Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-18
Curious Customs That Are Still OBJ
served at Christmas Time.
MANY ARE OF ANCIENT ORIGIl
Meeting Of the Choirsin a Musica
Competition.
THE HUNTING OF THE WREN


| Written for The Evening Star.
| In Mainland. or the Isle of Man. A few
practices of ancient origin still OBJ
| served at Christmastide. the ike of which
seem not to exist elsewhere.
| The first reminder to ManXmen that
Christmas is approaching comes from the
| fiddlers, who commence to cali every
| family of any consequence four five
| weeks before the advent of the festive day.
| A party of two or three "fiddlers'' set out
| about 3 O'Clock every morning, excepting
Sundays, playing all kinds of lively airs.
! it being the duty of one of the party to
| salute the families so honored by them in
a loud, distinct voice, after this fashion:
| Good morning, MIR. Quayle; good morning.
| Mrs. Quayle: good morning, Master John
| (the eldest SOM; good morning all the rest
of the family: past o'clock. a fine. frosty
morning. and SO they continue from
! house to house. varying the salutation ac
! cording 10 the members OF the family and
! the weather. the state OF which they never
| fail to mention. Boys and girls lie awake
o nights to hear the fddlers: and some
| times the former steal nuiSeleSsly out of
the house and accompany the musicians
| on their matutinal tour.
| Competition of the Choirs.
| One of the oldest customs in the Isle of
| Man is the meeting on Christmas eve of
| all the choirs of each parish in their re-
| spective parish churches for the singing
! of carols and Christmas anthems. For
! merly these were rendered in the ManX
| language; and even yet this practice pre-
| walls in some of the country places. al
| though in the majority of cases English is
| now used. In addition to the church choir,
| those of the Methodist and Primitive chap
| els are usually present, these being the
| only denominations that exist among the
| genuine ManX besides the Established
| Church. The meeting of chors is called
| the "Oeil Very pronounced Eel Very,
! which has about it all the elements of
| rivalry and excitement characteristic of
a political convention in the United States.
From about IL O'Clock until midnight the
! churches are crowded with The parishion-
| ers, and during these hours the choirs sing
| their very best, not all together, but by
| turns and in a spirit of the st emu
! lation. Sometimes, also. choirs from con-
| tiguous parishes meet in some particular
| church for the same purpose. and then the
! competition and excitement are still more
| intense. Tumultuous applause from their
friends reward the efforts of each. fer the
| Marx are musical people, gifted with fine
voices. and to an unusual degree endowed
| with the power of song. kind of jury
| decides which choir is the victor, this one,
however, receiving no prize. The honor of
| being declared the best choir is all that is
| sought after.
Singing Carols.
| In the days gone by there was much
| drinking OF jough. ManX ale. both be-
| fore and after the Dell Very, and it was
| considered fortunate if the affair did not
| end in a free fight between the partisans
| of the competing choirs But tea drink
| ing and social pleasures at home have
| taken the place of convivial meetings and
| angry discussions at the public house.
| After the Oeil Very the choirs set out at
once to sing Christmas hymns before the
| residences of their respective church MEM
| bers, accompanied by crowds OF young peo-
pie of both sexes, who are drawn by the
charm of the beautiful Christmas music.
| But outside the church gates and before
| separating they unite i'll singing,
| Christians. awake, salute the happy
| Wherein the Savior Of mankind was born,
putting heart and soul well as voice
into the magnificent old melody, the
| strains of which are carried for miles
around in the stiffness of that 'witching
| hour" AS previously arranged the choirs
| are entertained at some house with a sub
| stantial breakfast during their tour of
| singing. No alcoholic beverages appear on
| such occasions. their use being vigorously
| prohibited among church members through
out the island. where tea drinking in a
thousand ways is a universal custom at
| both public and private functions. The re-
| suit is that Christmas morning, notwith-
| standing that every one then keeps open
house. is unmarked by noise or disorder;
| and at or o'clock all go home to bed
a few hours sleep as prepartion for the
coming pleasures of the day.
The Game of Camag.
On Christmas day the unaccountable
practice prevails of indiscriminately shoot
| ing birds and game. On that day every
person who possesses gun seems anX-
| ious to use it. A unique insular sport
| called camag. Somewhat like the English
| hockey, is also then INDUCED in by both
men and boys 1t is played with great
skill.
st. Stephens day, December &c, which is
| national holiday. 1t is celebrated in
peculiar manner. Throughout the island
large parties of men met together to
hunt the hare, which is pursued over hill
and dale with weil-trained greyhounds,
amid the widest excitement. Nearly the
whole adult male population turns out to
| witness these annual hunts which last
until shutdown. and during which many
miles of the wild mountain lands are
secured and beaten to find poor puss,"
the only remnant of the four-footed game
once found abundantly in the island. Com
nected with this day also is the strange
mysterious custom called Hunt the wren
the origin and history of which tradition
alone offers any account.
Hunting the Wren.
The Celtic legend. which offers the only
explanation of It's existence, is as follows:
Once urcn a time there lived in Man a
terrible witch. who was forever contrivfng
evil to the Inhabitants. Her necromancies
at length grew to be a scourge to the
whole island. cattle dying and people per-
ishing as If by plague. At this juncture
st. Patrick, who was then in Man. was
appealed 10. and he at once laid a curse
upon the witch, by virtue of which she
| was transformed into a wren. In this guIse
she was hunted and pursued by those
whom she had so long prosecuted, until
she persisted. And from that day to this
the custom of hunting the wren has been
annually observed. st. Stephens day is
'.Hunt-the-Wren day." But the tiny crea-