Churches all over the country are getting ready for their busiest time of the year. People involved in preparing religious celebrations talk to Rosita Boland.
The Organist
Siobhán Kilkelly
Monkstown Parish Church of Ireland, Dublin
"This will be my 16th year playing the organ on Christmas Day. For the organist, Christmas is great, because everyone loves music, especially carols. Even before you arrive in the church, you have to be focused; you have to keep thinking ahead all the time. But it's a pleasure to play on Christmas Day, because everyone is in such a good mood, and all dressed up.
"It's also more relaxed than other days. A lot of the choir - there are about 20 of them - will sit with their families, especially if they have young children. The children have usually been up for a long time at that point and the parents are ready for a change in atmosphere, a slowing down of pace.
"The church holds about 700, but the most we ever get is about 150 - but that would be a full church in terms of current parishioners. It certainly looks dramatically full on that day. If people have any inclination to come to church at all, they come on Christmas Day.
"The organ is English-made, and it dates from 1896 and is due a major restoration soon. I practise in the early morning and late at night, when the church is empty. I feel I have a special relationship with the church, because I'm going in and out a lot when nobody else is there.
"I play before the service starts, probably Bach this year. O Come All Ye Faithful is the opening carol, and I'll also play Widor's Toccata, which is a famous virtuoso organ piece; it creates a joyful atmosphere."
The Lay
Eucharistic Minister
Mary Hanley
St Peter and St Paul Cathedral, Ennis, Co Clare
"I've been serving the Eucharist for 10 years now, six of them in Ennis, and I'll be doing it again this year for noon Mass on Christmas Day. For me, doing this is about giving something back into the community. You have to do a course before you start - about what the Eucharist is, what does it mean, all that.
"There's no special robes you wear or anything, but we have medals. They're kept in the church, and they have a depiction of the Eucharist and bread on them.
"Our signal to start is the sign of peace. The Eucharistic ministers join the priest and altar servers at the altar, where we receive Communion. Then we disperse around the church. The church holds over 1,200 people and it's full on Christmas Day, so we need a lot of ministers. It's the most attended Mass of the day, and because the church is so big, there is a huge amount of effort put into decorating and cleaning it by lots of people.
"There are 12 Communion points in the cathedral, so there could be up to 36 ministers in total. We have three at each one: two to serve the blood of Christ and one for the bread. It's a very symbolic participation by people in the Mass, a special ritual.
"There is always a great atmosphere in the church on Christmas Day, but it can also be a very lonely day, when you remember the people you lost during the year. I lost my dad six weeks ago, and so there will also be some pain and sadness in the day for me this Christmas. Rituals allow us to express the things we can't easily articulate."
The Bell Ringer
Ian McCullagh
St Canice's Church of Ireland, Kilkenny
"There are eight bells in the tower, and six of them were cast in 1674. Those six were made from the bronze of even older bells that were melted down. We know all this because each of the bells has an inscription on it about who made which one and when and where. The other two bells were added in 1892; they were cast in the last foundry in Ireland, in the Liberties, which closed down in the 1960s. We have a full octave of eight notes.
"I'm tower captain at St Canice's, and this will be my 16th Christmas ringing the bells. The main service on Christmas Day is at 11.15am. The eight of us start ringing the bells at 10.45am. It's my job to call the changes. We ring the bells in rounds, and then ring them in different orders. Usually, people swap around - especially if more than eight people turn up on Christmas Day to ring - so everyone gets a chance. I keep my bell, though - it's easier to call the changes when you're in the one place, out of the way.
"The church holds 1,000 people, but the maximum there would be here for Christmas Day these days would be 300 at most, and lots of those are people home on visits.
"Bells were ringing here before people had watches; the church bells were a way to tell people that the service was about to start. There are 37 church towers in Ireland with ringing peals. We ring the bells for about 15 minutes and then take a break at 11am. Even though it's a physical job, some of our ringers are in their 80s. We continue ringing them until 11.15am, when the service is about to start. It's very satisfying: I know when I'm ringing these bells that I'm carrying on a tradition that has existed in Canice's for 335 years."
