What Tibb’s Eve Means To Me
In a recent Twitter exchange I saw someone question the veracity of a host of Newfoundland customs. Truthfully, a lot of the items of the list were brand new to me, I’d never heard of them. One of the customs, however, I’ve lived with my whole life — Tibb’s Eve.
2023 update! Get the full Tibb’s Eve story here.
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Tibb’s Eve is a Christmas tradition/expression from Newfoundland, Canada.
On the Calendar, it’s December 23rd. It is considered the unofficial start of Christmas and is often, but not always, associated with celebrating/drinking.
It is sometimes called Tip's Eve or Tipsy Eve.
Tibb's Eve is not honoured everywhere on the island or officially recognized anywhere.
It’s sometimes used as an expression, to mean a day that will never come.
Now, just because I’ve lived it doesn’t mean I can share much information on its origin. My guess would be it has something to do with the historically referenced but completely non-existent St. Tib.
Whatever the origin, the current practices probably have little to do with the origin and Tibb’s Eve is not alone in that. We have all kinds of customs with we dod year after year without really knowing why —few people (without the aid of Google) have any concept of why they put candles on their birthday cake, for example.
Long story short, I don’t know why Tibb’s Eve exists and neither does anyone else really, at least, not with any high degree of certainty. While I can’t reliably explain where it came from, I can tell you what it means to me. It might be worth mentioning, that I grew up in Happy Adventure, Bonavista Bay. I think that’s relevant. If you ask someone from Belleoram, you might get a different response.
Tibb’s Eve is December 23rd
In my part of the world Tibb’s Eve is December 23rd — Christmas Eve eve, if you will.
And Christmas Eve eve, is a good way of conceptualizing it. Tibb’s Eve was exciting because it meant that the holidays were here, that Santa Claus would be coming tomorrow. I don’t remember any particular custom or tradition associated with the day, it seemed like it was more about naming the day that transitioned from dark December into peak holiday excitement — the next day stockings would be hung.
If you research Tibb’s Eve you will likely find references to Tipsy Eve and alcohol. That was not my experience. I don’t remember it being a ‘party’ event and certainly not a ‘drink until you’re tipsy’ event. That may have been the way it is for some people though. That’s the thing about Newfoundland culture — there is no singular Newfoundland culture.
Tibb’s Eve is a day that never arrives.
Outside of Christmas, Tibb’s Eve had another, possibly related, meaning. Throughout the year Tibb’s Eve would come up in conversation when somebody wanted to say ‘a day that will never come.’ In my experience it was used in much the same way as ‘from now til kingdom come’. If I were shovelling the driveway after a heavy snowfall I might say ‘I’ll be at this from now til Tibb’s Eve,’ meaning this is going to take… forever.
I don’t know which usage of Tibb’s Eve came first but I’d like to think they're related. Both speak of anticipation — looking forward to something that can’t get here fast enough.
Podcast Episode: Tibb’s Eve & Newfoundland Christmas Slush
Do you mark Tibb’s Eve in your family? If you have any special customs, I’d love to hear about them.
It’s Christmas and there are mummers throughout Newfoundland, but there’s more to mummering than meets the eye — it’s a surprisingly diverse tradition.