 section 1 of Christmas and Christmas Lore. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Christmas and Christmas Lore by Thomas G. Krippen. Preface For above forty years I have been a diligent collector of history, tradition, legend, custom, or folklore, whether from familiar or unfamiliar sources, relating to the festival of the Holy Nativity. I have drawn freely on such well-known stores of out-of-the-way knowledge, as Brand's popular antiquities, with the editions of Ellis, Hone's every-day book, table-book, and ancient mysteries, the Popish Kingdom of Neo-Georgias, Kirchmeyer, as translated by Barnaby Gouge, Harper's's Book of Days, Husk's Songs of the Nativity, Miles' Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, and The Home of a Naturalist by Edmondson and Saxby, also from various publications of the Percy, Shakespeare, and Serti's Societies. Moreover I have gathered copiously from scarce pamphlets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, from old chapbooks, newspaper paragraphs, and magazine articles old and new, and from contact with rustics in several counties. I must also acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Donald A. Mackenzie for several valuable suggestions. The fruits of my gathering are briefly summarized in the following pages, in the hope that they may conduce to that joy and pious mirth, wherewith we ought, all of us, to commemorate the best and greatest gift of God to man. T. G. Crippen Introduction Christmas! Is there any other word in our whole English vocabulary that calls forth such a flood of joyous emotion as that which designates the festival of humanity, the day which we are accustomed to regard as peculiarly the home and household festival of England? Longed for as the season when our shining hearts, our domestic comforts, and our social felicity are the brightest under heaven, the chosen season of peace and goodwill, of family reunions, of happy visits, of friendly greetings, of interchange of gifts, of kindness to the poor, of mutual esteem and universal joy. The blending of sport, mirth and laughter with faith, hope and charity. This is a real English Christmas. Within, the house is gay with holly and ivy, laurel and fur. The mistletoe hangs in the place of honour, shimmering with pearls that seem to have dropped from fray as necklace, brising. The yule log blazes on the hearth, the Christmas tree towers aloft in fairy splendor, and the Christmas candles burn in homely remembrance of the star of Bethlehem. Without, the stars look as brightly down on an expanse of snow, deep and crisp and even, as once they looked upon those holy fields where shepherds watched their flocks by night. Born upon the frosty air comes the merry chiming of Christmas bells, or mayhap the solemn tolling of the knell of the Prince of Darkness. And, mingling with the brazen music, we hear the sound of youthful voices caroling joy to the world, or hark the herald angels sing, or, better still, that simplest and dearest of all our English carols, case-hardened must be the heart that does not respond to it. God rest you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Our topic is Old Christmas Customs and Traditions, and the difficulty is where to begin. Perhaps it is best to begin at the beginning and ask where do Christmas come from, not from what secret recess did that hail and frosty giant emerge, with his jovial face and holly crown and steaming bowl, who smiles upon us from ten thousand pictures, and whom we instinctively recognize as Father Christmas. But how did the fashion arise of celebrating the birthday of our Lord on the 25th of December, not only with religious observances, but with feasting and jollity, for there is no record, nor even any respectable tradition, of the actual date of our Saviour's birth? Even the year is not absolutely certain. It is generally agreed that the traditional date, AUC 753, footnote 1, Anno herbis condite 753 equals the 753rd year from the building of the city, i.e. Rome, is too late. For Saint Matthew distinctly affirms that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, and Herod died in AUC 750. There must have been time between the birth of Jesus and the death of Herod for the visit of the wise men from the east, the retreat into Egypt, and the slaughter of the innocents. The testimony of Saint Luke is by no means as decisive as at first glance it seems to be. For one thing, the real meaning of his remark about the census, chapter 2, verse 2, is very doubtful. Then it is uncertain whether the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, chapter 3, verse 1, is counted from AUC 765, when he was associated with Augustus and the Empire, or from the death of Augustus in AUC 767. Then the phrase about 30 years old in chapter 3, verse 23, may mean anything from 29 to 31, so that Luke's indications of the year of the nativity are not more definite than about AUC 749 to 753. Nor does Saint Matthew help us much by his account of the star, first seen in the east and then over Bethlehem. There is indeed no necessity to understand this as denoting either a new star or such a conjunction of two or more stars as would make them seem to coalesce or a mere atmospheric meteor. The most