Then & Now: Christmas comes but once a year in Limerick
IN OLDEN times there was a custom in Ireland of bringing home the Christmas, which is seldom spoken about now. This was an annual event that took place a couple of weeks before Christmas Day.
I retain fond memories of visits to our local town Newcastle West (December 8) and Carrigkerry village with my late grandmother.
The money was scarce and reserved for necessities and luxuries were few, but Christmas was special. The horse and cart were the means of transport used for this purpose to get to the nearest village or town. A few empty tea-chests (used for transporting loose tea) were used to transport home the goods.
The list of groceries included flour, sugar and tea, and pots of different jam, a tin of Golden Syrup, and a tin of treacle, currants, raisins, sultanas, spice and cinnamon and nutmeg. These items were used by the woman of the house for making sweet loaves for friends who called over the Christmas.
The list also included packets of rice, jelly custard and cornflour for making the desserts. A couple of bottles of raspberry wine for the children, sherry and tawny wine for the women and an earthenware jar of porter for the men was included.
A copy of Old Moore’s Almanac was bought for the boss of the house. This was needed for the dates of fairs, markets, phases of the Moon, weather forecasts, predictions and agriculture items for the year ahead. The children were not forgotten about as lucky bags; balloons fruit packets of sweets, toffees, and Peggy’s Leg were purchased.
A Christmas box was got from the shopkeeper, to whom you gave your custom during the year. It usually contained a Christmas cake, a barmbrack, whiskey, wine tobacco and sweets. A pair of long candles to light up the Christmas, and a calendar for the New Year was always included.
The children of the house awaited the homecoming with impatience as dusk approached. As soon as the cart arrived at the end of the boreen they were there to meet it and ran alongside until it reached the door. The tea-chests were brought indoors and the horse untackled and housed for the night with a nice feed of oats and hay. The excitement amongst the children as the tea-chests were opened was tremendous and all received some treats.
There were always a few packages which were left unopened and stored away for Christmas Eve which was the next big event.
Remembering all this makes one a little sad and wishful for the lovely happy innocent Christmases of other years when we were young children.
We have Christmas every week now and there are no surprises in the grocery list to look forward to.
Brother Stephen Russell
Homelessness in Ireland is very much in the news and steps to address the shortage of accommodation is ongoing.
One of Limerick city’s oldest homeless services Brother Stephen Russell House reopened the doors of its redeveloped and extended facility on Friday November 21, 2014.
The centre on Mulgrave Street is operated by Novas Initiatives and provide 33 units of long-term housing in the city. Funding for the centre was provided by the JP McManus Foundation and the Department of Environment. Novas provides support and services to an ever-increasing number of people, and we should all do as much as possible to help them.
Brother Stephen Russell laid the foundation for work with the homeless in Limerick in the semi-derelict Simon Hostel down on Charlotte Quay and subsequently at Brother Russell House, Mulgrave Street where he provided welcome comfort and acceptance to people who had fallen on hard times.
Brother Stephen Russell came from Thomastown, Kilmallock and he was born on Christmas Day 1911. He was educated at the Christian Brothers School in Charleville.
He joined the Irish army at the start of World War II in 1939 and served in the First cycle squadron being stationed in Collins Barracks Cork, Fermoy, Foynes, Listowel and Sarsfield Barracks Limerick.
At the end of the emergency, he was discharged from the Army in 1943 and he joined the congregation of the Alexian Brothers in Warrenpoint Co Down in September 1945. He received the habit on the feast of St Alexius July 17, 1948.
In 1973 he volunteered with Bro. Anthony Ferrie to fulfil the request by Dr Murphy Bishop of Limerick to help in the continuity of staffing the Simon Community Hostel at Charlotte Quay Limerick which had been established some three to four years previously. His first book of poems.
There but for the Grace of God. was published in 1972 and Brother Russell donated the entire proceeds of its sale to the Simon Community Building fund. He died on May 11, 1975, and he is buried in Warrenpoint.
The work he did for the homeless should not be forgotten this Christmas 111 years after his birth. I include three verses from nine of one of the poems from his book titled Christmas Is Near.
I am proud of Co. Limerick
And its name I do adore
I roamed its every street and road
In halcyon days of yore
I have treasured all its memories
Kept them vivid, bright and clear
Like beacon lights they're shining now
That Christmas is near.
I go walking down O'Connell Street
So wide and cool and fair
It's the Mecca of the county
All my friends foregather there
I revel in its atmosphere
To me it has no par
And it never seemed so grand before
Now that Christmas is near.
There are many other lovely spots
Rathkeale- Newcastle West,
Barnagh-Templeglantine,
Where with God's rich store they're blest
On the bosom of the Shannon
On a slow boat I would steer
'Twould be a real foretaste of heaven
Bard of Thomond
THE Bard of Thomond Michael Hogan was one of Limerick’s most famous poets, and his work the lays and Legends of Thomond was published in 1866.
His best-known poem is Drunken Thady and the Bishop’s Lady which was an epic poem of Limerick.
He was born at the new road Thomondgate, on November 1, 1832, and he attended the local Christian Brothers School.
He also spent some time in America returning home ten years before he died in 1899.
He wrote the following poem Christmas in Limerick.
T’was Christmas Eve, the gale was high
The snow clouds swept along the sky
The flaky drift was whirling down
Like flying feathers thro’the town.
The tradesman chatted o’er his drop
The merchant closed his vacant shop
Where all day long, the busy crowd
Brought Christmas fare, with tumult loud.
The grocer scored the day’s amounts
The butcher conn’d his fat accounts
The farmer left the noisy mart
With heavy purse and lightens heart
In every pane the Christmas light
Gave welcome to the holy night
In every house the holly green
Around the wreathed walls was seen
The Christmas blocks of oak entire
Blazed, hiss’d and crackled in the fire
And sounds of joy from every dwelling
Upon the snowy blast came swelling.