Dublin Event Guide 340: Christmas Markets, Winter Solstice Celebration & Merry Christmas

A weekly car boot sale, one of less than a handful that is still reliably taking place, has up to 200 cars/sellers. The stadium is just a few minutes walk from the Red LUAS line stop and numerous bus stops. For traders the Car Boot Sale opens at 06:30 for buyers from 08:00. If you are interested in selling, check the details and register on their website.

The weekly Honest2goodness food market in Glasnevin has fresh meat, vegetables, fish, baked goods, and wines. It is open from 09:30-16:00. It is behind Lidl in the Industrial Estate just after the Glasnevin Cemetary coming from the City Centre.

Parkrun Ireland is organising free weekly runs in parks. It is a timed run over 5km and participation is completely free, but registration before your first parkrun is required.

The SuperNatural Food Market is taking place every Saturday from 09:30-15:30 in St. Andrews Resource Centre in Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

The Belgard Weekend Market is an indoor market with stalls with handcraft (incl. designer jewellery, aran jumpers and wool, christening robes and shawls, cards and cross stitch), household items, bric and brac, furniture, flowers, make-up, clothes, shoes, showers, upholstery, toys, kitchens, cafe, army memorabilia, collectors items, sweets, handbags books, blinds, party shop, tools and more.

It is open every Saturday and Sunday and is located in the Glen Abbey complex (opposite Jacobs) on Belgard Road.

Brendan O’Carroll (“Mrs. Brown”) will be in Eason’s for a Book Signing.

Every weekend in December a few craft stalls will set up in the courtyard at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. Very euphemistically the event is officially called “Christmas Winter Wonderland”. Christmas gifts on sale will range from woodcrafted items, knitwear, table centres, candles, oils, to little ceramic cottages and small sculptures.

Santa will appear each Sunday from 13:00-17:00 to meet the children and Storytelling for children will take place in the 16th century tower house beside the courtyard each Sunday at 13:30 and 15:00. The shows on 22 Dec are Snow White.
And a choir will be singing Christmas carols and songs every Sunday from 14:00.

Admission is free and there is parking on site.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival is with 8 years, the longest established Christmas Market in Dublin, but Irish Markets still have a lot of learning and growing up to do.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival will run from 12-23 Dec. It was in the past one of the better ones in layout and in the type of stalls/traders there are, but every year the organisers fiddle around with it. Maybe one day they will hit gold. In previous years there was a nice atmosphere and there were even some crafts shops intermixed with soap, flashy T-shirt and plastic goods shops.

11 food stalls and 27 shops stalls (only a small few you can call “craft”) are there this year, but it seems that the layout has been changed completely and the George’s Dock platform is used for a gig marquee this year, called “Festival Lounge”. Until 18:00 you are allowed in for free and some choirs will perform occassionally. In the evening, however, from 20:00-22:00, it will turn into a gig venue and tickets are EUR 8-10.

The market will be open every day Mon-Fri 12:00-22:00 and Sat+Sun 10:00-22:00.

The Farmleigh Christmas Programme is every year a great programme that especially keeps the kids happy. On Saturday the event schedule is:

+ Christmas Food Market – Farmyard – 10am to 5pm
+ Festive Crib – Outdoors – 10am to 5pm
+ Puppet Show – Cowshed Theatre – 12pm to 12.30pm, 1.45pm to 2.15pm, 3.30pm to 4pm
+ Storytelling for Children with Danielle Allision and Sue Brown – The Old Kitchen – 12.45pm to 1.30pm, 2.30pm to 3.15pm, 4.15pm to 5pm
+ Barbershop Melodies with The Mellowchords – Outdoors – 2pm to 4pm
+ Carol Singing with the Dublin Welsh Male Choir – Ballroom – 1.30pm to 3.30pm
+ Victorian Christmas Experience – Courtyard – 12pm to 5pm

Admission is free to all events, but places are limited at some of them.

The “GloHealth Christmas Wonderland” (06 Dec – 12 Jan) is an Ice Skating Rink, a Circus, Funderland, Jingle Town, Puppet Theatre and Illusionist Guy Barrett. None of these events are free, but there is one free component: Advertised as a “Continental Christmas Market” and with free admission, you will find a couple of (german) food stalls…and that’s it! The most disappointing Christmas Market I have ever seen.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The Merchants Market on East Wall Road is a relatively new weekly market on Saturdays and Sundays with more than 80 stalls. There is everything from furniture and antiques to paintings and mirrors, electronics and hot food to bicycles and buns. Sounds interesting and I will check it out over the coming weeks. It is just a few minutes walk away from the Point Theatre/O2 (walk in the direction of the Port Tunnel). www.facebook.com/merchantsindoormarket

An indoor market in Coolock with over 40 traders with a wide range of goods and a café on site as well.

