Soon autumn will come to an end and winter will come, and it won’t be long until the New Year. It's time to start preparing for fun and holidays. If you want to meet this New Year unusual, somewhere to go, then this article will be very useful, because... will tell you how the New Year is celebrated in Ireland, which you can also consider for a trip.

Ireland - religious

History and culture of Ireland

It is worth noting that in Ireland they honor old traditions, because... This country is quite religious. It is for this reason that your New Year in Ireland will be partly mystical, woven from unusual details. No one will argue that our holiday is not devoid of magic, because... Santa Claus and Baba Yaga cannot be called ordinary characters. So in this regard, there are even similarities with our homeland.

Irish New Year Traditions

There was a lot of fortune telling in Ireland. So, little girls usually put various herbs under their pillows on New Year's Eve. This could be ivy, mistletoe, lavender or clover. Why are they doing this? To see your lover. After all, it is believed that only on this night the betrothed will come in a dream. What can you imagine on a magical, wondrous night, and even drowning in lavender aromas. The New Year's feast takes place in the family circle at home. This holiday helps strengthen families, add comfort to every home, and also increase prosperity. An excellent sign among the Irish is to treat their neighbors, and even ordinary strangers passersby, with delicacies. This tradition is wonderful, because... helps to share your mood and joy with people around you.

Modern New Year in Ireland

For many years in Ireland the holiday has been noisy and fun, all generations adhere to this wonderful mood. It is customary to greet the new countdown in the main squares throughout the country, and then everyone disperses to fairs and street concerts. There is an atmosphere of joy and happiness in the air.

What can you say about Irish hospitality?

To get rid of failures and problems, the Irish open their windows and doors. If you pass by such a house and go in, you will be joyfully received and seated at the table with everyone to celebrate. In part, we can say that the Irish and I are similar in hospitality. So the advice would be this: if you drop by someone with something tasty, you will certainly be welcome.

New Year's treats in Ireland

The Irish table is bursting with all kinds of dishes - traditional Irish or European - everything is presented in great abundance. The tables are stunningly decorated and delight not only the stomach, but also the eye. There are baked goods, meat and poultry dishes, and sweets on the table.

Seed cake

Every Irish New Year's feast can have anything, but one dish is on every table in everyone's home - seed cake. This could be a cupcake or cookies with cumin seasoning. This dish is traditional and has amazing taste. When in Ireland you should definitely try this delicious dish and have fun. Also, traditionally 3 puddings are prepared for each holiday - New Year and Christmas, Epiphany Eve.

What could be more long-awaited and joyful than? Some unknown force makes us feel like children for several weeks, looking forward to a winter fairy tale and the performance of cherished desires. The spirit of Christmas is especially felt in Old Europe. Today we will walk through the Christmas streets of Ireland and learn about the features of the Celtic style of this sacred Christian holiday.

Irish Christmas decorations

Starting from Advent (the time 4 weeks before Christmas), a “great cleansing” is carried out in every house, which is associated not only with fasting, but also with putting the home and the surrounding area in order. Housewives polish the dishes to a shine, polish the furniture, clean the walls and wash the floors of the houses, creating absolute cleanliness and comfort. All outbuildings whitened with lime, creating the feeling of fallen snow. The heart of any Irish home, the fireplace, is decorated with hollies, which perfectly refresh the room with their green carved leaves with rosettes of round red berries inside. A branch of mistletoe is hung in the doorway of the front door, which is a symbol of life and light. According to tradition, kissing under the mistletoe brings happiness in love.

A special event is the lighting of candles. They are lit every evening and placed on the windowsills. Red candles are considered symbolic, lighting the path for every passerby. They take us back to the time of Mary and Joseph, and represent their journey during the period of seeking refuge. In each house there is a small place where bread and milk are placed. This is a frugal dinner that was offered to Jesus' parents on the eve of his birth. The tradition of the “Light in the Window” has changed somewhat recently, and many Irish people willingly use electric garlands made in the form of candles.

Photo: Christmas holidays in Ireland

The Advent calendar occupies a special place in the house. Currently, the main admirers of this religious symbol are children. Every day during Advent, they open the window of a calendar, often shaped like a cardboard house, and receive a poem, image or part of a story dedicated to the main religious events of the Christmas period. For those who want to pamper their children a little, calendars are available for sale, in the windows of which sweets and toys also appear.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

The Christmas holidays in Ireland begin on December 24th. A significant event of this day is the Christmas liturgy. Returning from church, the household ends the day with a modest dinner consisting of Irish coffee and richly flavored buns. Now there is a little work left, which is usually done by children. They all know that without gratitude and treats, you cannot count on gifts from Santa. That's why they leave treats under the tree that night: cookies for both Santa and his faithful helpers - the reindeer. After that, everyone goes to bed peacefully.

