Cabra History.Com

‘Sure it’s well I remember Halloween when I was a young fella years ago. I’d be dying to get home from school for the Colcannon and maybe I’d be lucky to get the penny wrapped up in a piece of cooking paper in amongst the potatoes on my plate. And the Ma’ used to put loads of salt and margarine in the spuds. Sure me oul mouth is watering at the very idea. Then I’d have to do my Ecker because I knew I couldn’t have time to do it that night because I’d be out with all my pals knocking on doors for goodies. We had a man who lived down the end of our road who used to collect slops for his pigs and we’d always bring him down oul potatoe skins and cabbage leafs and stuff like that and every Halloween his wife would have loads of stuff for us kids and there we’d be queueing up outside her gate and all. And do you know what? Sure the Da’ was great because he’d put his hand up our chimble pot and take down a handful of black soot and rub it all over our faces to make us look scary and he’d tell us to put our jumper on back to front as well. And of course Halloween was always my birthday so I always had a kind of a party. One time I knocked on a neighbours door and when the man came out he said I’d have to sing s song or he wouldn’t give me anything. So I sang “Three Blind Mice” for him and he gave me an orange and a half of a banana. Halloween was always great years ago…’