School: Carraig Thuathail (B.)
- Location:
- Carrigtohill, Co. Cork
- Teacher: John Bowdren
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0385, Page 088
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- XML School: Carraig Thuathail (B.)
- XML Page 088
- XML “Festival Customs”
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- St. Stephen's Day:- All the boys of the village go out with the wren on St. Stephen's Day.
The day before they go out looking for a wren to kill him. Then when they get him they bring him home and decorate him on a holly-bush.
Next morning they dress up in pants made of bags and torn coats and ribbons hanging from them. They blacken their faces with soot and colour them with a face and eyes. About half past seven the boys start off, one with the wren bush and the other with the money-box. They would go to each door singing the wren boys song. "This is the wren boys' song".
"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephen's Day he was caught in the furze.
We hunted him up, we hunted him down,
Till one of our wren boys knocked him down,
From bush to bush, from tree to tree,
And under a bank we broke his knee.
We have a little box under our arm,
Two or three pence will do it no harm.
If you fill it of the best,(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Jerry Coleman
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Carrigtohill, Co. Cork
- Informant
- Mrs Nora Coleman
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 49
- Address
- Carrigtohill, Co. Cork