Photo: Christmas holidays in Ireland

In the early morning of December 25, children run to the fireplace, squealing and screaming with joy. Scattered ashes are the first sign that Santa visited them at night, and there is hope of finding gifts under the tree. Finding nibbled carrots and bitten off cookies further convinces children that a surprise awaits them. And then, next to an empty glass of milk, they find several signed boxes, which they eagerly begin to open.

After inspecting the gifts and small household chores, the entire Irish family is either preparing to go on a holiday dinner or is expecting to receive guests. All this is carefully discussed and agreed upon before the start of the holidays. Between 13-00 and 15-00 the Christmas table is set, amazing with its abundance of all kinds of dishes. The main representatives on the menu, as always, remain baked or fried goose, and Christmas pudding. They are also just as popular as turkey and ham pie, mashed potatoes, herb and cranberry sauce. All this is complemented by a large number of different fruits and strong drinks for adults.

Photo: Christmas holidays in Ireland

The Christmas feast is a great opportunity to be with family, enjoy socializing with friends and enjoy a special atmosphere of well-being and peace.

Christmas holidays continue

The first day of Christmas is coming to an end, but the holidays are not over and promise many more interesting events.

December 26 is a religious holiday known as Wren's Day or St. Stephen's Day. According to legend, Saint Stephen, fleeing from his enemies, hid in a small depression under a tree. But the wren sitting on it began to sing, thereby attracting the attention of its pursuers. Thus, the bird gave away the location of Stephen, who after his death was recognized as a great martyr. In past centuries, wrens were destroyed, but recently the killing of birds has stopped. It is symbolically reflected in the procession in which, pretending to be a bird, a man catches a wren. To do this, young people, dressed in straw outfits, paint their faces with black paint so as not to reveal their true intentions. In the countryside, young men go from house to house, singing the song of the wren and performing little pantomimes. In their hands they hold a pole with an image of a bird attached to the top. The whole point of performing is to get money for your performances, which is necessary to bury the “dead bird”.

Photo: Christmas holidays in Ireland

The atmosphere of festive mood delights the Irish until January 6th. This day is celebrated; it is also called the Feast of the Magi and Little Christmas. This day ends the long Christmas holidays, the tinsel and decorations are cleared away until next year. The bright lights are removed, leaving the streets cold on long winter nights. But this evening there is still a reason for joy - a festive dinner, at which the whole family gathers before the next fruitful year.

Traditional Christmas in Ireland has a special appeal. The smell of holly and fir branches, the sweet taste of plum pudding, the splendor of glowing decorations - all this is an unforgettable festival of joy and fun, filling the soul with happiness and peace.

Merry Christmas 2012! Merry Christmas in Ireland and beyond! So I, coming from a country with an Orthodox Church, celebrated my first Catholic Christmas in a Catholic country :) I celebrated this warm, homely holiday at home with my neighbors - Tatiana from Moldova and Maria from Romania.

It all started with serious preparatory purchases of all kinds of delicious food, since most of the stores (or even probably all) were already closed at midday on December 24, and were closed for the next two days - December 25 and 26. So it was necessary to think about the food supply taking into account such a work schedule :)

Personally, as always, whether it was necessary or not, I stocked up on groceries in the neighboring area of ​​Swords. Once upon a time, in my review of this area, I wrote not positive, to put it mildly, reviews of the impressions associated with visiting it (Swords, Co Dublin, Ireland). But oddly enough, although the area is not known for being calm in terms of the crime situation among the locals, Swords turned out to be much more suitable for everyday life than my lovely village of Malahide. An abundance of inexpensive supermarkets (deserve my special attention in view low prices And high quality— Lidl (a supermarket chain from Germany)), many diversified shops and so on, allow you to realize all your ideas within one settlement, plus everything has very reasonable prices and there is a choice, since each area of ​​activity, be it a hairdressing salon or a medical clinic, has several representatives, each of whom is eager to get you as their client in any possible way :)

Christmas 2012 in Malahide, Ireland

That's how it was this time - after spending more than one hour in different stores in Swords, I thoroughly prepared for the upcoming holidays in terms of food supplies. I also had a lot of luck with the bus - I only had to wait about 15 minutes, since usually, by the will of fate, I wait much longer for it :) But I was also lucky with another driver not from this route, who again shortchanged me on the fare - well Of course, he gave me more than he was worth before I stopped, for which later, when I got out, he sincerely and profusely apologized. By the way, I’ve noticed here more than once that this is some kind of national disaster - time after time they charge you different prices for the same route! This is all thanks to them, of course. smart system payment for travel, but, as they say, to a foreign monastery with its own charter...

