Christmas as it Used to Be

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Irish Voice News

Christmas as it Used to Be

December 21, 2007

By April Drew

The iPod generation might learn a valuable lesson from some grand Irish ladies who recently
gathered to share memories of Christmases past in Ireland. APRIL DREW listened to their stories.

CHRISTMAS in Ireland many years ago wasn’t about the latest technology, parties or feasts. Rather, it was about traditions and relationships.

The women at the Senior’s Young at Heart Group at the Aisling Irish Community Center in Yonkers recently sat down with the Irish Voice to share their fondest memories of Christmases past in Ireland, and what the occasion meant to them.

As the ladies gathered around the table drinking tea and eating scones, they reminisced about Christmas in Ireland half a century ago. Specific foods stood out for some of those interviewed.

“It was a treat. Our mother would make blackcurrant jam and we used to just adore it,” said one lady.

“Do you remember the plum pudding that was only made for Christmas?” said another. Everyone nodded together.

A significant difference the women found between the Christmas of yesteryear and today was how people interacted. “We used to sit around on Christmas Day and talk and eat and do some more talking. Now families don’t communicate anymore. They sit and watch television and they have those computers too,” said one woman.

“I know, and wasn’t it just wonderful,” said another shyer woman from the back of the room, remembering her past holidays.

“Some of the stories would scare the life out of us, some were very funny and some were even true, but we listened to every word the adults around us had to say and it was beautiful,” another remembers.

The woman with the biggest smile in the center, Bridget Glendon from Letterkenny, Co. Donegal remembers warmly the night before Christmas. Glendon and her siblings, all seven of them, would all go to midnight Mass in their finest attire.

“It was a special time and every year without fail we would all be at midnight Mass,” she said, recalling the excitement of it all.

Vivacious Kerry woman Nora Carmody, who hails from Castleisland, fondly recalls her important role in preparing the Christmas feast, which she explained always centered around a goose.

“A goose was much cheaper than a turkey so that’s what we had,” she said, remembering how she used to wash the goose outside the house before he was brought in for roasting.

Although she admits that there were no toys under the tree, Carmody said she knew nothing but happiness on Christmas Day.

“The house was full of love and joy. We had a feast of food and it was beautifully decorated for the Christmas. I couldn’t have better memories,” she said warmheartedly.

“Don’t mind toys, I didn’t see a doll in my life. We used to get fruit off Santa, and sure we didn’t know the difference. We were delighted with it,” said one lady.

Another admitted that she never heard of Santa until she came to the United States in the late 1950s. “I couldn’t believe how the Americans celebrated Christmas in New York. It just amazed me all the effort people went to decorate their homes and how the shop windows were so pretty,” she said.

Most of the ladies at the Aisling Irish Center fondly remember being actively involved in all parts of the Christmas preparations.

Liz Stack, a Limerick woman by birth, enjoyed going to the woods with her siblings and collecting the traditional holly for the windows of their modest farmhouse.

“Oh, I can still remember the smell of the fresh holly and ivy,” she tells the Irish Voice. “And do you know what all houses back then used to do, and it was beautiful? They used to light a candle in every window all through the Christmas.”

For Shelia Sullivan, Christmas time reminds her of the delicious cakes her mother used to bake. “She used to begin making the Christmas cakes in early December and they were just fabulous,” recalls Sullivan.

Although cakes still remain a strong tradition in an Irish Christmas, they are one of the few customs that are the same, she said.

“It’s all about material things now. It’s what did you get. People go way overboard with the Christmas and spending and I think that the joy that we had growing up is not there anymore,” said Sullivan.

An integral part of Christmas for all the women was the birth of Christ and all that came with it on Christmas Day.

“We would all say the Rosary together and light candles every year without fail,” recalls Carmody.

“I remember we used to all go to Confession the day before Christmas and then Mass on Christmas Day,” said another.

“That was what Christmas Day was mostly about, the birth of Jesus and celebrating it with a family gathering,” said another voice.

For some women it was the camaraderie that existed between their siblings and the neighbors that excited them the most about the holiday.

“Leading up to the Christmas we used to get together and go around counting all the candles in people’s houses. It was very innocent fun and we enjoyed every minute of it,” said Carmody.

Some of the women admitted they were more fortunate than others. Stack recalls writing Santa her letter, and then when it was completed she would put it up the chimney where it was sucked up by the Irish winds.

“I think my favorite Santa gift was a doll. I think it was a China doll. She was beautiful,” she said.

For Stack, the most memorable event to mark the occasion of Christmas for her was her mother lovingly pouring her father a small drop of whiskey on Christmas morning. “We would sit around and watch him sip it,” she said.

“It was brandy in my house,” interrupted a Kerry lady.

“Mine too, and my mother used to take a glass in my house,” said another.

Speaking about St. Stephen’s Day, or the Wren Day as December 26 is known in Ireland, the ladies admitted that it was mostly the boys that participated in the dressing up and going door to door performing for pennies.

“We used to stay at home and the boys would come to the door. We would invite them into the house and they would sing and dance, and it was a brilliant day,” said a lady dressed in pink. “We would give them money then and they’d be off to the next house beside us.”

Another jovial lady at the center shared with the Irish Voice her favorite memory of Wren Day.

“A group of singers came to our door and sang a song. My father said that one boy in particular had a great voice. And do you know who that boy was? My brother! My father never recognized him because he was all dressed up,” she laughs.

Gifts were never that important, but some did stand out in the ladies’ memories.

“I remember getting a beautiful pixy scarf. You remember the ones,” shared one lady.

“I got beautiful ribbons for my hair and I had them for years,” said another.

Pat Sheehy celebrated Christmas slightly different. She was brought up in Dublin. Her cousins would send up the Christmas turkey from Limerick every year.

“It used to arrive four or five days before Christ-mas,” she remembers. “Decorating the house was something we looked forward to every year. We would unfold the lavish paper chains and hang them around the house and we’d write Santa a letter each year.”

One thing that did puzzle her as a child, however, was how Santa Claus managed to fit down their chimney in Dublin. “I couldn’t grasp how Santa didn’t get all sooty when he came down the chimney,” she laughed.

Sheehy vividly recalls the night before Christmas when her mother would put the final touches to her plum puddings and stuffing the turkey, and in the background Christmas music would be playing quietly. Together they would laugh, play and guess what Santa was going to leave for them under the tree the next morning.

The overall message that came from the reminiscing that day at the Aisling Irish Community Center was that Christmas in Ireland years ago was a very happy occasion, and nothing was missing. “We wanted for nothing because we didn’t know any better, and everything about Christmas was just wonderful,” said Carmody.

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