'Don't go eating blackberries after Michaelmas Day because Lucifer spits on them, or even pees on them after that date!
#Michaelmas' which we celebrate on the 29th of September, is the feast-day of the three Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. (There are actually seven archangels, but we celebrate only 3 or 4 of them usually. They are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Chamuel (Camael), Raphael, Jophiel, and Zadkiel.
I know, it's confusing, but that's just the way it is.)
'Course Archangel Michael did cast Lucifer into Hell, but he, the big L, gets his revenge each year by spoiling our wild fruits after Michaelmas Day, or so the tradition goes.
"We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush,
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying."
Photos by Brian Nolan
With thanks for the day to Lorraine, and her twitter account @IrishHistorybitesize
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