On St. Stephen's Day that is the day after Christmas Day boys went out around the country and paraded the towns gathering money to bury the wren. These boys were called "Wren Boys". When the wren was caught it was killed and they put it in a box and went around with it. Sometimes they cut a holly bush and in the middle of it they put the wren. They wore straw hats or ordinary hats and polished faces and they wore women's clothes. When the money to bury the wren was gathered the "Wren boys" bought fags and they bought drink with it. On "Shrove Tuesday" pancakes were made in every house. It is the last day to get married before Lent. On Ash Wednesday people took black tea loaf bread and potatoes and herrings for dinner. They put no butter on the bread but they pit jam on it. They ate loaf bread because they would not eat bread wet with milk. On Good Friday the people took black tea also and bread wet with water and jam. Those who did not eat loaf bread had the bread wetted with water. In olden times on Easter Sunday morning they boiled eggs and potatoes and ate them for their breakfast. No person would go near water on Whit Sunday because they were afraid of being drowned because on that day they believe the water has a special drawing. On St. John's Eve bon fires were lighted on the hill tops. The bon fires consisted of turf old hay and sticks which were gathered. On Hallow Eve the young men and boys of the locality

There are several kinds of wild birds in my district namely swallow, thrush, wren,

A story called the magpie and the wren.

The wren is one of our most common wild birds. She stays with us the whole year round. She is the smallest bird we have. She has a beautiful song and she always sings the same note. The wren is grey in colour and has a brown breast. Her head is small and her beak is black. She is a very tame bird and and if you are near her she will not fly away. The wren is one of our best nest builders. She places a roof on her nest. She builds it of leaves, ferns, and moss. She places it in a wall or in the hedge in a place where she thinks no one can see it.
The father bird brings the things required to build the nest, while the little mother builds it. When the wren has her nest built she lays her eggs. She lays one every day until she has seventeen or eighteen laid. These are white with brown spots all over them. They are very tiny and easily broken. The mother bird sits on the eggs and in ten days

The magpie and the wren build nests with a roof on them. The magpie does not build a proper roof on his nest and this is the reason why.
The magpie was being taught by the wren how to build a nest. The wren would say while showing the magpie how to make the nest "do it this way, do it this way." The magpie would say "I know, I know, I know." After a time the wren got tired of hearing the magpie saying "I know, I know, I know" so he said to the magpie "if you know finish it yourself." But the magpie never finished the nest.

Many feasts are observed in the district at the present time. Om St. Stephen's day all the young boys and sometimes the grown - ups gather together in processions and go from house singing the wren song. Some of them have mouth organs, tin-whistles, flutes and others of them have flags. They get women's clothes and they dress them-selves in different colours. They have paper hats. They shoot the wren and they put it on two posts. They are carried by two men. They go around and any of them who can sing, sing the wren song and others play on their musical instruments. There is a person

very highest not able to move another feather, up starts from his back a wren, and mounted a few feet higher in the sky, then came down the king of all birds.
The Saint of course, had to abide by his own ruling but if he had, he then and denounced the wren for its trickery and declared that it should never again fly higher above the earth than what it flew above the eagles back and that is why, to this day the wren only flies just the height of a mans knee above the ground".

In this district there are quite a number of festivals held each year and many customs are practised in connection with each festival
1. St Stephen's day. On this particular day it was an old custom for boys to go about the country 5 or 6 in a group. Usually they dressed up in old clothes and carried with them a dead wren They tapped on the door at the house and sometimes they sang the rhymn - The wren, The wren, some money to bury the wren. Then they got a penny or twopence. With this money they collected they usually had a good night's drinking. These boys were called the "wren boys" This custom has nearly died out and nowadays they go out with beagles and hunt the hare through the fields.
St Patrick's day is a general holiday and usually there is a large hunt. At night dances are held throughout the country which the young people enjoy very much.
Shrove Tuesday or as it is often called "Pancake day" is the day on which most people make pancakes.
"Ash Wednesday". It is said it got its name from

people say you will never go to heaven if you kill a robin. When the soldiers were looking for Our Lord. A wren told them that they would find him in the garden of Gethsemane. That is why the people of Ireland do not like the wren. It is said that a Hairy Mary is God's house. That is why the people do not like to kill Hairy Mary

His head and that is how it got the red breast. The wren flew away from our Lord and would not-look near Him. This is the reason that the people hunt the wren on St. Stephen's Day. The reason that the ass has a cross on its back is that it carried Mary and Joseph away to Egypt when in danger of Herod killing Jesus.

