Nollaig na mBan
Today is Women’s Christmas, that time of year when we say thank you to the ladies. One special day that’s their day. We say to them, “Thank you for putting up with my farting, for letting me have the couch all to myself, for putting up with my moods, for cleaning the house properly after I have allegedly cleaned it, for keeping the dinner warm when I didn’t come back from the pub after half an hour as promised. And to thank you for all that, on this, your special day, for treating you like a second-class citizen for the whole year and for all the other stuff you don’t even know about, on this one day of the year, I’d like you to have this slightly rubbery scrambled egg on this burnt toast in bed. And when you’re finished it would you get up and clean up, please, because I’ve made a right bloody mess down there.”
Brendan O’Connor, Sunday Independent (Dublin), 6 January 2002
January 6th, also called Little Christmas, Nollaig Bheag, or Women’s Christmas, Nollaig na mBan, is the Irish celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany, the gifts of the Magi, and the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmas (Christmastide). Women’s Christmas features prominently in Cork and Kerry, although it is observed elsewhere. It is meant to be a day to celebrate women, and their hard work throughout the holiday season – the larger, gendered implications are beyond my scope of knowledge but clearly need to be acknowledged. Underlying sexism aside, I believe it is still possible to appreciate the traditions and history behind Little Christmas, and its relevance in a larger context.
January 6th is called Little or Old Christmas because under the Julian calendar, Christmas was celebrated in January, but fell on December 25 under the Gregorian calendar. As for Women’s Christmas, the Derry Journal (24 Dec 1928) claims that “from time immemorial, January the sixth was set apart as Mother’s Day by the pagan Gaels. And to-day in Ireland the Feast of the Epiphany, Women’s Christmas, is considered almost as important as Christmas itself; and, like so many others of the Irish feast days, the ceremonies for this day were taken over from the pagan festival, given a Christian significance, and celebrated in commemoration of the Christian ideal.”
The earliest newspaper reference I could find was this: on January 6, 1870, between 400 and 500 women in Cork took a temperance pledge under a preacher named Right Rev. Dr. Delany, who said “they could not commemorate the Women’s Christmas more worthily than by coming together in the House of God and inaugurating a chapter in their lives, which he trusted would be one of consolation, peace and happiness” (Cork Examiner, 7 Jan 1870).
Nollaig na bhfear, Nollaig Mhor Maith, Nollaig na mBan, Nollaig gan Mhaith (Men’s Christmas is a fine big Christmas, Women’s Christmas is a no-good Christmas)
Old saying
Taking down the holiday decorations before January 6th is bad luck (if you don’t, you’re stuck with them all year – except the holly and ivy which are burned later), and because this was the woman’s day to abstain from housework, men were left with the chore of removing the tree and festive touches. Instead, women either took it easy at home, went to visit each other, or celebrated in groups by going out to eat, drink, or both. Anecdotally, women in rural areas would use their leftover pocket money from selling eggs in earlier times. Discovering Ireland reports a near 100% female clientele on this day in Cork City. Nonprofits and advocacy groups are also using this day to draw attention toward women’s achievements (i.e. this year sees the Irish Writing Centre’s “Emergence, Empowerment, Evolution” event and the Irish American Partnership’s Women’s Leadership Celebration in Washington DC), women’s rights and other issues disproportionately affecting females, like domestic violence.
“Traditionally, men were obliged to do work generally done by the women in their home, or terrible luck would befall them for the remainder of the year. Women abandoned their domestic duties for the day and often celebrated by enjoying a meal together. That tradition still continues today, with mothers, daughters, sisters, and nieces leaving their men to fend for themselves while they celebrate” (Kerryman, 10 Jan 2002). Traditions that did not survive, according to the same article, were its observance on December 12 and the serving of Fairy Cakes, or Butterfly Buns, “small butter cakes flavored with orange rinds, vanilla, raisins, and sugar, believed to grant powers such as the ability to heal the sick and see fairies, as well as promoting fertility.”
