School: Cara Droma Ruisc (roll number 6705)
- Location:
- Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim / Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Mrs Laird
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0208, Page 499
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- XML “Festival Customs”
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- On St Stephens day, the wren boys dress themselves in all kinds of fancy clothes and wear false faces and play mouth organs and tin whistles.
They go from house to house dancing and playing music and collecting money in a tin.
When they have finished , their rounds they divide the money and buy drink with it.
There is a song about the rent which they sing -
"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds on St. Stephens day he is caught in the furs."
Another custom is "the bank beggars". These men dress themselves mostly in straw and go to a house where there has been a wedding that day. When in the house they ask the musician to play and one of them asks the bride to dance.
When the dance is over, the man of the house gives them drink and cigarettes.
When they have taken this they(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Edwin Lillie
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim / Co. Roscommon
- Informant
- Mr Lillie
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim / Co. Roscommon
