Wren Boys? Don't make me laugh!

mrsbyrne

Mams and dads. Plonking Santa hats on your kids , driving them around the estates , having them ring doorbells to mumble two lines of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer , before they stick s bucket under the householders nose, while you sit smoking in the car is nit following the Wren. Its.sending your kids out to beg. At Chistmas. Please stop.

Jawgap

Are they not supposed to be singing

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
Although he was little his honour was great,
Jump up me lads and give him a treat.

Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
And give us a penny to bury the wren.

If it's done properly, it's a great tradition.

theteal

country forum is. . .oh. . .

Uncle Ruckus

Rent boys calling around your house looking for money is disgraceful...oh wait I misread the thread!

mrsbyrne

Jawgap wrote: »

Are they not supposed to be singing



If it's done properly, it's a great tradition.

They're supposed to be dressed in costume, playing traditional music and holding aloft an effigy of a dead Wren. It's pathetic.

fleet_admiral

Is this some bog thing? Us civilised city folk buy our presents for next year today dont u know

Paddy Cow

Jawgap wrote: »

Are they not supposed to be singing



If it's done properly, it's a great tradition.

We used to say

The wren, the wren the king of all birds
St Stehpen's day was caught in the furze
Up with the kettle and down with the pan
Will you give me a penny to bury the wren?
If you haven't a penny a hay penny will do
If you haven't a hay penny, God bless you
I chased the wren from rock to rock
I chased him into a public shop
I dipped his nose in a bottle of beer
And I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Jawgap

mrsbyrne wrote: »

They're supposed to be dressed in costume, playing traditional music and holding aloft an effigy of a dead Wren. It's pathetic.

Well, at least it's a bit of local colour / tradition (if done properly) - better than the whole Americanisation of the mid-winter we're increasingly having to endure.

Hande hoche!

Didn't see any today. Just a bit of road hurling.

Cantremember

Just had a scrote wearing a Halloween mask mumbling at the door. Probably scoping the place for the next break in.

KatW4

Had 3 boys come to our house earlier and mutter the rhyme so fast that it was impossible to make out the words! We usually get a few like this every year. I would much prefer if they played/sang something properly!

Tarzana2

mrsbyrne wrote: »

They're supposed to be dressed in costume, playing traditional music and holding aloft an effigy of a dead Wren. It's pathetic.

We did the costumes and trad music. No dead wren though. :-/

Have to agree though, the standard was shocking today, awful.

Jawgap

Didn't see any today.

But last year at the in-laws was great craic.

diomed

The bird who could fly to the highest altitude would be made king. The eagle outflew all other birds, but he was beaten by a small bird (wren) who had hidden in his plumage.

The Peanut

I grew up in South Tipp. It was - and probably still is - a good tradition but it was mainly confined to pubs. The musicians would call to the pubs and provide music and song for 10-15 mins and then move on. Most of the singers were very talented and welcomed in the pubs. It was a great part of the pub atmosphere on the day. Never saw kids calling to houses.

diomed

Brazilian footballer Garrincha earned his nickname from one of the names the house wren has in Rio de Janeiro.

Kat97

Aw I used to love going every year with my cousins. Played the tin whistle or sang. It was always great craic and the sweets and money that came with it

Never see it in Dublin. Had a few carolers a few weeks ago but that's it.

Highflyer13

diomed wrote: »

Brazilian footballer Garrincha earned his nickname from one of the names the house wren has in Rio de Janeiro.

Off topic but Garrincha lost his virginity to a goat. Anyway carry on folks.....

mrsbyrne

There are still proper Wren boys but the last few years we've got car loads of kids still in they're jammies being dropped in the estate by their parents while they walk around the doors trying to beg the price of the cinema and a Supermacs. Brassknecked chavitis.

TheBody

All the kids went on the wren when I was a boy in North Longford. None to be seen these days.

dan185

What the **** is this?

tinkerbell

I fckin hate this stupid tradition nowadays. The kids can never play anything and are just begging for money. This year we closed our gates and I thought we'd escaped them but then we had visitors calling in the afternoon and while they were pulling into the driveway two wrens arrived a couple of minutes later, God damn it! :pac:

It used to be so different years ago. They'd be proper wren boys (all dressed up and have a variety of instruments from tin whistles to accordions to spoons etc) - we'd be having the dinner and they'd be invited into the kitchen to play for the whole family, they'd do a few songs and it was great. Of course that was then, times are a lot different now. Now I just give them all the side eye and wonder if they are actually just eyeing up the house, I'm a lot more cynical these days :pac:

anncoates

Hold on, you mean there's a tradition that allows you to send your kids around doors collecting money?

