Although celebrating Christmas in different countries looks slightly different, all Christmas traditions (or at least most of them) have in common that they are nice and related to family. There are gifts, a mountain of Christmas food, time spent with loved ones and a break from work and study.
Christmas looks a bit different in Ireland…
Kinga Słabkowska-Byrne moved to Ireland 17 years ago. She is the wife of an Irishman and the mother of two teenage daughters. She admits that it took her ten years to accept all the local holiday customs. “There are three main differences, I’m already used to all this, and we spend Christmas once in Poland and once in Ireland,” she says. When asked about the differences in Polish and Irish Christmas customs, she mentions the three most important ones: “We get gifts on December 25 in the morning, not on Christmas Eve, as in Poland. The advantages of the morning Santa Claus are that he has more time to organize the gifts, wrapping them and placing them under the Christmas tree. He also doesn’t have to hide in any special way, because the children are simply sleeping. The disadvantage is that children, especially younger ones, can wake up at the crack of dawn to get to these gifts. Parents often need to do the same … (laughter)”.
Another difference mentioned by Kinga is that the main day of celebration is also December 25, not December 24, and the most important Christmas meal is dinner. “In Ireland, there is basically no Christmas Eve, it is an evening that most people devote to final preparations for dinner on December 25,” he explains. “But there is something that really surprised me when I got to know the local customs years ago. Breakfast on December 25 – is very rich. I know families who eat steak or grilled sausages, blood sausages and bacon for breakfast. Also beans and eggs. In turn, dinner is often turkey or goose and is a four-course meal, so if someone by some miracle didn’t raise their cholesterol with breakfast, dinner will definitely be effective here (laughter). Dinner begins with a cocktailthen soup, meat and desserts,” adds Kinga.
“Gift kick”
In Ireland, children receive mountains of gifts. “Some people believe that the more, the better, so even small items are wrapped in paper, so that children can tear the paper endlessly,” explains Kinga. “I once asked a colleague at work how much she spends on Christmas gifts for her children. She said 500 euros. It was before inflation, so now it’s probably 800 euros. It’s the norm here that parents take out loans for gifts,” she adds. “Oh, and there’s something else called christmas stockings, i.e. putting gifts for children in their stockings. These are little things before the actual gifts, so that children don’t wake up their parents too early on December 25, but just have some fun with them in their rooms. And also to completely wipe out my parents financially (laughter).
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
