Irish Traditions At The Years End

Irish Traditions At The Years End 

By Paul McCann -

When I look back at the things people used to do

At the end of the year in Ardoyne and the bone ,

there were stories I had heard of people

who had  a custom of bringing

a donkey through their home ,

and some would buy a few bottles of stout  

and invite their neigbours to come over for a wee drink .,

Then there were those who would hide away

and close the blinds and just sit there in the dark alone and think .

There would be people waiting for the new year to come

and counting down the last seconds on their clocks.

In our house we would go out to the front door

and listen to the fog horns blow down in Belfast docks .

The ringing of bells at Midnight was heard

while opening up the doors and windows was often seen.

Some believed it would invite the spirits of passed family members

back to  the place they had been .

There were those who thought that by giving a lucky penny

It would bring fortune in the year ahead ,

There were lots of traditions that I had heard people did

like banging on the walls with Christmas bread .

then after the bread banging they would clean up all the house

to start off the new year with a clean slate .

Many of those traditions are not done anymore  

the people have moved on and they’ve shut the gate .

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