The Temple Bar Markets (Food Market on Meeting House Square, Book Market on Temple Bar Square and the Designer Mart near Cow’s Lane) are taking place every Saturday from 10:00-16:30.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30, and Sundays: 12:00-17:30.

Each Saturday and Sunday before Christmas a few food stands are put in the upper courtyard of Dublin Castle and the whole event is euphemistically called “Traditional Festive Market”. The stalls are there to feed the kids who went to the children show and the grown ups who came for the “choir under the tree” performances.

Choirs will be performing under the tree from 13:30-15:30.

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place. In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

This weekend (Sat 21 Dec at 14:00) a Santa World Record Attempt will take place on the Harbour Plaza. They need 873 Santas to break the record that was achieved in Massachusetts in 2010. If you want to wath it, it is free. To take part you are asked to give EUR 2 to Barnardos per person. You only need a Santa Hat to take part, nothing else. That should be do-able! On the website is a registration form. Not sure if you have to fill that in before you come, but it might be a good idea if there is still time.

Established in 1956 by Fr. Louis Coffey, the Live Crib at the Mansion House has entertained generations. The Live Crib consists of a traditional nativity scene set among live animals in a specially constructed stable. The animals are brought to the crib every morning and are returned to a farm on the south of the city in the evening. Admission is free and donations are welcome. The crib will be outside Mansion House until 24 Dec at 14:00.

The Ferocious Mingle Marcade (Market and Arcade) is back in a new location. The Marcade is now in Camden Street next to Daintree Paper and opposite the Centra and off-license there. It takes place every Thurs-Sun and is a flea-market-type permanent market with stalls and “chalets” for traders.

BLOCK T, the creative incubator in Smithfield, is the location for the Craft & Design Christmas Pop-up Shop in Smithfield. You will find affordable and unique art, handmade crafts & jewellery, records, posters and many more. The BLOCK T Showroom is just off the Luas track at Smithfield station.

The Pop-Up Shop is open every Thursday to Sunday from 07-22 Dec (11:30-18:30 with late opening on Thursday until 20:00)

The Moving Crib in St. Martin Apostolate has fascinated generations of children from Dublin and all over Ireland and 50 years after it first began, it still draws the crowds. The Moving Crib is like an expanded Nativity Play going back to Adam and Eve and finishing after the crib scene with the young Jesus teaching the Doctors in the Temple. There are over 100 figures in the Crib arranged in 14 different tableaux. They cover various episodes of the Old and New Testament. The figures are about a metre high, moulded in papier-mache and dressed in miniature clothes. Concealed motors control the movements of the arms, head and legs. All figures, motors, clothing etc. come from a firm in Germany.

The Moving Crib is open from 25 Nov to 05 Jan (Weekdays 14:00-18:00 and Sat& Sun 11:30-18:00). It is closed on 24, 25, 26 Dec and 01 Jan. Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

The Dame District Christmas Market will take place every day from Fri 13 – Sun 22 Dec. The market is a row of 24 white plastic tents/marquees down Dame Court with a few lights and a few pine branches for decoration. Yes, you get it: atmosphere is a problem. But the tents are relatively big so that stalls are of a nice size and there are some interesting traders. Admission is free.

The best about this market is that there will be a free concert every night on a stage in the street. The performers and times can be found on the Facebook Page below.

The weekly Ha’penny Flea Market is an indoor market in the Grand Social Pub, which offers vintage Men and Women’s clothing, contemporary crafts, books, DVDs, vinyl records, vintage and handmade jewellery, vintage hair styles, art, photography and much more. Dux & Co will offer food and the Grand Social’s Bar and Gourmet Coffee options are available.

A Pop-up Market in Sweeney’s will invite you to buy some more Christmas presents and to enjoy the music in Sweeney’s also.

There will ne crafts, jewellery, hand made cosmetics and dolls, massage, vintage clothes, records, home made brown bread, basil oil, cranberry sauce, a variety of cakes and lots more.

The first ever White Lady Art Gallery Christmas Market, with 14 stalls full of hand-made art, crafts and gifts all at affordable prices will take place over three weekends from Fri-Sun. The weekends are 06-08 Dec, 13-15 Dec, 20-22 Dec.

