The 12th Day of Christmas, Epiphany, has special significance in Ireland. It is known as “Little Christmas” — Nollaig Beag — or “Women’s Christmas” — Nollaig na mBan.

The tradition of this day is to recognize and appreciate the hard work the women of the Irish home put into the Christmas holiday festivities. So they are thanked and recognized — and granted a break from household chores.

Traditionally, on this day, the menfolk would take on domestic tasks and make the tea, which often included a barmbrack cake, which is a type of fruitcake. This gave women a break to rest and meet their friends and neighbors, taking time to visit people and enjoy a cuppa and the last of the Christmas cake, as well as share a gift of some candy or chocolate kept just for this day. It was deliberately purposed to reflect a culture of appreciation for the contributions of women during this festive season. The ladies might even retire to the local pub, usually the preserve of menfolk. 

Dolores Marshall of Tyrone, in the north, recalled to the Register her Catholic childhood. 

“Growing up in a Catholic home, the feast of the Epiphany was always a holy day of obligation; it was the last day of the school holiday, and I remember we would never have gone back to school before Jan. 6.”

She said it was the day that the Three Kings were added to the Nativity scene. 

“Usually then, a day or so after, it was taken down carefully and put away,” she said of the Christmas crib. “I remember friends of my mother’s visiting the house on Little Christmas; it was the last free day before everything was back to normal.”

The tradition’s remnants are still observed, including a thank-you tea, for example, in 2024. 

According to Niall Comer, lecturer in Irish at Ulster University, it is particularly still observed in rural locales. “There are parts of the country where the tradition lingers in some form,” he told the Register. He also pointed to records in the National Folklore Collection that preserve first-hand accounts of specific local folk traditions dating back to Ireland in the 1930s.

Maudie Fahey recorded this folk memory from her 42-year-old mother in Ballinasloe, Galway. “The Epiphany is the sixth of January. It is the feast of Our Lord made known. On the eve of this feast, which is called Twelfth Night, 12 rushes or small candles are lighted in honor of this feast. Long ago it was always rushes but nowadays it is candles. Twelve rushes were pulled and dried and dipped in tallow. Then they were lighted and the Rosary said while they were burning.”

Comer pointed to an entry in the folklore collection from a school in Belvoir, Kilkishen, County Clare: “This feast day, which the Church calls the feast of the Epiphany, is always called little Christmas Day. It occurs on the 12th day after Christmas, and marriages never occur until after. It falls on the 6th of January. Schoolchildren have to return again after the holidays are over.”

“Candles are again lighted on the eve of and on the nights of the feast,” the entry continued. “It is a really nice sight in the countryside to see every house lighted up; in fact, every window has a light. The houses lighted up on the side of the hills and mountains look beautiful and show a grand spirit of faith, as the candle is the emblem of faith. Some people light three candles in the kitchen to honor the Magi.”

Martina Purdy, a Catholic commentator, pointed to the growing secular popularity of Nollaig na mBan, though growing up she was unaware of it. 

“It is a lovely tradition,” she told the Register. “In Catholic tradition, to serve is to reign; and do it is an honor to take up service, also to give others a rest.” She added with a flash of humor, “If my Belfast mother had known about this tradition, believe you me we would have heard of it! Any excuse to get my English father to cook!”

Julieann Moran, general secretary of the Irish Synodal Pathway, has drawn parallels between Little Christmas and synodality in the way in which specific time, space and recognition must be set aside for women in the life of the Church. Moran told America magazine that “Nollaig na mBan is a reminder of the often-overlooked contributions women make to family and community life. The tradition offers a model for how the Church can better value and elevate the voices and leadership of women.”

Indeed, Little Christmas reminds the faithful of the importance of valuing and recognizing women’s contribution in society and in the Church.

Claire Claydon, primary-school teacher and musician from Ramelton, County Donegal, explained a recent revival of the festival. 

“In Donegal over the last five or six years, we have had a revival of the celebration of Nollaig na mBan in the form of a group of female musicians from all over Donegal to celebrate spiritually and culturally Nollaig na mBan,” she told the Register.

“It’s supposed to be the day in which the women rest and the men sort of take over the traditional roles of women cooking and sweeping floors, and the women go on social calls and stuff like that. So we have our social call, and that is to go to the theater,” she added. “We obviously have rehearsals and all of that — and we get together to play sort of Irish music, spiritual music, whatever suits. We don’t know if the men are actually sweeping the floors, but that’s what we are doing!”

Tracy Harkin, a Catholic mother of eight children, told the Register that it’s indeed a special day for families.

“Setting aside this special day reminds us as mothers that we are the heartbeat of the home and all our efforts to make Christmas special in our little domestic church is heartily appreciated by our families,” Harkin said.

“We remember not only this generation of mothers, but the generations that have gone before. Memories of our mothers will be shared, and favorite ballads will be sung. It is a beautiful and poignant celebration.”