The hungry month of July

Jul 21, 2022, 07:11 PM

Speaker: John Ward

For our Irish ancestors, Garland Sunday could not come soon enough. The bitter six weeks leading up to Lughnasa were when food was at its scarcest. Other names beyond Hungry July were 'The Hungry Month', 'The Blue Month' and 'Staggering July.' Regionally, it was known as the yellow month in Kilkenny as Buímhís' The yellow month being the colour of the faces of the poor. The stifling heat alone had locals in Charles McGlinchey's time call it Mí Mharbh “ or The Dead Month.

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