Admission is free.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

An Intercultural Tour in Mandarin with Community Ambassador Tiedong Yang will introduce the collections in Mandarin. Family-friendly activities are also available in Mandarin. Admission is free and no booking is required.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will run every Saturday. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via egaldog@gmail.com or 085-2725095

Explore how ancient people marked the mid-winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere with a tour of the Prehistoric Ireland Exhibition. View a reconstructed Neolithic passage tomb and associated grave goods which are often found inside these structures, including artefacts from Newgrange and Knowth, Co. Meath. Admission is free and no booking required.

The 4th Winter Solstice Celebration takes place this Saturday. It starts at the National Museum (Collins Barracks) and continues to Smithfield Plaza (Dublin 7). The event is a community event, organised by Sli An Chroi and supported by the National Museum and Dublin City Council.

The event starts at 18:00 in the Riding School Hall of Collins Barracks. At 19:00 the Winter Solstice Ceremonial Fire will be lit on Clarke Square in Collins Barracks and at 19:15 the parade assembles to walk along the Liffey (Ellis Quay and Arran Quay) to Smithfield Plaza. From 20:00-20:30 a Fire Ceremony will take place on Smithfield Plaza.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome to this family-friendly event.

Cornucopia Café & Restaurant host live music three evenings a week (Thurs, Fri and Sat). The restaurant is a Wholefood & Vegetarian Restaurant and is open until 22:15.
+ Every second Thursday N.C Lawlor, a songwriter, session player and troubadour plays a mix of country, bluegrass & blues from 19:30-21:30.
+ Every Friday (19:30-21:30) Junshi Murakami plays Irish Harp.
+ Every Saturday (19:30-21:30) Nollaig Mann plays a collection of popular and jazz classics.

The Communications Worker Union (CWU) has an own band! And this band is inviting to their Christmas Concert on Saturday in the Unitarian Church. Admission is free.

This is a weekly Saturday night jazz event in the basement Wine Cave of KC Peaches wholefood restaurant/café. Food will be served until 22:00 and wine, minerals & music will be available until later. Admission is free and a donation into a hat at the end of the evening is appreciated.

The Stillorgan Orchard provides regular live music. The upcoming gigs are listed on the website below.

Every weekend in December a few craft stalls will set up in the courtyard at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. Very euphemistically the event is officially called “Christmas Winter Wonderland”. Christmas gifts on sale will range from woodcrafted items, knitwear, table centres, candles, oils, to little ceramic cottages and small sculptures.

Santa will appear each Sunday from 13:00-17:00 to meet the children and Storytelling for children will take place in the 16th century tower house beside the courtyard each Sunday at 13:30 and 15:00. The shows on 22 Dec are Snow White.
And a choir will be singing Christmas carols and songs every Sunday from 14:00.

Admission is free and there is parking on site.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival is with 8 years, the longest established Christmas Market in Dublin, but Irish Markets still have a lot of learning and growing up to do.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival will run from 12-23 Dec. It was in the past one of the better ones in layout and in the type of stalls/traders there are, but every year the organisers fiddle around with it. Maybe one day they will hit gold. In previous years there was a nice atmosphere and there were even some crafts shops intermixed with soap, flashy T-shirt and plastic goods shops.

11 food stalls and 27 shops stalls (only a small few you can call “craft”) are there this year, but it seems that the layout has been changed completely and the George’s Dock platform is used for a gig marquee this year, called “Festival Lounge”. Until 18:00 you are allowed in for free and some choirs will perform occassionally. In the evening, however, from 20:00-22:00, it will turn into a gig venue and tickets are EUR 8-10.

The market will be open every day Mon-Fri 12:00-22:00 and Sat+Sun 10:00-22:00.

The Farmleigh Christmas Programme is every year a great programme that especially keeps the kids happy. On Saturday the event schedule is:

+Christmas Food Market – Farmyard – 10am to 5pm
+ Festive Crib – Outdoors – 10am to 5pmPuppet Show – Cowshed Theatre – 12pm to 12.30pm, 1.45pm to 2.15pm, 3.30pm to 4pm
+ Barbershop Melodies with The Mellowchords – Outdoors – 12pm to 4pm
+ Storytelling for Children with Danielle Allision and Sue Brown – The Old Kitchen – 12.45pm to 1.30pm, 2.30pm to 3.15pm, 4.15pm to 5pm
+ Horse & Carriage Rides – Experience Farmleigh Estate in Style – Outdoors – 1pm to 4pm
+ Carol Singing with Cantando – Ballroom – 1.30pm to 3.30pm
+ Victorian Christmas Experience – Courtyard – 11am to 5pm

Admission is free to all events, but places are limited at some of them.

