A candle in the window on Christmas Eve
Coinneal na Nollag
- Christmas
- Grounding
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The answer
On Christmas Eve in Ireland, a candle was placed in the window, lit by the youngest in the house, and left lighting all night. Schoolchildren across the country wrote the custom down in the 1930s, alongside hanging stockings over the kitchen chimney for Santa. You can keep it with one candle on your windowsill on Christmas Eve.
How to do it
- On Christmas Eve, stand the candle on a heatproof dish on a windowsill that faces the road or the street, away from curtains.
- Let the youngest person in the house light it.
- Write on the blank card who you're lighting it for: someone away from home, or someone you've lost.
- Blow it out before you go to bed. The old custom left it lighting all night; a modern home shouldn't leave a candle unattended.
Sources
- Belief in Santa Claus seems to be dying out: a letter from the children of Ireland of 1938
Travel Extra, 25 December 2025, quoting the Schools' Collection (Grangegeeth, Co. Meath; Adare, Co. Limerick; Tinure, Co. Louth)