More from Irish Folk Customs and Belief: Seán Ó'Súilleabháin: Published for the Cultural Relations Commitee, Dublin: 1967 A very large body of custom and belief centred upon the various festivals, prechristian and Christian, which occurred each year. Only the main ones can be included here. I happened to be visiting a family in Dublin about thirty years ago. It was New Year's Eve and, as the bells of the city rang out to welcome in the New Year, I was led outside the door by the man of the house and invited to come in again. This was, I was informed, because I was dark haired, and would thus bring luck to the house for the ensuing year. New Year's Day was referred to in Irish as either Lá Coille (Kalends Day) or Lá na nIarsmaí (The day of New Year gifts), the latter being explained by the custom of young people, boys and girls, going from house to house on that day asking for gifts of money or kind. This custom must have come in at a rather late period, because in olden times nobody would risk losing his luck for the year by giving away money on that day; neither would milk be given away; nor would even the ashes or the floor-sweepings be put out. Digging a grave or burying somebody was also avoided on that day. The Twelve Days of Christmas ended on January 6 (popularly knows as Small Christmas or Nollaig na mban: Women's Christmas, as distinct from the main feast, Nollaig na bhfear: Men's Christmas). The Christmas holly was taken down and burned at this time, and twelve candies were lighted in homes in honour of the Twelve Apostles; the first candle to die out was looked upon as an omen that the person who had lighted it would he the first of the family to die. The Eve of the Feast was known as Oíche na dTrí Rithe (The Night of the Three Kings), and was said to correspond with the wedding feast of Cana. A popular Irish saying was: Oíche na dTrí Ritbe Deintear fíon den uisce, Síoda den triopall Agus ór den ghrean. (On the Night of the Three Kings, water becomes wine, clusters of rushes become silk, and the sand becomes gold.) St. Brigid's Feast (February 1) was originally an important prechristlan festival, occurring as it did at the time of the start of agricultural work. For some reason which is not clear. people would perform no work which involved turning or twisting on that day, such as spinning, digging, ploughing or using a wheel: bíonn Lá 'le Bríde ina shaoire ar cbasaíbh (St. Brigid's Day is free from twistings.) Shellfish was brought into houses near the sea and put in the four corners of the floor to invoke plenty of fish for the rest of the year. Young boys (Brídeoga : "Biddies") went from door to door carrying a churndash dressed as a woman and asked for some gift. Rushes or straw were left outside the house on the Eve of the Feast, and at nightfall a young girl went out, brought the bundle to the door, and knocked, asking in the name of Brigid to be admitted. When this was done, crosses (of various designs and materials, according to different districts) were woven or otherwise made, to the accompaniment of a traditional prayer. A meal was then taken, and the crosses were placed both in the inner side of the thatched roof and in the outhouses to invoke protection for the family and livestock. It was said that, as one cross was placed in the roof each year, the age of many old houses in Ireland could be reckoned by the number of crosses. A girdle (crios) was also woven of straw or rushes that evening, and both the members of the family and the cows passed through it for protection against illness. A cloth, known as brat Bhríde (Brigid's cloak) was left in the open that night and was then preserved for the healing powers it was said to have acquired. Another ancient custom was the throwing of a sheaf of oats or a cake of bread against the doorstep that evening to "drive away hunger and to ensure a supply of food for the family during the year. St. Patrick's Day fell on March 17: Ní dírí bradán fearna i. Lár na caise ná Lá 'le Pádraig I lár an Earraigh (as the sturgeon or salmon swims exactly in mid-stream, so does St. Patrick's Day fall exactly in mid-Spring. It was jocosely said that on that day the cold stone which had been placed in the water at Halloween was again removed. Weather was expected to improve.. every other day fine after St. Brigid's Day, every day fine after his own Feast, St. Patrick is said to have promised. People endeavoured to sow their grain as near to this Feast as possible. The old men celebrated it by going together to the public house to drink "pota Phádraic" (St. Patrick's pot). Crosses in rosette form were made of coloured ribbons and worn on the breast; this custom appears to be of comparatively recent origin. A much older one would seem to be that which took the following form: the father of the family marked the arm of himself and each member of the family with a cross made with a charred stick "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost". Our earliest literary reference to the wearing of shamrock on St. Patrick's Day is for the year 1681, so the custom may not be a very old one. It may be said too that it appears as if the legend of the use by St. Patrick of the shamrock to explain the Trinity is of rather recent vintage (no reference earlier than the year 1727)