Threshing Day

Threshing Day in rural Ireland was traditionally one of the key days in the annual farming calendar. In this video, we re--live the threshing experience using vintage machinery at a recent August community event in Ballacolla, Co. Laois, Ireland. Here we see the now dry sheaves of oats that were recently reaped at Roskelton (posted a few weeks ago on a separate video), being transported to Ballacolla in a convoy for threshing. In our traditional Irish heritage, Threshing Day was a memorable occasion involving physical labour involving neighbours helping each other, after which, all involved celebrated with food, music and dancing. We are delighted to re-live this bygone era during Heritage Week and to include excerpts from a beautifully written short story penned by proud Laois man, Bill Kelly of Castletown of his memories from over seventy years ago of a threshing day at the Murphy farm, his mother's people, near Shanahoe.