Irish Christmas

This book begins with the period leading up Christmas, with accounts of the preparations, before moving through Christmas Eve, with its fasting, feasting and a multitude of superstitions, Christmas Day with its focus on the home and family, and on to the accounts of the very communal celebration of St Stephen's Day with Wren Boys, games and hunting. Moving toward New Year's Day, the book recalls the optimism and fear associated with a transitional time when omens for the coming year were keenly observed, and finally concludes with accounts of the Little Christmas, also known as the Women's Christmas, celebrated on January 6, and at which point the 12-day festival comes to a close.