Don’t forget the true spirit of Christmas

The seasons are turning to winter as I pen this piece. The leaves are lovely array of colours and the sky forms a contrast and blend overall.

There is a coolness in the air and a quietness as decay comes to the vegetation and Halloween is just a week away and the clocks will go back an hour.

Then we turn our thoughts to Christmas and the colour and sound and smell indeed that come with it. There is the feeling or sentiment that comes with the yuletide season too. Be it in town or country there is peace and quietness to the days and feelings of goodwill to our dealings with others and the need to reach out.

What about the Holy Mass and the singing of carols and the words of inspiration from all? I remember reading a self-penned reflection on the meaning of Christmas and it was a real special moment for me. I composed the reflection in my college room in Dublin as I listened to the revellers heading home after the Christmas end-of-term disco.

Going to town for Big Market Monday and again for Christmas Eve were important events in the calendar and ritual of the season. Rambling was still there when I was a youngster and we went to a friend’s house where we listened to music, played cards, and that was our type of rambling house, linking us to traditions dating back over the decades.

Christmas Eve in Ballina was magic as was the fowl market on Big Market Monday or as the Gaelic speakers would call it in the area Luan an Mhargaidh Mhoir. This took place in Hill Street in Ballina and there would be a number of cars and trailers with the turkeys and geese in them – it was a scene that we will never see again in Ballina – they used to cut trees and sell them in the streets around town too.

Apart from buying gifts, it was an exhilarating experience to stroll around Ballina and take in the atmosphere of the streets, so well lighted in the cool, crisp darkness. The day would be completed by the drive to nearby Bonniconlon to see how things were there and buy a few items locally and get the calendar for the coming year.

When in Dublin, Galway and Wales, coming home for the Christmas and seeing the lights and candles in the windows on the way was always special and memorable – how many songs are there on this very theme and what about Mairtin Ó Direáin’s poem Coinnle Geala where his verses describe the joy and splendour of his native Aran as he approaches it from Galway.

The Brendan Shine song Christmas Time in Ireland captures the spirit of the season too, along with Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas, which sums up the feelings of the exile returning for Christmas very well too.

The Wrens on Stephen’s Day and the Little Christmas festivities are all part of the season too as an add-on to Christmas Day. The wren boys were good crack and as children we often dressed up and went out and spent our booty afterwards – happy times indeed! I recall my mother telling me how her grandmother would buy a few items for January 6th to round off the Christmas and celebrate the older mainly Munster tradition of Cork and Kerry Oiche Nollaig na mBan or little Christmas night for the women – a night of rest and festivity for the women who had worked hard all through the Christmas.

So, enjoy the spirit of Christmas and the New Year, be happy and make others happy wherever you may be.