Wren day is celebrated in Ireland on December 26. Crowds of people take to the roads in various parts of Ireland, dressed in motley clothing, wearing masks or straw suits and accompanied by musicians - remembering a festival that was celebrated by the Druids.
The wren was used in augury by the Druids. A wren is said to have betrayed Irish soldiers fighting the Norsemen by beating its wings on their shields.
In Ireland, St. Stephen'sDay is the day for "Hunting the Wren" or "Going on the Wren." Originally, groups of small boys would hunt for a wren, and then chase the bird until they either caught it or it died from exhaustion.
Early in the morning of St. Stephen'sDay, the wren was carried from house to house by the boys, who wore straw masks or flened their faces with burnt cork, and dressed in old clothes (often women's dresses.) At each house, the boys sing the Wren Boys' song.
A wren began to eat breadcrumbs left on the head of a drum, and the rat-a-tat-tat of its beak woke the drummer, who sounded the alarm and woke the camp, leading to the defeat of the Irish soldiers and the continuing persecution of the wren.
The wrens first tours first show is in Omaha, Nebraska playing to an overwhelming five-person crowd that includes Robb, Conor, and Todd of the as-yet-unfounded Saddle Creek label/scene (Conor and Todd of Bright Eyes and the Faint respectively).
Wrens continue to tour domestically and in Europe through 1995 and begin work on follow-up lp.
The Wrens ditch their really-way-too-big new york law firm representation and spend second half of 1996 and most of 1997 in hilarious courtship ritual with various labels through new attorney.
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