DRINK AT WAKES.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 169, 28 July 1908, Page 7

DRINK AT WAKES.

' The Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe preaching atyßirr, alluded to' "what he terms the " scandalous orgies " that take place sometimes at Wakes in Ireland. Whenever, he said, it came to the knowledge of a priest that drink was distributed at a wake, that priest would not in future be allowed to go to the funeral. Parishioners would be obliged to bring the remains of any deceased person to the church the day before the funeral, so that an end might be put to the scandalous orgies which sometimes take place at wakes. " I could never understand," added the bishop, "why our Irish people could carry on such reprehensible practices." And, referring/incidentally to the question of marriage, bishop inquired why .the population of the district had decreased. He answered his own question in this manner : "It is because the people are not getting married, or, rather, are not' getting married in time. In Ireland it is the custom of the elder brother to portion off his other brothers and sisters, and by the time he had done that he is fifty years of age. This is peculiar to Ireland. So far as I know, we don't find it in' France or Germany."