• Christmas Food Market – Farmyard – 10am to 5pm
• Festive Crib – Outdoors – 10am to 5pm
• Puppet Show – Cowshed Theatre – 12pm to 12.30pm, 1.45pm to 2.15pm, 3.30pm to 4pm
• Barbershop Melodies with The Mellowchords – Outdoors – 12pm to 4pm
• Storytelling for Children with Danielle Allision and Sue Brown – The Old Kitchen – 12.45pm to 1.30pm, 2.30pm to 3.15pm, 4.15pm to 5pm
• Horse & Carriage Rides – Experience Farmleigh Estate in Style – Outdoors – 1pm to 4pm
• Carol Singing with Cantando – Ballroom – 1.30pm to 3.30pm
• Victorian Christmas Experience – Courtyard – 11am to 5pm

The “GloHealth Christmas Wonderland” (06 Dec – 12 Jan) is an Ice Skating Rink, a Circus, Funderland, Jingle Town, Puppet Theatre and Illusionist Guy Barrett. None of these events are free, but there is one free component: Advertised as a “Continental Christmas Market” and with free admission, you will find a couple of (german) food stalls…and that’s it! The most disappointing Christmas Market I have ever seen.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The Merchants Market on East Wall Road is a relatively new weekly market on Saturdays and Sundays with more than 80 stalls. There is everything from furniture and antiques to paintings and mirrors, electronics and hot food to bicycles and buns. Sounds interesting and I will check it out over the coming weeks. It is just a few minutes walk away from the Point Theatre/O2 (walk in the direction of the Port Tunnel). www.facebook.com/merchantsindoormarket

Every Sunday, the Merrion Square Open Air Art Gallery takes place. Up to 200 artists exhibit their paintings on the railings on three sides (West, North and East) of Merrion Square and you can just enjoy the exhibition or even buy.

The Children’s Art Cart Workshops will be held again in the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre (01-6770095) every Sunday from 24 March to 22 December 2013. Currently the workshop is still free, but there is a possibility that a fee will be introduced at some point. Children must be over 6 years of age and must be supervised by an adult.
You can’t pre-book, so early arrival is required because there are only 20 places per session.

The themes are:
01 Dec: Make Christmas cards
08 Dec: Christmas decorations
15 Dec: Christmas Card for Teacher
22 Dec: Make a Surprise

Each Saturday and Sunday before Christmas a few food stands are put in the upper courtyard of Dublin Castle and the whole event is euphemistically called “Traditional Festive Market”. The stalls are there to feed the kids who went to the children show and the grown ups who came for the “choir under the tree” performances.

Choirs will be performing under the tree from 13:30-15:30.

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place. In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

This weekend (Sat 21 Dec at 14:00) a Santa World Record Attempt will take place on the Harbour Plaza. They need 873 Santas to break the record that was achieved in Massachusetts in 2010. If you want to wath it, it is free. To take part you are asked to give EUR 2 to Barnardos per person. You only need a Santa Hat to take part, nothing else. That should be do-able! On the website is a registration form. Not sure if you have to fill that in before you come, but it might be a good idea if there is still time.

A weekly market with lots of food, but also many other products (art & crafts, books, etc) takes place every Sunday in the beautiful People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire. It is a very popular market and with around 50 vendors also one of the bigger markets.

Established in 1956 by Fr. Louis Coffey, the Live Crib at the Mansion House has entertained generations. The Live Crib consists of a traditional nativity scene set among live animals in a specially constructed stable. The animals are brought to the crib every morning and are returned to a farm on the south of the city in the evening. Admission is free and donations are welcome. The crib will be outside Mansion House until 24 Dec at 14:00.

There seem to be TWO weekly markets on Long Mile Road and both are very close to each other. One is behind Wigoders on Long Mile Road (across the road from Aldi). It hosts more than 50 stalls and there is also a Cafe on site. www.facebook.com/WigodersLongmileMarket And the other one is just on the other side of the road, next to Aldi. www.facebook.com/TheLongMileRdMarket

The well known Palestrina Choir sing every Sunday at the mass in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. They sing complete masterworks by Mozart, Haydn, Dvorak, Palestrina, de Victoria, usually accompanied by Prof. Gerard Gillen on the organ, who often also plays a solo piece.

The Ferocious Mingle Marcade (Market and Arcade) is back in a new location. The Marcade is now in Camden Street next to Daintree Paper and opposite the Centra and off-license there. It takes place every Thurs-Sun and is a flea-market-type permanent market with stalls and “chalets” for traders.

