Traditional Christmas dish in Ireland. How Christmas and New Year are celebrated in the British Isles. New Year's treats in Ireland

The Christmas mood reigns everywhere, the streets are lit up, there are live Christmas trees everywhere, people wish each other a Merry Christmas, and in stores with early morning On December 24th there is such a crowd that it seems that this is the last day when you can buy anything. At six in the evening all shops close, no one works on December 25, alcohol must be purchased in advance.

Almost every resident tries to decorate their home for Christmas with bright garlands on the windows and Christmas paraphernalia. And some residents approach their business so responsibly that people from all over the area come to see their house.

We also came to look at one of these houses. Of course, they didn’t go inside - it’s private property.

Mailbox.

The owners did their best - there is artificial snow, a nativity scene, and reindeer with Santa on the roof. One can only imagine what the electricity bill will be like later...

Our house looks more modest, but among the neighbors it is the brightest.

Everything inside is already prepared for Santa's meeting.

Santa usually lands on the roof, descends into the fireplace through a chimney, and leaves gifts under the tree.

In the evening, the children prepare milk and cookies for grandfather, and carrots for the reindeer. There is also a tradition of leaving a glass of Irish coffee under the Christmas tree.

The children go to bed and Christmas night arrives. Particularly cunning children are warned that if they watch for Santa, he will be easily scared away.

In the morning we get up before the children, but the cats wake up even earlier. Martella hypnotizes “Let me go for a walk already.”

The first thing you need to do is check the plate and mug. The cookies are bitten, the carrots are nibbled, the milk is drunk, there are marks and ashes scattered around the fireplace. Dad has to clean up after Santa.

The main action is getting gifts from under the tree! Each wrapped gift is labeled to avoid any confusion.

The animals got New Year's costumes. The cats didn't really like them, and the dog walked like this all day.

After breakfast we went for a couple of hours to Dublin for a walk. Many cars act as deer.

For 21 euros you could also buy a Christmas sweater with a pompom in place of the nose.

In the middle of the day we go to visit another family for Christmas dinner.

Several mixed families from Russia, Ukraine and Ireland gathered here. The main dish is roasted turkey with apples, which is waiting for its turn.

Traditionally, turkey is served with Brussels sprouts, which almost no one eats because... in Ireland they have been stuffed with it since childhood. We killed her with pleasure.

Another a traditional dish- boiled carrot puree.

The boss is ready for surgery!

Herb Stuffed Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, Bacon Fried Blood Sausage, Pork Roll Baked in Pork Skin and Fried Crispy, Idea with Choice of Applesauce or Cranberry Sauce.

Children have juice, adults have champagne, wine and cognac. The dog suffered under the table all evening. Because it is not customary to feed animals.

For dessert - traditional, again, pudding with scoops of ice cream.

This is how Christmas was celebrated in Ireland.

The Irish have such a sign: if you celebrate Christmas with an open heart at a generous table, then throughout the coming year you will be lucky, and prosperity will not leave your home and family. Therefore, the residents of the country do their best to create the atmosphere of the holiday, starting preparations for it long before the cherished date. Have you decided to follow their example in order to enlist the support of fate for the year ahead? Then welcome to celebrate Christmas in Ireland!
Cities and villages are transformed for the holiday. Fairs open everywhere, shops offer gifts at big discounts, and streets and squares are decorated with elegant trees. All residents of the country strive to give their homes a special charm and attractiveness, because decorations made of light bulbs, gold foil, red bows and green wreaths, in their opinion, attract good spirits of good luck to their homes.

Baby and Maria

On Christmas Eve, the youngest member of the family lights a large candle, symbolizing the arrival of the holiday and an invitation to the Holy Family. It burns all night and can only be extinguished by a representative of the fair half of humanity named Maria.
Evening dinner is modest. It consists of Irish coffee liqueur and cinnamon rolls. It is customary for Santa Claus to leave a glass of whiskey and toast under the tree so that he can refresh himself during the long marathon of delivering gifts at Christmas in Ireland.
Waking up in the morning, everyone goes to open treasured boxes and packages. Then follows the procedure of congratulating friends and relatives by phone or in person. The most courageous go to the seashore and take symbolic swims to cleanse and gain energy for the coming year.
Christmas dinner begins in the evening and becomes an excellent opportunity for housewives to show off their culinary skills. Roast turkey alternates at the table with fruit puddings and Brussels sprouts, and fried potatoes are served with traditional applesauce.
The next day, the country begins the celebration of St. Stephen's Day, during which noisy processions of youth and teenagers in masks and carnival costumes go from house to house and, singing songs, ask for money and treats.
Christmas in Ireland will allow you to get acquainted with the national traditions of the country, taste its best drinks and dishes, add unique photographs to your family photo album and make friends who will tell you about their customs much better than any guidebook or tour guide.