On Stephen's Day in this district many parties of boys dress up in fantastic dresses and go around collecting money. The dresses often consist of ladies apparel of various shapes and hues and these are sometimes combined with trousers or coats of men's wear and the whole is often so incongruous that its very outlandishness adds immensely to the holiday spirit of the time.

the lark because she always lays her eggs in the lark's nest. Long ago when Our Lord was. going through a field the robin told him that the soldiers were after him and to go through another field. The wren told the soldiers where Our Lord was and they got hm and put him to jail. That is why the boys kill the wren on Saint Stephen's Day.

The wild birds which are commonly found in my district are the robin, wren, blue tit, snipe, black bird, lark, thrush, swallow, corncrake, cuckoo and the goldfinch. The cuckoo and swallow migrate. They go away before the winter comes to a warmer country. There is a rhyme about the cuckoo

many as a dozen eggs each that day. It is very unlucky to be born on Whit Sunday or Whit Monday. There is a saying that the person or animal born on either of these days will either kill or be killed. At Halloween we all eat a feast of fruit and nuts. We have apple dumplings for supper that night. We play all sorts of tricks with apples and nuts. On Christms day, we eat plum pudding, roast turkey and goose. We get presents and send off presents, cards and greetings to our friends. Santa Claus comes to all the children with gifts too. The people decorate their houses with holly and mistletoe and burn coloured candles. On St. Stephen's Day men and boys go out to hunt the wren. They carr a dead wren at the head of a bush and they sing the wren song. They visit the houses collecting money which they use in having a party or feast. On Halloween night, the old people in the district make champ and put it on pieces of boards up the chimney and they call the crickets to them in the Irish language.

children hang up their stockings expecting Santa Claus to come. Everyone gets up early on Christmas morning and lights are seen in every house. Although it is still dark a great gathering comes to first mass. As soon as breakfast is over the "bean - an - tige" prepares the great dinner.
The day after Christmas is St Stephens day. On this day wren boys go around. About a week before it they prepare wren suits. Sometimes they steal old clothes without their parents knowing it. They usually wear false faces and also straw ropes around their legs. On St Stephens morning a crowd of wren boys meet together at a crossroad. When they come to a house they dance and sing. Here is rhyme which they say:- Up with the kettle and down with the

The wren is said to have betrayed our Saviour.
In this district people believe that birds talk to each other. The yellow - amber is supposed to say A little bit of bread and no cheese," while the wren says "Something to eat."
The thrush says "Come and see, come and see." The pigeon says "Eat more, poor Judy."

The wild birds commonly found in this country are wild geese, wild ducks, water hens, snipe. Other birds to be seen are robin, thrush blackbird, sparrow wren, gold-finch and lark.
The robin, thrush, blackbird and gold-finch build their nests in the hedges, while the lark builds its nest upon the ground,. and the wren builds

Festival of the year.

they have a dance among themselves. This is called "chasing the wren."

The names of wild birds in the district - Robin, Trush, Sparrow, Wren, Blackbird, Crow, Willy-Wagtail, Cuckoo, Finch, yellow-hammer Pigeon, Curlew, Lark, Magpie, Hawk, Pheasant, Partridge, Crane, Seagull, Starling, Swallow, corncrake and the Weatherguide.
The birds that leave Ireland are the Cuckoo, Swallow, Corncrake and the Weatherguide. Some birds build their nests in hedges, ditches, trees, eaves and old walls. The crow builds his nest in a high tree, the Robin builds his nest in a ditch, the Blackbird, wren, the sparrow