BLOCK T, the creative incubator in Smithfield, is the location for the Craft & Design Christmas Pop-up Shop in Smithfield. You will find affordable and unique art, handmade crafts & jewellery, records, posters and many more. The BLOCK T Showroom is just off the Luas track at Smithfield station.

The Pop-Up Shop is open every Thursday to Sunday from 07-22 Dec (11:30-18:30 with late opening on Thursday until 20:00)

The Moving Crib in St. Martin Apostolate has fascinated generations of children from Dublin and all over Ireland and 50 years after it first began, it still draws the crowds. The Moving Crib is like an expanded Nativity Play going back to Adam and Eve and finishing after the crib scene with the young Jesus teaching the Doctors in the Temple. There are over 100 figures in the Crib arranged in 14 different tableaux. They cover various episodes of the Old and New Testament. The figures are about a metre high, moulded in papier-mache and dressed in miniature clothes. Concealed motors control the movements of the arms, head and legs. All figures, motors, clothing etc. come from a firm in Germany.

The Moving Crib is open from 25 Nov to 05 Jan (Weekdays 14:00-18:00 and Sat& Sun 11:30-18:00). It is closed on 24, 25, 26 Dec and 01 Jan. Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Sundays: 12:00-17:30. Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30.

The Dame District Christmas Market will take place every day from Fri 13 – Sun 22 Dec. The market is a row of 24 white plastic tents/marquees down Dame Court with a few lights and a few pine branches for decoration. Yes, you get it: atmosphere is a problem. But the tents are relatively big so that stalls are of a nice size and there are some interesting traders. Admission is free.

The best about this market is that there will be a free concert every night on a stage in the street. The performers and times can be found on the Facebook Page below.

An indoor market in Coolock with over 40 traders with a wide range of goods and a café on site as well.

A Pop-up Market in Sweeney’s will invite you to buy some more Christmas presents and to enjoy the music in Sweeney’s also.

There will ne crafts, jewellery, hand made cosmetics and dolls, massage, vintage clothes, records, home made brown bread, basil oil, cranberry sauce, a variety of cakes and lots more.

The first ever White Lady Art Gallery Christmas Market, with 14 stalls full of hand-made art, crafts and gifts all at affordable prices will take place over three weekends from Fri-Sun. The weekends are 06-08 Dec, 13-15 Dec, 20-22 Dec.

Admission is free.

The “Dublin Sketchers” is an informal group of typically hobby artists who go somewhere different in Dublin every Sunday (e.g. National Museum, Maritime Museum, Dublin Flea Market, Farmleigh, Botanic Gardens, Dublin Castle), sketch for one to two hours and then meet up for coffee afterwards and discuss their sketches. There are some hugely talented people among them and it is a great idea to meet up with others who have the same hobby. Find out on their website where they will meet and join them if you do some sketching/drawing yourself. I know that the Dublin Sketchers often use the Dublin Event Guide to find interesting free events and I am delighted to be able to help!

Afternoon Jazz in Café en Seine. The Stella Bass Jazz Trio play every Sunday from 14:00-16:00 in Café en Seine in Dawson Street. Admission is free. A video is here www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aKqtOB5S8

Come to the Family Drawing Sundays in the RHA. All children are welcome to use the RHA Art Cart, in the RHA Atrium. Admission is free. For further information, contact Ruth Carroll on 01 6612558 or via ruth@rhagallery.ie

Unlike the three branches of the National Museum, the National Print Museum is normally not free, but every Sunday there is a free public tour for the next few weeks. Every visit begins with a short audio-visual presentation where the audience can observe active retired printers providing practical demonstrations of machines from the Museum’s collection.

Three different guitar acts, including bluegrass and “The Aqualights” will perform all evening in the Beerhouse in Capel Street. Admission is free.

The wedding and party band The LJJ Band play every Sunday evening in Café en Seine. Admission is free.

Saucy Sundays is a weekly free live music afternoon and evening in the Grand Social. The line-up and links to all bands/performers are available via the Saucy Sundays Facebook Page (see link below). In brief the list is The Cold Draw, The Ground Will Shake, ETO, Betty Swing Machine and The Cravingz.

The Dublin Blues Cartel are performing again in the “Live from the Window” slot in Whelan’s. Admission is free.

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir Mass invites to a Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church at the top of Gardiner Street near the junction with Dorset Street every Sunday at 19:30. The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, one of the best known choirs in Ireland will sing during the mass and everybody is welcome independent from your level of religiousness.

