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Crows wedding day

Posted by Graham Cambray on March 03, 2009 at 00:32

In Reply to: Crows wedding day posted by Jemima Dunsmore on March 02, 2009 at 12:17:

: I heard one time that the 1st March was said to be "the crows wedding day". I would love to know, is this a saying?

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There's an old saying or rhyme in the UK:

"On the first of March the crows begin to search;
By the first of April they are sitting still;
By the first of May they have flown away!
Croupin', greedy, back again, wi' October's wind and rain."
This can be found on page 610 of The Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, Volume II, edited by Cora Linn Daniels, and C. M. Stevans. They don't give a date, but at www.famous-proverbs.com the first line of the verse is quoted, and dated to the middle of the 19th century.

I don't know of anything traditional specifically involving crows' weddings on March 1st, although in Victorian eyes I suppose you might be expected to get married before setting up home together. But perhaps we need someome from Ireland to help us. At [Dead link removed - ed] we have a recent poem from one Susan Farrell in Rostrevor, whose poem ends:

"An invitation stick down the chimney,
to the crows' wedding,
the first of March."

An Irish legend making a stronger link than I've been able to make would be pleasing.
(GC)

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