In Ireland, there is a drinking tradition surrounding Christmas. The tradition is called the Twe’ve Pubs of Christmas. It occurs any night in the weeks building up to Christmas. It is a new thing in Ireland but it has caught on quickly.
There are twelve rules, one per pub. The first rule is simple you must drink all of your drinks with your non-dominant hand. The second rule, which applies when you enter the second pub, is that you must use an accent different to your native one. The third rule for the third pub is that you have to stay silent unless you are ordering your drink. In the fourth pub, you can only drink your drink if it is fed to you by a partner or friend.
In the fifth pub you enter, you need to switch shoes with people in your group. Men usually end up in high heels for a short period of time. In the sixth pub, no swearing is allowed. In the seventh pub, you aren’t allowed to point. Whoever finishes their drink last in the eight pub has to carry a random object till they leave the ninth pub. The object could be absolutely anything.
In the ninth pub, everyone in the group has to order a fancy cocktail. In the tenth pub, you must only converse through lyrics or movie quotes.
In the tenth pub, you must take a selfie with a stranger. And finally in the twelfth pub, you can drink however you would like to.
It is recommended to have a couple of pints of water throughout the night so the next morning is easier to cope. Of course, anywhere you look, the rules differ. If one of the rules are broken, there is a forfeit of buying the next round of drinks at the next bar. A weird rule is that you have to call your barman Guinness but, I doubt that is used often.
The aftermath of the twelve pubs will be a serious hangover unless you drink plenty of pints of water and have plenty of soakage. Irish people refer to soakage as the food you eat before you go out drinking so you don’t get as hungover. To any of you who think about attempting this pub crawl/Twelve Pubs of Christmas, all I can say is good luck and drink plenty of water.