The Dublin Gospel Choir will perform a Christmas Concert in aid of the Capuchin Day Centre for homeless people in the Saint Mary of the Angels Church on Church Street, Dublin 7.

Admission is free, but donations for the Capuchin Day Centre are very much appreciated.

The weekly Sunday Roast is a free event in the Mercantile where live music is combined with free roast potatoes. The line-up for the upcoming Sunday Roast is available via the Sunday Roast Facebook Page (see link below). It is not complete yet, but will get posted soon I hear. If you would like to perform maybe check the Facebook Page on Friday evening, at the time of writing this, there were a couple of slots available.

Every Sunday this singer-songwriter night takes place in the Bleeding Horse in Camden St. from 8.30pm. It is an Open mic night and performers can just turn up and put their name on the list for that night.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy downstairs in Stag’s Head, Dame Lane from 21:00 every week on Sun+Mon. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of that there is some free ice cream. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

Rogério from the Brazilian dance project “Forró de Lampião” in Dublin tells me: Forró de Lampião is Brazilian music that has the same roots as Samba and there is a whole culture that has developed around “forro”. Every Sunday, free dance classes take place in the Grand Social (new loation!) and if you are interested, just turn up one Sunday.

“Rhythm Rocker at The Globe” is a weekly event on Sunday night in The Globe in Sth Great Georges Street, Dublin 2. It is a Rockabilly, R’n’R, Roots night with alternating (week by week) live bands Pavement Kings, Donna & The Sazzy Catz, The Mosquitoes and The Pacifics from 21:00 and with DJs from 23:00-01:30. Admission is free.

Billy Treacy & The Ha’Penny Heads are playing Ballads, Folk, Trad and Classic Country every Sunday. Featuring Guitar, Mandolin, Fiddle and Banjo.

Every Sunday (except at Bank Holiday weekends), the Ragtime, Roots and Country Blues Band “Cool Hand Dukes” play in the Porterhouse near Grafton Street.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival is with 8 years, the longest established Christmas Market in Dublin, but Irish Markets still have a lot of learning and growing up to do.

The Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival will run from 12-23 Dec. It was in the past one of the better ones in layout and in the type of stalls/traders there are, but every year the organisers fiddle around with it. Maybe one day they will hit gold. In previous years there was a nice atmosphere and there were even some crafts shops intermixed with soap, flashy T-shirt and plastic goods shops.

11 food stalls and 27 shops stalls (only a small few you can call “craft”) are there this year, but it seems that the layout has been changed completely and the George’s Dock platform is used for a gig marquee this year, called “Festival Lounge”. Until 18:00 you are allowed in for free and some choirs will perform occassionally. In the evening, however, from 20:00-22:00, it will turn into a gig venue and tickets are EUR 8-10.

The market will be open every day Mon-Fri 12:00-22:00 and Sat+Sun 10:00-22:00.

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place.

In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

Established in 1956 by Fr. Louis Coffey, the Live Crib at the Mansion House has entertained generations. The Live Crib consists of a traditional nativity scene set among live animals in a specially constructed stable. The animals are brought to the crib every morning and are returned to a farm on the south of the city in the evening. Admission is free and donations are welcome. The crib will be outside Mansion House until 24 Dec at 14:00.

The Ferocious Mingle Marcade (Market and Arcade) is back in a new location. The Marcade is now in Camden Street next to Daintree Paper and opposite the Centra and off-license there. It takes place every Thurs-Sun and is a flea-market-type permanent market with stalls and “chalets” for traders. Before Christmas they also open on Monday and Tuesday.

The Moving Crib in St. Martin Apostolate has fascinated generations of children from Dublin and all over Ireland and 50 years after it first began, it still draws the crowds. The Moving Crib is like an expanded Nativity Play going back to Adam and Eve and finishing after the crib scene with the young Jesus teaching the Doctors in the Temple. There are over 100 figures in the Crib arranged in 14 different tableaux. They cover various episodes of the Old and New Testament. The figures are about a metre high, moulded in papier-mache and dressed in miniature clothes. Concealed motors control the movements of the arms, head and legs. All figures, motors, clothing etc. come from a firm in Germany.

The Moving Crib is open from 25 Nov to 05 Jan (Weekdays 14:00-18:00 and Sat& Sun 11:30-18:00). It is closed on 24, 25, 26 Dec and 01 Jan. Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

Song Cycle is a weekly Singer/Songriter showcase. The line-up is not always easily findable on the Whelan’s website, but admission is always free.

