Cavan lads with the horn
by planetparker
December was a time when some Cavan lads got the oul’ horn on them. No, this did not mean that they were lustier than usual, or that they had any less fear of approaching the opposite sex when sober. It refers to the practice of some youths who climbed hills from which they sounded horns. This was noted by among other the late Tom Barron, and seemed to be especially prevalent in the Cornafean and Bruise Mountain areas. It was obviously linked to Christmas. The horns used must have been fairly simple, no doubt of the hunting horn variety and the cacophony produced must have been ear-splitting. It would seem that this was somehow linked to the notion of the winter solstice and that the whoops of the horns were an attempt to try and summon the forces of life and light from their dark slumbers.
