Christmas Day was a quiet one at home after our morning drenching. We had beautful crackers and cheese (from the local Little Cheese Shop) for appetizers. Then it was grilled strip steaks with locally grown carrots (with honey) and au gratin potatoes. Wine, of course. And delicious chocolate candies for dessert,
With Kennedy’s Butcher Shop now sadly closed for good, we got our steaks from Garvey’s SuperValu. Luckily, we know John who used to work at Kennedy’s and now works at SuperValu. He cut me two nice thick Kerry beef strip steaks that were perfect.
Wren’s Day Morning
Wren Day, also known as Wren’s Day, Day of the Wren, or Hunt the Wren Day, is an Irish celebration held on 26 December, St. Stephen’s Day in a number of countries across Europe. The tradition consists of “hunting” a wren and putting it on top of a decorated pole. (Wikipedia)
It’s a dying tradition in many places. Not in Dingle! The Wikipedia link in the last paragraph explains the day in full. This article explains it the local Day version well.
It all starts in the afternoon. But this morning we took a nice (overcast but mercifully dry) morning. We stopped for a takeout coffee for Elaine and a hot chocolate for me. It was pretty quiet in town. We stopped in St Mary’s to light candles. I took lots of pictures as we walked. And we met Jacky, a local resident who is a tour guide by trade. Enjoy the pictures. I think they are mostly stuff you have not seen already.
Click on the galleries or pictures below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures.
Joe and Jacky
More to come on the Wren and his day in tomorrow’s post. Alas, there is a yellow flag warning for rain late in the day.
The town looks deserted! But what a lovely walk about…
Your Christmas dinner sounded perfect.
Great walk about. It seems that Dingle has a shop for everything you’d ever need. Here’s hoping you never see the inside of Dingle Medical Center!
Wren’s Day sounds very interesting. Can’t wait to hear more about it.
Love the colored doors, wreaths, colorful buildings and pic with Jacky. Sorry about the rain coming again but better than our surprise snowfall during the night. It was enough that we had to shovel today. Late Christmas gift.