'Irish Christmas in America' almost a flight of fancy

"Christmas in Ireland can be similar to the one in America, but some of it really is for the birds.

Oisin Mac Diarmada, a fiddler and one of the leaders of the Irish group, Teada, says the wanderings of the 'wren boys' will be part of the band's 'Christmas in America' celebration Saturday in Oakland.

'The show will feature the tunes and traditions of Christmas in Ireland,' he says. 'There will be songs like 'Silent Night' and 'Parting Glass,' which all the Americans seem to know, but then there will be songs in the Irish language.'

The concert also will look at the 'wren boys,' who dress up in the rags of pagans and wander about seeking treats on the feast of St. Stephen on Dec. 26. They get those treats because they bring with them a wren -- often simulated these days -- which they have captured because a bird of that type betrayed the hiding spot of St. Stephen.

'It is a way of blending the pagan history and the Christian,' Mac Diarmada says."

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