likely meaning of his star is some such celestial phenomenon as interpreted by astrological rules would indicate the birth and Judea of someone destined to greatness. Now there was a remarkable conjunction of two planets in May, again in October, and yet again in November AUC 747, which astrologers would certainly think portended some great thing about to happen. We are nowhere told that Jesus was born exactly at the time when the star appeared, but it seems safe to conclude that his birth was at some time between the middle of AUC 747 and the end of AUC 749, i.e. 7 BC and 5 BC. This agrees with a very ancient tradition that when our Lord was born, the temple, more correctly, gate, of Janus at Rome was shut and token of peace throughout the whole Roman dominion. Such an event had only occurred twice before the reign of Augustus, but it happened in AUC 724 and again in AUC 746, from which time the gate remained closed for several years. No war or battle sound was heard the world around. The idle spear and shield were high up hung. The hookered chariot stood unstained with hostile blood. The trumpets spake not to the arm of throng, and kings set still with awful eye as if they surely knew their sovereign Lord was by. If the year of our Savior's birth is thus open to question, the day is yet more uncertain. The days of his death and resurrection are clearly recorded in the Gospels, and from the time of the apostles until now the anniversary of his resurrection victory has been almost universally observed. The birthday of the church, too, the day of Pentecost, was fixed by the Jewish calendar, and from almost the earliest ages it has been kept as a joyful Christian anniversary. Very early, too, it became usual to consecrate the new year to him in whom all things become new, by a festival which was designed to commemorate at once his manifestation, his baptism, and his first miracle. But not until the third century do we find any attempt to fix with authority the day of his birth. There are indeed vague traditions of a festival of the Nativity kept at Rome in the time of Bishop Telesperus between AD 127 and 139, and some of the Christmas observances of the Roman Church are said to be of his appointment. There is a story of a massacre of Christians in the catacombs on the day of the Nativity in some unspecified year between AD 161 and 180, and a similar story of a massacre at Nicomedia in the reign of Diocletian, about AD 300, but all these stories are too vague, and the earliest mention of them too late to be at all reliable. There was a common belief that the Nativity took place on the 25th day of the month, but which month was quite uncertain, and there was scarcely a month in the year to which some guesser did not assign it. Clement of Alexandria, before 220, names five dates in three different months of the Egyptian year to which various persons assigned the Nativity, and one of these corresponds to the 25th December. There was, in the third century, a common belief that our Lord was born on the day of the winter solstice. This does not seem to have rested on any record or evidence worth the name, but on a fantastic interpretation of some prophetic scriptures, also on a notion that the Annunciation and the crucifixion were both on the same day of the year, the 25th of March. The apocryphal book called The Apostolic Constitutions, written probably towards the end of the third century, represents the apostles as ordaining that the feast should be kept on the 25th day of the ninth month, by which, however, the context clearly shows that December is meant. The learned John Selden, in his Treaties in Defense of the Traditional Date, published posthumously in 1661, affirms that in the early Christian ages the solstice was supposed to fall on the eighth of the calendar of January, that is the 25th of December. This date, however, has not found universal acceptance. A document assigned to about AD 243 gives 28th March as the date of Nativity, and several modern students infer from the mention of shepherds abiding in the field and from arrangements presumed to have been necessary for the census, that it must have been some time between the end of July and the end of October. Soon after the end of the last great persecution between AD 310 and 320, or as others say, about 336, the church at Rome definitely fixed on the 25th December as the birthday of the Lord, the manifestation, i.e., the visit of the wise men from the east being celebrated twelve days later. For a couple of generations, the Eastern Church continued to make the Epiphany Festival on 6th January, include the commemoration of the Holy Birth, but early in the 5th century the Roman use became almost universal. Footnote 1. Traditions vary greatly as to the time when the Roman usage was generally accepted in the east. By one account it was the result of a consultation between Pope Julius I and Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem about AD 352. Others mention 375 for Antioch and 385 for Jerusalem, while yet another tradition ascribes the adoption of the western date at Jerusalem to Bishop Juvenelius about 431. There was much to commend this selection of a date. So long as heathenism was in full vigor, the ancient