St. John’s Church, Tralee
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Christmas Recalled in Garry MacMahon’s Nostalgic Poem
A Kerry Christmas Childhood
Garry MacMahon
Now I cannot help remembering the happy days gone by,
As Christmastime approaches and the festive season’s nigh.
I wallow in nostalgia when I think of long ago,
And the tide that waits for no man as the years they ebb and flow.
We townies scoured the countryside for holly berries red,
And stripped from tombs green ivy in the graveyard of the dead,
To decorate each picture frame a hanging on the wall,
And fill the house with greenery and brighten winter’s pall,
Putting up the decorations was for us a pleasant chore,
And the crib down from the attic took centre stage once more.
From the box atop the dresser the figures were retrieved,
To be placed upon a bed of straw that blessed Christmas Eve,
For the candles, red crepe paper, round the jamjars filled with sand,
To be placed in every window and provide a light so grand,
To guide the Holy Family who had no room at the inn,
And provide for them a beacon of the fáilte mór within.
The candles were ignited upon the stroke of seven,
The youngest got the privilege to light our way to Heaven,
And the rosary was said as we all got on our knees,
Remembering those who’d gone before and the foreign missionaries.
Ah, we’d all be scrubbed like new pins in the bath before the fire
And, dressed in our pyjamas of tall tales we’d never tire,
Of Cuchlainn, Ferdia, The Fianna, Red Branch Knights,
Banshees and Jack o Lanterns, Sam Magee and Northern Lights
And we’d sing the songs of Ireland, of Knockanure and Black and Tans,
And the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wran.
Mama and Dad they warned us as they gave each good night kiss,
If we didn’t go to sleep at once then Santa we would miss,
And the magic Christmas morning so beloved of girls and boys,
When we woke to find our dreams fulfilled and all our asked for toys,
But Mam was up before us the turkey to prepare,
To peel the spuds and boil the ham to provide the festive fare.
She’d accept with pride the compliments from my father and the rest.
“Of all the birds I’ve cooked,” she’s say, “ I think that this year’s was the best.”
The trifle and plum pudding, oh, the memories never fade
And then we’d wash the whole lot down with Nash’s lemonade.
St. Stephen’s Day brought wrenboys with their loud knock on the door,
To bodhrán beat and music sweet they danced around the floor’
We, terror stricken children, fled in fear before the batch,
And we screamed at our pursuers as they rattled at the latch.
Like a bicycle whose brakes have failed goes headlong down the hill
Too fast the years have disappeared. Come back they never will.
Our clan is scattered round the world. From home we had to part.
Still we treasure precious memories forever in our heart.
So God be with our parents dear. We remember them with pride,
And the golden days of childhood and the happy Christmastide.
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More Fairytale of New York windows
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Cookery Book Memories
Memories of Maura Laverty and her complete guide to good cooking, Full and Plenty, bond Irish mothers and daughters still.
Helen Moylan, Judy MacMahon, Bidgetta O’Hanlon all remember their mothers using recipes from this book.
The daughter in today’s Full and Plenty story cherishes the cookery book as a link to her mother but for a different reason.
Carmel Hanrahan told me her mother daughter Full and Plenty story.
Carmel’s parents, John and Breda Hanrahan at a social in the 1950s.
Breda bought her copy of Maura Laverty’s book in 1960. She wrote her name and the date she bought it on the flyleaf. This is precious to Carmel because it was just 2 months before she was born.
Carmel was only two weeks old when her mother passed away. So Carmel has no memories of her mother making the recipes. She treasures the book and she herself uses it.
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Christmas Stories from the Schools Folklore Collection
Christmas Day
Christmas comes but once a year;
When it comes it brings good cheer,
When it goes it leaves us here,
And what will we do for the rest of the year.
When Christmas morning dawns everyone is up early and goes to early Mass, and many receive Holy Communion. When people meet on their way to Mass their salutes to each other are:- “A happy Christmas to you” and the reply is – “Many happy returns”. The children are all anxiety to see what Santa Claus has brought them.
When Mass and breakfast are over the children play with their toys while the elders are busy preparing the Christmas dinner.
The chief features of an Irish Christmas dinner are – roast turkey, or goose and a plum pudding. The remainder of the day is spent in the enjoyment and peace of the home, and the family circle.
Christmas customs vary from country to country but the spirit of Christmas is the same the wide world over. It is the time of peace, and it is also the feast for the children, because it was first the feast of the Child Jesus who was born in Bethlehem nearly two thousand long years ago.
Collector Máighréad Ní Chearbhaill- Address, Ballybunnion, Co. Kerry. Teacher: Máire de Stac.
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In the year 1839 on little Christmas night there was a fierce storm. The people were very happy and enjoying Christmas ; they had the Christmas candles lighted and the night was very calm. At ten o’clock they went to look at the cows and took lighted splinters as candles were very scarce in those days. It was so calm that the splinter kept lighting till they had secured the cattle for the night. Afterwards they went to bed, and were sound asleep when the storm arose at midnight. It was so bad that the people ran out of the houses. The houses were thrown down, cowstalls were flying half a mile away, and cattle were bellowing with no roof over them. The people were screaming for help, and tried to hold on to each other, and were very much exhausted.
The storm lasted from twelve o’clock at night till seven in the morning. Then the people collected and made up little houses that they could sleep in, until a time came when they were able to build their houses once more. Afterwards when people talked of it they used to call it the night of the Big Wind.
Pat Stack, Told by Nurse Stack, Newtownsandes, 62 years.
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Holly
Picture and text from Killarney Outlook online, December 2024
Saving the Holly
By Anne Lucey
The Brehon Laws had particular provision for the Holly Tree. So it is good to see the reminder from the Killarney National Park not to decimate this ancient tree.
The holly was one of the seven noble trees – along with oak, hazel, yew, ash, scots pine, and wild apple.
Cúchulainn made his carriage and spear shafts from the slow growing cuileann tree with the white wood. During the winter, then as now, birds visiting and native, survived on it.
Not only birds – the badgers, pine marten and wood mice – and the squirrel if he woke up feed on it.
The national park has an interesting line on the spikey leaves – these mainly occur at lower levels.
“If you look closely next time you see a holly tree, you might notice that they also produce many leaves without spikes, these are normally up higher up in the branches of the tree.”
The tree was seen as a fertility symbol and a charm against bad luck. The druids and Celts brought evergreens into their homes during the winter, believing that the plant’s ability to keep its leaves was magical and assured the return of spring. It was thought to be unlucky to cut down a holly tree, the park tells us.
But it wasn’t just “luck” that preserved the trees – many of which are hundreds of years old. The sophisticated Brehon laws had a penalty for cutting down holly. You could be fined two cows and a heifer for cutting a holly down on your own land. If you cut the branch of a neighbour’s holly the fine was a yearling heifer.
The national park is warning against collecting holly or other greenery from the park for Christmas decorations. I have news for them: the holly around Mangerton is nearly gone already. So, they might want to go back to the Brehon laws and confiscate a few cows!
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A Fact
Nelson Mandela was not removed from the terrorist watch list in the U.S. until 2008
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