School: Meelick (B.)
- Location:
- Meelick, Co. Clare
- Teacher: Eoghan Ó Néill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0597, Page 458
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- On Saint Stephen's Day boys go from house to house singing a song called the "Wren". Those boys are commonly called "wren boys". A fortnight or three weeks before St Stephen's Day the boys are preparing. They dress so that no person would know them. This is the way they dress themselves. They put on an old trousers with a shabby old coat and a hat. They go in groups containing three or four boys. One of the wren-boys always carries a holly bush called a "wren-bush" This bush is decorated with coloured ribbons and from one branch the wren is tied. The wren is killed about a week before that day. It is put in ashes to keep it from rotting.
- Collector
- Richard Allen
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Redgate, Co. Limerick
- Informant
- Allen
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 57
- Occupation
- Labourer
- Address
- Redgate, Co. Limerick
- On St Stephen's Day there is great joy. Little boys and girls get up early on that morning. They get a fairly large branch of holly and they attach a few(continues on next page)
