A List of Christmas Customs

Ireland is the origin of many Christmas traditions and customs that have become widely used throughout the world. Holly and subsequently holly wreaths have their origins in the Celtic tradition, the Celts believed that holly represented life and rebirth. They perceived the evergreen leaves as representing life during the long, harsh winter and the red berries as representing the coming of Spring. With the coming of Christianity to Ireland, the berries came to represent the life of Christ.

With the coming of flocks of Irish immigrants to America during the Great Famine, holly wreaths began to be used as door decorations. Celts also believed that mistletoe possessed healing qualities and that if two enemies were to meet under it, a brief truce would reign. This belief evolved into kissing under the mistletoe during the Victorian era.

The world-wide tradition of placing a lit candle in your window is also an ancient Irish custom. It symbolised the welcoming of strangers into your house which harked back to the night that the Holy Family were refused room at the inn in Bethlehem. To not show a lit candle in your window meant that you shared the guilt of the innkeeper.

In conjunction with this, after the Christmas meal, the table is re-set, some food is left out and the latch on the door is left off, so any wandering traveller can come in and have some tucker. The day after Christmas Day is also very important in Ireland and it is called St. Stephen's Day, on which a very old tradition known as the Wren Boys Procession takes place. Young men and women dress up in home-made costumes, blacken their faces and go from house to house singing songs and playing instruments.