close it on the top, for if they did not do that the rods would be very loose and would very soon fall out. Then they get the gallóg and the baitín breagach and the maidín droise and the holly berries. They fix the ground so that the bird could not come out under it. They would sink the holly berries in the ground. Then they would fix little rods inside called the futheógs.

homes. Christmas is always a time of great feasting. On St. Stephen's day the boys of the district dress up in different clothes and with a branch of holly on their shoulders they go from house to house singing the wren song. They usually have a wren tied to the holly. Sometimes the singing is accompanied by music. They collect money and afterwards divide it between them.

In Ireland at Christmas the lighting of candles and decorating the houses with holly and laurel are very old Customs. Mottoes are also put up. On Christmas day the boys dress themselves up in various kinds of clothes and go out with the wren. They also tie a wren to a bit of holly. They sing and dance in every house to collect money. During Christmas they celebrate in neighbour's house with a feast.

tied behind their backs and in his turn he follows it to try to catch it. On St. Stephens Day the school boys get a piece of holly and laurel and decorate it with coloured paper and kill a wren and put it into the holly and go around from house to house collecting money.

During the Christmas Holly, Ivy, Laural, and Mistletoe are hung up for decoration in the houses during the twelve days of Christmas. After "Little Christmas" they are burned. Some people keep the bunch of holly for the year.

One day a man went to fight her. He had a hazel stick a holly stick and a blackthorn stick on her and still she did not go but she had to fly from the holly stick because it was blessed.

At Christmas Eve someone belonging to each house brings in a bundle of holly. Pieces of it are put in behind each picture and other high suitable places. Two kinds of holly grow - holly with berries and plain holly. On the twelfth of January it is burned.
In this locality palm is brought home from Mass every Palm Sunday. On the previous Saturday it is gathered into a large bundle at the foot of the altar. The priest blesses it on Sunday morning and it is distributed after Mass. It is generally put behind some holy picture and burned on the next Palm Sunday.
On Rushy Thursday rushes are brought in and made in the shape of a cross in front of each window. It is taken down on the following day.
Easter water is brought from the chapel on Easter Saturday in bottles. The priest blesses two churns of it and they are

Holly and ivy are the emblem of Christmas tide. In churches, in all business and public places from the castle to the cabin it is used for centuries to decorate and welcome in the greatest feast of the year. In this district it is a great delight to young people to have lots of red berries on holly and ivy and hang it all around each room in the house. It is kept in most country till "Pancake night". The people

children go the wood and get holly and ivy and the women decorate the house with it. They decorate the (l) pudding with little bits of holly with berries on it. On May Eve a may bush is put up and egg shells and ribbons and flowers are put on it. The boys try to steal it and often the people of the house stay up at night to mind it or bring it inside. It often happens the boys succeed in stealing the May bush

Branches and herbs : It is the custom in most parts of Ireland to decorate the houses with holly and ivy before Christmas Day. It remains there until after the Epiphany which is called "Little Christmas."Holly and ivy are also used in our Church decorations, and in many Catholic Churches the Holy Crib is made from holly. I think nothing is more enjoyable to see than a house nicely decorated with holly covered with red berries.It is the custom in many places and in my district too, to have a May bush for May Day. On May Eve a May Altar is erected, and on it is laid a statue of the Blessed Virgin, a lamp with a blue globe burns before it, and several vases of flowers are placed on it. Then a small hawthorn bush or sceac branch is got and decorated with fancy papers and ribbons. When that is finished a small can is got and filled with soil, and the May Bush is stuck down in it. When all is ready, the people of the house make thanksgiving and offer up certain prayers to the Blessed Virgin for help during the year.On Palm Sunday Palm is blessed by the priests and given to the faithful in honour of the triumphall entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem.

in German and Norse mythology, and it was with an arrow from its wood that the beautiful god Balder was slain.The mistletoe was said to bring happiness, safety, and good fortune so long as it did not touch the ground.
Perhaps this is the reason why to-day we always hang up the mistletoe. The Celts had the plant in veneration, especially when found on the oak.Holly is another decoration for Christmas. The holly was known to the Romans as the "Sharp Leaf"
It was called by the Christians in the olden days "The Holy Tree" and afterwards "The Holly Tree."
In Irish it is called "Cuileann."
There are numerous legends concerning holly in connection with the birth of Christ. When Christ was born, the trees burst forth into blossom and

their houses, and on christmas-eve, they gather holly and they decorate their houses, by putting holly round the walls and on the windows. On christmas-eve night people have candles, lit in every window, and on that night, the children hang up their stockings, expecting their presents from Santa-Claus.

Holly is put up at Christmas in honour of our Lord. When our Lord was crusified a crown of thorns was put on his head the holly is left for twelve days. It is put up on Christmas-eve and it is left up until after old Christmas day.

Almost every home is decorated with holly every Xmas-time in this district. The exact origin of the custom is unknown, but there is something amiss in the home that is not decorated in this way in the "merry season". Leaves are strung on a piece of string and formed into pretty wreaths to be placed over the fire-place, and oftentimes, these decorations are kept on the walls from year to year. The window-frame is transformed into a haze of ever-green with holly, and ivy, and rows of ivied arches are strung across the ceiling.

On the road from Moville to Greencastle, there are many trees of holly. The old people tell us that a boy went out one day to get some holly, and he told a man that he was going to take

day except he got some warning himself. That night when this man and his family were sitting by the fireside, after saying the Rosary something like a whirl wind came down the chimney and scattered the fire all through the kitchen. After what he saw, he would not allow anybody to touch this holly tree, and the holly tree remains there still. He also erected the wall to the west side of it.

One time in Claggon in this parish of Culdaff there stood a house of which the ruins are still to be seen where there lived a woman called "Matilda Lamb."Above the house where she lived grew a holly bush: and before she went out to steal milk from neigbours' cows she always went to this holly bush. It was believed that she had something to do at this bush before she could get any milk.

Every house in the country is decorated with holly at Christmas in honour of the birth of Christ. There was a little boy who lived with his mother in a cabin. They were very poor. The little boy heard that the Christ child was born and that people were going to see him, and giving him gifts. The little boy wanted to do the same, but he was so poor he had nothing to give him. He was very sorrowful but at last he thought of the holly bush that was growing outside the cabin so he cut it, and brought it to the Christ child, and every Christmas since then the people decorate their homes with holly.
The people decorate the houses with Palm on Palm Sunday in honour of Christ's triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem riding a donkey. The people strewed branches of palm on the road before him

These are the customs observed in this parish on St. Stephen's Day. The boys dress up in old clothes and they put masks on their faces. Then they get a holly bush and some ivy and a bunch of ribbons. They get a wren if they can, and if they cannot, they get a hen's head. They tie the holly and ivy to a long pole and then they tie the ribbons and the wren or the hen's head to the holly. They go around the countryside singing this song."The wren, the wren the king of all birds
'Tis Stephens Day he was caught in the furze

On St. Stephen’s Day a large crowd of boys gather together and go out through the country singing the Wren’s song. They are dressed in old fashioned clothes and take holly in their hands. The holly is decorated and the small little wren which is known locally as the ‘King of all birds’ is taken on the holly.
The words of the wren’s song are;
“The wren! the wren! the king of all birds.
St. Stephen’s Day was