I keep lights in wreaths in all front windows but I have no idea why. Please tell me. Light in a window yes, see ablove Jan 6th, yes, and was my mother's birthday as well. The tree never came down until the Magi arrived. Very few here know this nor do they know the 12 days of Christmas other than the song. ~~C Sullivan --- On Sat, 12/13/08, seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> wrote: From: seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. To: beara@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 12:06 PM Mo chara's D.V. means God willing. May everyone have a great season full of Gods love. Who still lights a red candle inside a holly wreath? Or a candle or light in the window? Do you still celebrate Jan 6th? Traditions taken with us to other parts of the world fades with time. What other Christmas tradition's did our Beara ancestors take with them? Seamus --- On Sat, 12/13/08, Riobard O'Dwyer <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> wrote: From: Riobard O'Dwyer <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> Subject: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. To: beara@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 3:28 AM A very, very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all those on the Beara List and to all their friends.Times may be a bit tough at the moment, but they won't always be like that. Keep the spirit up and battle on. This is the first time that Joan & myself will be all on our own for Christmas. Two of the lads will be on duty; one will be gone abroad for a few weeks; and the other and his family will be celebrating at home. But they will be back to us again shortly after Christmas D.V. At present I'm working on Glengarriff records. No rest for the wicked !! Have a lovely holiday. Best wishes, Riobard & Joan -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 5.7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 1966 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

we have a wreath handed down from my grandmother it is not the orginalwreath that was replaced every year but the red center candle and dish is from her we light it on christmas eve Christmas in Ireland stretches from Christmas Eve to the Epiphany feast on '6th of January'. Epiphany is also known as 'Little Christmas' here. For Irish people, Christmas is much more a religious festival than the tome to have fun. People place lighted red candles on their windowsills that are mostly decorated with sprigs of holly so that Mary and Joseph looking for shelter may find the way to their homes. Irish wives bake a seed cake for each person in the household and make three puddings for Christmas day, New Year's Day and the Twelfth Night. On Christmas Eve, the door is left open for Mary and Joseph and bread and milk are left out for them. It is also considered as a symbol of hospitality. On 26th of December or St Stephen's Day, people indulge in football matches and conduct meetings. Children participate in the Wren Boys Procession, in which boys go from home to home carrying a fake wren on a stick, singing carols and playing musical instruments like violins, accordions, harmonicas and horns. They collect money 'for the starving wren', that of course they spend on themselves. Irish children put out sacks to receive presents from Santa rather than stockings and leave mince pies and a bottle of Guinness for him with the sack. Margaret > Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:08:38 -0800 > From: c_lion@purringfox.com > To: seamusjames@yahoo.com; Beara-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. > > I keep lights in wreaths in all front windows but I have no idea why. Please tell me. > Light in a window yes, see ablove > Jan 6th, yes, and was my mother's birthday as well. The tree never came down until the Magi arrived. Very few here know this nor do they know the 12 days of Christmas other than the song. > > ~~C Sullivan > > --- On Sat, 12/13/08, seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> wrote: > > From: seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. > To: beara@rootsweb.com > Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 12:06 PM > > Mo chara's > D.V. means God willing. > May everyone have a great season full of Gods love. > Who still lights a red candle inside a holly wreath? > Or a candle or light in the window? > Do you still celebrate Jan 6th? > Traditions taken with us to other parts of the world fades with time. > What other Christmas tradition's did our Beara ancestors take with them? > Seamus > > --- On Sat, 12/13/08, Riobard O'Dwyer > <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> wrote: > > From: Riobard O'Dwyer <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> > Subject: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. > To: beara@rootsweb.com > Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 3:28 AM > > A very, very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all those > on the Beara List and to all their friends.Times may be a bit tough at the > moment, but they won't always be like that. Keep the spirit up and battle > on. > This is the first time that Joan & myself will be all on our > own for Christmas. Two of the lads will be on duty; one will be gone abroad for > a few weeks; and the other and his family will be celebrating at home. But they > will be back to us again shortly after Christmas D.V. > At present I'm working on Glengarriff records. No rest for the > wicked !! > Have a lovely holiday. > Best wishes, > Riobard & Joan > > > > > > > > > -- > I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. > We are a community of 5.7 million users fighting spam. > SPAMfighter has removed 1966 of my spam emails to date. > Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len > > The Professional version does not have this message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/127032869/direct/01/

My understanding is that the candle in the window was to show a welcome to any traveller on Christmas night. It may also have become symbolic of keeping the Catholic faith alive during the time of the Penal Laws. My dad once told me that this symbol of welcome was put to the test when he, his brothers and sisters were at home with their mother, Julia Sullivan - by then a widow of the late Quinlan Sullivan. It was late on Christmas eve, everyone was inside the house, in quite a remote spot in Kilcatherine, when there was a loud knocking on the door. "Who's there?" asked my Grandmother "A traveller" came the reply. "Go away" (or something less polite) was here reply. I still keep a candle lighted in our front room window in England through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but the story is a useful reminder that we usually honour these traditions until they actually challenge our behaviour. To be fair, she was a widow, was possibly a frightened and perhaps recognised the voice, knew the man had been to the pub etc. Most of us would probably do the same. I've asked around and none of my many cousins remembers hearing this story about our grandmother but, to me, it has the ring of truth. Paul Sullivan -----Original Message----- From: beara-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:beara-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of C Sullivan Sent: 14 December 2008 06:09 To: seamusjames@yahoo.com; Beara-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. I keep lights in wreaths in all front windows but I have no idea why. Please tell me. Light in a window yes, see ablove Jan 6th, yes, and was my mother's birthday as well. The tree never came down until the Magi arrived. Very few here know this nor do they know the 12 days of Christmas other than the song. ~~C Sullivan --- On Sat, 12/13/08, seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> wrote: From: seamus O'More <seamusjames@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. To: beara@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 12:06 PM Mo chara's D.V. means God willing. May everyone have a great season full of Gods love. Who still lights a red candle inside a holly wreath? Or a candle or light in the window? Do you still celebrate Jan 6th? Traditions taken with us to other parts of the world fades with time. What other Christmas tradition's did our Beara ancestors take with them? Seamus --- On Sat, 12/13/08, Riobard O'Dwyer <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> wrote: From: Riobard O'Dwyer <beararesearchodwyer@eircom.net> Subject: [BEARA] Seasonal greetings. To: beara@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 3:28 AM A very, very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all those on the Beara List and to all their friends.Times may be a bit tough at the moment, but they won't always be like that. Keep the spirit up and battle on. This is the first time that Joan & myself will be all on our own for Christmas. Two of the lads will be on duty; one will be gone abroad for a few weeks; and the other and his family will be celebrating at home. But they will be back to us again shortly after Christmas D.V. At present I'm working on Glengarriff records. No rest for the wicked !! Have a lovely holiday. Best wishes, Riobard & Joan -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 5.7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 1966 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message