Having reached home and sorted out my treasure, I just had time to catch my breath a little when my neighbor from Moldova returned from Dublin with the same bags of purchases and we decided to start preparing together for the Christmas table, the main dish of which was decided to make cabbage rolls! We were so carried away by this matter that we foolishly mastered two whole sauerkrauts from a Polish store in part cabbage leaves and as a result, we made almost two pans of cabbage rolls, which for the second day in a row after Christmas we have been wonderfully enjoying for breakfast, lunch and dinner :)

On Christmas day

Directly on Christmas Day itself, we wonderfully threw gifts under the Christmas tree for each other, then we sorted them out and looked at them :) Everything turned out very much like home - funny and at the same time sincere and pleasant! Having completed all the preparatory activities, we decided to get out somewhere - like go to Dublin, watch folk festivals... Pardon the pun, but - we don’t care! As the sites showed railway and buses - they don't have routes for Christmas!!! Of course, there are events - from 14 to 16 in Dublin the mayor was supposed to congratulate the townspeople, but to get to the mayor - only on your own two feet or by taxi. The first is unrealistically long and far - 12 km. to Dublin from my Malahide. Secondly, I won’t say that it’s not realistic, but it’s expensive: by taxi to Dublin and back to Malahide - at least 50 euros! In short, as a result, we just went for a walk around Malahide, which has really died out - so here Christmas is a family holiday and everyone spends time on this day with their family at the table and TV in long and sweet conversations.

After the walk, we also celebrated Christmas wonderfully and cheerfully in our international company - a Ukrainian, a Moldovan and a Romanian.

Photos and videos of Christmas in Ireland

You can see how it all happened in person in this small photo album:

The Christmas mood reigns everywhere, the streets are lit up, there are live Christmas trees everywhere, people wish each other a Merry Christmas, and in the shops from the early morning of December 24th there is such a crowd that it seems that this is the last day when you can buy anything. At six in the evening all shops close, no one works on December 25, alcohol must be purchased in advance.

UKROP shares a Christmas photo report by Marina Lystseva.

1. Almost every resident tries to decorate their home for Christmas with bright garlands on the windows and Christmas paraphernalia. And some residents approach their business so responsibly that people from all over the area come to see their house.

2. We also came to look at one of these houses. Of course, they didn’t go inside - it’s private property.

3. Mailbox.

4. The owners did their best - there is artificial snow, a nativity scene, and reindeer with Santa on the roof. One can only imagine what the electricity bill will be like later...

5. Our house looks more modest, but among the neighbors it is the brightest.

6. Inside, everything is already prepared for the outing to meet Santa.

7. Santa usually lands on the roof, descends into the fireplace through the chimney and leaves gifts under the tree.

8. In the evening, the children prepare milk and cookies for grandfather, and carrots for the deer. There is also a tradition of leaving a glass of Irish coffee under the Christmas tree.

9. The children go to bed and Christmas night arrives. Particularly cunning children are warned that if they watch for Santa, he will be easily scared away.

10. In the morning we get up before the children, but the cats wake up even earlier. Martella hypnotizes, “Let me go for a walk already.”

12. The first thing you need to do is check the plate and mug. The cookies are bitten, the carrots are nibbled, the milk is drunk, there are marks and ashes scattered around the fireplace. Dad has to clean up after Santa.

13. The main action is getting gifts from under the tree! Each wrapped gift is labeled to avoid any confusion.

14. The animals got New Year's costumes. The cats didn’t really like them, and the dog walked like this all day.

15. After breakfast we went for a couple of hours to Dublin for a walk. Many cars perform in the reindeer race.

16. For 21 euros you could also buy a Christmas sweater with a pompom in place of the nose.

17. In the middle of the day we go to visit another family for Christmas dinner.

18. Several mixed families from Russia, Ukraine and Ireland gathered here. The main dish is roasted turkey with apples, which is waiting for its turn.

19. Traditionally, turkey is served with Brussels sprouts, which almost no one eats because... in Ireland they have been stuffed with it since childhood. We killed her with pleasure.

20. One more thing traditional dish- boiled carrot puree.

21. The chief is ready for surgery!

22. Stuffed with herbs potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, black pudding fried in bacon, pork roll baked in pork skin and fried until crisp, idea with choice of apple or cranberry sauce.

Children have juice, adults have champagne, wine and cognac. The dog suffered under the table all evening. Because it is not customary to feed animals.

23. For dessert - traditional, again, pudding with scoops of ice cream.

This is how Christmas is celebrated in Ireland.

“Christmas is approaching, the goose is getting fat.

Please put a penny in the old man's hat.

If you don't have a penny, then at least half a penny.

If you don't have half a penny, God bless you!

Christmas in Ireland is a great celebration that is much more of a religious festival than an opportunity to have fun. Christmas begins on December 24th with Christmas Eve and lasts until December 6th, but Epiphany in Ireland is called “Little Christmas”.

