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To our Families and Many Friends
We Want to Wish You and Yours
a Season filled with much
Happiness, Health, Peace and Love.

May The Spirit Of The Season
Be With You Each and Everyday

In the Irish language Christmas is called "Nollaig"
and a distinctive feature of an Irish Christmas is the large

Candle Placed in a Window 

It takes only one small candle to show you the way.
It takes just a kind word to help someone today.
Reach out to others, show that you care .
For like a burning candle ~ It may not always be there.

The Candle is lighted on Christmas Eve. According to one belief, the candle long served
as a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph who sought shelter in vain on that first Christmas Eve.
The ceremony of lighting the candle is one of a simple ancient ritual during which prayers are said
for the departed and the privilege of lighting the candle is usually given to a daughter named Mary.
(Another tradition is that the candle be lighted by the youngest member of the family
and snuffed out only by someone named Mary). 

For centuries it has been a practice in Ireland to set the kitchen table after the evening meal
on Christmas Eve. On it is a loaf of bread, a pitcher of milk and a large lit candle. 
The door is left unlatched. Thus, hospitality is extended to the Holy Family
or to any traveler that might be on the road. Also it is said that the candles were
"kindled to guide the angels who on Christmas night direct the New Born from the Heavens". 

The story of the abiding religious faith to which this nation has clung to so strongly for centuries
is reflected in the symbolism of the lighted candle in the window, 
which spells out the simple beauty of the the Christmas story. 

This flickering symbol also served as a signal in times past to any priest seeking shelter 
and protection that he was always welcomed in this house and that it was safe to say Mass there.
The candles in a window on Christmas Eve is a welcome to friends and wayward travelers.

Holly Wreaths

The glossy-leaved holly with it's clusters of red berries, popular as a door decoration
in North America can be traced to early settlers from the south of Ireland.
They came to the United States during the Potato Famine.
Holly grows wild in the south of Ireland and at Christmas time
houses are lavishly decorated with holly. 


The History of the Christmas Carol 
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" 

 During the centuries when it was a crime to be Catholic and to practice one's faith, 
in public or private, in Ireland "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as a "catechism song"
to help young Catholics learn the beliefs of their faith. 

It was a memory aid-when being caught with anything in writing indicating adherence 
to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged.  
The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. 
The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God himself. 
The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. 
A Partridge in a pear tree = Jesus Christ, the son of God. 

Two turtle doves = The Old and New Testaments 

Three french hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the theological virtues 

Four calling birds = The four Gospels and / or the four Evangelists

Five golden rings = The first five books of the Old Testament (The Pentateuch) 

Six geese a-laying = Six days of creation 

Seven swans a swimming = The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven Sacraments 

Eight maids a-milking = The eight Beatitudes 

Nine ladies dancing = The nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
(sometimes also listed as the nine classifications of angels). 

Ten lords a-leaping = The Ten Commandments 

Eleven pipers pipering = The eleven faithful apostles 

Twelve drummers drumming = The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed 

So, how do you say Merry Christmas in Irish, you ask? 

Nollaig Shona Dhuit


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