Ola an Róin /
Seal Oil
Informant: Seán Mac Énrí
Age: 40
Address: Cill Ghallagáin, Ceathrú Thaidhg, Iorras, Co. Mayo
Collector: Mártan Ó Conghaile, National Folklore Collection, UCD
Date of Recording: 16/11/1950
Reference:

NFC 1105: 275-278

Landscape in Cill Ghallagáin, 1973. [Séamas Ó Catháin, National Folklore Collection, UCD]

Ola an Róin

Tá go leor leighis san ola róin. Tá sí go maith le haghaidh pianta cnámh. Bogfaidh sí an chnámh ach deir daoine nach maith í lena cur rómhinic go mbogfadh sí an chnámh rómhór is go lobhfaidh sé. Níl léamh ar an ola róin le haghaidh gortú ar chnáimh. Tá sí go maith ag cneasú agus ag snaidhmeadh. Tá úsáid mhór inti le haghaidh an duine. Deir siad go bhfuil sí go maith le haghaidh duine a bheadh ag fealladh sna scamhóga, ach an oiread seo, timpeall toirt leathghloine di a ól chuile mhaidin ar na céalacain. Tá sí an-do-ólta agus baladh feadáin uirthi. Tá sí go maith le haghaidh galra scraitheach a bheith ar chaoirigh. Dá mbeadh an olann imithe uilig den chaoirigh le galra scraitheach cuirfidh sí an olann ag fás arís uirthi. Sí is fearr a cuireadh de bhealadh in olainn ariamh le haghaidh bréidín a dhéanamh ach go mbíonn baladh leathláidir ar an mbréidín arís. Tá sí go maith ag bó a mbeadh casacht uirthi ach leathghloine a thabhairt di chuile mhaidin ar feadh trí nó ceathair de mhaidineacha. Tá úsáid eile inti chomh maith. Má ritheann tú amach as pairifín níl agat ach lán slige den ola róin a leagan le taobh na teine is aithinne a leagan air is coinneoidh sí solas leat go ham codlata.

Usáid atá sa Rón

 Roimhe seo d’ití na cnámhóga i ndiaidh an ola a bhaint as agus bhíodh tóir mhór ag seanbhuachaillí ar an gcineál feola seo, más feoil í, ach anois ní itheann ach corrsheanduine í. Déantar baill mhaith éadaigh de chraiceann an róin. Tá a chraiceann an-do-shábháilte i ndiaidh a fheannaidh, seo é an chaoi lena shábháil. Croithfidh tú cothromachan maith aoil agus salainn ar fud a chéile air. Fág rillte cruaidh daingean é go ceann naoi lá. Béarfaidh tú leat ansin é is croch ar bhalla é is a scarradh cothrom mar éadach. Ní mór é a choinneáil rite go maith le cipíní a chur ina chuid coirnéal. Ní mór é a fhágáil ansin ar feadh trí nó ceathair de laethanta le grian is le gaoth. Caithfidh tú é a chrochadh ansin taobh istigh i dteach ar feadh trí seachtainí. Tá sé sábháilte ansin. Caithfidh tú é a chíoradh ansin is chuile shalachar a bhaint as agus is deas an ghreim éadaigh a dhéanfas sé ansin. Ní hé aon dath amháin atá ar chuile rón. Chonaic mé féin rón dearg.

Deir daoine nach ceart rón a mharú sa bhfómhar mar is sa bhfómhar a bhíonn na pisíní ag an rón. Déanann na rónta creach mhór ar iascaire aimsir bradán. An fear a dtiocfaidh dhá rón air ní bhfaighidh sé aon cheann an oíche sin mar ní fhágfaidh sé bradán san eangach ná sceanfaidh sé. Má bhuaileann an rón d’eangaidh fanfaidh sé agat go raibh tú ag bordú agus ansin rithfidh sé romhat. Nuair a fheicfidh sé an bradán ag coradh san eangach tá sé rite aige agus é tarraingthe as an eangach aige is ligthe go tóin. Coinneoidh sé mar sin go mbordfaidh tú ar deireadh agus is creach é. Ní itheann an rón bradán ar bith iomlán ach dá sclamháil [sclamhadh] is dá ligean uaidh mar bheadh sé á dhéanamh le holc. Níl aon mheon agat ach iomradh leat go gcastar eangacha le fear eicínt eile ort. Leanfaidh sé tú chuile áit ach nuair a casfar eangacha air fanfaidh sé acu. Is minic a fhágann duine rón ag currach eile mar sin. Fanfaidh sé ag an gcurrach sin ansin agus caithfidh siad féin na heangachaí a bhordú agus a ghabháil chun siúl is leanfaidh an rón iad. Fágfaidh siadsan ag eangacha éicint eile é agus mar sin de.

