In case you’re wondering about the title, it’s Gaelic for Happy Christmas to you. Irish Gaelic that is. I hope I’ve spelled it correctly, I never could spell it correctly, or even say it! There isn’t much Gaelic spoken here, as a matter of a fact I believe I’ve only ever heard it in person once in my entire lifetime. It’s a complicated and, to me, a beautiful language.
So, Ireland, the homeland of many,many American Citizens. There are a bunch of us that can trace our roots back to the green fields of Ireland. Of course, most of us would have to trace those roots back to about a dozen or so other countries as well. America is and has been the true melting pot of genetics.
If you’re wondering why I’m rambling on about this, it’s simple. I’ve been sitting here thinking about all the things we did to celebrate the Christmas Holidays when I was a child. Having had the childhood I did, I was exposed to different celebrations and rituals. Yes, rituals. You see, I was bounced around a lot growing up and I had the pleasure, although it didn’t seem like pleasure then, of experiencing the Holidays in many different places. My family, whom I have always lived with, was extensive and varied. We have Irish, German, Cherokee and Shoshone, as well as Welch and English, in our heritage. There is even a little bit of other stuff that we’re not real sure of, although I am going to do the DNA project so we will know soon enough!
Some of the things we did included having “Little Christmas” which has its basis in the Catholic religion. It seems funny to me now because I grew up hearing that Catholics weren't Christians even though I attended Catholic schools. Yup, paradox. Anyway, Little Christmas is actually Epiphany whish is January 6th. Since my sister was born on January 7th, we usually celebrated it that day with gifts for her and small gifts for everyone else. Little Christmas was when we usually got the one thing we wanted most, instead of getting it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I didn't get to celebrate a lot of Christmas’s with my parents and sister, so I didn't get to do the Little Christmas thing often. Although one rememberable time was when I received a 10 speed bike I had wanted forever!
We also did things like put a lit candle in the window on Christmas Eve and let it burn all night. It was to “light the way” for Mary and Joseph. Something that always confused me was WHY we had to light the way for people from thousands of years ago. Of course I've always been a heathen, so no one was surprised when I asked that very question.
We usually had caraway cake and fruitcake with delicious icing on it. We also had a huge dinner with lots of traditional foods, including turkey, ham, potatoes of every imaginable type, sometimes goose or pheasant. It was the best dinner of all the dinners of the year!!
When I got to do Christmas with the other side of the family things were a little different. Frohe Weihnachten were the words for Happy Christmas there. We would bake spice cookies, stolen and of course the ever loved Anise cakes and cookies. We would do gingerbread houses and have lavish trees, Der Tannanbaum, were adorned with every imaginable type of decoration. There was always an Advent calendar or wreath at that Grandma’s house, she called the wreath Der Adventskranz, and she would bake and bake and bake for us. There was little gifts that were given throughout the month and that Jolly Old Elf was displayed dressed in everything from flowing green robes to white robes with wings and Nutcrackers of every size and shape were shown off. Stille Nacht was sang loudly and often while we roasted chestnuts and and drank spiced cider, usually after having serenaded the neighbors with more carols than they wanted to hear. There wasn't as much emphasis on the Christian part of the season, it was more on the parties and dancing, singing and cooking. It was the lively side! They would drink and fight and dance and love, they would give of themselves with unabashed relish for life! The German side was the side that you either loved or hated, but either way, you were involved! We always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve and slept in on Christmas Day. For Christmas dinner we would have apple and sausage stuffing, which was my favorite, ham, potato dumplings, cooked cabbage with either apples or sausage and more desserts than you could ever dream of eating. I loved the years we got Weiner Schnitzel as well, I've always loved veal!
Both sides of the family would have a Yule log when I was younger. As they, and I, grew older that tradition ended, although I’ve never known why. We would save a piece of the log for the next year, insuring prosperity throughout the entire time. We also had holly and evergreens, as well as some type of Christmas village or Nativity. We also had the Celebration of Lights, which, although different from one side of the family to the other, included singing and a crown of lights worn by one special person. Almond cookies were a favorite by both sides of the family.
There were little things that confused me, like putting a saucer of milk out for the “wee ones” or opening the window on Christmas Eve. But it was part and parcel of the entire thing and excited the younger version of me as much as any gift or bright tree. My Southern side always lit a candle on the night of Solstice and we were ushered to bed with the words, Dream Well. Solstice was a time of quiet and introspection, although as I child I didn’t understand that. We would get a few stories about things that happened in the night if we dared to creep out, but other than that, it was no big deal.
On Christmas day with the Southern side, we would attend church, sometimes we would go to Midnight services the night before. It was a different sort of meeting than I was used to down there, instead of the foot stomping, shouting and singing that we usually imbibed in this service was more sedate and almost reverent. It was almost difficult to stay awake for it, although if I dared drift off I would get a sharp elbow to the ribs.
The Northern side didn't do the Church thing too much. But sometimes at Christmas my Grandma would sneak me out and we would attend Mass, which seemed funny to me, but only because the others in the family didn't go. I enjoyed it though and, because I did attend Catholic school for a while, I understood most of what was taking place. My Mother would have had a fit if she had known, but she never found out.
One thing that did strike me as odd was that neither side did anything special that could be traced back to their Native and/or Slave ancestors. I didn't understand that until I was much older, of course by then most of the elders were gone and it was up to us to carry on. Now I realize that there weren't any traditions from those two branches of the family because they adapted the German and Irish ways and churned it all together to produce the amazing Christmas Holidays of my childhood!
Merry Christmas y’all!
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