Why did kids carry dead birds on sticks all over Ireland on the 26th of December? And what did this all have to do with first century Christian martyr St. Stephen? Just like traditional tunes, which can vary from player to player, the whole history of Wren Day depends on the storyteller. Learn more about the role a melody, a good story (or three), and a tiny bird has played in the centuries-long winter tradition of hunting the wren.

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For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to IrishMusicStories.org.

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Thank you to everybody for listening. And a special thank you to this month’s underwriters:  

John Kerr, Chris Armstrong, Marco Battaglia, Rudolf Tschachtli, Julia Richards, Nina Coyle, Michael Schock, Ron Kral, Isaiah Hall, David Vaughan, Susan Walsh, Matt Jensen, John Ploch, Tom Frederick, Paul DeCamp, Suezen Brown, Jonathan Duvick, Gerry Corr, Mike Voss,  Sean Carroll, Isobel McMahon, Lynn Hayes, Bob Suchor, Brian Benscoter, Finian McCluskey, Rick Rubin, Ken Doyle, Chris Armstrong, Ian Bittle, Chris Murphy, and the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast