One of the oldest and longest continuing traditions in the British Isles takes place at the weekend.

The tradition of Hunt The Wren will see many groups gather in various locations around the island to perform the well-known and familiar song and dance on the morning of Boxing Day, which falls this year on Saturday.

There will be Hunt The Wren meetings around the island.

In the south, it begins in Port St Mary at 10am.

The group will meet in the Scoill Phurt-le-Moirrey car park before heading out around the village.

The Douglas group will meet at 10.15am outside the Woodbourne Hotel, while there will also be a group dancing around the streets of Willaston, beginning at the Willaston School Car Park at 10.30am.

There will be several groups taking part in the north of the island, with a group beginning at 10.30am in Ramsey, meeting outside St Paul’s Church.

There will also be a group meeting outside the Mitre in Kirk Michael at 11am, before heading out to Ballaugh for 11.20am to meet outside the outside The Raven .

They will then finish off outside the Sulby Glen Pub at 11.40am.

The final group will meet in the Arboretum car park in St John’s for 10.30am, before dancing at several locations around the village.

Tradition dictates that all the dancing must be finished by midday.

The practice of the ’Hunt The Wren’ dance dates back to pre-Christian times and is centred on the tiny wren, described as ’the king of all birds’ in the song.

Today, a mock bird is hung from a wreathed pole, which the dancers carry before them through the town before dancing and singing around it.

The practice of Hunt The Wren has grown in popularity over the past few years, with more than a hundred people attending the south Hunt the Wren group.

Many of the groups collect money for charities