Little Christmas/Women's Christmas

Precious flower · 31-12-2013 4:33am

Heard of it, but I've never heard\seen of people celebrating it!

grenache · 31-12-2013 4:39am

It's celebrated in West Limerick anyway. My mum has gone out on a girls only night on January 6th in the past.

Seaneh · 31-12-2013 4:43am

Grew up in Athlone, family is half dub.

The only mention I ever heard of the 6th of January was that Italians get their presents from Befana on that day.

No woman in my family ever celebrated "little christmas" or "Nollaig na mBan" and to be honest I didn't have a notion it was actually a done thing until this thread.

Napper Hawkins · 31-12-2013 10:19am

"Never heard of it" needs to be added to the poll.

ZzubZzub · 31-12-2013 10:25am

I've heard of it, but had never celebrated it. That is, until I told my fiancé (an Englishman who'd never heard of it) it's a big holiday in the Irish calendar. He knows I was only havin him on, but we celebrate it every year now!!

.jacksparrow. · 02-01-2014 8:27pm

Is it still Xmas or what? Loads still have trees up etc but who is still celebrating like it's xmas?

This 6th of January lark needs to be stopped and everything took down New years day.

rubberdungeon · 02-01-2014 8:31pm

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

6th January = Epiphany
6th January = Little Christmas
6th January = 12th day of Christmas
6th January = Women's Christmas
6th January = day the decs come down

It's a wonderful feast day! Packs it all in!

Munster women seem to have spread the feast day to Dublin, which was how I got to hear of it.

6th January = the day the children around here go back to school, always thought they were off on January 6th.

iguana · 02-01-2014 8:48pm

Mint Aero wrote: »

Seriously?! does it not exist outside Munster? Does that mean we're inbred?

Anyway, yeah it's sad if such traditions die out so quick once entering the pale. It's not exactly a big country so how would one not know about it from past Christmases....from literature or from film/television even?

I'm from Limerick, I'm 35 and it's not something I'd ever heard of it until a few years ago when my parents became good friends with some people from Cork. My parents hadn't ever heard of it before that either. It's a localised tradition, not a national one.

wow sierra · 02-01-2014 8:49pm

Chucken wrote: »

My best friend used to organise us for it. It was basically a meal and then hit as many pubs as possible. There would be 10-15 of us just having fun.

I haven't been on one since 2006 because my best friend went and died on us 6 years ago today at the grand old age of 46.

I miss her

That's very sad - but maybe it would be nice to revive it in her honour. Get together on the 6th and remember her in a positive way by talking about the fun nights ye had.

Like someone else said this can be a sad time of year so anything positive to liven things up is good.

I don't really celebrate it as Women's Christmas myself but I know lots who do in Dublin. When I was a child we celebrated it as a family and lit 12 Candles and each person picked a candle to see which one would last longer. The person whose candle lasted longest would live longest. It was the last day of Christmas and the day you took down the decorations.

Cork Lass · 02-01-2014 9:15pm

I'm in Cork and celebrate this every year. About 12 or so friends meet for a meal and a few drinks - nothing extreme and definitely not a strip show. We always have a great time but this year we will be missing one as one of the group died last Feb. We will remember her on the night and will have a toast in her honour. This is a tradition that I love and will always make an effort to continue it..

sporina · 06-01-2018 9:57pm

never heard of this till i moved to Cork but I believe that it was a tradition all over Ireland back in the day - seems to be celebrated only/mostly in Cork/Kerry now - I wonder why it faded in other counties - thats if it was ever celebrated elsewhere?

I might do something for it next year - didn't think of it this time around

wakka12 · 06-01-2018 10:00pm

I'd always known about Little christmas but none of my friends did , we live in Dublin,
It was my mam who always talked about 'little christmas' and she's from waterford, so Id say its definitely a munster thing

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-01-2018 10:04pm

Always was a day of note in Louth.

AryaStark · 06-01-2018 10:07pm

Zaph wrote: »

Never heard of it until I met my wife, who's from Cork. I assume it's a Cork/Munster thing. It definitely doesn't exist in Dublin anyway.

My Family is from Dublin and we always celebrated this... my Dad and brothers would do dinner and all the cleaning and the Christmas tree would come down. Definitely does exist in Dublin!

Little Christmas/Women's Christmas

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