New Year in Ireland

Traditionally, the Irish see New Year’s Eve as the occasion to prepare for the New Year by cleaning house and stocking up on essentials. December 31, is usually a work day but many Irish take a vacation day to travel, visit the beaches, etc. In fact, a cold swim in the Irish Sea or Atlantic Ocean is not uncommon.

For good luck, at midnight some Irish enter the house through the front door and leave through the back door.

Some families remember those who passed during the year by setting a place for them at the dinner table then leaving the door unlocked.

Unmarried people often place mistletoe under their pillow to help them dream of their future wives or husbands.

A couple of Irish toasts are:

“May we be alive at this time next year” and “In the new year, may hour right hand always be stretched out in friendship but never in want”

Boxing Day

Today, December 26, is Boxing Day. A largely British celebration when wealthier Brits give boxes (gifts) to their servants. In Ireland, December 26 is celebrated as St. Stephens Day or the Day of the Wren. St. Stephen is believed to be the first Christian martyr.

There are several interpretations surrounding the significance of the wren but the one I like best is story that a wren began pecking bread crumbs from a drum head, awakening viking invaders and saving them from a surprise attack from the Irish. Dead wrens are especially popular with the Irish on this day.

Answers to Christmas Trivia

Christmas Trivia Answers

1 Advent

2 Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German Husband – Tree in Windsor Castle in 1841

3 Boxing Day

4 Caesar Augustus

5 France about 1300

6 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans

7 Coursers

8 Druids (Celts)

9 Epiphany

10 One who delivers the news

11 Holy Day

12 Holly

13 Bowing Down in reverence

14 Lye-Fish

15 A wooden trough for feeding cattle & horses

16 Christmas or Christmas Carol

17 Franklin Pierce

18 Shrub

19 Mexico

20 Caribou

21 A toast or expression of good will.

22 Ireland

23 To guide Mary and Joseph

24 Greek

25 Yule

Have a Merry Christmas

Christmas trivia

The following 25 questions were asked at Keegan's Pub last night. The winner had 15 correct. How many can you answer? We will post the correct answers soon.

1. What Christmas related event starts on the Sunday nearest St. Andrews Day?

2. Who is responsible for the Christmas tree becoming popular in England?

3. What “day” is celebrated in England and Canada on December 26^th?

4. Who decreed that all men should be taxed, each in his own city, causing Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem?

5. Christmas Carols originated in what country?

6.  Who abolished Christmas Carols in England in the mid 1600’s?

7. In the poem “A Visit from St. Nick”, Clement Moore refers to the team of reindeer as what?

8. Decorating with evergreens, ivy and holly started with what ancient pagan cult in England and Europe?

9. The twelfth day of Christmas is celebrated as what feast?

10. What is a Herald Angel?

11. The word “Holiday” is derived from what two words?

12. What Christmas related decoration bears its fruit in the winter?

13. In the song, “Away in the Manger” the cattle are “lowing: What does that mean?

14.  Lutefisk translates into English as what?

15. What is a manger?

16. What does “Noel” mean?

17. Which US President was the first to have a Christmas tree in the White House? Hint: 1856

18. What type of plant is a Poinsettia?

19. Poinsettias are native to what country?

20. A Reindeer is called what in North America?

21. The word “wassail” means what?

22.  The custom of placing candles in the window began in what country?

23. What was the purpose for window candles?

24. The “X” in Xmas stands for Christ in what alphabet?

25. The Vikings gave what name to the season of the winter solstice?

More about Ugly Christmas Sweaters

From our friends at the Irish Gazette we learned that the "Awful Christmas Sweaters" phenomon started in Ireland with "aunties, grandmothers and relatives handing over the most ugly sweaters as presents for Christmas".

Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties

Once considered to be "tacky" Ugly Christmas Sweaters are now the theme of Holiday Parties. The ugly sweater at a Christmas Party serves the same function as a costume on Halloween: it allows the person to step outside himself and not be concerned with his appearance.

So popular is the Ugly Sweater Party that it has it's own website, UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com. Second-hand clothing outlets like Goodwill and Ragstock are common sources for these highly prized treasures.

Keegan's Pub in Northeast Minneapolis holds an annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Night. This year is will be held on Saturday. December 17.

Whiskey

What is "aqua vitae" you ask? It is the "water of life" first produced by monks in Ireland for medicinal purposes. Historians credit the first distillation anywhere for the seventh through the fifteenth century. The word "whiskey" derives from the Gaelic "water of life" putting an end to the Scots claim to be the originators of this most enjoyable of refreshments.

Scotch Whiskey has a distinctive smokey or peaty smell and flavor because the grain is roasted over open flame imparting the smell and taste to the grain and thus to the finished distilled product.  Irish, Canadian and American whiskeys roast the grain in an enclosed process thus keeping the smoke away from infusing the grain.

Irish Whiskey is distilled three times giving it a softer taste than Scotch or American whiskey. Each distillation process eliminates impurities which are a contributor to the dreaded hang-over.

Bourbon is actually a whiskey but to be called bourbon is must be distilled in Kentucky.

The distilled whiskey is actually clear until it is aged in fired oak barrels. The ageing is what gives whiskey its color and much or its flavor.

The perfect pint

Pouring the perfect pint of Guinness is both art and science. Start with a clean dry 20 oz. glass. Pour the beer at a 45 degree angle down the inside of the glass, never letting the spout touch the beer. Pour to about 80% full then let the glass rest for two to three minutes.

Finish the pour pushing the tap handle back, releasing the familiar hiss of the beer coming through at exactly the correct pressure. Present the glass, logo toward the customer, and admire the cascading effect of the nitrogenated pour.

Prerequisites for the perfect poor are the right conditions of cleanliness, temperature and pressure. Guinness should be poured between 38 and 42 degrees, through clean beer lines. The gas mixture should be 75% nitrogen and 25% Carbon Dioxide.

Generally speaking, Irish pubs and establishments that pour a lot of Guinness do it correctly. Bars that simply sell Guinness rarely do it right.