Irish Traditions

My parents were quite modern in their thinking. In fact, I would even say that my grandparents were. You would hear about old Irish traditions in school, but I lived in an urban area (Cork City) and most of these were associated with rural Ireland. I often wonder too, if highlighting these was more about tourism or wanting to make Ireland more “irish” after Ireland became independent in 1922. Three traditions that I remember in Cork are:

• Bonfire night on June 23rd every year. I never remember my parents being involved, but kids would light a big bonfire at the end of the street. We didn’t know or care about its origins. It’s said to have gone back to pagan times.
• Wren Boys on December 26th. I remember going around the doors on our road as a young child singing about the wren, the “kings of all birds” and asking for money 😀. We called it the “wran” for some reason. Again, we didn’t understand it, and the tradition was just barely alive at that stage.
• Snap-apple night on 31st October. We did practice this as a family. It was our equivalent to halloween, where we played various games involving apples. My father, who lived in the US in the 1950s, told us about “trick or treat”, and we decided to give it a try. I don’t think I’m responsible for introducing trick or treat to Ireland 😀, but nowadays, it’s widely practiced and it seems that snap-apple night is largely forgotten.

Generally, most of us wanted to move on from old Irish traditions. We liked sport, music, and movies from the UK and US, as did our parents. We might have had some level of interest in Irish stuff, but we resented it being imposed on us. I’m sure that’s the same the world over.

However, one thing that gradually dawned on me as a teenager was that Christianity as practiced in Irish society differed significantly from what I saw in the New Testament. It’s not that people in the New Testament were perfect, but they devoted themselves to God himself rather than saints, Mary, statues, holy pictures etc. And they showed real enthusiasm. If you did that in Ireland, people saw you as being a bit odd or a bit of a “holy joe”. They’d say, “Maybe you should consider becoming a priest, a monk or a nun” 😀. I’m sure things are similar in other counties. All too often, religion is merely tribal or something that’s imposed on you by the surrounding culture.

I was quite happy to part with all the Catholic distinctives, but what religion or church would suit me, if any?

Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of interest in Eastern religion, as there is today, but it was mainly taking little bits of it such as meditation. And people were fascinated with things like astrology and reincarnation and the notion of being able to do magical things with your mind. I did meet a few Protestants, but they weren’t all that different from most Catholics. They were a bit posher 😀. Most weren’t very devout, and they were somewhat sceptical about religion. Like Catholics, they just saw it as part of their culture. You also had the ecumenical movement, which aimed to restore unity among Christian denominations. Why bother becoming a Protestant if they’d end up eventually merging with the Roman Catholic church 😀.

Then, there were evangelicals, who seemed a little bit new and silly or “over the top” in some respects. But as I became more familiar with the New Testament, they seemed to be the ones most aligned to it. You had other sects and cults too, but I had no interest in joining cults or sects that were founded by people with little real knowledge of Scripture and with little knowledge or respect for historical theology.

Ultimately, my confidence is in Jesus rather than churches, but we are encouraged to fellowship together, so wherever I find myself, I try to find a church that is closely aligned with the New Testament church. Generally, I find that evangelical churches are. In Ireland, Baptist churches are evangelical. Cork Baptist Church goes back to 1640. And there are lots of newer evangelical fellowships. I do accept that some might be a bit silly and even sinister, but you get that with all vibrant movements. Even in the New Testament, you see the Apostle Paul having to take people and churches to task over their doctrine and behaviour.

It’s my hope that the traditional denominations would become more aligned to the New Testament. And I think that it’s important for evangelicals to be willing to listen to others too, and to take a greater interest in church history. And I do have a sentimental attachment to all the historic Irish church buildings, whether ancient monasteries or modern church buildings.

And when I hear people attacking the Roman Catholic church, I’m inclined to defend it. The church were the ones who helped the poor and founded schools and hospitals. People forget all that and just focus on the mistakes they made or the “bad apples” among them. It’s fair to criticize the church for covering up abuse, but you get “woke” people doing the same thing, as is seen in the recent grooming gang scandal in the UK.

And I accept that many Catholics do have genuine faith in Jesus, as my parents had, but being a mere nominal Catholic won’t make you a Christian, no more than being a nominal evangelical will make you a Christian.

And whenever I am unsure of which church to attend, I remind myself, that ultimately, I’m here to follow Jesus. I just go to churches to worship and encourage others, but I don’t put all my faith in them.

John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So, in so far as the Catholic church follow the apostles teaching, you could say that I hold on to its traditions:

2 Thessalonians 2:15
“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

1 Corinthians 11:2
“I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.”

And where the Catholic church has allowed pagan practices or secular philosophy to override the apostles teaching, I dismiss such traditions. The following verses relate to traditional jewish and greek thinking and practices that had developed before and in the New Testament era. Jesus and the apostles wanted people to focus on God’s word rather than on traditions. It’s a pity that people didn’t pay more attention to such guidelines, but perhaps it’s easier today when we have the Bible so readily available.

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Mark 7:8 “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

I realize that someone might ask me why I would think that I know more about all this than the Roman Catholic church, but debates have always gone on within the church, and great reformers, such as Luther, Calvin and Zwingli started as Roman Catholic theologians. At the end of the day, I am the one who will stand before Christ. He commands me to follow him, not to put all my trust in human institutions. Why follow the crowd, traditions, or “experts”? By all means give consideration to them, but don’t put all your confidence in them. Even if you did that, it would still be you making the decision. So, make sure that you’re making the correct decision.

I generally close with a few hymns, so just to be nice, here are four Catholic hymns that I would be happy to sing. There’s a lot of Catholic traditions that I don’t follow, but we shouldn’t forget that much of its teaching is based on Scripture, as are these hymns.

I have a whole section on Evangelicals and Catholics elsewhere on this site.