Wren day also known as Wren's day, Hunt the Wren Day or The Hunting of the Wrens (Irish: Lá an Dreoilín) celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day. The tradition consists of "hunting" a fake wren, and putting it on top of a decorated pole. Then the crowds of mummers or strawboys celebrate the Wren (also pronounced as the Wran) by dressing up in masks, straw suits and colourful motley clothing and, accompanied by traditional céilí music bands, parade through the towns and villages. These crowds are sometimes called wrenboys.
Famous quotes containing the words wren and/or day:
“Adultery? Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery!
No, the wren goes to’t, and the small gilded fly
Does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“A day in April never came so sweet,
To show how costly summer was at hand,
As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)