Kevin Danaher, in The Year in Ireland, Irish Calendar Customs, associated ‘men’s fare,’ whiskey and beef, with Christmas, and ‘women’s dainties,’ tea and cake, with January 6. Goose dinners are also associated with the day, while on the other end of the spectrum it’s linked to second-rate meals of Christmas leftovers, again highlighting gender issues. Some women are instead using this day as one of empowerment and self-expression.
Folklore
Most of the Duchas references to Women’s Christmas come from Co. Cork, although customs associated with Little Christmas, like lighting twelve candles, are much more frequent. The range of traditions is really interesting here!
“The Women’s Christmas is so called in West Cork because the men try to make everything as pleasant as possible for the women so that they can enjoy a peaceful and happy time, the women having worked so hard to make the real Christmas day a happy one for everyone else.” – Betty Connell, Ardura Beg, Co. Cork (NFCS 0294:259)
“The 6th of January the feast of the Epiphany is known locally as Little Christmas day or the Women’s Christmas. There is feasting and merrymaking on that day. It is thought if a person remained up till midnight on that night he would see water turned into wine. It is believed it occurs in memory of the time Our Lord changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana at the request of His Blessed Mother. Probably that is why it is known here as the Women’s Christmas.” – Jeremiah Mahony, Crookhaven, Co. Cork (NFCS 0287:073)
“This is sometimes Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas. The women used to claimed this Christmas as their own. The feastings of Christmas were carried out but on a smaller scale. This feast was called in Irish “Nodlag na mBan”. The men used to say “Nodlag na mBan, Nodlag gan mhaith” but women used to say “Nodlag na mBan, Nodlag go maith”. – May Quinn, Valleymount, Co. Wicklow (NFCS 0917:083)
“This is the end of the twelve days of Christmas. It is called “Nodlag na mBan” or “The Women’s Christmas” Candles are lit on Little Christmas Night and again on the following night. On Little Christmas Night it is the custom to bring in an extra bucket of water in memory of the Wedding feast of Cana. Domhnac Féac Suas or Look up Sunday is the first sunday after Little Christmas Day. It is so called because long ago the girls and women who were intended to marry soon used to spend hours looking up at the sky as they thought by doing so they would see the face of their future husband.” – Mary O’ Sullivan, Shantullig North, Co. Cork (NFCS 0290:132)
“The Christmas festivities end on “Little Christmas Day”, “Epiphany” or the “Women’s Christmas”. It is said that water turns into wine on “Little Christmas Eve” at 12 o’clock. A story is told here that two girls waited up and went to a well at 12 o’clock to find out the truth of this. They were found dead in the morning.” – Mrs J. Kingston, Carrigskullihy, Co. Cork (NFCS 0304:403)
“The 6th of January is often called Little Christmas or theWomen’s Christmas. Some people say the reason why this day is called the Women’s Xmas is because the women are supposed to be served by the men as the women have served the men during the beginning of Xmas.” – Con O Herlihy, Berrings, Co. Cork (NFCS 0348:097)
“Little Christmas” is also called the “Women’s Christmas” because ladies go visiting each other on that day.” – Mary Smyth, Newbridge, Co. Limerick (NFCS 0482:421)
Gingerbread & Gingerbread Women
“A worthy knight, returning from a jovial bout, found his lady kneading dough. Being somewhat choleric in his cups, he lifted his mailed toe, and over went the vessel containing the mixture. Near it stood a pot of treacle and a box of ginger. The contents were upset into the dough, and behold! gingerbread had been discovered.”
Belfast Weekly News, 16 Nov 1905
Georgina Campbell, in The Best of Irish Breads & Baking, lists ground ginger alongside almonds and caraway seeds as “one of the most traditional of ingredients in Irish baking, having been popular since the eighteenth century. Coincidentally, perhaps, both ginger and caraway are reputed to aid the digestion.” Besides its medicinal properties, gingerbread, which is frequently found in old cookbooks, is flavored with ginger, and sometimes other spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and sweetened with treacle, sugar, honey, or molasses. It was, and is, extremely popular with children.
