If you have free time over the Christmas break, you might enjoy reading about some of the seasonal festivities from years gone by in Lucan. The Dúchas Schools’ Collection contains social history and folklore documented in the 1930s. Lucan (B.) | The Schools’ Collection | dúchas.ie (duchas.ie)
This link includes festive examples, like this description of the preparations before Christmas day by 13-year-old Joseph Mahony of Grange, who wrote it in 1938.
“Christmas comes every year on the twenty fifth of December. The shops in Dublin are very busy selling toys to the children and Christmas boxes to the people such as sweet cakes, boxes of Player’s cigarettes and other presents. The real work for the boys is getting holly and ivy to prepare the house for Christmas. There are many sweet things made such as plum puddings and sweet cakes. The children enjoy stirring the pudding. People buy the makings it, such as flour bread crumbs, milk, currants, candy peel and sugar. These are all mixed in a dish and wetted with milk, and whoever is in the house can stir the pudding and he will get what he wishes for. While I was stirring it, I was wishing to taste it, but I would not be let, because there is stout in it. It was put into a bowl and covered with grease-proof paper and put it into a big pot, to boil for seven hours. When it was boiled my Granny put it before the fire to dry and when it was dry I got a slice of it, but I did not get any more of it till Christmas day.”
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