In some parts of Ireland, January 6 has traditionally been a day when hardworking women pause their chores to gather, chat, knit, and enjoy Christmas cake, pudding, and other holiday leftovers. Today, the spirit of this day has been revived as a celebration of women’s solidarity. 

Mamo McDonald is a poet well known for her collection Circling.  

Although many women activists played supportive roles during the Irish revolutionary period, the Irish Republic established afterward proved quite unwelcoming toward women. Mamo McDonald was a notable figure in this revolution. 

Successive Irish governments not only failed to fulfill the revolution's promises but also stripped away many rights women previously had. 

I share one of her poems, "Passage to India," addressed to her husband, which opens with a reference to the couple’s financial hardship.

However, despite the leanness, husband and wife scrape together the price of an Indian rug, which they purchase from a well-known department store in Dublin. 

That Christmas times were tough-

presents were taboo, we said,

and yet we gathered up

the price of an Indian carpet,

fifty-five pounds ten shillings

in Arnott’s, Henry Street,

and not a penny off for luck.

They lacked the country way

Of dealing.

But when the turkey and plum pud

were gone, the children

deep in Santy loot

all playing in the kitchen,

then you and I together

gave on its twelve by nine

of cream and green

and rosy glow perfection

my Christmas gift to you

and yours to me.