (normally dressed in white) and laid out in a designated room at the home of one of the family members. The horse would be a very wild one and, in the course of prancing around the kitchen, the doctor would be thrown down on top of the sick man on the floor. Hear about the origins of the Irish Wake, the ancient practice of keening and rural funeral ‘games’.You will hear about Wakes, Keening and the incredible sexualised games played by mourners in rural Ireland.This programme investigates the mysterious intentions of ancient pagan ceremonies and how customs became blended into the funeral rite of the Irish Catholic church. The miller and his helpers would rush to pour buckets of water on the sacks, drenching all who were heaped on the floor, especially those on top. My last several articles have talked about preplanning your funeral and why you would want to do that as a gift to your family. The more unexpected or tragic the death then the louder the mourning would be shown.Games, music, and merriment occurred in the rooms outside of the mourning room where the deceased had been placed. It was by no means an easy thing to do, as the old chairs were quite heavy.An egg was held between the contestants two hands with the pointed ends against the palms. The Wake, the glorious send-off of departed loved ones, is a prominent feature of Irish funeral traditions, but is seen less and less often in modern Ireland and is now almost unknown in the cities. Coin the money!"

The man who was working the still would walk fussily around him, getting ready for the work, while some others remained outside the house to keep an eye out for the police or "Revenue men". It was a sign of respect for the deceased.Most often, all mirrors would be turned around or covered.Candles would be lit and placed around the deceased.The Rosary would be said at midnight and most visitors would then leave. Both gripped the stick, one hand inside and one outside and each tried while holding his legs rigid to lift his opponent off the floor even as much as an inch. He then pulled on the free end of the rope and tried to raise himself high enough to enable him to kick against another rafter or couple with his free foot. The leader would then order them to remove other garments, and when they had finally got rid of their socks, they would succeed in their task. The local priest would be called to give the last rites of the Church. The person who tried to pick it up took his stand about three feet from the wall, and had to pick up the shoe without bending his knees. The funeral home has become the normal location for visitation, wakes, and even funeral services.

Speedy action was now necessary; the first thing to be done was to hide the still outside in the dark. In The Shaving Game, the leader and his assistants went through the crowded kitchen of the wake-house to find out who needed a shave. Planning anything is an important first step in making sure that whatever the event is, it becomes the kind of event you wanted. Peo... These games helped to lighten the mood and pass the time while waiting to see if the deceased would wake.Food was an important part of the celebration. A man lay face down on the wake house floor. A chair was gripped at the base of one of the legs by each contestant in turn in an attempt to raise it above his head. Finding no apparent fault with its construction, he dismounted. ONE OF 125 DECISIONS TO MAKE BEFORE YOU DIE If the man was lifted Two man sat facing each other on the floor. The police would then go outside and drag in somebody as prisoner, while the others pressed in also to hear the case being tried.

Note that the case of the letters entered matters. He would be, as it were the still. The traditional Irish Wake was commonplace around Ireland up until about the 1970’s. Think of the hours th... If the person had died overnight, the priest would still be called to administer the Holy Oils and to recite the prayers for the dead. Elements of a Traditional Irish Wake. Each man went outside and came back with a man on his back; this process went on until some twenty men, as sacks, were lying in a heap on the floor. The miller would have no trouble in hearing this and would throw the sooty water over his shoulder on top of the sacks behind his back to quench the blaze. The body would never be left unattended, just in case the deceased did “wake.”The length of the wake would be determined by the funeral service. The Irish Wake is perhaps one of the best known funeral traditions associated with Ireland. His main difficulty was to keep the table from overturning in the process.A fairly long stool would be laid on the floor, legs upwards. The miller would pretend not to be able to hear him, owing to the noise of the mill, and would finally order the helper to lay the sack down behind him. This was difficult enough to do while uninterrupted, but it became more so when he had to reply to questions during the attempt: The shoe was placed three or four inches out from the foot of the kitchen wall. Whenever he bent forward in making the attempt, his head would touch the wall, and he was not allowed to use his hands to help straighten himself again. The mint had now to be hidden as quickly and as disagreeably as the still in the preceding game. As the coming holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are rapidly approaching, it puts us in mind of all the traditions, both easy and hard, that go with those holiday...