Irish Days of Note

I've been thinking about holidays in Ireland lately. One, because I told you about our Christmas, but never really shared anything about Christmas in general in Ireland. The second reason was 29 February.

Leap year is noted here, especially for this tradition of it being the day that women can take some initiatives in relationships. I don't remember hearing much about it this in the states, but here I heard it mentioned a couple times. But the way that it was mentioned was most interesting. Twice I heard it put this way, that 29 February is THE day that women are ALLOWED to propose to men (as in marriage proposal). Yes, they said allowed, is in the other 365X4 days between each 29 February, women aren't allowed to propose. I do not think that that is true at all (just found the language interesting). There are many traditional aspects to Irish society, but relationships seem to have left many traditions behind. For instance, there is a very high rate of unmarried couples living together and/or having kids here, which is very interesting for a country where 90% of the people declare themselves to be Catholic.

Back to Christmas. As I mentioned before, the commercial aspect of Christmas is unfortunately very strong here. One of the newer traditions in Ireland is the Christmas toy special. This takes place on a Friday early in December. A regular talk show gives over one of its broadcasts to 3 hours of showing all the latest toys that can be purchased for Christmas. We watched about 20 minutes, which was all that we could take. They have kids on there playing with the toys and giving feedback, which I'm sure is helpful for parents. This starts around 9 pm on the designated Friday, and the amazing thing was all of the people that I heard talking about how they let their young children stay up to watch it, so they could get their Christmas lists together - scary!

Spending Christmas with family is important here with many of my co-workers talking about how upset their moms would be if they didn't spend the night on Christmas - including people who lived within 20 minutes of their parents!

Most of the Christmas songs were what you would hear in the states, but there were a couple additions. Fairytale of New York is big and played often.

The twelve days of Christmas are observed here much more than in the US, with people saying Happy Christmas to one another well into the new year. Also Christmas decorations are not supposed to come down until 6 January (the day after the 12th day of Christmas), which is known as Little Christmas or Women's Christmas. Tradition states that the men take down the Christmas decorations (Women's Christmas because we finally get to relax that day). We didn't follow that tradition in our house, as it just worked out that way, maybe next year.

Easter is also a very important holiday here. Most people get Good Friday and Easter Monday as work holidays. But the commercial aspect is strong for Easter as well. In the shops, every candy bar maker seems to have a version of its candy bar as a huge, gold-wrapped Easter egg. No, I don't think that I'll get a Moro egg, as that would make me never want to eat Moro's again - these eggs are almost as big as your head!

St. Patrick's Day is another work holiday for many people - at least the Monday that falls closest to. Parades are common for St. Patrick's Day, as well as raising a pint or two (not green, hard to colour Guinness). The Waterford parade last year was nice. Very much a hometown feel with scout troops being the most common participants.

The proliferation of cheap St. Patrick's Day decor and costumes was amazing last year. I mean we are supposed to be celebrating the patron saint of the country - bright green cowboy hats (yes, cowboy, as in the American west!) and orange/white/green boas just don't seem right. The best one from last year was a pair of shorts featuring a plastic butt on the back. Printed on the butt in Irish was "kiss my arse." In fairness, it really is mostly the kids who sport these items. Oh, and no pinching if you are not wearing green, that is something us Yanks made up. And no shamrock shake at McDonald's either - my favourite way to mark the day.

Mother's Day in Ireland falls on the first Sunday of March - today! So, a very happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. Special thoughts and love going to our moms, both official and unofficial. Thank you for your love and support!