Flickering Candles Foretell Death
A tradition of foretelling a death from North Longford…
From the Irish Folklore Commission
In days gone by a tradition old
Of which the Church condemns though what they are told
By clergy the folk pay little heed
For superstition and tradition they had a need
And so together on All Souls night
Assembled twelve neighbours saw the sight
Of the candles they there had brought
Declare the foresight they had saught
Setting them in a small pile of dung
As in the gloom the Rosaries decades were rung
The voices chanting as the flames flickered about
The first candle whose flame went out
Its owner it according to tradition was said…
Before a year gone by they would be dead!