Christians were puritanically jealous of anything that might seem like coqueting with idolatry, but when heathenism was manifestly declining, there was a disposition to adopt such of its usages as were harmless and capable of a Christian interpretation. And it is not easy to blame this disposition, as the Christ child coming into the world transfigured it, so that from the day of his advent it was the same and yet not the same, so the old observances when associated with the memory of his coming were animated with new spirit, and what was heathenish became rich with Christian symbolism. Now in December and the beginning of January there were several festivals which were intimately associated with the daily life of the Roman people. First from the 17th to the 21st December was the Saturnalia, the great Roman holiday in remembrance of the supposed golden age. One might call it the Feast of Topsi Tervidim, when slaves were allowed for a few days to enjoy the semblance of freedom, were waited upon by their masters and chose from among themselves a mocked king to preside over their revels. Next on the 22nd came Sigleria, the Feast of Dolls. When a fair was held and dolls and other toys, mostly of earthenware, were given to children. Then on the 25th came Brumalia, otherwise Diaz Natalis Invicti Solis, the birthday of the unculcured son, when the days began to lengthen after the solstice. This was neither ancient nor very popular. This believed to have been instituted as late as AD 270 or 273 by the Emperor Aurelian in honor of Mithras, the Persian sun god of which he was an ardent worshiper. It is worth mentioning here that, of all the new religions which sprang up during the decline of the Roman Empire, Mithraism was the purest in its morality and the only one which came into serious competition with Christianity. Finally came Kalynde Genuera, the New Year's Day. When everybody gave gifts to everybody else, Stryne they were called. Connected with which was Juvenalia, the special festival of childhood and youth. Surely it was well that all these should be combined into one great Christian festival and their ancient significance transfigured in the light of the gospel. So that instead of the old Saturnalia celebrating the vague tradition of a golden age forever past, this feast should celebrate the sure and certain hope of a golden age that shall never end. It should afford not a transient and mocking image of freedom, but a pledge of that liberty wherewith the truth makes free indeed. And so ere long all Latin-speaking Christendom was joyously singing, Oh, the ever-blessed birthday when the Virgin full of grace by the Holy Ghost conceiving for the Savior of our race. And the child, the world's Redeemer, first displayed his sacred face ever more and ever more. End of Section 2. Section 3 of Christmas and Christmas Lore. This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org. Recording by Julie Birx. Christmas and Christmas Lore by Thomas G. Crippen. Section 3. Coincident Festivals. Now this newly established Christian festival coincided very nearly with several other festivals in different parts of the world, the spirit of which was dying out with the decay of the old religions. With many of these were associated customs, the original meaning of which was already forgotten, and which survived merely through instinctive conservatism. Others obtained a new lease of life by virtue of a Christian significance imposed upon them. There was the Jewish Hanukkah, the Feast of the Dedication, the anniversary not of the dedicating of Solomon's Temple, nor of the Temple as resoured by Zero Babel, but of its rededication, after it had been polluted by Anticaus and recovered by the Valor of the Maccabees. The Jews called it the Feast of Lights, and it was usual to burn great quantities of lamps and candles as emblems of the Light of Truth rekindled after it had been a while obscured by the heathen. The very name of it was transferred by the Latin Church to the Feast of the Newtivity. How delightfully would this new Feast of Lights remind the pious Israelite, who had learned to recognise the hope of Israel in the Child of Bethlehem, that the darkness was past and the true light was now shining. In Egypt and wherever Mithraism had gained a footing, the new festival would coincide, as it did at Rome, with the birthday of the Sun God, and the northern barbarians, Britons and Saxons and Norsemen, would find it practically coincident with their own Yule, the Feast of the Winter Solstice and of the Returning Sun. It seems to have been in pagan times, at least in Norway, the special festival of the God Thor. In the Heimskringla we read that King Haekon the Good made a law that the festival of Yule should begin at the same time as Christian people held it, and that every man, under penalty, should brew a measure of malt into ale, and therewith keep the Yule holy as long as it lasted. This may or may not have been a desirable way of keeping the Yule holy, but it was a pagan festival, kept in the pagan way, with merriment and good cheer throughout the northern regions. Yule, be it remembered, was not a single feast day, but the whole period of mid-winter festivity, the special time of joy and devotion to