Christmas Tales At Thurles Library

Have you ever heard of Befana the Christmas witch?
Well Italy’s traditional Christmas celebration includes tales of a witch known as La Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5th in search of the Christ Child and fills kids’ stockings with sweets for all the good children and places lumps of coal in the stockings of the bad ones. (Children take special note.)

Have you ever heard of Nisse the mischievous elf that plays tricks on people during Christmas time?
Well during Christmas in Denmark, the mischievous Danish elf, Nisse, plays pranks on people. Nisse lives in old farmhouses and wears gray woollen clothes, a red bonnet, stockings and white clogs.  Nisse generally helps people on the farm and is very good with children, but is known to plays jokes during the Christmas season, especially if families don’t leave a bowl of rice pudding out for him.

So why am I telling you all about this when you can hear it from real story tellers?
On Saturday December 21st Simone Schuemmelfeder and Michael Phelan from Story Gate will entertain us all with Christmas tales from around the world. In a very special day of storytelling organised by the local Library, situated here in Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co Tipperary, Ann Marie Brophy informs me that you can find out much more about this favourite time of the year and how Christmas is being celebrated in various other countries.

There will be a special session held for under eight year olds at 11.30 a.m. and another session held for the over eight year olds, at 2.30 p.m.
Note: This is a free event and each session will last about one hour, with Milk and Cookies being served.

But please Mum and Dad do contact Thurles Library on Tel: 0504-29720 to sign up for a place, (Well Ann Marie wants to make sure she doesn’t run short on those very necessary Milk & Cookies,) at what promises to be a very heart-warming, informative festive event!