School: Droichead a' Chláirín (Buachaillí)
- Location:
- Clarinbridge, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Seán Sabhaois
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0033, Page 0218
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- St. Stephen's Day falls on the 26th of December and on that day nine or ten boys gather together and dress themselves in every kind of clothes and they go around from house to house collecting money. They recite the following poem.
The wren, the wren
The King of all birds
On St. Stephen's Day he was caught in the furzer
Up with the kettle and down with the pan
Give us a few pence to bury the wren
They have a wren that they caught the night before. Some times he is dead on account of the hardship he gets. Sometimes he is let go in the evening if he is fortunate to be alive.
They go around to collect money. They usually get a few pence in every house. They got 6d and a 1s in some houses in the evening when they are ready they divide the money between them. Then they go to a sweet shop and they buy sweets, apples,(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Seán Ó Gréacáin
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Kilcolgan, Co. Galway