the giver of fruitful seasons. There is some uncertainty as to the actual date of the northern mid-winter festival, which may not have been held in all places at the same time, but however that may have been, its surviving observances were transferred to the Christian Feast in Germany early in the 9th century and in Norway about the middle of the 10th. And thus to south and east and west and north, the rejuvenated Yule would speak of the Son of Righteousness, arisen with healing in his wings. It may be convenient to remark here that the Roman calendar established by Julius Caesar in AUC 707, 46 BC, and retained in general use for above 1600 years, assumed that the true length of the year was 365 and a quarter days, and accordingly provided a leap year every fourth year. But closer observation showed that this reckoning was inaccurate to the extent of about three days in 400 years, and in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII ordained that ten days, fifth to the fourteenth, should be omitted from the month of October in that year, and that thenceforward three leap years should be dropped in every 400 years. This correction was promptly adopted in all Roman Catholic countries, but elsewhere it was long rejected as papistical. It was only accepted by German, Dutch, and Swiss Protestants about 1700, and was not legalized in the British dominions until 1752. In many places it was slowly and reluctantly accepted, and for three or four generations January 5th, after 1800 January 6th, was persistently observed as Old Christmas Day. Moreover, the reformed calendar, now universal in the west, has never been adopted by the Greek and other Eastern churches. Accordingly, ecclesiastical seasons in Greece, Serbia, Russia, etc., are dated Old Style, so that the Eastern Christmas coincides approximately with the Western Epiphany. Something should here be said of the names by which the birthday feast was distinguished. In Rome, and throughout the greater part of Latin Christendom, it was the feast of the Nativity, and in Greece, Genethlia, having the same meaning. The French Noel is variously explained. Some derive it through the Provençal Nadal from the Latin Natalis, with which the Italian Natale and the Welsh Nadolig, probably also the Gaelic Nolag, are compared. Others trace it through the form Noel to Noel's, i.e. news. Possibly both may be right. Noel and Noel may be words of distinct origin, which, being almost identical in sound, have come to be identified in meaning. Another Italian name is Natavita, which is evidently the parent of the Spanish Navidad. The German Weinacht signifies the Holy or Consecrated Night, though some irreverent etymologists have penningly derived it from Weinacht, i.e. Wine Night, as if it were only a season of Bacchanalian jollity. Noel is, beyond all question, the transferred name of a heathen festival, and may be connected with Isle, a wheel, with reference to the turn of the season. Footnote 1. Mr. Cort de Geblín, in his Alagueres Orantales, printed at Paris in 1773, is profuse in his learning on the derivation of the word. Isle, he says, pronounced Heil, Isle, Jewel, Jewel, Hewell, Wheel, Vile, Voll, etc., is a primitive word, carrying with it the general idea of revolution, and he refers to variants in French, English, Flemish, German, Danish, Latin, Arabic, and Persian. He might have added Anglo-Saxon and Cornish. Our own Christmas is formed on the same pattern as Miclemus, Martinus, Childrenus, Candlemus, etc., but opinions differ widely as to the origin and meaning of the syllable Mass. Perhaps the likeliest derivation is from the Hebrew Mass, meaning tribute or offering. C. Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 10, whence Mass, French Miss, Latin Misa, applied in the unreformed church to the principal service of the day, to which all others were subordinate. End of section 4 Section 5 of Christmas and Christmas Law This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Christmas and Christmas Law by Thomas G. Crippen. Section 5 Use of Evergreens The feast of the Holy Nativity, as we have seen, rather incorporated than supplanted various heathen festivals, it was therefore only natural that relics of heathen practice should survive as traditional Christmas customs. A well-known letter of Pope Gregory I, to Augustine of Canterbury, advises him to permit and even encourage such harmless popular customs as were capable of a Christian interpretation. One of the oldest of these, which nowadays seems the most distinctly English of them all, is the decking of houses and churches with evergreens. This was customary at the Roman Saturnalia, and also by some accounts among the northern peoples at their midwinter feast. Its origin is lost in the mazes of antiquity. Perhaps the likeliest of many wild conjectures is that it was an offer of winter hospitality to the spirits and fairies that were supposed to haunt the leafless woods. Accordingly, the custom was that, wherever else the evergreens might be placed, a spray of buried holly should always appear in the window. One of the earliest Christian references to the practice is by Tertullian, AD 220. In his treatise on idolatry he strongly denounces it. Let those who have no light light