Ding dong, dong ding dong!
At the first stroke of Angelus
The skeleton broke all his bones,
Falling to earth upon the stones.
Peter upon his bed was laid,
Ding dong, dong ding dong!
Peter upon his bed was laid,
Confessed his sin, repenting sore,
Lingered three days, then lived no more.
It will be seen that, in this ballad, which is locally called "Lou Jour des Mouerts," the officiating priest assumes red vestments in the morning, and changes them in the course of the day for black. The vestments appropriate to the evening of All Saints' Day are still black (it being the Vigil of All Souls'), but in the morning the colour worn is white or gold. An explanation, however, is at hand. The feast of All Saints had its beginning in the dedication of the Roman Pantheon by Boniface IV., in the year 607, to S. Maria ad Martyres, and red ornaments were naturally chosen for a day set apart especially to the commemoration of martyrdom. These were only discarded when the feast came to have a more general character, and there is evidence of their retention here and there in French churches till a date as advanced as the fifteenth century. Thus, we gain incidentally some notion of the age of the song.