Get Set for the 2019 Annual CCÉ-Philadelphia/DV Wren Party & Ceili!
Bring your Wren hat and your family and friends!
The big 20th anniversary celebration is December 26 at 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 235 Limekiln Pike, Glenside, PA 19038.
Expect a night of dancing and music a-plenty, including an appearance by RUNA’s Shannon Lambert-Ryan and Dublin-born guitarist Fionán de Barra.
CCÉ Members – $10 Non-Members – $15
Children under 12 – Free
Coffee, tea and bar will be available.
Bring a Christmas snack to share!
For more information – 610-517-0143
The Background
The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St Stephens’s Day was caught in the furze.
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
Give us a penny to bury the wren.
St Stephen is believed to be the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death sometime around the year 33 AD, accused of preaching against Jewish law.
There are many different stories about how the custom of St. Stephen’s Day, or the Day of the Wren originated.
One is that St. Stephen, hiding from his enemies in a bush, was betrayed by a chattering wren. Another legend suggests that during the Viking raids of the 700’s, Irish soldiers were betrayed by a wren as they were sneaking up on a Viking camp in the dead of night. A wren began to eat breadcrumbs left on the head of a drum, and the rat-a-tat-tat of its beak woke the drummer, who sounded the alarm and woke the camp, leading to the defeat of the Irish soldiers.
Hence, some people felt that wrens betrayed them and should be stoned to death, just as St. Stephen had been. Boys traditionally hunted a wren, tied it to a stick, and paraded around the village with it. They did this to collect money for a dance or party for the whole village.
The pursuit and capture of the wren is also related to the pagan custom of sacrificing a sacred symbol at year’s end, and the wren has been revered in Ireland as “The king of all birds.”
Wren Day then, by tradition, is celebrated on December 26, St. Stephen’s Day. Now the tradition consists of “hunting” a fake wren and putting it on top of a decorated pole.
Then crowds of “strawboys, ““mummers,”or “wren boys” (depending on the region of the country), celebrate the wren by dressing up in masks, straw suits, and colorful motley clothing.
As in the past, they may also sing, play music or perform traditional dances, parading through towns and villages, asking for applause, and collecting money to be used for a village party, or given to charity. In some parts of Ireland, children go from door to door with a wren in a cage, or a fake wren on a stick.
(Credit: Wikipedia and OurIrishHeritage.com)
