Christmas in Ireland: Irish Customs & Traditions

The holiday season in Ireland is a beautiful and fun-filled affair. There are several events, traditions, and customs during Christmastime which make this an enchanting time of the year.

In many countries, many holiday events occur before Christmas and continue on up until Christmas day, when the festivities end. However, Christmas is different in Ireland. The festivities start very close to Christmas day and continue afterward up until the New Year.

If you're looking to celebrate Christmas in Ireland or are planning on incorporating Irish traditions into holidays in your own country, this guide will show you everything there is to know about Irish Christmas traditions.

Homes in Ireland are fully cleaned from top to bottom in preparation for the Christmas season. Mantles are often decorated with holly and mistletoe is hung in doorways. According to tradition, you're supposed to kiss another while you're under the mistletoe. This tradition is not only popular in Ireland, but in many other countries including the US.

Advent Calendars are a popular item among Irish children. Under each date in this kind of calendar, there is a chocolate. This is a fun way for children to count down the days until Santa comes.

During the holiday season, it is common for families to give a small gift of money to those who perform regular services (such as the postman.)

Ireland is a Roman Catholic country and as with many other Roman Catholic areas of the world, Christmas mass is on the night of Christmas Eve instead of the morning of Christmas.

After dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve, it is common for families to set aside milk and bread (or mince pies and Guinness) as a sign of hospitality. Another tradition is to leave the door unlatched (I don't really recommend it, though.) Before heading off to bed, Irish children put out Christmas sacks for Santa to fill (instead of stockings.)

A lit candle, decorated with sprigs of holly, is left in a window overnight. This is just symbolic, as are many traditions, of the days of yore when candles left in windows would help light the way of any traveler's passing by. Perhaps this tradition relates to setting out a meal of bread and leaving the door unlatched.

As a candle left in a window overnight isn't the safest idea, today many families use an electric candle which plugs into the wall. Electric candles are significantly safer than their wax counterparts.

Nollaig Shona Dhuit (that's 'Merry Christmas' in Irish Gaelic!) Christmas in Ireland is focused more on the religious holiday than the more secular style Christmas celebrated in other countries. That said, children do receive gifts from Santa.

A white Christmas is highly desirable, but snowfall in Ireland is fairly light, so a snow-filled holiday doesn't always happen.

Christmas day is a time for families, so gatherings are often quite large. Dinner is generally served early in the afternoon instead of later at night. The main course of the meal is usually a goose, chicken, or a turkey. Sides include stuffing, gravy, and, of course, potatoes. Dessert is usually a Christmas pudding with a rum-based sauce.

St. Stephen's Day is so close to Christmas that it bears mentioning. This holiday falls on December 26th (this is the same day as Boxing Day in the UK.)

The story goes that a wren gave away St. Stephen's presence when he was hiding away and he was caught and killed. Because of this, "wren boys" go door to door in what is known as the "Wren Boys Procession" caroling for treats while carrying a dead wren on a stick. Today, the wren is a fake and not an actual dead bird.

Christmas in Ireland is a fun-filled time that focuses on families, food, and the religious significance of the holiday. There are many cultural aspects of this holiday as well as age-old traditions that make the Irish celebration of Christmas intriguingly unique and generally a blast.