Special times or events have been celebrated from time immemorial by feasting, dancing, and singing. Often the dancers formed a ring and sang as they danced, first the dance and later the song being called a carol. The carol was not always strictly religious, although in the old times both the singing and dancing often took place in cathedrals and churches. Some of the carols that we still know are connected with times before the Christian era. They have now lost their dance and the melody has changed, but the ideas are very ancient. [The Holly and the Ivy] suggest the old Druids, and we still put up Holly and Ivy in our houses just as people did before the time of Christ. We put them up at Christmas, and we sing the carol at Christmas—but the idea at the back of it is older than Christmas, for the Church accepted all that was found to be of value in the old customs, and adapted them to set forth the newer faith. The carrying in of the [Boar’s Head] is an old ceremony, too. It was considered a Royal Dish, and Henry II. ordered it to appear at a special feast which he gave in honour of his son.
In the old days people thought of the New Year as the time when the trees and flowers began to come out—that is about May Day—so the May Day Carols celebrate the New Year’s Day of ever so long ago. Gradually, however, carols have centred more and more round events in the life of Christ, and especially round the wonderful story of His Birth. Many of them have just been handed on from one person to another through hundreds of years, some have only been written down at all during the last century. For example, the version given here of the “[Black Decree]” was sung into my phonograph by an old man of seventy-five. All the carols chosen for this book are those which have been sung through many, many years at times of festival and mirth (note how often food and drink are referred to), so don’t expect them to be pious in the modern way or to be at all like our present-day hymns.
The Publishers desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to Miss Lucy E. Broadwood for kindly permitting them to reproduce in this collection the following carols from her ENGLISH TRADITIONAL SONGS AND CAROLS: “[King Pharaoh],” “[The Moon Shines Bright],” “[The Sussex Mummers’ Carol],” and “[I’ve been Rambling all the Night].” Also to Miss A.G. Gilchrist for the “[Pace Egging Song]” and “[The Seven Joys of Mary],” and to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould and his publishers (Messrs. Methuen & Co., Ltd.) for the “[Somersetshire Wassail]” from A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG.
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY
J.H. HARTLEY
| Page and Monarch forth they went | [Frontispiece] |
| PAGE | |
| In fields where they lay keeping their sheep | [21] |
| Mary said to cherry tree, “Bow down to my knee” | [22] |
| The Boar’s head in hand bear I | [31] |
| Let all your songs and praises be unto His Heavenly Majesty | [32] |
| “Say, where did you come from, good man?” | [35] |
| “Come, husbandman,” cried Jesus, “cast all your seed away” | [36] |
| O maid, fair maid, in holland smock | [41] |
| Glad tidings to all men | [42] |
| Awake, Awake, good people all! | [45] |
| For I perforce must take my leave of all my dainty cheer | [46] |
| Oh, here come we jolly boys, all of one mind | [55] |
| A branch of May, my dear, I say, before your door I stand | [56] |
| Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place | [On the Cover] |
