Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and Nollaig Shona.
The New York Irish Center’s next Crossroads Concert mixes Irish Wren Boy and Puerto Rican Parranda – two Christmas traditions that include visiting homes and playing music in exchange for food, drink, and amusement – on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7 pm.
The performers include Mary Courtney (voice, guitar, bodhrán), Dylan James (fiddle, banjo, dance), Colin Harte (voice, piano, bodhrán), Carlos Espada (vocals, guacharo), Jorge Vazquez (punteador, coro), Mateo Gonzalez (requinto, coro), Victor Pablo (seguidor, coro), and Raul Rios (trumpet, coro).
Wren Day (Lá an Dreoilín) is on Dec. 26 in Ireland. Though not common today, for centuries, males (aka Wren Boys) would put on costumes, paint their faces, and walk around the neighborhood, playing music and asking for money to bury a wren that they had hunted and killed. At the end, they would bury the wren as a way to bring luck for the upcoming year.
Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, a parranda can take place at any time during the Christmas season. Celebrants parade through neighborhoods, playing festive music and dancing. They make stops at houses for pasteles, arroz con dulce, and coquito. Frequently, people from the visited houses join the fun and parade to the next home.
General admission for the Crossroads Concert is $28.52, and the New York Irish Center is located at 10-40 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City.
Editor’s note: Why the wren? Historians differ on the reason, but they mostly agree that the bird is equated with betrayal. A wren allegedly tipped off British troops about an impending attack by Irish warriors in the 1600s. Even earlier in the first BCE years, a wren purportedly alerted anti-Christian hunters to Saint Stephen’s hiding spot when he was spreading the word of the Gospel. Another theory is that wrens represented the old year in ancient Celtic thought.
Image: New York Irish Center