Today in Russia they are beginning to celebrate the Nativity of Christ, and I want to show how one of the main Christian holidays is celebrated in Ireland.

The Christmas mood reigns everywhere, the streets are lit up, there are live Christmas trees everywhere, people wish each other a Merry Christmas, and in the shops from the early morning of December 24th there is such a crowd that it seems that this is the last day when you can buy anything. At six in the evening all shops close, no one works on December 25, alcohol must be purchased in advance.

1. Almost every resident tries to decorate their home for Christmas with bright garlands on the windows and Christmas paraphernalia. And some residents approach their business so responsibly that people from all over the area come to see their house.

3. Mailbox.

4. The owners did their best - there is artificial snow, a nativity scene, and reindeer with Santa on the roof. One can only imagine what the electricity bill will be like later...

5. Our house looks more modest, but among the neighbors it is the brightest.

6. Inside, everything is already prepared for the outing to meet Santa.

7. Santa usually lands on the roof, descends into the fireplace through the chimney and leaves gifts under the tree.

8. In the evening, the children prepare milk and cookies for grandfather, and carrots for the deer. There is also a tradition of leaving a glass of Irish coffee under the Christmas tree.

9. The children go to bed and Christmas night arrives. Particularly cunning children are warned that if they watch for Santa, he will be easily scared away.

10. In the morning we get up before the children, but the cats wake up even earlier. Martella hypnotizes “Let me go for a walk already.”

12. The first thing you need to do is check the plate and mug. The cookies are bitten, the carrots are nibbled, the milk is drunk, there are marks and ashes scattered around the fireplace. Dad has to clean up after Santa.

13. The main action is getting gifts from under the tree! Each wrapped gift is labeled to avoid any confusion.

14. The animals got New Year's costumes. The cats didn't really like them, and the dog walked like this all day.

15. After breakfast we went for a couple of hours to Dublin for a walk. Many cars act as deer.

16. For 21 euros you could also buy a Christmas sweater with a pompom in place of the nose.

17. In the middle of the day we go to visit another family for Christmas dinner.

18. Several mixed families from Russia, Ukraine and Ireland gathered here. The main dish is roasted turkey with apples, which is waiting for its turn.

19. Traditionally, turkey is served with Brussels sprouts, which almost no one eats because... in Ireland they have been stuffed with it since childhood. We killed her with pleasure.

20. Another traditional dish is boiled carrot puree.

21. The chief is ready for surgery!

22. Herb Stuffed Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, Blood Sausage, Bacon Fried Pork Roll, Baked in Pork Skin and Fried Crispy, Idea with Choice of Applesauce or Cranberry Sauce.

Children have juice, adults have champagne, wine and cognac. The dog suffered under the table all evening. Because it is not customary to feed animals.

23. For dessert - traditional, again, pudding with scoops of ice cream.

24. This is how Christmas is celebrated in Ireland. See also "" and "".

Merry Christmas 2012! Merry Christmas in Ireland and beyond! So I, coming from a country with an Orthodox Church, celebrated my first Catholic Christmas in a Catholic country :) I celebrated this warm, homely holiday at home with my neighbors - Tatiana from Moldova and Maria from Romania.

It all started with serious preparatory purchases of all kinds of delicious food, since most of the stores (or even probably all) were already closed at midday on December 24, and were closed for the next two days - December 25 and 26. So it was necessary to think about the food supply taking into account such a work schedule :)

Personally, as always, whether it was necessary or not, I stocked up on groceries in the neighboring area of ​​Swords. Once upon a time, in my review of this area, I wrote not positive, to put it mildly, reviews of the impressions associated with visiting it (Swords, Co Dublin, Ireland). But oddly enough, although the area is not reputed to be calm in terms of the criminal situation among the locals, Swords turned out to be much more suitable for Everyday life than my lovely village of Malahide. An abundance of inexpensive supermarkets (Lidl (a supermarket chain from Germany) deserved my special attention due to low prices and high quality), many diversified shops and so on, allow you to realize all your ideas within one settlement, plus everything has very reasonable prices and there is a choice, since each area of ​​activity, be it a hairdressing salon or a medical clinic, has several representatives, each of whom is eager to get you as their client in any possible way :)

