As an American living in Ireland, the first year was a bit of an adjustment. There were so many new things to get used to, such as transportation and some of the phrases. And of course, there were the brand new Christmas traditions and customs that I got to learn about.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the Christmas traditions that are popular here. One of the ones that I was surprised by was Nollaig na mBan (pronounced like Null-ug na Mon) which is Irish for “Women’s Christmas.”
The holiday happens every January 6th and is meant to honor women and everything they do for the family during the holiday season. The 6th of January is also known as the Feast of Epiphany, and it signals the end of the twelve days of Christmas.
Epiphany has various names depending on the country – in England it’s known as Twelfth Night, Fête Des Rois in France, or Dia de Los Reyes in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. But in Ireland, the end of Christmas comes with a “Women’s Christmas.” Traditionally, it was a day where the women would get to put their feet up and relax while the men did all the cooking.
Granted, it’s not really much of a tradition anymore in the cities, at least not in the traditional sense. The men aren’t really expected to do the cooking etc., but there is something that has grown out of the day: a trip to the pub with friends.
It is not uncommon to see groups of girlfriends getting together on the 6th of January in order to go out for dinner and drinks at the local pub.
It’s an obscure custom that mostly has its roots in the more rural parts of modern-day Ireland. But the cities will sometimes see ladies-only promotions in some restaurants and bars. For the most part, you just have women using it as an excuse to go out with their friends – and we totally get that.
Hopefully this year’s “Women’s Christmas” won’t be overshadowed by the ‘rona like it was last year.