Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas), traditionally observed on January 6th, is an ancient Irish custom where women took a well-deserved break after the festive season. Today, this tradition has evolved into a vibrant community celebration, and nollaignamban.ie is the official hub for the festival in Dublin’s North Inner City.

The festival honors the contributions of local women—often unsung heroes—through awards, live music, art exhibitions, and engaging panel discussions. Each year, 10–12 women are recognized for their impact on the community, with their portraits displayed publicly and celebrated at an award ceremony. Events take place in venues such as Charleville Mall Library, Annesley House and Clonliffe House, creating a lively atmosphere filled with music, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Founded by local woman Laura Williams from Ballybough, North Strand, and supported by Dublin City Council and community partners, the festival aims to empower women and strengthen community bonds. It provides a platform for storytelling, creativity, and solidarity, ensuring that women’s voices and achievements are celebrated.

Visit nollaignamban.ie to learn more, nominate inspiring women, and join the festivities on January 6th. Together, let’s keep this cherished tradition alive while uplifting the women who shape our communities.

And congratulations to our Chairperson, Nathalie Crowley who is celebrated this year. We celebrated Maeve Foreman and Fionnuala Halpin in previous years.

Here is a lovely biography written by Maeve :

It’s good to remind ourselves what Mud Island was like in 2009 when we first started campaigning for permission to build a community garden on the council owned derelict site in Newcomen Court.  Nathalie was involved from the beginning, pictured here with her son Max 3^rd from left.  He’s now just finished university!  While always a member of Mud Island, Nathalie eventually joined the committee and became its chairperson in 2023

She’s passionate about the importance of biodiversity in the inner city and has encouraged Mud Island members to do all we can to improve biodiversity in and around our small patch. She has led on many innovative initiatives in the garden.  She developed a good working relationship with East Wall here 4 All and Cross-Cultural Conversations, which led to Fridays being for ‘learning English through gardening, then the language classes started! First Arabic, then Spanish, French, and Irish. They ebb and flo depending on the availability of volunteers but Fridays are about learning and sharing.

Fridays have also been about cooking – Nathalie loves cooking and cooking from produce in the garden all the better.  Many asylum seekers who do not have access to cookers can prepare food and store it in fridges in DP centres to feed children their native foods.

She started our monthly Repair Café in April 2023 and since then it’s happened on the last Sunday of every month.  Sometimes it includes a ‘vide-grenier’, in French ‘empty your attic’ yard sale.  The repair café won 1st place in the Community Environment Initiative category in Dublin City Council Central Area City Neighbourhood Competition 2024, and got second in the citywide competition.

She has represented Mud Island in many forums dear to her heart – e.g. in April 2024 she represented Mud Island on the panel at the ICON Climate Change day.  We nominated her as a Community Circular Hero in the Full Circle Awards run by circular.ie and she was successfully shortlisted as a finalist this year.  While she did not win, we’re proud she got that far!

In her day job she is a French as a Foreign Language (FLE) lecturer at the Technological University Dublin where she teaches business French to first- to fourth-year students.