The Crib Assembler
Tony Chester
Most Holy Trinity Cathedral, Waterford
"I've been putting up the crib in this church since I was an altar boy. I'm doing it about 60 years now. I do get help, but it's mostly my job. I like doing it, it's a pleasure really. I've never missed a Christmas since I started.
"The crib figures are probably about 200 years old, but I'm not sure for certain; they definitely haven't been replaced since I started doing the crib. They're plaster and they get painted about every 20 years. They were done not so long ago - they look grand and fresh. There are 11 pieces: Mary and Joseph and the Infant, three shepherds, three kings and a cow and an ass. They're life-size, so it's a big crib. Later, we take the shepherds out and put in the kings. The crib is put up in the old mortuary chapel. It's not used any more, the chapel, so I can be working on it in there with the doors closed and nobody will see it. I'd have too many spectators if I left the doors open.
"The crib is in a cave made of paper, and then I put lots of straw in, and ivy. It takes a few nights to put it all together. I have to get help lifting the figures these days - they're heavy. They're brittle too; because they're plaster, we have to be minding them.
"The crib is always officially opened on Christmas Day by the Bishop of Lismore. The youngest altar server carries the Infant and puts him in the crib. It stays up for about a month, all told. We get a good crowd in all the time."
The Decorator
Cecilia Uí Drisceoil
St Ciarán's Catholic Church, Cape Clear Island,
Co Cork
"Cape Clear gets hit by a lot of wind and salt-burn, so I always go looking early for the flowers and greenery I need to decorate the church with. I've had about 30 Christmases on the island, and for the last 10 I've been decorating the church for Christmas; I inherited the job from my mother-in-law.
"It's a lovely church to decorate because it's not very big, and has small, sloping sills to put swags on. I order the flowers from the mainland good and early at the beginning of December. They'll arrive on the ferry close to Christmas Day. They have to be minded like a baby on the ferry so that nobody puts their heavy shopping down on them, otherwise they'd be ruined and broken by the time they reached the church.
"There's not much in the line of suitable greenery here, so I raid a friend's garden on the mainland every Christmas, for laurel and things that don't grow on the island. Ivy is about the only thing I can get here.
"There's something very special about Christmas Day Mass on Cape Clear. We're spared a lot of the commercial razzmatazz here. It's really only families and people visiting with family connections. Whereas for New Year, we'd have lots of tourists.
"The church holds about 150 and it's always full. Our 'midnight Mass' is at 8pm on Christmas Eve. There is 8am Mass on Christmas morning for the hardy. Our priest lives on the mainland, and for the last seven years he stayed on the island for Christmas Day because there was no ferry; it's about a two-hour round trip. Last year, my son, who's a fisherman, brought him out to the mainland so that he could go to his Holy Ghost community for Christmas dinner. If the weather is good again this year, they'll go straight out again after Mass and I'll hold Christmas dinner until my son gets back."
The Altar Server
Lucy Lyne (11)
St Mary's Cathedral, Killarney
"I've been an altar server for two years and this will be my first Christmas serving. The big Mass in Killarney is the 6.15pm Mass on Christmas Eve. That's because the pubs in the town all close at about four or five o'clock.
"My surplice is gold and I wear a cross around my neck. The string is gold and the cross is wooden. The altar servers take it in turns to do everything: we go down to collect the bread and wine at the offertory, and we ring the bell for Communion. I like ringing the bell best. You have to hit it with a stick and it makes an echo.
"I'm really looking forward to serving on Christmas Eve. Lots of my friends will be there. There is a TV screen set up, so that the Mass can be seen by the people at the back. The church will be full, and there are always lots of tourists too. There is a big atmosphere that night. Everyone knows it's the time you have to really make an effort to go to Mass."