Christmas and going for the 'Commands'

Interview with Pat ‘Hora, Kilbannon, Tuam, Co. Galway

1^st December 2017

Christmas

POH: Christmas, of course, would be the food high-point of the year.

CD: Yes, yes

POH: Because anything you’d have, you’d have your, your turkey or your goose, but you’d also have things like…I remember a tradition in the village where people used to go…the word they gave it, and I don’t know why, was they go for the “commands”, the commands.

CD: Oh right

POH: I remember hearing a discussion between a man and a woman, a neighbour of ours, who…they’d take the horse and cart or the ass and cart, to Tuam for the commands because they might be buying a bag of flour and they’re would be Christmas boxes…

CD: Ok

POH: And there would be a whole lot of things…

CD: Extra bits and pieces they might get

POH: And the horse and cart was that bit bigger. And a most unusual thing, maybe a generation later, I heard their children discussing whether they’d go to New York to do a bit of Christmas shopping!

CD: Imagine! Such a change in such a short space of time

POH: A short space of time