Christmas Traditions Ireland

In preparation for the holiday season, homes in Ireland are cleaned top to bottom. We normally only do that here in the US when special family members are coming to visit or it's spring. Mantles are often decorated with holly and mistletoe is hung in doorways. Trees are often decorated with ribbons and holly and set near a window to be seen by passersby. We do similar things here in the US, but many of us have special decorations that have been passed down that we also put on the tree.

As Ireland is predominately Roman Catholic, attending services on the night of Christmas Eve instead of the morning of Christmas is common. It is usually held at midnight and everyone who attends is given a candle blessed by the Bishop of the church, to light. We had this when I would attend services growing up as well, only as we aren't Catholic, it wasn't blessed by the Bishop.

Unlike here in the US, children do not leave out stockings, but leave sacks to be filled with toys on Christmas morning. As a sign of hospitality, after dinner on Christmas eve, families will often set aside milk and bread (or mince pies and Guinness). Here, we leave milk and cookies for Santa and sometimes carrots and celery for his reindeer.

Noilaig Shona Dhuit (pronounced as null-ig hun-a dit) or Merry Christmas in Gaelic! Christmas day in Ireland focuses more on the religious versus the secular, but children do receive gifts. Christmas is a time for families and dinner is traditionally served in the afternoon. The main course is usually a goose, turkey or chicken and sides include stuffing, gravy, and potatoes. For many, this is the largest meal of the year whereas in the US, we have several including Thanksgiving and Easter. Dessert is usually a Christmas pudding with a rum sauce.Often after the lavish meal, the kitchen table was again set and on it was placed some bread and milk and the table was adorned by a lit candle. if Mary or Joseph, or a wandering traveler, happened by, then they could partake of the hospitality. This is what Christmas pudding is in Ireland: 


One unusual custom in Ireland on Christmas day is the Christmas day swim where people wearing nothing more than a swimsuit and a Santa hat plunge into the Atlantic or the Irish sea where temperatures are a mere 50 degrees in the water and much colder outside of the water. Although judging by some of the photos I saw of this, people do sometimes dress up in costumes. I found this image which shows Alan Heffernan at the 40-foot which is south of Dublin.





The candle in the window or Coimmeal Mór na Nollag, usually placed by the youngest member of the family. The idea was to light the way of the holy family who were travelling. It was also lit to show strangers that there might be an offering of food in the house within. Sometimes, there were three candles lit because Jesus, Joseph and Mary were looking for a place to stay. this was to show that they were welcome in an Irish home, even if they could not find a place in Bethlehem. During the Penal Times (1695-1793/1829) in Ireland, Catholic priests were forbidden to perform Mass, so the candle acted as a covert signal that the occupier was a Catholic believer and that mass could be held on the premises.

Economy

For all of the talk lately that the economy is doing better now than at any other point in history, why is it that when I submit an application for a job outside of New York City, I often have to compete with several hundred other applicants (often as many as 800)? The stock market is doing well, but those of us who cannot afford to invest in it are not doing well. The supposed tax break we got last year has been eaten away by all of the tariffs this administration has enacted.

If the economy were indeed doing as well as “experts” say that it is, people would be fully employed and making a fair, living wage and not having to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Living in the US has become prohibitively expensive in so many cities and yet those of us who want to leave, can’t because we can’t afford to. It is a catch-22. We can’t afford to stay because the cost of everything from the subway to rent to groceries is so high, and yet we can’t afford to leave because of all of the reasons mentioned above. How can we change things so that the average person can afford to live and save for the future or an emergency?

If companies would pay a fair, living wage at every level from the cashiers at Wal Mart and McDonald’s to the pickers in the fields to the warehouse workers at Amazon and those in office jobs, more people would have money to spend, thus boosting the economy. They would also have money to save, which helps them when they have an unexpected expense, such as a medical expense.

Another thing that would help everyone would be universal healthcare also referred to as Medicare for All. This would be a game changer and a money saver for everyone, especially those who currently have no insurance (such as myself) simply because it is too cost prohibitive between the monthly premiums, the co-pays and deductibles. As of April 2019, 7 candidates for President indicated that they support Medicare for All, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif), and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). Five support Medicare or Medicaid expansion, including Joe Biden and Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey). Elizabeth Warren is for it, but as of the publication of the article I read from Axios, she didn’t have a clear plan in place. (https://www.axios.com/2020-presidential-candidates-medicare-for-all-7d958bab-de34-4d8c-921d-b561f201c4c2.html)

BASEBALL

Growing up in small town Vermont, one of the few things for boys and girls to do in the spring and summer was play baseball. I tried little league, but was never any good. My brothers on the other hand, played like they were born to it. You could always tell when the seasons were changing from winter to spring because they would be playing catch in the street in front of our house because the snow hadn’t fully melted yet. Locals would know that this was happening, so would be on the look out and the niys would also be paying attention and would get off the road when cars would come. As this was the only road between Vermont and New York in this area, there wasn’t much traffic.

They continued playing all through high school and Noah even played in college. They still love the game and until today, when I saw Field of Dreams in theaters i had forgotten how much I also enjoyed the game.

I have only been to one professional game, but have been to many little league, middle league, high school, college and minor league games. I’m not a sports person in the sense that i have a favorite team for any sport, but I know the major teams in baseball, basketball and football simply because it is everywhere and when you are a cheerleader in high school and your crush plays both football and basketball, you quickly learn the names of the teams and whether they are any good. I know that the major baseball rivalries are Yankees and Red Sox and that the subway series is a series of games that people in NYC can get to using the subway. I have lived in Brooklyn for 6 years and haven’t been to a game, mostly because it takes forever to get to either Yankee Stadium or Mets stadium.

I had forgotten just how good and moving of a movie Field of Dreams was until Ben Mankowitz of TCM movies gave commentary about how he immediately called his father in Washington after seeing the movie to tell him about it. The theater was quite empty, but those there were happy to be there and enjoyed the movie. Some of the classic lines such as “If you build it, he will come” or “Go the Distance” or “Ease his pain” are generally forgotten until one sees the movie again. Despite not having seen this movie in close to 20 years, I know many of the lines, like when Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta asks Ray Kinsella if this is heaven and Ray answers, “no, it’s Iowa.” A sentiment that is played again at the end of the movie when John Kinsella, Ray’s father makes an appearance and again asks if this was heaven. The difference is that Ray asks John if there is one and John answers yes.

Next week I see Forreat Gump for the first time in theaters and I’m very much looking forward to it. Movies when I was a kid were a treat because taking 4 kids to the movies would just be too expensive, so we would buy movies on VHS and later on DVD. I grew up watching the classics and popular movies and to this day, as a 40 year old adult, movies, books and music are still a very, very important and big part of my daily life.