The Old Cows Days/The Days of the Brindled Cow
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The Days of the Brindled Cow, or Irish: Laethanta na Bó Riabhaí, relate to the last days of the month of March and the first days of April, which are often very cold in Ireland and Europe. The name comes from a folk tale, where an old brindled cow boasted that she had outlasted the harsh winter once she had survived to the end of March. March, to spite the cow, borrowed a number of days from April, and the extended cold snap killed the cow. The term can be used to refer to a cold snap at the end of March. The story occurs across Europe.
Names for this period
In the Irish version of the folklore tale, the Days of the Brindled Cow, there was once in Ireland an old brindled (striped or grey) cow. She had survived through the harsh winter up to the month of March. When she had reached near the end of March, she complained about the bad weather and boasted that she had survived the cold winter. March resented this boast and ‘borrowed’ three days from April to extend the cold winter. This extended cold spell was too much for the cow, who did not have enough reserves to survive to the warmer weather of April, and she died.[1][2]
The number of days borrowed from April varies. It is frequently noted as three days, but could be as low as one day and in some versions of the tale could be as much as nine [3] or fifteen.[4]
The period referred to in this folktale is known by many names, based on the reference to the brindled cow, to the killing of the cow and to the borrowing of the April days. Some examples are listed below:
- The Days of the Brindled Cow [5]
- An tSean-Bhó Riabhach/An tSean Bó Riabhaí/ Laethanta na Bó Riabhaí/Laethanta na Riabhaiche/Seanriabhach (Irish language terms referring to the Day of the Brindled Cow, or Old Brindled Cow)
- the Reevogue Days/the Riabhach days/the Reehy Days (‘Reevogue’ is a phonetic spelling of ‘Riabhach’)
- The Ould Cow Days [1]
- The Skinning Days[6] (referring to March killing and skinning the cow)
- The Borrowed Days/The Borrowing Days/The Borouing Days (referring to the days borrowed from April) [7][8]