Midnight
Those however , who had any love affair on hands generally selected the shebeen house , as being private , and less calculated to expose them to general observation . As a matter of course , these jovial orgies frequently produced such disastrous consequences , both to human life and female reputation , that the intrigues between the sexes , the quarrels , and violent deaths resulting from them , ultimately occasioned the discontinuance of a ceremony which was only productive of evil . To this day , it is an opinion among the peasantry in many parts of Ireland , that there is something unfortunate connected with all drinking bouts held upon Christmas Eve . Such a prejudice naturally arises from a recollection of the calamities which so frequently befell many individuals while Midnight Masses were in the habit of being generally celebrated , although it is not attributed to their existence . None of Frank M'Kenna 's family attended mass but himself and his wife . His children having been bound by all the rules of courtesy to do the honors of the dance , could not absent themselves from it ; nor , indeed , were they disposed to do so . Frank , however , and his `` good woman , '' carried their torches , and joined the crowds which flocked to this scene of fun and devotion .