Our Little Christmas Cheer
Patrick Ryan takes a look at why January 6ths is remembered in Ireland, and abroad.
January 6th has long held a special place in our hearts.
The Feast of the Epiphany as it is also called is today more widely celebrated in other parts of the world, with elaborate festivals in Spain marking the visit of the Three Kings – the Three Wise Men of the New Testament – who in the Book of Matthew bring gifts of to the baby Jesus.
During Verbena de Reyes, on the 5th and El Día de los Reyes Magos, on the 6th the visit of Melchior, Baltazar and Gaspar, three kings from different realms who according to the story had respectively travelled on a camel, an elephant and a horse towards Jerusalem from the East to worship a newborn prophet, a King of kings, to whom they presented gold, myrrh and frankincense, is remembered and celebrated throughout the country. The Spanish exchange gifts in scenes reminiscent of those we enjoy on December 25th while in the Eastern Orthodox Church too January 6th is marked in similar ways in which people in the West celebrate our traditional Christmas Day, much of which is actually due to the writings of Charles Dickens.
While the events in late December still represent Christmas in Ireland we too have a number of traditions and superstitions associated with January 6th, though few of these nósanna agus piseoga still remain.
In some parts of the country for many years women swept the floor and before going to bed filled a bucket in the kitchen with clean water, which was left overnight, and not used afterwards, while in other households, Irish mammies rubbed the tail of a herring across the eyes of children to give immunity against disease for the new year.
One superstition that survives is that the 12th Day of Christmas is usually when the very last of the decorations finally come down, and many Irish people will tell you it’s considered unlucky to do this task earlier.
Most famously of all January 6th was always marked by the women of the house as Nollaig na mBan.
As part of this the usual chores were left to the men while the women, who had worked extra hard to clean and decorate for the big day, not to mention doing shopping, and festive cooking for the family, took time off for “Women’s Christmas” or “Little Christmas”, visiting other women, chatting, gossiping and relaxing as they finished off the last of the cake and other treats over a cup of tea, or perhaps something even stronger.
Many families today declare unswerving loyalty to the Dubs, but the majority have roots in rural Ireland. As country people moved to the capital for work they brought customs like Nollaig na mBan with them, although in time these died out.
However in recent years this day of celebration and entertainment has been revived, in the capital, albeit in a slightly different direction. For a decade or more the event has been commemorated in the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin 1, while in 2023 a new Nollaig na mBan has taken place nearby in the North East Inner City, as the community celebrates the achievements of local females such as boxer Kellie Harrington and other stalwarts, according to nollaignamban.ie.
Long before we sought to promote such unique events through the digital medium, those with little personal knowledge of Ireland and her history became familiar with our somewhat different take on January 6th, thanks to the writing of one of Ireland’s most famous sons.
In his short story “The Dead”, from Dubliners, published in 1914, a year when a dark cloud fell across Europe James Joyce wrote of the mysterious death divination associated with January 6th here. A clay cake was prepared, with lit candles placed in it representing family members. The manner in which these flames burned out indicated the order in which each of them would die, and this was taken ver seriously by all who watched it unfold.
Death has been associated with January 6th in Ireland. On January 6th, 1839 we saw loss of life and destruction on a scale that would linger long in our memory with the arrival of “Oíche na Gaoithe Móire”, a night of terrible storms in which many died and others saw farms and families left destitute.