The Monday Echo is a weekly songwriter and poetry live showcase held on Mondays in the basement of The International Bar. Usually, the show has 3 songwriters and 3 poets who perform for roughly 20 minutes each. Admission is free.
The weekly line-up can be found via the Facebook Page below.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy event every Sunday and Monday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of good comedy you will get free ice cream. Admission is free. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

The 4-piece band Loose Trad are performing every Monday in Mother Reilly’s. www.loosetrad.com/ Admission is free.

I don’t often write about DJ events because there are sooo many that it is near impossible to give them proper and fair coverage. But every now and then I make an exception.

The event I am telling you today about is called “ShotGun!” and takes place regular-ish in the Grand Social. This Monday, their Christmas night takes place when DJs Michelle Farley & Rob Gilligan play the best 60s, soul, motown, beat and mod tunes.

Admission is free.

Christmas Eve is just the evening before Christmas for most. It is the last shopping day (especially for men ;-) ) and the City Centre is crazy busy. Bewley’s will be packed because it is a Christmas Eve ritual for many to go for breakfast to Bewley’s in Grafton Street. From around 16:00 shops start closing (some even before that) and you can assume that all will be closed after 18:00. Then the other Christmas Eve ritual for many will commence: Pub! ;-) Others go to a Christmas Eve mass and it is the ONE night when all masses are completely packed!

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will on Tuesday now as well. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via egaldog@gmail.com or 085-2725095

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place.

In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

Established in 1956 by Fr. Louis Coffey, the Live Crib at the Mansion House has entertained generations. The Live Crib consists of a traditional nativity scene set among live animals in a specially constructed stable. The animals are brought to the crib every morning and are returned to a farm on the south of the city in the evening. Admission is free and donations are welcome. The crib will be outside Mansion House until 24 Dec at 14:00.

The Ferocious Mingle Marcade (Market and Arcade) is back in a new location. The Marcade is now in Camden Street next to Daintree Paper and opposite the Centra and off-license there. It takes place every Thurs-Sun and is a flea-market-type permanent market with stalls and “chalets” for traders. Before Christmas they also open on Monday and Tuesday.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

Singing Christmas Carols in a pub? Well if you have never done it before, this is the opportunity to try it. A Christmas Carol Sing-along takes place and admission is free.

Every Tuesday an informal sing along with Ukulele and Toy Musical Instruments takes place in the Stag’s Head. Just bring your instrument and come along. Beginners are welcome. Admission is free and further details (and a big book of songs) are available on the Facebook Page below. The get-together meets in the “snug” in Stag’s Head.

Ben Prevo & friends play saucy Blues & soul every Tuesday

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir will sing at the Gospel Mass in St Francis Xavier Church. This is one of very few Christmas Eve masses that are celebrated with a Gospel Choir and it is sooo much nicer than a normal mass. First of all it is a very inclusive mass, which means that you don’t have to be very religious to get something from it, and secondly the choir is just brilliant.

I admit that I am a bit biased, because I am doing the sound engineering for the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, but seriously if you want to go to a Christmas Eve mass, but don’t know where to go, this is the place. Be early, though! There will be 800 people in the church and that means there will be standing room only if you come too late. I suggest to be there at least 30 minutes early, better even earlier.

There is one big event and it is celebrated in most houses: Have a great Christmas Day!!

If you don’t celebrate with other people and you prefer it that way, all is ok. If you preferred to have company, I hope you won’t be too lonely and hopefully this will be the last year like that. Without a doubt there are many other people in a similar situation and you could consider getting together with some for next year?

Last year I was in the City Centre on the morning of Christmas Day and saw a surprisingly large amount of tourists walking aimlessly around. Because all restaurants are closed on that day, only a few Spars etc were open and provided some opportunity for visitors to spend a bit of time inside and to get something to eat. Until a few years ago, EVERYWHERE was closed after approx. 13:00 on Christmas Day. Now at least some small shops (Spar, Centra, Londis etc) are open, but it’s not a great day for tourists OR if you forgot an essential ingredient for your Christmas Dinner.

At this yearly (self-organised) event, hundreds of brave/crazy/tough (you choose the appropriate word) dive into the shockingly cold Irish Sea at the Forty Foot in Sandycove and leave the water soon after lobster pink due to the low temperatures.

The Forty Foor was once a Gentlemen’s Bathing place were clothing was not required, but nowadays everybody is welcome and the surprisingly liberal approach from the past is not the done thing anymore.

