This coming Saint Stephen’s Day (26th December, 2025) it had been hoped to have a Quin Heritage Wrenboy’s Group to renew the old tradition locally. Unfortunately this is no longer possible. Hopefully other groups will take up the mantle. We’ll make up for it next year. The forthcoming Lá an Dreoiín prompted me to read again my notes on wren customs. It prompted me to read again the notes I have on wren customs. When I think back to my youth there was a reluctant acceptance of Wrenboys in South Kerry, both because then they carried a dead bird in a decorated holly bush and they were also demanding money ‘to bury the Wran’ – money that was in short supply in the aftermath of an expensive Christmas. I recall one ambitious wren group, seeking validity, had the tiny bird in a 2lb jam jar with a perforated paper lid. Looking at the hapless bird, I wished that I could have beaten them down the road with their own holly bushes.
Times have changed. In place of the wren, living or dead, they now tend to have a stuffed bird of some kind. In recent years I have seen a particular replica bird used more than once. In shape and size, it looked a bit like our native wagtail, except its plumage was red and black. Perhaps birds of these colours are found in parts of China and Hong Kong or wherever these toys come from but I am pretty certain I have never seen one in Quin. Nevertheless, this foreign impostor, stilted and glassy eyed, sits abreast his holly bush, while his minions dash about looking for money.
As for the Wrenboys themselves they come in guises for the most part. They wear masks or blacken their faces and don old clothes, including pajamas and women’s outfits. Coming from small communities one wonders how anonymous the visitors are, but tradition demanded it.
The group might have a captain who would manage the money. In the party would be musicians, singers and dancers so that a short performance was expected at each house. Over the day this performance was repeated at each stop. Youth, enthusiasm and tradition sustained the group.
An old work colleague from Killinaboy told me about Wrenboy preparations in his parish. They were better coordinated than a military exercise. Group 1, mostly young folk, would board a horsebox pulled by a tractor and visit all the rural houses, especially the outlying ones. Flooded bohereens, frost and snow were no deterrent to them. Out there lived the older generations, who took great delight in a visit from the wren. The Wrenboys made sure they were not disappointed. Group 2, a slightly older generation, tackled Corofin and its pubs in the evening, bringing music and dance. Patrons were generous, pleased to see the tradition maintained.
So, what lies behind these strange activities the day after Christmas? My reading suggests a huge tradition reaching back to pre-Christian times. Christmas Day was used for a wren-hunt and the locals did not rest until the evidence, a wren, dead or alive was to hand. The following day he would be paraded for all to see.
There is a large amount written about paying a debt to Nature through the wren. Failure to do this might bring disdain and possible misfortune to a household or community.
It was only later that the wren custom was Christianized with the addition of Saint Stephen, the first martyr. The wren was blamed for revealing the hiding place of Stephen as he fled from Roman soldiers. There are other tales of the wren as betrayer so that he should be put to death. For the wren, death was always close to hand.
There are also tales of the wren being ‘King of the birds’, a Europe-wide belief. One fable where he outwitted the eagle, goes back to Aesop in the sixth century BC. The legends of the Irish wren are old, deep and complex. For now, it is sufficient to know that if you are participating in the wren custom, you are part of a very long continuum.
You will be pleased to know that the wren custom also brings good fortune – ‘Go mba seacht mb’fhearr um an dtaca seo arís.’ May you be seven times better off around (this time next year).
Please keep this in mind if you encounter the local wren group on St. Stephen’s Day next. Who knows? There might even be a ’wren wake’ in the pubs that evening.
Athblian faoi mhaise daoibh.
M.H.
