THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
A CHRISTMAS STORY
All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. Not just a line from a favourite children’s hymn but a fact of life in a Co. Down village. John McIlmail is a farmer and a butcher, he is also a film star having won an award winning place in the Cannes World Film Festival for the part he played in his nephew’s film Shine. But that was earlier this year, now he is hitting the headlines again but this time for the Nativity he has fashioned in a unique little building in the parish of Bright. I was invited to visit and I didn’t hesitate.
John guides me down the lane, his sheepdog Lola runs ahead and his friend musician Kieran Murray is part of the welcoming committee. So are donkeys Rosie and Maggie and Rosie’s new baby Pat, named by a little girl visitor in memory of her grandfather who died recently. There’s a smell of wood smoke in the air. The stone walls and bushes are festooned with fairy lights and on the hill a flock of noisy snow white geese come waddling over, his security guards John calls them: “Any movement and they’re down to investigate!”
Although there’s a crackling log fire burning in the small cozy living room where the walls are covered with family pictures and memorabilia of centuries, we end up sitting round the kitchen table to talk. Our conversation ranges from history to horse racing and from folk festivals to cabaret nights. At one point Kieran reaches for his guitar and sings the song he wrote about Stone Cottage as we look out at the little manger across the lane. Every now and again there’s a couple or three whinnies from Maggie whose own confinement is approaching fast, sadly not fast enough for me to be a helpful midwife!
John’s story goes back to his childhood and this cottage where he was reared. Stone Cottage dates back over 600 years with three-foot walls build in ‘field stone’ and thatched for many years. This is where his great, great grandfather made a family home.
Across the lane, beside the stock yard, is the original pig sty a small listed building dating back to Norman times and of so much interest that Queen’s University Belfast have been to visit and learn how it was built in corbelled architectural style (same designed as the pyramids), layers of flat stone placed on top of each other, each layer extending a little inward until the wall meets at the top in a beehive roof. As well as housing pigs for part of the year, as a child John’s pet lambs were kept in there, the Shetland pony, logs for the winter. It sits on a field called a Haggard, an old Norse word found only in Ireland and Isle of Man and this was where the corn stacks were built. Such history.
Every year as John grew up he and Maggie, his beloved granny, built a nativity scene in the window of the cottage and his job was to place the baby Jesus into the crib on Christmas Eve. When his grandmother passed away, John continued with the tradition until the day he looked across the lane at the tiny pig sty opposite and made a decision.
As he says, he told to his late grandmother of his idea: “Between the does and the don’ts Granny, I’ll put the Nativity up across the lane and the world will see your crib. So I got thinking. I told Father Toland and he helped me source the figures in Italy, the Holy Family, the kings and the shepherds; they arrived late spring of 2016 and from July until November they resided under my bed. On 25th November, my grandmother’s birthday, I set it up and had it in place in time for my mother’s birthday on 30th November. I could feel them both there with me.”
Since then the word has gone round about this unique place. People of all arts and parts and backgrounds, ministers and priests give their blessing and children are in awe of the visit.
“From the Mountains of Mourne, the South of Ireland and all over the North and we’ve had a record number this month. It’s absolutely free and a cup of tea if I’m around! It gives great pleasure to families coming up to Christmas and especially today and it will remain in place until 6th January of next year. Everyone is welcome.”
Having stooped low to pass through the tiny entrance and back in time, I notice there is no baby Jesus in the crib. “It remained empty until Christmas Eve and even then He was in and out like a yoyo, half a dozen rebirths as the children wanted to be the ones to place Him with Mary and Joseph!” And the hen who likes to go in and lay her eggs on the fresh straw will be there too or the cat who is to be found snuggled up in a corner.
It’s a busy time for John MclImail. Being a butcher in Downpatrick as well as a farmer in Bright he prepared his own turkey for the Christmas Day table and dug his own vegetables. But he will still be on hand to welcome families even today – and who knows, maybe Adrian Dunbar might turn up to see the real Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey!
Stone Cottage. Lipoid Road, Bright, Downpatrick BT30 8 AX or phone John for directions 0780 464 6054
I won’t keep you on such a busy morning. a frightening time for many, how to make a home warm and cosy, where is food coming from for this weekend and weeks ahead, the sadness of not having enough surplus money to buy presents for the children. A time to turn our backs on commercialism, to continue to support local traders rather than big firms and let’s hope strikes will be settled and dedicated workers able to return to doing what they do best.
I wish you a happy few days, an exciting and gentle day today and may St. Stephen’s Day and all the days to come be an opportunity to give thanks and to think of others less fortunate than ourselves. Like the carol says:
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shown the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.
Thank you to Susie Hailes Harkin for the family of robins crocheted especially for Christmas.