The understandings and customs associated with Christmas and how they are expressed in school collections. It is worth noting that many of these customs are still to be experienced in the world of holly. Holly is picked and hung in the house on Wren Day, and young people go door to door. Wren Festival One of the most common themes that come up in series about Christmas is the customs of Christmas Eve itself and the communities around it.
In many stories it is said that doors should not be Latest Mailing Database locked or windows closed on Christmas Eve for fear that the Virgin and Baby Jesus would seek refuge that night. On Christmas Eve the house was filled with twelve candles, two or three in each window, so that strangers or travelers might see the light, and come in for food and shelter if need be. It is said that Christmas Eve is usually the youngest person in the family to light candles. Another topic discussed in the series is New Year's Eve.
The hostess made a big, sweet cake, which was knocked on the door when the clock struck midnight to drive away hunger for the coming year. As a story from east Galway shows, there are many superstitions about New Year's Day. In that story, it is said that if you cry that day, you will cry for a whole year. If the first person to enter the house that day is a woman, the house will be inauspicious. On New Year's Eve, people sit around the fire to welcome the new year. Christmas is said to end on Twelfth Night or the so-called Little Christmas. The children used to make candles out of rushes, and then the hostess would make a cake for them and the candles would.