There are many Irish folk rituals associated with January 6, the last day of Christmas and the day known as NollaignamBan
Analysis: there are many Irish folk rituals associated with January 6, the last day of Christmas and the day known as Nollaig na mBan
However, as it occurred on the very last day of the Christmas, it was acknowledged by some that the treats the women enjoyed were the dregs or leftovers of the festive season. This was unlike the men’s Christmas, Christmas Day, when everyone enjoyed the first and finest of the treats. There were a number of other customs around Little Christmas. On this day in some parts of the country, mothers rubbed the tail of a herring across the eyes of their children to give immunity against disease for the rest of the year. It was also believed that one should have the floor swept and have a bucket of clean water ready before going to bed that night, and that the water from that bucket should never be used in the morning.
A curious belief was that all the well water in Ireland was said to turn into wine at midnight on Little Christmas. No one was permitted to go out to observe this spectacle, or even to sample the well water, or they would be met with very bad luck. At midnight on Christmas Eve too, farm animals were believed to have had the power of human speech, but a terrible fate also awaited those who spied on them.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in January 2013, Kate Lawlor from Fenns Quay Restaurant on how Nollaig na mBan will be celebrated in Cork A report in The Freeman's Journal described Dublin city that evening:"at intervals dense clouds obscured the sky and added to the horror of the scene by the gloomy darkness they produced […] for the Aurora Borealis burned brightly a great portion of the night, mantling the hemisphere with sheets of red".
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