Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de chnámh do dhroma* – May Devil make a ladder out of your spine*

Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de chnámh do dhroma* – May Devil make a ladder out of your spine*
*Except definitely not really!!
How terrifying is this! The imagery is incredible. A zillion points for creativity! So visceral!
I thought I'd wrap up the Mallach Monday facts with a list of the types of curses that existed, some of which have really led me down dome folklore dives I never knew before!
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I’ve mentioned The priests curse and the rebounded curse here are a few more:
The widow's curse
The orphan's curse
The deathbed curse
The beggar’s curse
The blacksmiths curse
The woman's curse
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In the case of the woman's curse, flowing hair seemed to be part of the magic. The main article I've linked in my blog says ‘ women literally let their hair down’ and this was an important aspect as 19th and early 20th century Irish women often covered their hair outdoors so this flowing hair while curing was an act of defiance in and of itself!
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The blacksmith’s curse sent me down an ol’rabbit hole, between this article and digging on Dúchas.ie. I’d never heard of this before and I guess it makes a lot of sense. Smithing has often been linked to magic, with magical forges popping up in many mythologies, Irish included.
A quote from Dúchas.ie
“The old people say that if the smith curse you the curse would descend down to the fourth generation and that as many times as the smith struck the anvil during the day, he would be cursing you also.”
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Hope you’ve enjoyed these mallacht mondays, shared for education only, remember the rebounded curse thing! :) Safety first! It's such a fascinating part of Irish history and I really recommend reading the article in full as it goes in depth into the cathartic uses in cursing culture in Ireland throughout its past.