The twelfth-night tradition of wassailing, either awakening orchard trees with singing and cider or roving groups of wassail-singers visiting homes, is a custom associated with… Read More »December 13th – All a-buzz with festive spirit
Many of us will feast on turkey this festive season, which may even be followed by a family favourite animation featuring a rubber-glove-combed penguin. So,… Read More »December 12th – Has anyone seen this chicken?
Taken from a medieval source, this carol transcribed by Thomas Wright has many of the hallmarks of the seasonal songs we still sing today: In… Read More »December 11th – Away in a manger
We’ve all heard of “The Holly and the Ivy”, but what about “The Ivy and the Holly”? Pay closer attention to the version of this… Read More »December 10th – None but the howlets
This medieval song takes us into a flourishing springtime garden, to hear the Christmas story. Our narrator leads us through lush greenery to a scene… Read More »December 9th – A semely song
Philosopher and admirer of Descartes, Henry More, provides us with today’s carol. Published under More’s pseudonym “Francisus Palaeopolitanus”, it appears towards the end of his… Read More »December 8th – Whole ‘quires’ of angels sing
Perusing popular lyrics of bygone decades suggests that, unlike the carols with which we are more familiar today, many traditional carols eschewed wintery scenes and… Read More »December 7th – Singing like a bird
Although we now recognise good ole’ St Nick as the jolly rotund fellow in red, who brings gifts to nice children on the 25th of… Read More »December 6th – Worchepe thee seynt Nicolas
Here’s a wee verse from a book of children’s rhymes by Hamish Hendry, from 1897, with illustrations by Alice. B. Woodward. “We made a man… Read More »December 5th – It’s snow joke
Exploring the rare books brought to light through a simple search for “carols” brought up a few oddballs, and this is one of them. This… Read More »December 4th – A Christmas Carol (but not that one)
Today’s choice is taken from the charmingly titled “The poets’ Christmas: a collection of carols, poems, and plays for Christmastide. With a plea for a… Read More »December 3rd – Nautical or nice…
The St Andrews student newspaper “College Echoes” from December 1925 provides what is simply described as a “traditional carol”: “Carol, carol, merrily, Christ is born… Read More »December 2nd – Carolling at St Andrews
