Christmas Gems

Irish Christmas

Nollaig Shona Duit

Irish Christmas lasts from Christmas Eve until the feast of Epiphany on 6^th January when Twelfth Night is celebrated and Christmas is over for another year.  Although an English person would feel quite at home celebrating an Irish Christmas in Ireland, there are subtle differences.  Irish Christmas traditions are similar to those in England and other western countries, but the Irish also have some unique practices which reflect religious observance of Christmas in a Catholic country.  A part of an Irish Christmas is the placing of a lighted candle in the window to signify the welcome offered to the holy family and the christ child.  It is also customary, after the Christmas Eve meal, to leave bread and milk on the table and to leave the door unlocked, as a symbol of hospitality.

The popular Christmas carol 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' is said to have been used by Irish Catholics as a memory aid during the years that Catholics were persecuted for their faith.  The gifts referred to in the song are hidden references to Catholic dogma.  One of the big events of the Christmas season is Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, which is attended by most Catholics, as is the Mass on Christmas morning.

In modern times the Christmas decorations for an Irish Christmas are very similar to the English and German decorations.  A Christmas tree is a common site in Irish homes at Christmas time, but that wasn't always the case.  In olden days Irish homes were decorated with holly and mistletoe, the druids offered holly to the fairies to use as a hiding place.  When Christianity came to Ireland the early Christians used holly and other greenery to decorate their home for the Winter solstice.  The red berries on the holly are also said to represent the blood of Christ.

The ancient Celts believed that mistletoe had special healing powers, but the Christians saw this as pagan and frowned on the use of the mistletoe.  It did not find favour again until the Victorian era brought us the custom of kissing under the mistletoe.