Hunt the Wren
- Item sets
- Traditions
- Name
- Hunt the Wren
- Description
- A midwinter tradition observed on 26 December, St Stephen's Day. Groups of men and boys would hunt a wren, carry it on a decorated pole, and process from house to house singing the Wren Song. The wren was the king of the birds, hunted at midwinter as part of the ritual turning of the year. Still practised on the Island today, making it one of the oldest continuously observed folk customs in the British Isles.
- Date / Season
- 26 December
- Manx Name
- Shelg yn Dreain
- Place
- Isle of Man
- Period
- Celtic and Pre-Norse Period
- Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles
- The Stanley Lordship
- Modern Era
- Type
- Custom / Calendar
- Source
- Moore, Folk-lore (1891)
- Oral tradition
- Book Chapter
- Chapter 03 — 1405-1651