A Christmas Message From Gerry Flynn
It’s many years now since I left the west of Ireland (1956 to be precise) and yet I remember with great fondness the traditions of Christmas back ‘home’ like it was yesterday! By the time I was old enough to begin to understand the significance of the festive season and to participate in the planning, it was the late forties, early 1950’s and back then there was a large store house across the road from where I lived and for the month of November and into December there were lots of young people employed plucking turkeys, and Geese for dispatch by post to relations in England and elsewhere. Peering into the plucking room you could seem them sat there up to their knees in feathers and when they left for home in the evening they were all covered in feathers and down!
How the heck they managed to survive the journey (The birds, not the turkey pluckers!!), is anybody’s guess but that dear friends, is one of my memories of that time. And the Christmas tree was also very fashionable back then too, but you couldn’t buy it from B&Q, you had to go and cut it down yourself – without anyone catching you of course! And then the HOLLY! We used to have to search the countryside for the best bushes with the most red berries and because I went to a country school (although we lived in the town) I was under instructions to pick as much holly as I could on the way home. There was holly in the hallway, holly on the stairs, holly behind every picture hanging around the house and holly all over the mantlepiece and then my mother, (God rest her) would plait some of it to hang on the front door. And then we would start hanging up the Christmas cards and back then there seemed to have been hundreds of them because we used to hang them on several strings along the wall. Of course, the most colourful ones, the biggest ones and the most important ones came from America and from England from family, from friends and relations, most of whom you would not hear from again until the following year! Of course, the American cards always contained a few dollars for us the kids, but while I recall getting them, I cannot recall ever being able to spend any and I don’t think we had an account at the bank back then!
I also remember a radio journalist or correspondent called Alistair Cooke who used to have a weekly programme, probably on the BBC called ‘A letter from America’ where he would speak on topical subjects and often with a large slice of humour and I often wondered how his letters were far more entertaining than the ones we got!
Then of course there is the ancient Irish tradition of hanging a light in the window to guide the weary traveler on their way home. We still do this to this day and indeed so do most Irish families! One of the most famous lights in Ireland is the one that shines from an upstairs window at Áras an Uachtaráin. (The house of the President) in Phoenix Park in Dublin. The light is the same symbolic gesture first placed there by President Mary Robinson (a townie of my own), lighting the way for all us Irish emigrants and our descendants welcoming them back on their way home for Christmas. While the tradition dates back centuries, our current President Michael D. Higgins has carried it on and indeed most Irish families around the world do it too! So don’t forget to light your candle this Christmas and if you are passing by Phoenix Park on your way home, be sure to look out for the light!
Mass on Christmas morning was always an exciting affair because for some reason the church was always packed and there seemed to be more people there than at any other time and of course part of the ritual of the church visit that day was a visit to the crib! The baby Jesus only ever appeared there on Christmas morning and to tell you the truth, I think I was well into my teens before I twigged the reason why! After Mass we used to visit the graveyard to lay a wreath or flowers on the graves of our past relations, a genuinely nice reminder that they have not been forgotten!
St. Stephen’s Day, the day after Christmas was also a fun day back home. Although I enjoyed the Straw Boys and the spectacle of groups of men and boys dressed up in old clothes, costumes and sometimes covered in straw walking along the street from house to house playing music, dancing and singing. Back then we knew them as the Wren Boys. Later, I discovered that in more ancient times it involved killing a wren and parading it. Thankfully, this is a practice no longer indulged in and it had something to do with some pagan ritual where this innocent little bird was accused of betraying some king or other!
And so, dear friends, here we are in 2022 and we are looking forward very much to sharing the forthcoming Christmas period with friends and family, and we are equally looking forward to a new and exciting year ahead. We have our regular events coming up soon and in addition we have some new events which we are currently working on for the back end of the year. So, here’s wishing you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a great New Year when we hope to welcome you to some of our events during 2023!