The wren, the wren, the king of all birds

Anyone who thinks rural Ireland is at risk of dying has clearly never heard the Carrigkerry Wren Boys play. Listening to them leaves you in no doubt that country villages are very much alive. You would journey to any venue to hear them, but you don’t have to: they’ll come right into your kitchen.

Carrigkerry is a small village in West Limerick: a pub, a shop, a school, a church agus sin é. It’s well-known in the surrounding areas that on St Stephen’s Day there is absolutely no parking anywhere in the village. In fact, your best option may be to park three miles down the road in Ardagh and thumb up.

Before setting out to chase the wren (pronounced “wran” in these parts) on St Stephen’s Day, the Carrigkerry Wren Boys warm up at Moore’s Pub in the village. People travel from near and far to hear them play. Usually, the Carrigkerry group has over 30 Wren Boys; one year they had up on 45. You start and finish the Wren in the same place always. Twelve hours later, after visiting houses up to 15km away, they return.

Going on the Wren originates from the old Irish tradition of hunting a wren bird on St Stephen’s Day. Now, the practice has evolved into a group of Wren Boys, dressed colourfully, travelling to houses in their local area to play musical instruments, sing and dance. Throughout much of the 20th century in Ireland, Wren Boys would have been common in most towns and villages across the country. Now they are more of a rarity, but in a few areas, particularly around Limerick, Cork and Kerry, the tradition holds firm. West Limerick is a particular stronghold, where there are still several active groups.

The Fleadh Floor

The Carrigkerry Wren Boys base themselves at the Fleadh Floor, a converted farm house they bought in 1997. Cards are held here every Wednesday night and often the odd céilí. Irish Country Living met a selection of members here for a pre-Christmas seisiún.

Mick Barrett plays the bodhrán, and 2017 will be his 26th year on the Wren in Carrigkerry. He explains that this particular group was set up in 1982, but there is a long history of Wren Boys in the area before that. Another group that covers much the same area on St Stephen’s Day is Glensharrold, which has been in existence even longer.

“When we used to go to Listowel for the All-Ireland Wren Boy Competition the two groups would merge together,” explains Mick. “We have been very successful there. We competed in Listowel on 11 occasions and we have won eight All-Irelands out of those 11.”

Once they leave Moore’s on 26 December, the Wren Boys travel on a predetermined and carefully planned route. Where there are clusters of houses they play on the road between them, and for longer distances travel in a couple of vans that accompany them.

There are loads of traditions associated with going on the Wren, outlines Mick. One of the many being that the group plays while approaching and entering the house, then plays again on their way out. They usually spend about 10 minutes in each house playing music, singing and younger members dance a set.

No bones about it

Paddy O’Donovan is the current All-Ireland Champion bones player and member of the Carrigkerry Wren Boys. The bones are a percussion instrument made out of, yes, real bones. Cows’ ribs to be exact, cut to be about five or six inches long. After a demonstration I find out firsthand that playing the bones is a lot harder than it looks.

The pair Paddy shows me are over 30-years-old, and I ask where he got them from. “My first wife’s ribs, that’s what I always tell people – and they usually leave it at that,” he jokes. “You would want a dozen cows’ ribs to get a pair of bones that sound right together. You don’t have to do much to them, maybe a small rub of sand paper, they polish themselves over the years.”

Charity

John Sheehy leads the group into each house carrying a holly bush, which symbolises the wren. He also collects donations from people. Charity is a huge element of what the Carrigkerry Wren Boys do and the group has donated massive amounts of money to various charities throughout the years, over €70,000 altogether.

Those assembled at the Fleadh Floor, amid their jigs and reels, make sure to pay homage to their spiritual leader Donie Nolan, who is a flaming box player by all accounts and couldn’t be present, as he was called to Meath to play with his famed Taylor’s Cross Céilí Band.

Synonymous with traditional music in the area, Donie is the main man in upholding a lot of the traditions associated with going on the Wren, explains John: “We have to say, he puts a 110% into it each Christmas. There is no doubt about that.

“There is a lot of tradition involved in all this. If someone dies in a household around the area, you can’t go into that house. So you have to do your homework beforehand and know every house where someone has died during the year, and Donie does a lot of that.”

The group not only embodies all the colour and vibrancy that can be found in the countryside, but is also a shining example of community spirit. And shows how, for one day a year, a small village with can be front and centre.CL