[TN-Bird] Hunting the Wren-interesting fact

The Twelve Days of Christmas begin
December 26 Hunting the Wren

The old English custom of hunting the wren on this day may be the remnant of an 
ancient midwinter sacrifice. The official explanation given is that wrens are 
hunted on St Stephen's Day because their chattering in the bushes gave away the 
saint's hiding place, leading to his martyrdom. The usually sacred and 
protected bird was ceremonially hunted and its decorated corpse carried about 
to bring luck. 


The Wren, the Wren, the King of all Birds
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze
Although he be little, his honor is great
Therefore, good people, give us a treat.


The custom still survives in Ireland and the Isle of Man where the bird's 
corpse is replaced by a potato stuck with feathers. It's not clear if the 
children even bothered to create a mock Wren in Deborah Tall's description of 
how the holiday was celebrated on an island in Ireland in the 1970s:

St. Stephen's Day, the children went pagan and mad, roaming the island in 
gangs, bursting in doors, unannounced, masked, painted, bedraggled, piping, 
dancing, and singing at the top of their lungs in their ritual "hunting of the 
wren." Cookies and pennies buy off their shrieks, the players curtsy and bow, 
then streak out through the rain to their next stage, indefatigable.

Deborah Tall, Island of the White Cow, Atheneum 1986
School of the Seasons Calendar

Beau Peyton
Germantown, TN


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