Christmas 2012 in Malahide, Ireland

That's how it was this time - after spending more than one hour in different stores in Swords, I thoroughly prepared for the upcoming holidays in terms of food supplies. I also had a lot of luck with the bus - I only had to wait about 15 minutes, since usually, by the will of fate, I wait much longer for it :) But I was also lucky with another driver not from this route, who again shortchanged me on the fare - well Of course, he gave me more than he was worth before I stopped, for which later, when I got out, he sincerely and profusely apologized. By the way, I’ve noticed here more than once that this is some kind of national disaster - time after time they knock you out for the same route different prices! This is all, of course, thanks to their not smart fare payment system, but, as they say, to a foreign monastery with its own charter...

Having reached home and sorted out my treasure, I just had time to catch my breath a little when my neighbor from Moldova returned from Dublin with the same bags of purchases and we decided to jointly start preparing for the Christmas table, the main dish of which was decided to make cabbage rolls! We were so carried away by this task that we foolishly mastered two whole sauerkrauts from a Polish store, including cabbage leaves, and as a result, we made almost two pans of cabbage rolls, which for the second day in a row after Christmas we have been miraculously mastering for breakfast, lunch and dinner :)

On Christmas Day

Directly on Christmas Day itself, we wonderfully threw gifts under the Christmas tree for each other, then we took them apart and looked at them :) Everything turned out very much like home - funny and at the same time sincere and pleasant! Having completed all the preparatory activities, we decided to get out somewhere - like go to Dublin, watch folk festivities... Pardon the pun, but - we don’t care! As the sites showed railway and buses - they don't have routes for Christmas!!! Of course, there are events - from 14 to 16 in Dublin the mayor was supposed to congratulate the townspeople, but to get to the mayor - only on your own two feet or by taxi. The first one is unrealistically long and far - 12 km. to Dublin from my Malahide. Secondly, I won’t say that it’s not realistic, but it’s expensive: by taxi to Dublin and back to Malahide - at least 50 euros! In short, as a result, we just went for a walk around Malahide, which has really died out - so here Christmas is a family holiday and everyone spends time on this day with their family at the table and TV in long and sweet conversations.

After the walk, we also celebrated Christmas wonderfully and cheerfully in our international company - a Ukrainian, a Moldovan and a Romanian.

Photos and videos of Christmas in Ireland

You can see how it all happened in person in this small photo album:

Winter celebrations, which fall on the last days of the outgoing year and the first days of the coming one, are both a time of farewell to the old and a greeting to everything new. According to Christian tradition, it is a greeting to the newborn baby Christ. In the eastern spiritual and philosophical schools of Shintoism, Taoism and Buddhism, this is a time to welcome good spirits, a chance to start over and become better and purer, leaving behind your mistakes in the past year.

Christmas in Ireland

Ireland is one of the few European countries that has not lost its national identity over time. Celtic customs continue to this day in many parts of the country, and winter festival traditions are no exception.

Irish winter holidays last from 24 December to 6 January. Christmas is a home holiday. Even the famous Irish pubs close from December 24 to 27, but they take their toll on New Year's Eve.

Celebrations on Christmas are excluded; of all public places, only the church is available for those celebrating: midnight mass is perhaps the strongest Irish Christmas tradition. On the evening before Christmas they even stop working public transport and taxi. On December 25, legal rest continues, and only on the 26th do cities begin to come to life. December 26 is Boxing Day, or Wren Day. It is on this day that everyone - both children and adults - receive gifts from each other.

When the respectable holiday of Christmas has passed, a large (often costumed) New Year's celebration begins with copious libations. New Year's Eve will be fun, and everything will end on January 6, which is called “Small” or “Women’s”. It's actually Catholic. On this day, men dismantle the Christmas tree, put the house in order, and children give touching cards to their mothers, exhausted from puddings, baked birds and pies. In pubs, the majority of customers on this day are women.

By the way
Fireworks are prohibited in Ireland, a fine is guaranteed for their use, and depending on the scale, arrest and even a five-year imprisonment are quite possible.