Be right back

lanos

All I ever observed in pubs on the 26th was traveller kids with blackened faces and rattling off the rhyme in 5 seconds flat and then the hand was thrust out for money. They never got a bob from me.

tinkerbell

anncoates wrote: »

Hold on, you mean there's a tradition that allows you to send your kids around doors collecting money?

Be right back

Not if you're in Dublin, unfortunately!!! You'll have to move to the country :pac:

Littlekittylou

mrsbyrne wrote: »

They're supposed to be dressed in costume, playing traditional music and holding aloft an effigy of a dead Wren. It's pathetic.

As far as I know most of them do dress up and do play music. It's more like busking now and they go around to pubs.

winnie the schtink

a kettle of boiling water sorts them out fairly lively

TheBody

winnie the schtink wrote: »

a kettle of boiling water sorts them out fairly lively

Making them tea isn't gonna make them leave!!!

kowloon

winnie the schtink wrote: »

a kettle of boiling water sorts them out fairly lively

With plenty of sugar mixed in for added potency.

ballsymchugh

are people really saying that this shyte doesn't happen in dublin??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFXZXJGm6lo

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I only wish they would call to my house so as I could tell them to **** off

Oink

I got caught recently as I started answering the door again lately for some reason. I must have been sick or something. I'm better now, so the problem is solved. Unless they start singing through the letterbox thingy.

crockholm

I like the Dingle wren where they go around like the offspring of The Wicker Man and the Ku Klux Klan.

MRnotlob606

Piss buckets at the ready.

snubbleste

Unless they rap this, they don't get anything
(wren = dreolín)

Chips O'Toole

Jawgap wrote: »

If it's done properly, it's a great tradition.

Eeehhhh, what country do you think this is? The new tradition is not to do things properly.

Cantremember

It's wren persecution. Picking on the smallest bird. Or one of the smallest to keep the bird police off my back. Think about the wrens. Think about the wrens. More turkey?

Axel Lamp

Nothing but travellers doing it now. Phuckers

chosen1

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Mams and dads. Plonking Santa hats on your kids , driving them around the estates , having them ring doorbells to mumble two lines of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer , before they stick s bucket under the householders nose, while you sit smoking in the car is nit following the Wren. Its.sending your kids out to beg. At Chistmas. Please stop.

Do you say the same about Trick or Treaters?

At least it's keeping an Irish tradition alive rather than another American import. We always did it when we were kids and although it's rarer now, it's still good to see.

Liam McPoyle

I was in my local last night and a group of 4 gents from a particular ethnic minority came in, some dressed in drag, one wearing a pig onesie and started to "dance" in front of the guy playing music.

They then proceeded to go around the pub shaking a biscuit tin at the patrons looking for money.

Seemingly a couple of hours prior to that something similar happened.

Anyone else experience this or is it just a Longford thing?

jack of all

Myself and my missus went for late drink in Portlaoise last night and some proper wren boys came in to the pub- playing guitar, bagpipes and some class of a bongo drum. They were dressed up and played very well, there was great banter with the publican and patrons, it was great craic and I hadn't seen wren boys in years.

Kirby

I had this explained to me today as honestly, I had never heard of it before. It's obviously just a culchie thing as I've never seen this in Dublin or even heard anybody even mention it.

If it's just kids begging than I can see why it would be irritating....but on the other hand if some put in the effort and show up with instruments than I guess it would be worth listening to and paying for.

ronn

I was in a pub in cork and two seperate groups of kids came in looking for money screaming wren wren and shaking buckets,

Dempsey

Its just thinly veiled begging these days. They walk into pubs shaking their bucket and looking for money and dont do anything remotely competent or entertaining. Ask them to do something and they repeated sing the chorus of something incomprehensible and shake their buckets louder. It was a tradition dying out but a certain minority are bringing back in the worst form imaginable.

Peist2007

diomed wrote: »

Brazilian footballer Garrincha earned his nickname from one of the names the house wren has in Rio de Janeiro.

Garrincha was born with one leg shorter than the other. Hence the shifty nature of tinker children performing the wren in pubs on stephen's day

upandcumming

A couple of years ago I had people come to the door before Christmas with the bucket singing. Told them to **** off lively.

Straylight

Thankfully I've never had to endure this sh*te in any of the parts of Dublin I've lived in. It's bad enough having to avoid the little fcukers at Halloween without them adding another day for more of the same.