Our musical journey through Europe and beyond continues. We have acquired a magical train, the World Express, which can travel over oceans and channels and through time itself (our magical train can do just about anything and in seconds)! We are preparing for a short stay in Germany for the upcoming Christmas holiday.
Before we leave Old Ireland, we party with the famous Irish folk band The Chieftains to hear Kevin Conneff and the other band members perform a delightful ditty called "The Wren In The Furze."
The British folk rock band Steeleye Span in their notes to their 1996 CD “Time” relates the significance of the harmless, innocuous, little wren to British and Celtic folkways:
"The wren is known as the King of the Birds, because there is a fable in which a competition takes place to decide which bird is supreme. It is decided that he that flies highest is the monarch. The wren craftily hitches a ride on the back of the eagle and wins.
Also the wren was sacred to the Druids and the custom of catching and killing wrens at Christmas time would not be incompatible with this history of reverence. It would be protected all year and then ritually slain as a sacrifice at the appropriate time. As with all possible remnants of ancient religions, their meaning becomes obscured and their enactment trivialized, and so this song until recently was attached to the Christmas tradition of wassailing and the demanding of monies."
Saint Stephen's Day, also mentioned in the song, is celebrated on December 26 in the Catholic Church. Stephen was stoned to death for blasphemy by Jewish authorities c. 34 AD. Saint Stephen is the Protomartyr (i.e., the first Christian martyr). Saint Stephen's Day is a public holiday in the Irish Republic and it is also known as the Wren Day. Irish folklore says that the wren betrayed Stephen to the Jewish authorities by making noises, thus attracting their attention to where Stephen was hiding.
The tradition arose on Saint Stephen's Day in Ireland of boys dressing in elaborate straw costumes and hats, hunting the wren, and then carrying the perished wrens house to house, singing, dancing, and playing music, and collecting money for the wrens' funerals. This was all done in a spirit of great fun. Today, fake wrens are used and the money goes to charity.
The Chieftains perform the traditional song that the Wren Boys sing as they go from house to house on Saint Stephen's Day:
The wren, oh the wren; he's the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen's Day he got caught in the furze,
So it's up with the kettle and it's down with the pan,
Won't you give us a penny for to bury the wren?
Well it's Christmas time; that's why we're here,
Please be good enough to give us an ear,
For we'll sing and we'll dance if youse give us a chance,
And we won't be comin' back for another whole year!
We'll play Kerry polkas; they're real hot stuff,
We'll play the Mason's Apron and the Pinch of Snuff,
Jon Maroney's jig and the Donegal reel,
Music made to put a spring in your heel!
If there's a drink in the house, would it make itself known,
Before I sing a song called "The Banks of the Lowne",
A drink with lubri-mication in it,
For me poor dry throat and I'll sing like a linnet!
Oh please give us something for the little bird's wake,
A big lump of pudding or some Christmas cake,
A fist full o' goose and a hot cup o' tay (Tea),
And then we'll all be goin' on our way!
The wren, oh the wren; he's the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen's Day he got caught in the furze,
So it's up with the kettle and it's down with the pan,
Won't you give us a penny for to bury the wren?
Copyright 2019 Josiah Wales USA
