Traditions offer us a Christmas full of meaning, writes Jason Osborne
This year we find ourselves moving thorough an Advent like no other, facing a Christmas like no other. Forced apart by the year’s events, the chances of enjoying the cosiness and warmth – both social and physical – so typical of the season seem slim.
Recent years have seen the patient waiting that characterises Advent forgotten, replaced instead by hurried and flustered activity. Buying, wrapping, making and doing are all essential aspects of the usual festive season, but there is reason to believe that in the midst of it all, the only essential element of the celebrations has been neglected: the birth of Christ.
The birth of God into humanity changed everything. It is an event that continues to unfold today, and one of the key changes it instituted is the making meaningful of every particle of the world. If it wasn’t before, the incarnation has rendered our material world deeply important, deeply spiritual. As such, Advent provides us with an opportunity to reflect on all of the meaning to be found in our world, and traditions are the perfect gateway into doing so.
With less to do this year, there has never been a better time to delve into the wealth of Christmas traditions our island and our Faith have observed throughout the years. Many of the traditions that we have taken for granted for years are laden with meaning, if only we have eyes to see it.
Fasting
While the run up to Christmas and the Advent season are often associated with enjoying a wide range of festive treats and cuisine, such as the customary Christmas dinner, mince pies, mulled wine and the like, the Catholic Faith has always put stock in fasting – even during the run-up to Christmas. Out of all of the days of the year, only two are official days of abstinence and fasting for the Catholic Church: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
However, the tradition of the Nativity Fast, also known as Philip’s Fast as it begins after the feast of St Philip the Apostle, encourages an alternative approach to the nativity of God. In so difficult a year, the thought of fasting during the Christmas season probably doesn’t appeal to many, but the reasons for doing so are numerous.
The Church has always taught, and the incarnation exemplifies, the fact that the material and the spiritual are linked. In other words, it has taught that what we do with our bodies can affect our souls. In this spirit, fasting is an attempt to clear distractions from our vision – and if you’re brave enough to give it a try this Christmas, it might help you to reclaim some of the meaning this season has always brought to our doors.
Jesse Tree
Jesse Trees are often to be found in churches around this time, but rarely are they found in homes – this wasn’t always the way. Jesse was the father of King David, and he’s identified as a key figure in the genealogy of Jesus.
Throughout the years in Church art, a design developed which depicted the relationship of Jesus with Jesse and other biblical figures. The design showed a tree with many branches growing out of the reclined body of Jesse, and the branches held pictures of various other Old and New Testament personages who were ancestors of Jesus. At the zenith was an image of Jesus and Mary. The design was mainly to be found in iconography in the eastern Christian tradition, and stained-glass windows in the west.
Over time, this artistic tradition developed into the modern Jesse Tree, which sees a small tree or artistic mock-up of a tree adorned with symbols depicting either the genealogy of Jesus or the story of salvation history, beginning with creation and running all the way through to the birth of Christ. Each day of Advent, a new ornament or symbol is added to the tree, each one corresponding to the story of our Faith.
The Crib
A staple of every Irish household and church in the past, the practice of displaying the nativity scene has waned in many places in recent years. The first nativity scene is credited to St Francis of Assisi and goes back nearly 1000 years, so to set your own up is to imitate the spiritual steps of the saint as he attempted to home in one the event from which Christmas draws its meaning.
Inspired by his trip to the Holy Land, St Francis created the scene in an attempt to draw attention to the worship of Christ and did so by recreating the incarnational scene to the best of his ability.
From Assisi, the practice has spread all over the world, but the Irish tradition has certain customs attached to it. It was traditionally understood that to take straw from the scene, particularly from the infant’s crib itself, and to keep it in your pocket was to ensure you’d never be without money throughout the year. Further to this, if holly or ivy were taken and kept in the house, it was said that you’d have comfort and luck for the duration of the year. With Ireland’s Celtic roots, it’s no surprise items of nature such as straw, holly and ivy were imbued with meaningful properties.
Carol singing
Perhaps an outlandish suggestion but getting family and/or friends together, whether by Zoom or otherwise, to sing Christmas carols provides ample opportunity to raise spirits that have been set low by the heavy events of the year.
Ireland has a rich musical history, and this extends into Christmas carols. Curoo, Curoo, The Wexford Carol, Christmas in Killarney and Once in Royal David’s City are songs with tangible connections to Ireland, all shrouded in one degree of fame or another.
A famous quote says that “he who sings prays twice,” and if this is true, there’s no better way to bind a family together spiritually in the approach to Christmas.
St Nicholas Day
An oft-forgotten feast day as Christmas approaches, St Nicholas used to have a larger place in the mind of the Faithful. Conflated as he is now with Santa Claus, the original St Nicholas and his celebration has dropped out of circulation in some places entirely.
