Christmas in Times Gone By:
Festive Traditions from Bandon and Its Neighbours

Candles burning through the night, a special loaf baking for Christmas and the sound of the wren boys at the door — discover glimpses of Christmas past preserved in the folklore of Bandon and the surrounding countryside.

What did Christmas mean to the generations who lived here before us? The National Folklore Collection, available online through Dúchas, offers a fascinating place to begin.

Its Schools’ Collection grew from a scheme launched in 1937, in which schoolchildren gathered folklore from older members of their communities under their teachers’ supervision. Among the records are memories of seasonal food, household customs and Christmas beliefs from Bandon and nearby villages. These are individual accounts of remembered traditions, giving us glimpses into local life rather than a description of every household.

A candle in the Christmas darkness

An account titled Christmas Customs, preserved through Pádraig Naofa school in Bandon, recalls farmers leaving their doors unlocked and Christmas candles burning throughout the night.

It also describes the youngest person in the household lighting the candle, accompanied by blessing themselves and sprinkling holy water. The account distinguishes between customs remembered from long ago and practices still familiar when it was written.

For today’s reader, the image is an intimate one: a child taking part in the preparations, a family gathered nearby and a small light marking the season.

Two suppers on Christmas Eve

The same Bandon record remembers an unusual Christmas Eve arrangement: no dinner, followed by two suppers, one including fish. It also describes a cake being struck against the door three times. Both practices were already described as having disappeared.

The writer gives no explanation for the cake custom, leaving us with a curious detail to ponder — or perhaps to ask older relatives about over Christmas tea.

A Christmas loaf near Ballinadee

Food memories also appear in material collected through Ballinadee school. In an account gathered by Kitty Crowley from William Crowley of Kilgobbin, Christmas brought a special cake known as the Christmas loaf.

The surviving page begins its ingredients with flour, bread soda and butter. Around it are descriptions of everyday bread-making, griddles and potato cakes, placing the festive loaf within the practical work of feeding a household.

A nearby Kilbrittain account helps us picture that work. Collected by Patrick Keohane from James Keohane, it describes an iron griddle supported on stones beside the fire, with cakes turned to cook on both sides. Although this account concerns everyday baking, it offers useful background to the kitchens in which festive food was prepared.

When even tea was a seasonal treat

Another passage in the Ballinadee material recalls tea being used on occasions such as Christmas and Easter. It is a small detail, but one that invites us to reconsider what made a festive treat.

Something as familiar today as putting on the kettle could once mark a departure from everyday life. Read alongside the Christmas loaf, it suggests how much pleasure might be found in a carefully prepared meal and something special to share.

The wren boys at the door

The Bandon Christmas account also records boys visiting houses on St Stephen’s Day, singing the wren song and receiving a few pence.

Its final seasonal belief concerns 6 January, when water was said to become wine, accompanied by a warning against staying awake to drink it. This is recorded folklore, revealing something of the mystery attached to the Christmas season.

Make room for a Christmas story

These records offer a lovely starting point for conversations of your own. Who prepared Christmas dinner in your family? Was there a particular cake, a candle-lighting custom or a visitor everyone expected?

This Christmas, ask someone to tell you what they remember — and write it down. The children who contributed to the Schools’ Collection preserved details that might otherwise have slipped away. Your family’s memories could be just as precious to the next generation.

Based on accounts in the Schools’ Collection, National Folklore Collection, UCD, available at Dúchas.ie, including Christmas Customs, Bandon, Bread, Ballinadee and The Fitting for Baking Cakes Fifty Years Ago, Kilbrittain.