Donal Hickey: Happily the tradition of the wren is still cock-a-hoop

From days of youth, we remember schoolboys going around carrying a bush with a rag attached

The old practice of hunting and killing a tiny bird — all part, ironically, of celebrating a saint’s feast day — would not be tolerated in today’s more animal-friendly world.

Groups of wrenboys still go out in parts of the country, on St Stephen’s Day, but they no longer carry a dead wren on a bush, as was the custom which faded out several decades ago. Kevin Danaher, the leading folklorist from Athea, Co Limerick, noted that, in some areas, toy birds and various props were being used instead, by mid-20th century.