Plum pudding and sea swimming: Irish traditions that have stuck and new ones that have taken off

In the News podcast: Christmas is the time of year when we cling to the familiar

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Pearse and Aoife Hughes, Carrickmines, after a dip last year at the 40 Foot traditional Christmas Day swim. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins
Pearse and Aoife Hughes, Carrickmines, after a dip last year at the 40 Foot traditional Christmas Day swim. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins

It’s Christmas Eve and so much about this time of year is about the things we do and eat – not because we particularly want to do them or even enjoy eating them – but it’s traditional.

So what are the traditions we’ve clung to and what are the new ones that have crept up on us?

Who sends Christmas cards anymore? And why have Poinsettias, once such an exotic seasonal plant, fallen out of favour?

Irish Times feature writer Laura Slattery has been teasing out the traditions that make an Irish Christmas.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast

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