And it’s there you’ll see confectioners With sugarsticks and dainties The lozenges and oranges The lemonade and raisins Gingerbread and spices To accommodate the ladies And a big crubeen for threepence To be suckin’ while they’re able
Galway Races
The exact origin is disputed but ginger is one of the spices introduced to Europe from the Middle East after the Crusades, and an early form of gingerbread was more of a paste that was used to tell stories with political and religious symbolism (this is where the saying ‘taking the gilt off the gingerbread’ originates). Toruń gingerbread has been made in Poland since the 13th century, there were gingerbread guilds in Germany by the 15th century, and it was briskly traded at fairs, festivals, and markets in the 17th century. Queen Elizabeth I, a huge fan of ginger, is supposed to have served the first gingerbread man to a visiting dignitary in his likeness. Its popularity only increased over the years.
An early reference to the gingerbread woman in Ireland, a popular female street vendor, is found in this notice about a “Poor Woman who hawkes Gingerbread” who won a lottery scheme in 1778:
Irish gingerbread sellers, almost always women, are mentioned in newspapers throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries: “Gingerbread, gingerbread, here of the best, Come buy all I have and I’ll give you the rest (Sligo Champion 22 August 1863).” Temporary booths erected by gingerbread manufacturers during fair-weeks in Ballinasloe, Co Galway are seen in To-Day in Ireland (1834). Kate Swords, a gingerbread woman, made the Wexford People by catching a thief in June of 1890. Throughout Duchas, gingerbread is seen in a nostalgic light, often bought for a penny a slice with a kind of rock candy called Peggy’s Leg.
In a letter to the editor, a Dublin resident reminisced about the gingerbread women: “I wonder what has become of the many vendors of gingerbread who once displayed their wares around the city? Have we lost our taste for gingerbread and the grotesque figures of little boys and girls, soldiers and sailors, reproduced in the tasty sweetmeat? Outside the Phoenix Park gates on Sundays the ladies with the stalls did a roaring trade, and they went through the Park and through St. Stephen’s Green carrying their baskets of gingerbread, followed by small girls and boys, with their hapence and pennies, who were made happy with a big slice of the brown cake, topped with sugar, and other models of the confectioner’s art.A friend tells me that it was not alone the children who patronised the gingerbread. A sturdy wench sat daily outside Trinity College, he says, in his youth, and the students were her best customers. She vied with another buxom lady whose line was apples. No doubt our City Fathers are responsible for their departure.” (Irish Times, 25 Oct 1934).
Gingerbread Recipe
Darina Allen’s recipe for gingerbread, from The Festive Food of Ireland, is placed next to “The Twelfth Day of Christmas” and listed as a treat enjoyed on Nollaig na mBan.
This recipe makes two loaves – I halved it and made one. I used the leftover egg to brush on top of the loaf before baking.
You can make this recipe vegan by using plant-based milk and butter, and using an egg replacement or a flax egg, which is one tablespoon of flaxseed + three tablespoons of water.
INGREDIENTS
225g / 8oz / 2 cups plain white flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
113g / 4oz / ¾ cups soft brown sugar
85g / 3oz / ¾ sticks butter, cut into cubes (dairy or plant-based)
125g / 6oz treacle or golden syrup
150ml / ¼pint / ½ cup + 2 tablespoons milk (dairy or plant-based)
½ egg, beaten
½ fistful of sultanas (optional)
15g / ½oz crystallized ginger, cut into 5mm/¼inch dice (optional)
METHOD
1. Preheat oven 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Sieve dry ingredients into bowl.
3. Warm sugar and butter on stove or in microwave, then add milk and treacle. Cool and add to dry ingredients.
4. Add sultanas, egg, and crystallized ginger. Mix until there are no lumps.
5. Pour into loaf tin, brush with egg wash or milk and sprinkle with sugar if desired, and bake for about 1 hour.
cleite agus cnámh 