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In the Republic of Ireland, Saint Stephen's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Stiofáin) is one of ten official public holidays. [5] Its name is sometimes shortened to "Stephen's Day" (Irish: Lá 'le Stiofáin), particularly in informal contexts. [6] Saint Stephen's Day is also called Wren Day (Irish: Lá an Dreoilín) in parts of Ireland.
In Britain and Ireland, the wren hunt was usually held on St. Stephen's Day, but wren hunts also took place on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and Twelfth Day (5 January). [32] By the early 20th century, industrialization and changing beliefs had begun to erode the tradition. [33]
Hunt the Wren (Manx: Shelg yn Dreean) is a traditional custom carried out on the Isle of Man on 26 December, Saint Stephen's Day. Traditionally, men and boys hunted a wren and placed it on top of a staff decorated with holly, ivy and ribbons, or displayed it in a decorated box on top of a pole.
Christmas Day; Saint Stephen's Day; The Holidays (Employees) Act 1973 replaced the Whit Monday holiday with the first Monday in June. New Year's Day was added by Statutory instrument in 1974. [13] The October Holiday was added in 1977. [8] The first Monday in May (commonly known as May Day) was added in 1993 and first observed in 1994. [1]
Saint Stephen's Day, a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 or 27 December St Stephen's Green , a park in Dublin, Ireland St Stephen's Hull , a shopping centre in Kingston upon Hull, England
The day is referred to as Saint Stephen's Day in most of Ireland, and as Boxing Day in most of Ulster (especially in Northern Ireland and County Donegal). [25] [26] [27] In New Zealand, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday. On these holidays, people who must work receive 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 times their salaries, and a day in lieu is provided to employees ...
The poem speaks of the Irish tradition of "hunting for the wran" , a small bird, on St. Stephen's Day, 26 December. [2] The song was first aired on Irish radio by singer Seán Ó Síocháin on a programme called The Balladmakers Saturday Night in the 1950s. Ó Siocháin got to know Clifford through their work on the programme.
The song is thought by some to represent the human sacrifice of the Year King, or the symbolic substitute slaughter of the wren as "king of the birds" at the end of the year for similar purposes, and such songs are traditionally sung on Boxing Day (26 December), just after the winter solstice. 26 December is sometimes called St Stephen's Day or Wren Day.