Many modern New Year and Christmas traditions have remained in Ireland since the times of Celtic paganism. So, on New Year's Eve, girls and young women tell fortunes - they place “magical” herbs and dried plant branches - clover, lavender - near their pillow. It is believed that on this night you can see your betrothed in a dream.

On New Year's Eve, all Irish houses open wide. Firstly, so that troubles, misfortunes and evil spirits can leave them, and secondly, so that goodness and blessings come to the house with new guests: a tall, slender man will bring good luck, but a red-haired girl is an unwanted guest in the first minutes of the New Year. They also drive out evil spirits with the help of... bread left over from the Christmas celebration. They knock on walls and doors with rolls, driving away evil spirits.

The Irish generally decorate their homes for the holidays in the same way as other Europeans, but it is interesting that houses decorated with mistletoe and holly are often left without a Christmas tree. It is believed that there are quite enough Christmas trees in public places and where children gather for New Year's performances.

In Ireland they love toasts and old-fashioned greetings, here are some of them:

• Let your hand that gives good not tremble!
• May the Lord hold you in his palm, but not squeeze it into a fist!
• Let the best day of your past become the worst day of your future!
• Here's to a long and fun life! For an easy and quick death! For a beautiful and devoted girl! Another glass of cold beer!
• Let's meet merrily, let's part merrily, I drink to you heartily!

Christmas in Iceland

Four weeks before Christmas, a huge lush Christmas tree is brought to Reykjavik from Norway (as a gift and as a sign of friendship between the two peoples). Its installation is a state event. And in Icelandic homes, the Christmas tree is installed on December 23 - the day of the Icelandic saint Thorlakur Thorhallson.

Having become Christians back in 1000 AD, the Icelanders did not change the cults of fire, abundance, revival of life, as well as their magical creatures - trolls, who have now become participants in Christmas celebrations.

Christmas is a home holiday, celebrated with a sedate visit to church, a lavish dinner and a long sleep. Houses and cities are delicately decorated with illuminations, spiritual music is preferred, and Christmas carols are celebrated.

The official start of the Christmas celebration is 6 pm. From this moment on, worship begins in churches. The Mass is broadcast on the radio, and television stops working during this time.

The next morning, children are allowed to run around in their pajamas for a long time. In the evening, the family sits down to the table again; as a rule, the housewives serve smoked leg of lamb hangiket, rice pudding and leftover treats from the festive table. An almond nut is baked into the pudding - whoever gets it will be a special lucky person in the coming year.

In the old days, Icelanders decorated any tree that grew near their house; candles, fruits, and berry beads were suitable for decoration. Today, naturally, these are both factory-made toys and hand-made packages that look like small gifts. Snowflakes cut out of paper and garlands made with children are also welcome.

The people who replace Father Christmas in Iceland are creatures from Old Norse mythology, trolls. There are thirteen of them, and they are called Joulasvain.
It is believed that Joulasvain not only give gifts, but can also let their uncivilized brothers - ordinary trolls - into their home. They can grab candles or cutlery from home, scatter gifts with crafts, lick dishes that haven’t been washed from the evening, eat treats and braid the horses’ hair. Nevertheless, they are expected and their appearance is rejoiced.
Icelandic Joulasvain have a home and a family. Their mother is the scary troll cat Grilla. Grilla's wife, which means the Joulasveins' father, is called Leppaludi, and they live as a family in a terrible cave, into which they sometimes drag disobedient and lazy children. Moreover, they also have a pet - the Yule cat, black and the size of a bull! The Yule cat has an inexplicable weakness for new things made from natural wool. If a person doesn’t have a new woolen item on during the holidays, the Cat can easily eat it. Grilla doesn't like old people either.

Christmas in Slovenia

Slovenia has absorbed the cultural traditions of neighboring countries from Western Europe. Although Slovenia is inhabited mainly by Slovenians and their culture is quite distinctive, German roots, the French attitude to cheese and wine, and many other familiar images and situations are still clearly visible in it.

Catholic Slovenia, having celebrated Christmas on December 25, without changing the festive decor, celebrates Independence Day on December 26. Like other European countries, New Year in Slovenia begins to be celebrated on the evening of December 31st with noisy festivities and fireworks. However, it does not evoke the same awe and culinary attention as Christmas. Many Slovenes stop feasting already on January 2, without waiting for the end of the winter festivities - Epiphany (Epiphany) on January 6.