January 6th carries many meanings. The Dead, Joyce’s masterful story centred on one of literature’s most famous dinners, takes place on January 6th, the Christian feast of the Epiphany. Moments of epiphany were “little errors and gestures – mere straws in the wind – by which people betray the very things they were most careful to conceal”, he explained.
In other cultures January 6th is known as Three Kings Day, honouring a journey guided by celestial light, or Twelfth Night, the day that brings the Christmas period to a close. In Ireland, it marks Little Christmas or Nollaig na mBan, traditionally the day that honoured the women who planned, cooked, cleaned, cared and made Christmas.
Nollaig na mBan was their one day of respite, the day they stepped away and met up with women friends and relatives, while crucially, the menfolk were designated to take over the childcare and domestic chores. As such, it may have augured a Joycean epiphany for some; mere straws in the wind perhaps but some recognition of a system where women carried most of the care in the home and community.
They still do. The pre-pandemic trend of women working about twice the number of unpaid hours as men continued through Covid-19, while the gender segregation only deepened with women getting the lion’s share of time-intensive tasks, such as caring, meal preparation and cleaning.
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So Nollaig na mBan remains a grand concept even if the manner of its celebration has changed over time, not least the presumption that there is a man poised to take over the childcare. One young woman holds an open house for dozens of female relatives and friends, children welcome. Another hosts a lunch in a former bastion of male chauvinism. Others organise a swim in the sea. Women from Dublin’s north inner city will celebrate unsung heroes at their second annual Nollaig na mBan festival.
The evidence suggests that the tradition is not merely safe but resurgent, so much so that some fear a corporate takeover.
The choice is there. Embrace it.