Little enough is known about the historical St Nicholas, but many legends have cropped up around him – from his attested miracles, to punching the heretic Arius during the First Council of Nicaea. However, it is believed his reputation for gift-giving is the basis for the usual model of Santa Claus.
His feast day celebrated on December 6, it was customary for the children of the house to leave their shoes out overnight in front of the fireplace or windowsill, so that St Nicholas could leave fruits, candies, and other small gifts and treats.
St Therese of Lisieux spoke of this tradition in her famous work The Story of a Soul, saying:
“When I got home from Midnight Mass, I knew that I should find my shoes standing at the fireplace, filled with presents, as I had always done since I was little…Father used to love to see how happy I was and hear my cries of delight as I took each surprise packet from my magic shoes”.
An easy tradition to re-introduce, one with deep roots in both the Church and culture, and one which will be welcomed by any children in the house as the opportunity is seized for further gifts.
Window light
A widespread custom in the Ireland of old was to place a candle in the window on Christmas Eve, for a variety of reason. Some hold that it was for reasons of hospitality; in reparation for the poor welcome the Holy Family received on that night 2000 years ago. The warm light in the window was a symbol of welcome to all those passing by.
Other understandings of the tradition were of a more supernatural bent. Mary was understood to travel the country on Christmas Eve, and those with a lit candle in the window received her blessing. An alternative telling saw the infant Jesus seeking a home, only to find one in houses with candles on display.
Regardless of the reasoning, a flame burning in the window of every house around the country would prove a powerful symbol of Christmas hope as 2020 draws to a close.
The Wren Boys
A tradition typically associated with St Stephen’s Day, December 26 saw the arrival of the Wren Boys in Irish towns and villages.
Wren hunting was an ancient ritual in Ireland, and the original hunts saw the wren killed and hung on a holly bush. The reason for the wren’s punishment was because according to legend, the wren betrayed St Stephen’s hiding place by chattering on the bush where he was hiding, which led to his discovery and subsequent stoning. This is but a loose connection to the story of St Stephen in the New Testament, with the reality of the wren’s unfortunate identity as the target of the hunt likely being connected to Celtic Ireland and its symbolism of the past year.
In more recent times, wrens were not harmed and those who would’ve engaged in the hunt now garb themselves in straw suits and tatty clothes, marching through the streets playing music and making merry.
❛❛Wren hunting was an ancient ritual in Ireland, and the original hunts saw the wren killed and hung on a holly bush”
There were varying degrees of mischief conducted under the cover of this custom, with primary sources from decades past detailing how the Wren Boys would patrol the streets, calling into houses and pubs in search of money. If it was forthcoming, they continued on their way, but if not, they would rush into the house and lay claim to whatever they could.
As the day drew to a close, it wasn’t unheard of for the money to be divided between the roving band, to be spent on alcohol and festivities for the evening.
Women’s Christmas
January 6 most famously marks the feast of the Epiphany, the final day of the Christmas season. It is usually considered the day on which to take down the remaining Christmas decorations, with bad luck threatening those who leave them up.
In Ireland, the feast of the Epiphany had an alternative title: Women’s Christmas or Nollaig namBan in Irish. Women would take this day to rest after all of the work they’d put into the bustling Christmas season. As The Irish Times noted in 1998, “God rested on the seventh day but the women of Ireland didn’t get to do the same until the twelfth and last day of Christmas”. So it was left to the men of the house on this day to take care of the family and carry out what would usually be their wife’s responsibilities.
In some cases, the men would cook the food for their wives, while in others, the women visited each other, taking turns preparing the food. In spite of this, the fare was usually quite simple, with the feast also being known as ‘Little Christmas’. This was a reference to the meekness of the meal, as all of the Christmas food had long been eaten. In an interview with The Irish Times, one woman alluded to a simple slice of currant loaf and a cup of tea among friends.
Christmas day swim
In keeping with the fasting referred to above, another way to introduce a measure of ascetism into what can often be an opulent day is to take part in one of the many Christmas day swims that occur around the country.
On Christmas morning around the country, crowds flock to popular points along the coast to plunge themselves into the icy water surrounding our island. If swimming doesn’t seem too desirable a prospect to you, it makes for a pleasant spectacle on a clear December’s morning.
As mentioned above, the Church has long understood the importance of the link between the spiritual and the physical, and this is another way in which to bring your body under your control. The benefits conferred by exposure to cold-water (health permitting, of course) are numerous: it boosts the immune system, which is particularly important this year, it improves circulation, it burns calories and reduces stress. A rush of endorphins is a sure-fire way to get one of the most important days of the year off to a good start!
These are but a handful of the traditions that our homely little island has to offer, with many changing and taking on various forms in different times and places. With everyone making their way through a season like no other, perhaps it’s time to allow the past to breathe life into the future.