School: High St. (C.), Belmont

Location:
Belmont, Co. Offaly
Teacher:
Annie Phelan
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0813, Page 070

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0813, Page 070

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  1. XML School: High St. (C.), Belmont
  2. XML Page 070
  3. XML “Festival Customs”

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  1. The day after Christmas day is called St Stephen's day, we call it "wren day", because on this day the boys dress up in old clothes and go from house to house gathering money. They have a small piece of holly and a few feathers stuck in it to pretend it is a wren.
    Some of the boys dance and some play music, when they have finished they ask for money. Then they say the rhyme.
    "The wren, the wren the king of all birds.
    St Stephen's day she was caught in the furze.
    Although she is little her family is great
    I pray young lady give us a treat,
    Up with the kettle and down with the pan;
    A penny or two pence to bury the wren"
    They divide the money among themselves.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. events
      1. events (by time of year) (~11,476)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Teresa Feighery
    Gender
    Male
    Informant
    Pat Claffey
    Relation
    Relative (other than parent or grandparent)
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Lisclooney, Co. Offaly