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1 Fermanagh: Mirth, music and mumming
Mumming is a tradition consigned to history in many parts of Ireland but some communities including Aughakillymaude Community Mummers in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, have not let this unique custom disappear.
“Mumming is a tradition where a group of people dress in disguise and visit homes in the community around Christmas time to sing and perform the mummers’ play,” explains Brian McManus, chairperson of the Aughakillymaude Community Association.
“The word ‘mummer’ means masked or masking, which is why people dress up in straw costumes. The play is about a battle between St George of England and St Patrick of Ireland,” says Brian. “And within that play, there’s the theme of life, death and rebirth. There’s music, song, dance.
“Mumming came into Ireland hundreds of years ago with King Henry’s soldiers and it would appear this tradition was used to entertain the people of Dublin,” recalls Brian. “They brought their Christmas message of greetings and goodwill.”
Derrylin also boasts Europe’s only Mummers Museum. “The nearest opposition we have is Philadelphia,” says Brian, laughing. “So it does not affect us too badly.”
2 Cork: Christmas smells like spiced beef
Tom Durcan Meats is an award-winning butchers in Cork city, famous for their 100% Irish meat, and especially, their spiced beef. Tom explains that the tradition of spiced beef goes back centuries and originates in Cork.
“Cork was a merchant shipping harbour and before refrigeration, they couldn’t carry meat for a long time on boats. But they found when they salted and spiced it, it lasted longer. So they spiced beef to go onto boats. That’s where spiced beef originated from.
“Spiced beef is cured for four or five days and marinated in spices for about a month or two,” says Tom.
“Nutmeg, cloves, every Christmas smell you could think of is in it. People get it before Christmas and have it as an extra on Christmas Day with turkey and ham.”
Tom Durcan Meats have won several Craft Butcher Awards and Blas na hÉireann Food Awards for their spiced beef.
“Since we started slicing, packing and selling it in the supermarkets, you can get it anywhere,” says Tom. “I’m sending spice beef all over. I had a guy in Hong Kong who wanted spiced beef for Christmas.”
3 Kerry: The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
Wren’s Day, which takes place on 26 December, sees the streets of Dingle brandishing their colours and parading through the town with music and cheer.
Artie Clifford, chairperson of Blas na hÉireann Food Awards, says Wren’s Day in Dingle is about tradition and community.
“It’s a huge affair. Even people away for Christmas would be back in Dingle for Wren’s Day,” says Artie.
“People from the different districts in Dingle – the Quay, Goat Street, Sráid Eoin, and the Green and Gold – dress up in their respective colours. There are drums, the fife and tin whistles. Traditionally musicians would accompany in costumes made of straw. But now anything goes,” says Artie.
“The wren is about disguising yourself. It’s an old Celtic tradition. The story of the wren is that he gave away the hiding place of St Stephen.
“The wren sang and everybody discovered this fella, so that’s why they’re going to kill this wren.
“We have a tradition for the earliest parades in the country,” says Artie.
“Bands march around the town all day long, stop at members’ houses along the route for sandwiches, and the tradition now is for the wrens to visit West Kerry Community Hospital.”
4 Galway: Ballach Buí in Inis Mór
Áine Uí Fhlatharta, one of the coordinators of Bailiúchán Béaloidis Árann, a collection of island folklore by Inis Mór islanders, says that a tradition on Inis Mór is eating salted white fish on Christmas Eve.
Áine recalls the age-old method for preparing the dish.
“There used to be a whole procedure involved in it. They would catch the fish on the currach [traditional fishing boat from the Aran islands], a lot of pollock, a lot of ling. Then they’d put them up on the stone walls to dry properly. After that, they’d store them in dried fern, before removing them and putting them in cold water overnight to extract some of the salt.”
“I remember collecting them off the top of the walls, they would be lined with fish,” recalls Áine. “And this was in every house.”
When it comes to the eating, salted fish is served with white sauce and potatoes. Áine says that big flowery potatoes would be saved for Christmas Eve, and served with the fish in a traditional skib basket, a ciseog.
5 Tipperary: Taste the recipes of the past
Collared head is a special Christmas tradition in Co Tipperary, says Peter Ward who owns Country Choice Gourmet Food Shop & Deli in Nenagh with his wife, Mary.
“Collared head is an old-fashioned cold meat,” Peter explains. “I see references to it in lots of old manuscripts going back to the 1700s.”
Hailing from Co Meath, Peter only started to make it when he moved to Nenagh. “Mary’s mother and Mary’s grandmother made it. When I came here, I continued the tradition.”
“Take two half pigs heads, and an ox’s tongue. Cook them in a saucepan with some onions and bay leaves for about four and a half hours, until the pigs’ heads float,” Peter instructs. “Then leave it half an hour sitting in the water. Remove them carefully and place on the tray.”
Peter says the hardest job is then skinning the pig’s head and removing the fat from the ox’s tongue.
The meat is mixed by hand, spiced, and left to rest in a porcelain bowl lined with bay leaves and a cup of the stock.
“The next day you dome it out and that’s your Christmas Eve supper” Peter says. “We eat it with a griddle cake and some good butter, and a redcurrant jelly.”
6 Belfast: Here Comes Black Santa
This year marks the 48th year of the Black Santa Appeal in Belfast, Co Antrim.
“The Black Santa Appeal is a tradition embedded in the psyche of Belfast now,” says the Very Rev Stephen Forde, Dean of Belfast Cathedral.
“Black Santa was started by Dean Sammy Crooks in 1976 to raise money for charity in the days leading up to Christmas.”
Dean Forde is the fifth Black Santa and he will be outside St Anne’s Cathedral until Christmas Eve with his Black Santa Barrel.
“The Black Santa Barrel was made from a Bushmills Whiskey Barrel. It’s been used through all the years.”
Dean Forde says people are very generous with their donations.
“Sometimes people gather up all their pennies through the year. Once somebody gave us a brown paper bundle of £10,000 (€12,100).”
In 2023, Black Santa raised £171,000 (€207,000) over 10 days. The funds go to small local charities that apply for support, with 10% going directly to an area of need selected by the Dean.
“This year it’s focused on charities which support families who have autistic children or teenagers, and on the situation of homelessness in Belfast, particularly those people with a lived experience of care.”
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