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The children were not the only ones to be entertained during the winter months, several of the adults spent their leisure hours learning and practising a play to be presented on St. Patrick's Day. They would meet in the hall above the school to chose a play, and after many practices, they would perform it in Orwell Cove, Iona, Vernon, and Belfast.

On December 31 each year, children went from house to house to beat out the old year. Each child carried a bat or stick and banged on the house and chanted these words:

Get up old woman and shake your feathers; You needn't think that we are beggars;

We are only children who have come to play; Give us a piece of cake and we'll all run away.

The lady of the house would then treat the children and they proceeded to the next house.

Laterthis event was discontinued and a combination of trick and treating was carried out on Hallowe'en. The eve before All Saints' Day, November 1, was celebrated each year, mostly by playing tricks on neighbours by hauling away carts, truck wagons, farm machinery, and anything that could be moved or tipped such as the family water closet or toilet. In some families only the boys went out.

Now, Hallowe'en parties are held in schools with community functions in the evening to keep the children from playing tricks at night. It is also the time when children carry the orange box for Unicef to collect pennies for needy children in the developing

world.

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