The traditions on the 26th of December in Ireland have not largely carried over to most sectors of the worldwide Irish diaspora. Known as St. Stephen's Day or Wren Day in Ireland, this is a brief crash course on the traditions of this day for those outside Ireland who are unfamiliar with them.
Lá Fhéile Stiofán (St. Stephen's Day) is a day anticipated almost to the level of Christmas Day in Ireland. Today, people will be dressing up in old clothes, wearing straw hats and travelling from door to door with fake wrens (previously real wrens were killed) and they dance, sing and play music. Although this tradition is less common than it was a couple of generations ago, it remains a strong tradition in certain parts of the country -- particularly on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry.
Depending on which region of the country, these door-to-door travellers are called wrenboys and mummers. A Mummer's Festival is held at this time every year in the village of New Inn, County Galway and Dingle in County Kerry.
A popular rhyme, known to many Irish children and sung at each house visited by the mummers goes as follows (this version popularized by the Irish group The Clancy Brothers):
The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the firs
Although he was little, his honor was great
Jump up me lads and give us a treat
We followed the wren three miles or more
Three miles of more, three miles or more
Through hedges and ditches and heaps of snow
At six o'clock in the morning
Rolley, Rolley, where is your nest?
It's in the bush that I love best
It's in the bush, the holly tree
Where all the boys do follow me
As I went out to hunt and all
I met a wren upon the wall
Up with me wattle and gave him a fall
And brought him here to show you all
I have a little box under me arm
A tuppence or penny will do it no harm
For we are the boys who came your way
To bring in the wren on St. Stephen's Day
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