Happy Boxing Day / St Stephen's Day

[Joe]

Hi all,

"Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even"

We've all heard of the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas". December 26th is "the feast of Stephen".

The same day is called Boxing Day, and is celebrated in the UK, Canada, and other British Commonwealth countries. In Ireland, December 26 is called Lá Fhéile Stiofán (The Day of the Wren)

Read more about December 26 on Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

Enjoy!
Joe

[Ginny]

In the song "The Wren" (performed by Ciaran and Fiona on The Barra MacNeils Christmas Special) one of the last lines is
"For we are the boys who come your way
To bring you the Wren on St.Stephen's Day"

Maybe it's also known as St.Stephen's Day in Ireland
Too many names for one day

Cheers,
Ginny

[faerie]

I think that, in Ireland, on this day, they;d go kill a wren and then go door to door to make money for its funeral, and they would sing that song, the wren, at least thats what the clancy brothers said. I'm not sure if that is still done, but it used to be a tradition for the kids on st. stephans day.

Tia