The day after Christmas Day is called St. Stephen’s Day, NOT Boxing Day! It is the second Christmas Bank Holiday and I would assume that most or even ALL the Regular events that are listed here do NOT take place. Where I was able to check simply what the situation is, I removed the event.

If you are not sure, please check beforehand!

All bigger shops seem to be open again on 26 Dec. and immediately after Christmas the Sales start in some shops. I know, for example, that the Dundrum Town Centre will be open at normal times (09:00-19:00) and so will the Jervis Street Shopping Centre (09:00-18:30). And with these two open, you can assume that most others will be open as well. Smaller shops, however, might take another day off. Next usually already starts their sale at the crazy hour of 06:00 in the morning and queues are not uncommon even at that ungodly hour.

Since the day is a bank holiday, Pay & Display parking will not be enforced, but because it is a Thursday bus lanes, Loading Bays and certainly Disabled Parking Spaces are off-limits.

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place.

In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

Liffey Sound FM Reviving Traditions The Wren Boys will take place in Lucan Village Green on St Stephen’s Day 26 Dec. Local musicians including Comhaltas will gather for an organised impromptu session. For more information contact Liffey Sound FM by phone 01 621 94 25 or email info@liffeysoundfm.ie.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will run next Thursday. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via egaldog@gmail.com or 085-2725095

Bad Boy Jake are every Thursday until the end of February in the newly re-opened Rathmines Inn, playing their rock, blues and Americana.

The Max Zaska group and the Patrick Groenland group will perform on alternating Thursdays from 21:00 in the International Bar on 23 Wicklow Street.

Every Thursday “Left Right & Centre” play a mix of blues & soul with a bit of rock&roll.

Every Thursday a free Trad Session takes place in McNeills and often there are high profile Trad musicians performing. Until the end of August, that Thursday Session is part of the Steeple Sessions programme (www.steeplesessions.com )

The Christmas Festival in Dun Laoghaire runs from 30 Nov until 01 Jan. There will be a Christmas Market, a.k.a. “Enchanting Christmas Market” ;-) every Thurs-Sun from 11:00-18:00 and at the weekends other events will also take place.

In the Christmas Week, the market will also open on Mon and Tues. (By the rules for the opening hours that they provided, the market is meant to be back on Thurs 26 Dec, but I would expect that only a SOME stalls will be open if any at all.)

The Moving Crib in St. Martin Apostolate has fascinated generations of children from Dublin and all over Ireland and 50 years after it first began, it still draws the crowds. The Moving Crib is like an expanded Nativity Play going back to Adam and Eve and finishing after the crib scene with the young Jesus teaching the Doctors in the Temple. There are over 100 figures in the Crib arranged in 14 different tableaux. They cover various episodes of the Old and New Testament. The figures are about a metre high, moulded in papier-mache and dressed in miniature clothes. Concealed motors control the movements of the arms, head and legs. All figures, motors, clothing etc. come from a firm in Germany.

The Moving Crib is open from 25 Nov to 05 Jan (Weekdays 14:00-18:00 and Sat& Sun 11:30-18:00). It is closed on 24, 25, 26 Dec and 01 Jan. Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

Cornucopia Café & Restaurant host live music three evenings a week (Thurs, Fri and Sat). The restaurant is a Wholefood & Vegetarian Restaurant and is open until 22:15.
+ Every second Thursday N.C Lawlor, a songwriter, session player and troubadour plays a mix of country, bluegrass & blues from 19:30-21:30.
+ Every Friday (19:30-21:30) Junshi Murakami plays Irish Harp.
+ Every Saturday (19:30-21:30) Nollaig Mann plays a collection of popular and jazz classics.

“Dublin Tribal Spirit” is a weekly event that gives you the great experience of a drumming circle with african drums and authentic tribal rhythms. Tom and Sinead, who run that event are providing lots of drums for it and teach you the rhythms.

There is no formal admission charge for this event, but donations are expected. The organisers bring their own 20-30 drums to it every week, so they are looking for donations to keep the event going.

The Stillorgan Orchard has live music every Friday and Saturday. Many of the performers are established and very good bands. The upcoming gigs are detailed on the website below. Admission is always free.

The Cabin Sessions will take place again with Acoustic Music at its finest. Featuring The Cabin Crew – Spats Davenport (guitar), Con Butler (bass), Gerry Fitzpatrick (dobro), Cathy McEvoy (fiddle) and Christian Volkmann (Harmonica). Special guests Paul Hennessy (singer songwriter), Andrew Basquille (singer songwriter), Emma Butler (contemporary folk). Expect some other guests to drop in for this extended Christmas special.

Admission is free.