Fabulous Folklore: Wren’s Day (26th December)

Image taken from a photograph by @mrperil 

Trigger warning: historical animal cruelty.

Wren’s Day, also known as St. Stephen’s Day, is an Irish celebration which falls on the 26th December, and is celebrated in a number of countries across Europe.

Like the hunting of foxes on Boxing Day, which also lands on the 26th December, Wren’s Day is concerned with the hunting of a wren, which is placed on the top of a pole.

The captured wren was fixed to the pole/staff of a type of mummer called a “Wren Boy” and this pole was decorated with coloured ribbons and garlands. The mummers dressed in straw suits and colourful motley clothing, and would celebrate the wren by marching through the streets; through pubs and hospitals, while singing and dancing and playing musical instruments.

Money would be collected by the Wren Boys and donated to a charitable cause, or used to host a Wren Ball in January; a party for the town’s folk.

Thankfully, this is now a fake wren, usually a wooden one, and the Wren Boys are now generally made up of boys and girls.

This tradition was revived in the 1990s in Middleton, Suffolk by the Old Glory Molly dancers. On Boxing Day evening they carry a wooden wren on a garlanded staff in a torchlit procession from the town hall to the Bell Inn; where they dance and sing wren related songs, and listen to stories about the Wren becoming King of the Birds.

What do you do on Boxing Day? Do you have any special family traditions?

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