School: Tunnyfoyle
- Location:
- Tonyfoyle, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Bean Mhic Thréinfhir
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1016, Page 175
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- XML “St Stephen's Day Customs”
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- There are a lot of old customs carried on on St. Stephen's day. Young people dress up so that they wouldn't be known and go from house to house and the people give them a penny or twopence. They have a rhyme that they say and they sing and dance. Some of the old people don't like to see them.
If people wouldn't give them money they would dig a hole at the door and bury the wren. "Wren boys" they are called. Sometimes they might get ten or twelve shillings.
The rhyme is:
The wren, the wren,
The king of all birds
On St. Stephen's Day she was caught in the firs
The bird is small, and her family great.
Rise up old woman and give us a treat.
Some people don't eat meat on St. Stephen's Day because they say it keeps away diseases.
