Christmas traditions with Bulmers: Going to Mass on Christmas Eve

Thanks to Bulmers, JOE is taking a look at some Irish traditions centred around the yuletide season, like going to mass on Christmas Eve.

Whatever Christmas traditions – and there are plenty of them – that exist amongst Irish families, still by far the most important one is the obligatory attendance at Mass on Christmas Eve.

For years, Irish mammies will pester their sons and daughters to attend Mass every Sunday morning until finally giving up after realising that for years they have been hanging outside the back door and going inside only a) for communion, b) to see who was reading mass and c) to get a brief synopsis on what that week’s sermon was about. Or was that just us?

Woe betide any member of the family who refuses to go to the local Church on Christmas Eve, however, with only work and highly contagious illnesses sufficing as acceptable excuses for not turning up. Meeting up with mates that you haven’t seen in yonks is certainly a no-no.

But normally excuses aren’t required anyway because no matter how strong one’s faith is, Irish people actually enjoy going to mass on Christmas Eve.

Everyone’s in good form, everyone’s well-dressed, the choir is singing nice, fuzzy festive songs and although you do your best to pay attention, you’ll end up continuously casting glances around the Church in an effort to lock eyes with a familiar face.

The sermon also tends to go on a lot longer as the priest takes advantage of the obligatory attendance to indulge himself a little; nobody will be getting up to leave during this one so you’ll end up listening to his story about how he spent three hours shovelling snow the day before whether you like it or not.

At the end, the choir add a little bit to the excitement of the children present with ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’ or another jolly carol.

When it's all over, everyone will brave the freezing cold to loiter outside for at least half an hour to catch up with friends who are also back home for one of the six times a year and make promises about keeping in contact in the future that maybe will but probably won’t be fulfilled.

It’ll be the last time many of the folks present will see the inside of a church for another year, but none of that is considered at the time; everyone gets caught up in the warmth of the occasion and it's the perfect curtain-raiser for Christmas Day.

If there’s one thing we’re not wild about, however, it’s the title ‘Midnight Mass’. Maybe it was actually held at midnight a long time ago, but as far as we're aware, that's not the case in most places nowadays.

Still, 'three hours before midnight mass' isn't as catchy a title now, is it?