The Hag at the Churn

Donegal fiddler Caoimhín Mac Aoidh explains the title through an old belief that witches would get into a churn to steal the butter. They could not stand this tune, so it was played while the butter was churned to keep them out, and a woman who left the house during the churning was looked on with suspicion.

The Bothy Band, who called it a fine pipe tune, recorded it on Out of the Wind, Into the Sun in 1977, and Breandán Breathnach printed it without a title in 1976. John Doherty's "Old Hag at the Churn" is a different jig in a similar mood.