“Ahhhhhhhhh.”
That was a collective sigh of relief.
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful few first days of winter! Yule is an incredible time that can bring people together and fill us with light, but it’s also knackering, so I hope you get 12 hours of sleep tonight. Enjoy! 😊
For this issue of The Green Witch Writer Newsletter, I wanted to focus on some festive folklore. One of my big resolutions for 2024 is to get back to my most beloved hobby: birdwatching. Spying on birds is one of my three greatest obsessions (the other two being witchcraft and writing), so let’s look at one of my favourite – often overlooked – birds:
The wren.
You might not know it, but the wren has big ties with today – St Stephen’s Day. Or Boxing Day.
Come with me on a deep dive!
Britain’s most common bird and one of our smallest (falling in third place after the goldcrest and firecrest) is a lively little thing. Its tawny colouring and beady stare have led it to fall into the Little Brown Job (LBJ) category in birdwatching terms, but the wren has perhaps one of the most melodious calls of all British birds – the quintessential sound of spring ✨️ A quick-fire scattering of notes so loud that it’s hard to believe they came from such a tiny creature, hardly bigger than a bumble bee. Their stubby tails erect and vibrating with sound.
Just like the Robin Redbreast, it is so beloved by gardeners that it has been given its own personal name of ‘Jenny Wren’. But in Celtic mythology, it has a much grander title. According to legend, the wren was the ‘king of all birds’. In a contest to see who could fly the highest, the wren showed its cunning and cleverness by flying on the back of an eagle – the wren was so light that the eagle didn’t even notice the bird standing above him.
When I think of the wren, I’m reminded of spring mornings in my grandparent’s garden, listening at the ivy-covered garden wall for the faintest rustle of wings, trying to locate the nest. Gazing out the window, seven-year-old me would wonder how many wrinkled pink babies with bulging eyes craned their heads upwards inside the tangle of leaves. If you looked away from the wall for a few moments, you’d miss the little ping-pong ball of feathers propelling itself out of the nest to begin its distinctive clockwork call on the other side of the garden. My grandad, in his wellies and green canvas gardening hat, used to call me a Jenny Wren or Sparrow when I was little because I could never sit still. I have only good things to say about this tiny garden bird.
How then has it been persecuted for centuries in the name of fun?
It might seem barely possible but ‘hunt the wren’ is a long-standing Irish tradition. In Britain, we might know St Stephen’s Day – the day after Christmas – as Boxing Day, a bleary few hours of Wallace and Gromit repeats and stuffing sandwiches. But for some, St Stephen’s Day was traditionally a livelier affair.
Starting in the seventeenth century, a group of boys called “wren boys” would set about finding a wren and capturing it (or killing it through exhaustion or shock). They would then tie it to the top of a brightly coloured pole and parade it around the town. Blackening their faces like Mummers, the boys would force their way into people’s homes and thrust the wren inside, purging people of the past year and giving them a fright all at the same time. The event was a cheerful one, with people dancing and playing instruments as the wren boys sang:
What shall we do there?
We'll hunt the wren.
Where is he? Where is he?
In yonder green bush.
I see him, I see him.
How shall we get him down?
With sticks and stones.
He's dead, he's dead.
If the wren had not died in the terrifying throes of the ceremony, it would then be stoned to death by the wren boys.
Why?
There are several roots for this tradition. Celtic lore had it that the robin was a symbol of the New Year to come and all the promise it held, while the wren symbolised the old year – all the stomach-flipping arguments you’d had over the last twelve months, the bad news and even worse weather. For that reason, the wren – “the king of the birds” had to make the ultimate sacrifice and die. Another strongly held belief is that the wren betrayed St Stephen – the first Christian martyr – by flapping its wings while he was in hiding from those opposed to Christianity, who later stoned him to death. So, of course, the wren had to be punished 😳
The poor dead bird here is a symbol of something it didn’t ask to be signed up for. How did something with such a cheerful temperament and life-affirming song end up symbolising past regrets? Perhaps it’s down to its dull colouring or its tiny stature? Perhaps human jealousy at its incredible voice?
Whatever the reason, it’s not a happy tale. But – thankfully – the wren has also come to represent:
rebirth 🌱
good luck
wisdom
and wit
– things that I know I want to take into my 2024 💚 So, let us honour the wren. Our tiniest songbird with a voice that lightens the soul and brightens the winter days.
How to welcome the wren into your garden
Wrens love to munch on insects, spiders and other invertebrates. To entice them to your bird table, soak some dried mealworms in water to hydrate them and leave them in a shallow bowl.
Seeds are out – peanut butter and suet are in! Put these fatty winter treats out on your bird tables (not in feeders as wrens aren’t a fan of dangling eating spots).
Wrens nest in bushes and ivy-covered walls so be sure to provide plenty of dense, leafy foliage and shrubs for them to sing from.
Hydrate your wren friends! Leave out shallow bowls of water or, even better, add a water feature to your garden 💧
Winter has just started but that means spring is around the corner (yay!). In early March, start leaving out nesting material for the birds in your garden: small twigs, dried grass and feathers will make wrens very happy.
Once again, I hope you’ve had a wonderful festive period and I hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter.
My next free newsletter will be out just before the festival of Imbolc (2nd February). But I post witchcraft, nature and writing newsletters every week! Upgrade your subscription to my paid membership to receive weekly spells, nature tips and writing news 😃
See you in 2024!
Jennifer x
It is so awful how the tradition of hunting a wren was seen as a way to celebrate a day! I adore birds, wren is very sacred to me and my priestess path. Interesting how Robins are seen as the bird of Yule and Christmas now. Wrens have such a spark about them, shame a lot of people just judge by appearances, as when you connect spiritually to other beings, you really know them on a deeper level.
Oh, I love it! Synchronicity reigns. I am writing a novel, and just posted another installment of Legend of the Wren! It follows symbolically the mystical aspects of the wren and how it influences the main characters. Your article gives me incentive to continue. Thanks so much!