Have you ever wondered what it’s like to have Christmas and the New Year in another country? The United States is the fourth country I’ve lived in; I originally grew up in Belfast, Ireland. The Irish are a superstitious bunch, and traditions from hundreds of years ago are still in practice today. Here is a rundown of what you need to know for an Irish Christmas and New Year.
Twelve Pubs of Christmas
Groups of young and not-so-young adults will spend an evening celebrating the Christmas season together by mapping out twelve pubs to spend the evening in. Ireland has many pubs, and each town and city will have a line of pubs on one street or area. The group will dress up with a theme, such as ugly Christmas sweaters. Anytime I have done Twelve pubs, I have had half a drink in each pub as, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get the Irish-drinking gene, and 12 drinks would have me in hospital. Other themes include having a certain drink in each pub, such as a shot in one pub, a beer in another, etc. I have to admit, it is one of the traditions I miss the most as it is always so much craic (that’s fun in Ireland) and usually, you will end up meeting other groups doing the same thing and the groups will join or splinter adding to the chaos of the evening.
Midnight Mass
Midnight Mass is a staple of an Irish Christmas. Midnight Mass, despite telling us it happens at midnight, normally starts at 9 pm on Christmas Eve. Families will meet and go together. Santa sometimes makes an appearance, and then we all go back home for a tipple before bed.
Happy Christmas/Nollaig Shona
Outside of Ireland, most English speaking countries will wish one another a ‘Merry Christmas’. In Ireland, it is not uncommon to hear ‘Happy Christmas’. The reason being, that the direct translation from ‘Nollaig Shona’ (the Christmas greeting in Irish) means Happy Christmas. So please don’t feel the need to correct an Irish person when they say this. They may be offended!
Christmas Day Swim
I’m going to be upfront: I have never taken part in this tradition simply because I would die of hypothermia. Crazy Irish people will start their Christmas morning with a trip to the beach and getting straight into the freezing cold water. The Atlantic Ocean surrounds Ireland, the same sea the Titanic sank in; the ocean has many icebergs!! Ireland’s summer temperature will hit 75 degrees on the best day, so this ocean never has a real chance of heating up. It is always absolutely freezing. I guess this is another nod to how brave (and perhaps fantastical) the lovely Irish people are.
Christmas Dinner
We do not have Thanksgiving in Ireland, so our big turkey dinner is served on Christmas day. A typical Northern Irish dinner will include turkey, ham, usually cooked in Guinness, stuffing, a variety of potatoes (roasties, mashed, boiled), various vegetable sides such as carrots and parsnips in honey, cauliflower cheese, and of course, Brussels sprouts; all served up with lashings of gravy and some homemade cranberry sauce. We have also adapted the British tradition of pulling Christmas crackers, these are small cardboard tubes wrapped in Christmas paper filled with a paper crown, a joke and a small gift. It is very normal to see an entire family eat their Christmas dinner with a paper crown on their head!
Christmas Cake
My grandmother was always the Christmas Cake maker. She would make the cake, a rich, dark, fruit cake, in July and, during the year, open it and pour in either brandy or whiskey to preserve it.
St. Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day
St. Stephen’s Day, commonly called Boxing Day, is the day after Christmas. It is an extension of Christmas Day when extended family members meet up to exchange gifts and have another Christmas dinner. It’s also a good night out for younger family members who will meet with friends after they have celebrated with their extended family.
New Year’s Eve and Day
Many families will open the front and back doors of their homes to welcome the new year. This is believed to allow bad energy from the outgoing year to leave out the back door and to welcome in the new year with good energy from the front door. Another tradition that was very much alive when I was younger was first-footing. This is a tradition where the first person to walk into your home should be someone with dark hair (seen as lucky) carrying a gift, such as a piece of coal, as this represents prosperity. As a child, I had black hair and regularly was asked to be the first guest into many neighbor’s homes. They would give me money or some chocolate as a thank you.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The twelfth day of Christmas is January 6th. This is the traditional last day of Christmas. On this day, Irish people take down all the Christmas decorations and return their homes to normal. If the tree remains up after January 6th, the Irish believe there will be bad luck during the new year.
So that was a brief rundown of the Irish Christmas and New Year traditions I grew up with. There are many more that I could add and many more that I could include from when I lived in other countries. The Irish traditions feel like home, so including them into our lives in America is the best way to keep that Irish Christmas Spirit alive and well.
