Today, December 8th, marks 'Culchie Christmas.'
It's the day traditionally associated with rural Ireland descending on Dublin and other major towns to do Christmas shopping.
Columnist with the Farming Independent, Jim O'Brien, says the tradition comes from Catholic Ireland:
"The Feast of the Immaculate Conception was the last big holy day before Christmas, therefore no matter what day it fell on, all the country people were off, so they got on the bus to Dublin to their local big town, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Tralee, Ennis or wherever."