The Irish place lit red candles on the windowsills of their homes to light the way for anyone passing by on Christmas Eve. It harkens back to the Irish tradition of hospitality. Today the Irish use electric garlands candles due to safety reasons. The "light in the window" symbolizes the journey of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge, a "room" in which bread and milk were prepared for Jesus' parents in Irish homes. Irish women bake poppy seed cakes and prepare three puddings for Christmas, New Year and Twelfth Night.

The Christmas season actually begins with Advent (November 28th in 2010). The time of arrival, the time of waiting, is dedicated to “purification”, when believers observe fasting. Housewives wash and clean their houses, dishes, furniture, all nooks and crannies until they shine, whitewash outbuildings, and tidy up the surroundings. Fireplaces in Irish houses are decorated with holly, and it is customary to hang a sprig of mistletoe in the doorway (and kiss under it).

Candles are lit every evening, prayers are said related to the upcoming birth of Christ. Children open windows in the Advent calendar. Today, the Advent calendar is already secular in content and the main recipients are children, they often imagine cardboard houses with many windows, one window opens every day during Advent and a poem, an image, part of a story with religious content is shown, in more elaborate Advent calendars it appears small gift- chocolate or toy.

For centuries, being a Catholic in Ireland and practicing your faith was considered a crime. For this occasion, remember the "Twelve Days of Christmas", Yuletide, and the gifts listed in the song are hidden references to Catholic dogma? It was used as a memorial exercise for those who were secret supporters of Catholicism. The gifts that are listed in the song are hidden references to Catholic dogma. Today, some aspects of the Twelve Days of Christmas are still celebrated.

Boxing Day, December 26th, is a national holiday as it is the first day of Christmas. In Ireland, gifts are given great importance. The Irish are very generous people by nature, and if it is at all possible, then no one in Ireland will be left without a gift on a holiday. Gifts (usually money) are given to people who perform various services throughout the year: for example, the person who brings milk, the postman.

It is enough to visit relatives to plunge into the festive atmosphere, when everyone, both children and adults, unpack their gifts, admire and admire them, and try on new clothes. The gifts are stacked on a Christmas tree, decorated with tinsel, beautiful balls, and garlands. Gifts are opened on Christmas morning, not before! As in many countries, it is very important for families to be together during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

People sing Christmas carols, eat roast goose or other stuffed poultry with fried potatoes and delicious cranberry sauce, spiced beef, traditional Christmas pudding (plum pudding). Christmas lunch takes place between 13:00 and 15:00. There is also a festive menu for the whole day. Poultry soup with vegetables, sometimes a juicy turkey and ham pie with layers of mashed potatoes and gravy. Plum pudding cooked in large quantities butter in a heavy frying pan.

Christmas crackers or Christmas bon-bons are an integral part of Christmas celebrations. They are on the table during lunch. The cracker is pulled by two people, it breaks, slams, and one person who had the long part in his hands gets the contents - a paper cap, a small toy and a riddle.

December 26th is known as Boxing Day, St. Stephen's Day or Wren's Day. Saint Stephen is a Christian martyr, but how a small sweet-voiced bird is connected with him can be found out from legend.

According to ancient legend The wren represents the old year, which dies when winter begins to take its toll. Then it is replaced by a robin, representing the new year and the returning winter. The robin in this legend kills the wren, thus announcing the death of the old and the birth of the new.

The legend tells how Saint Stephen went into hiding and hid from his enemies, but a wren sitting on a nearby tree attracted the attention of Stephen's enemies with his singing.

There is also a legend with a purely Irish character, about the Irish who defended their land in the 700s from the Vikings. The wrens flocked to the drums to pick up the bread crumbs left by the soldiers after dinner.

However, other legends are associated with the wren, but how exactly the wren became a central part of Irish custom is not entirely known. In times past, wrens had bad luck because they were killed. Today, the practice of killing has ceased, but processions in which young people dress in straw “clothes” and blacken their faces in order to allegedly capture and kill a bird do take place. Young men in rural areas, walking from house to house, sing the song of the wren and play pantomimes. Pantomime "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Puss in Boots", "Children in the Forest" is always performed on St. Stephen's Day.

They carry a "dead" (artificial or effigy) wren on top of a pole and ask for money to bury the bird. In some places you need to give a wren feather in exchange for money or goodies.

Until Christmas Eve, the streets of Ireland are filled with the buzz and bustle of the holidays; most of the social activity is concentrated in pubs, which is not surprising. Many festive and sporting activities take place on the streets. Almost all pubs and restaurants are closed on Christmas Day, but on Boxing Day or St. Patrick's Day they reopen, although services are limited. Stores open only on December 27th.

The Christmas season in Ireland ends on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany or the Feast of the Magi (Little Christmas). On this day, all the Christmas decorations are removed and the family gathers for a festive dinner.

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