by Aoibhinn from Belfast asks Santa about holly, learns about the Giant’s Causeway, and hears about the old Celtic tradition of hanging holly on doors
Dear Santa, my name is Aoibhinn and I am nine years old. I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where my granny says our coastline has rocks so strange and so perfectly shaped that people have been telling stories about giants building them for centuries.
Dear Aoibhinn, I have flown low over those very rocks many times, and your granny’s storytelling instincts are entirely understandable.
Santa, I have three questions.
My first question is, do you like Christmas holly? My granda hangs a sprig above our front door every December and refuses to explain exactly why, just that it is tradition.
I love holly, Aoibhinn, its bright red berries and sharp green leaves have marked the Christmas season for a very long time. Your granda’s quiet insistence on tradition, without needing to explain every detail, is very much in the proper spirit of it.
My second question is about our coastline. My teacher says the Giant’s Causeway is made of thousands of strange, perfectly shaped stone columns. Is that true?
It is, Aoibhinn. The Giant’s Causeway consists of around forty thousand interlocking basalt columns, formed by ancient volcanic activity millions of years ago, though the old legends about giants remain considerably more fun to tell. Flying over that dramatic coastline each Christmas Eve never once loses its wonder.
My third question is, why do people hang holly on doors specifically? My granda’s explanation of tradition was not very detailed.
Hanging holly on doors traces back to very old Celtic customs, long before Christmas was widely celebrated, when evergreen plants were believed to bring protection and good fortune through the darkest part of winter. Christians later adopted the custom into Christmas tradition, and it has stayed on doors just like yours ever since, a small evergreen promise that brighter days are coming.
Merry Christmas, Santa.
Your friend,
Aoibhinn Mallon
Belfast, Northern Ireland
P.S. Do you have holly at the North Pole too?
An entire hedge of it, Aoibhinn. The elves take real pride in it.
