Origins of Celtic Christmas

 

Christmas has been marked in Ireland since St Patrick brought Christianity to the island in the fifth century. Over the centuries pagan Celtic customs merged with Christianity to produce some uniquely Celtic Christmas traditions for the winter festival. While not all are practiced today, some can still be seen – customs which date back to earlier, less commercial times.

Before the coming of Christianity the people of Ireland practiced a pagan druidic religion which gave them a keen sense of their connection with the natural world. Like many earlier peoples around the world, the winter solstice of 21^st December was particularly important to the Gaelic Irish. The winter solstice is the shortest day / longest night of the year. However for the Celts it marked the turning point in the year. In the dark and cold of winter, at solstice the sun begins the long journey back towards its midsummer peak.

The Celts celebrated the turning point of the sun with fires in sacred places such as the Hill of Tara. The use of fire to mark the winter solstice may have contributed to the more recent Irish tradition of placing a candle in the window of your house during the twelve days of the Christmas season. It is the time of year when the Celts, just like people all across the world want to rekindle the light of love and hope in their lives.

A candle in the window: As well as a throw-back to the ancient Celtic custom of using fire to celebrate the turning point of the year, this tradition is said to be aimed at welcoming travellers to your home. The candle in the window marks the way to warmth and hospitality to anyone who finds themselves, like Mary and Joseph in the New Testament, without a place to stay at Christmas time.

Greenery: The druids of the ancient Celtic world used evergreen to branches to symbolize the eternal nature of the human soul. In Christian times the tradition of bringing evergreen branches into an Irish home has continued, as a symbol of the eternal life brought about by Christ’s resurrection. In Celtic countries evergreen branches such as holly and yew are more traditional than the German custom of bringing an entire tree into the home.

In Irish (Gaelic) Nollaig Shona Duit means Happy Christmas to you. It is pronounced no-leg show-na ditch.

A traditional Irish Christmas blessing in English is: 'May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.'

At new years it is traditional in Ireland to say 'Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.'In English - May we be alive at this time next year...

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Henry Pyle 1802 - 1898

Henry Pyle was my 3 times maternal great-grandfather born in Crosserlough, Kildrumferton parish, County Cavan, Ireland to Richard and Hariet. He had one sister, Margaret.

He emigrated to Quebec City sometime before 1825, became a farmer and married Jane Griffith, also from Ireland in 1825.

They had 5 children, Jane, my 2 times great-grandmother, Phoebe, Robert, Ann, and Eliza Jane. Their mother, Jane died in 1863 and Henry married again, this time to Jane Gregory in 1865. Jane Gregory Pyle died in 1883, he had also survived a daughter, Phoebe who died in 1876 and his only son, Robert who died in 1875.

Henry died at the age of 96 at the Finlay Asylum for elderly men.

St. Lawrence Steamboat Company

The John Molson built in 1827 at Montreal, it was powered by a mechanical sidewheel. 

Specifications: 154x23x9
Owned by J. Molson, Montreal.
Built by Campbell, Montreal and launched 22/05/27.
Had two engines: one by Boulton & Watt, London, from "Lady Sherbrooke", other new by J. D. Ward, Montreal.
Built as towboat normally hauling barge "Commerce", passenger accommodation added in former hold 1832 and 1834.
Used Montreal-Quebec; fastest trip 20 hr. 15 min. including stops.
Rammed and badly damaged "Chambly" 25/09/28 Trois Rivières.

There is an absence of passenger lists to Canada before 1865, in many cases the captains didn't feel it necessary to keep lists of their passengers so there is little to none to research.

But, in this case, with John Molson and his St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, there are passenger lists from 1819 to 1838.
Molson, an entrepreneur in Montreal in the early 1800s, built a successful brewing business. Over the years, he had heard stories of immigrants from the British Isles to Canada who had landed in Quebec City, but if their destination had been in the western part of Upper Canada (Ontario), or in some cases, the United States, many of them would not have gone. They would have not continued on their journey because they had run out of money, and transportation was very expensive on the St. Lawrence. So they could not get to where they were going, and had to stay in Quebec City – even if it had not been their choice.


So entrepreneur John Molson supplied the boats to ferry them along the St. Lawrence River down to Montreal for a reasonable fare. Soon, passengers and freight was plying the waters between Montreal and Quebec City, a distance of 150 miles or so.

People could now continue their journey past Quebec City and Montreal, and travel onward to settlements in Upper Canada and the United States. The business idea that he had years ago had turned into a success.

The Shipslists site states, in part...

One method of proceeding inward (west) and down (south) into the United States, after arriving by Sailing Ship at the port of Quebec, was to take passage in one of the St. Lawrence Steamboat Co. Steamers to Montreal. Some records of passengers carried exist for the years 1819 to 1836, on the Steamers Malsham, New Swiftsure, Lady Sherbrooke, Car of Commerce, Caledonia, Quebec, Telegraph, Chambly, Waterloo, John Molson, St. Lawrence, John Bull, Canada, Voyageur and Canadian Eagle. These steamboat records only represent passenger movements of one company ; although large, the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company was not the only one operating on the River, from Quebec to Montreal. It is, however, the only one for which some records survive.

The database is available free at the Ships List website.

Advertisement: The JOHN MOLSON, Capt. C. W. Douglas, and HERCULES, J. B. Clarke, Lieut. R. N. Commander, will be employed next season as passenger boats. The formers accommodations have been considerably extended, by making a number of state-rooms in the space formerly occupied by her hold. These boats will, we are convinced, be much liked by passengers generally, as they are so entirely free of annoyance produced by the jarring of the machinery; the JOHN MOLSON in particular, has been frequently remarked for the stillness and quietness of her motion.

Source: Canadian Emigrant (Sandwich, ON), Saturday, April 14, 1832

My 3rd great-grandfather, Henry Pyle booked passage on the John Molson steamboat on 25 May 1832, he was passenger #173 and rode in steerage for the sum of -17/6 pounds from Quebec City to Montreal. This was the John Molson's 4th trip up.

The photograph of the steamboat at the top of this entry is what the John Molson would have looked like when my grandfather sailed to Montreal.