The Story of Ancient Irish Civilization

by P. W. Joyce

In the time of the Red Branch Knights, it was the custom to assign the choicest joint or animal of the whole banquet to the hero who was acknowledged by general consent to have performed the bravest and greatest exploit. This piece was called curath-mir, i.e., ‘the hero’s morsel or share’; and there were often keen contentions among the Red Branch heroes, and sometimes fights with bloodshed, for this coveted joint or piece. This usage, which prevailed among the continental Celts in general, and which also existed among the Greeks, continued in Ireland to comparatively late times.

Tables were, as we have seen, used at the great feasts. But at ordinary meals, high tables, such as we have now, do not seem to have been in general use. There were small low tables, each used no doubt for two or more persons. Often there was a little table laid beside each person, on which his food was placed—the meat on a platter.

Forks are a late invention: of old the fingers were used at eating. In Ireland, as in England and other countries in those times, each person held his knife in the right hand, and used the fingers of the left instead of a fork. The Greeks and Romans had no forks at meals: they used the fingers only, and were supplied with water to wash their hands after eating.

As early as the eighth or ninth century the Irish of the higher classes used napkins at table, for which they had a native word lambrat, i.e., ‘hand-cloth.’ I suppose the chief use they made of it was to wipe the left-hand fingers; which was badly needed. It was the custom, both in monastic communities and in secular life, to take off the shoes or sandals when sitting down to dinner; which was generally done by an attendant. The Romans we know had the same custom. The Irish did not sit up at dinner as we do now; but, like the Romans, they reclined on couches on which the feet also rested; and this was why the shoes were taken off.

In old times people were quite as fond of intoxicating drinks at dinners and banquets as they are now. They sometimes drank more than was good for them too: yet drunkenness was looked upon as reprehensible. At their feasts they often accompanied their carousing with music and singing. Besides plain water and milk, the chief drinks were Ale and Mead or metheglin, which were made at home; and Wine which was imported from France.

In great houses there were professional cooks, who, while engaged in their work, wore a linen apron round them from the hips down, and a flat linen cap on the head. But among ordinary families the women did the cooking.

Meat and fish were cooked by roasting, boiling, or broiling. A spit (bir), made of iron, was regarded as an important household implement. But the spits commonly used in roasting, as well as the skewers for trussing up the joint, were pointed hazel-rods, peeled and made smooth and white. Meat, and even fish, while roasting, were often basted with honey or with a mixture of honey and salt.

In the house of every chief and of every brewy (see [p. 119] below) there was at least one bronze Caldron for boiling meat. It was highly valued, as a most important article in the household; and it was looked upon as the special property of the chief or head of the house—much in the same way as his sword and shield. Everywhere we meet with passages reminding us of the great value set on these caldrons. One of them was regarded as a fit present for a king. The caldron was supposed to be kept in continual use, so that food might be always ready for guests whenever they happened to arrive. Many bronze caldrons have been found from time to time, and are now preserved in the National Museum, Dublin—several of beautiful workmanship.

In early ages kitchen utensils were everywhere regarded as important. The inventory of the jewels of the English King Edward III. gives a list of his frying-pans, gridirons, spits, etc. There is a curious provision in the Brehon Law that if any accident occurred to a bystander by the lifting of the joint out of the boiling caldron, the attendant was liable for damages unless he gave the warning:—“Take care: here goes the fleshfork into the caldron!”

Milk was used both fresh and sour: butter was made in a small hand-churn; and cheese of various kinds was made from curds. There were water-mills and querns to grind corn, and sieves to separate the ground corn into meal and flour. The staple food of the great mass of the people was porridge, or, as it is now called in Ireland, stirabout, made of meal, generally oatmeal. It was eaten with honey, butter, or milk, as kitchen or condiment.