Nuair a bhéas tú ag dul thart le huaigh a mbeidh go leor rónta inti go mór mór thart le huaigh na rón seasc mothóidh tú an caoineadh bocht acu agus búireach nuair a mhothóidh siad baladh na ndaoine agus má bhíonn fhéin- ní gan ábhar é. Faigheann siad a gcrá in amantaí.

Is iomaí daoine atá ag rá nach bhfuil na rónta i gceart, gur daoine iad a fhágadh faoi dhraíocht. Tá dhá liopa thiar ar a thóin is dhá liopa eile ar a chliamhrach is tá cúig mhéara ar a chaon liopa mar atá ar dhuine. Má théann an rón ar chúl a chinn tá sé ábalta cloch a chaitheamh giota beag uaidh. Tá caoineadh bocht aduain aige thar aon rud eile amuich agus chuirfeadh a chuid caointe ag cuimhneamh ort féin tú. Pisín amháin a bhíonns ag an rón. Is go hannamh a bhíonns dhá phisín aige. Le bainne a thógann an rón an pisín i dtosach. Tarbh rón is ea an rón fireann is síog rón an ceann baineann. 

Seal Oil

There are many cures in seal oil. It’s good for pains in the bones. It moves the bone but people say that it isn’t good to use it too frequently or it might move the bone too much and it might rot. It’s hard to describe the use of seal oil for injuries to the bone. It’s good at healing and knitting. A person can get many uses out of it. They say it is good for somebody who’s lungs are failing, if they drank this much, about half a glass, every morning after having fasted through the night. It’s very hard to drink and smells like rubber tubing. It’s good for scabs on sheep. If the wool had all come off the sheep because of the scabs it would make the wool grow on it again. It is the best thing to get grease from wool to make homespun cloth except that the cloth would smell quite strongly. It’s good for cows that have a cough, and half a glass should be given to her every morning for three or four days. It also has another use. If you run out of paraffin, all you have to do is place a potful of seal oil beside the fire, light a spark on it and it will keep you with enough light until bedtime.

 Uses for the Seal

The leftovers were eaten in the past, after the oil had been removed and this kind of meat, if it is meat, was much sought after by the old boys, but only the odd old person eats it now. Good clothing is made from sealskins. It’s very difficult to save the skin after skinning, but this is the way to save it. Shake a good balance of lime and salt all over it. Leave it sieved, hard and stiff, for nine days. Take it then and hang it on a wall and separate it evenly as cloth. It should be kept taught by putting little sticks in all four corners and should be left there in the sun and wind for three or four days. You then have to hang it inside for three weeks. It will be saved then. You have to comb it then and remove all the dirt and it will make a good piece of clothing. Every seal does not have the same colour. I saw a red seal myself.

People say that it is not right to kill a seal in the autumn, as it is then that they have their pups. The fisherman loses much to the seals in the salmon season. If two seals come up to a man then he won’t get anything that night because he wouldn’t get a salmon in the net that wouldn’t have been flayed. If a seal meets your nets he will stay with you until you board and then he will run in before you. When he sees the salmon turning in the net he has it taught, pulled from the net and let drop to the bottom of the sea. He’ll keep on like that until you reach the end and it is a loss. A seal does not eat an entire salmon but takes a bite from it and leaves it aside as if to spite you.  There’s nothing to do but row ahead until you reach another man’s net. He’ll follow you everywhere but when you meet other nets he will stay by them. It is often that people will leave a seal by someone else’s currach in this way. He’ll stay with that currach then and they will have to draw in their nets and go off and the seal will follow them. They will leave him at someone else’s nets then and so on.

When you are passing a cave where many seals tend to be, particularly the cave of barren seals, you will hear their pitiful crying and roaring when they get the scent of the people. If they do, it is not without reason – they are tormented sometimes.

Many people say that seals are odd, that they are enchanted people. It has two flippers at its bottom and two at its chest and it has five fingers on every flipper, like a person. If a seal goes on his back he is able to throw a stone a little ways away from himself. He has a strange, pitiful cry, more so than anything else outside and his cry would make you think about yourself. The seal has one pup. It is very rare that it has two. The seal rears the pup with milk at first. A male seal is a tarbh [a bull], and a female seal is a síog róin [a fairy].