their lamps daily. Let them over whom hellfire is imminent affix to their posts laurels doomed presently to burn. To them the testimonies of darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the world, a tree evergreen. If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple. Considering that Tertullian was one of those fanatics who positively courted persecution, this seems to favour a statement that has been made on no very good authority. That in a time of persecution Christians were detected by their not adorning their houses at Saturnalia or Calendae, and that afterwards they fell back on the heathen custom, ostensibly in honour of the nativity, but really as a measure of self-defence. However this may have been, the practice was early discouraged by the church, and to this day in Italy it is little followed. In France it never had any great popularity, and in Spain it was forbidden by a church council in the sixth century. But in England and Germany it has been almost universal. We can trace it back to a very remote Christian antiquity. And at least five hundred years ago a religious meaning was read into the trees whose foliage was chiefly employed. End of section 5 Read by Jane Bennett Section 6 of Christmas and Christmas Law This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Christmas and Christmas Law by Thomas G. Crippen Section 6, Holly and Ivy Of these plants it was early remembered that Ivy had been the badge of the wine-god, Bacchus, and it was therefore usually banished to the outside of the house, which the Holly, Bay, You and Fir adorned within. Many old songs tell of rivalry between the Holly and the Ivy. Here is one which must be as old as the fifteenth century. Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be, ye wits. Holly hath the mastery as the manner is. Holly standeth in the hall, fair to behold. Ivy stands without the door, she is full sore a cold. Holly and his merry men, they dance and sing. Ivy and her maidens weep and hands ring. Ivy hath a kite, she caught it with the cold. So may they all have that with Ivy hold. Holly hath berries as red as any rose. The foresters, the hunters, keep them for the doos. Ivy hath berries as black as any slow. There comes the owl and eat them as she go. Holly hath of birds a full, fair flock. The nightingale, the pop and jay. The gentle lava rock. Ivy, what birds hast thou? None but the owlet that cries, howl, howl. There were some, however, who thought of the feeble Ivy clinging to its needful support as a lively emblem of human feebleness clinging to divine strength. Some such thought may have been in the mind of the old minstrel, who sang, Ivy, chief of trees it is, the most worthy in all the town. He that saith other doth amiss. Worthy is she to bear the crown. Ivy is soft and meek of speech. Against all bail she is bliss. Well is he that may her reach. Then he corona bereth. But in the minds of not a few, the somber foliage of the Ivy was associated with thoughts of the grave. The best known of all Ivy songs is that which tells how creeping where no life is seen, a rare old plant is the Ivy green. When this thought is predominant, it is only reasonable that the symbol of mortality should be thrust out from the house, where all the inward adornments tell joyously of his advent who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. As the Ivy was the coronal worn by the heathen in honour of Bacchus, so the holly with its sharp prickles and blood-red berries was thought to image forth the saviour's crown of thorns. This thought peeps forth from another old English holly song. The holly and the Ivy now they are both well grown of all the trees that are in the wood. The holly bears the crown. The holly bears a blossom as white as lily flower. Mary she bore Jesus Christ to be a saviour. The holly bears a berry as red as any blood. And Mary she bore Jesus Christ to do poor sin as good. The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall. And Mary she bore Jesus Christ for to redeem us all. The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn. And Mary she bore Jesus Christ on Christmas in the morn. Holly, it was generally believed, was peculiarly hateful to witches. In the west of England it was said that a maiden should adorn her bed with a sprig of buried holly on Christmas Eve. Otherwise she might receive an unwelcome visit from some mischievous goblin. In Germany a sprig of church holly, that is, one which had actually been used in church decoration, was regarded as a charm against lightning. In Cornwall it was thought to ensure good luck all the year to its possessor. In the English Midlands the joke was, perhaps still is, that according as he holly or she holly, i.e. that with prickly or smooth leaves is first brought into the house on Christmas Eve, the master or mistress will rule throughout the ensuing year. But usually in Yuletide folk song holly is male and ivy female, as in the carol quoted above. In another of the 15th century holly and ivy contend for mastery thus. Then spoke holly, I am fierce and jolly, I will have the mastery in landers where we go. Then spoke ivy, I am loud and proud, I will have the mastery in landers where we go. The text is a little uncertain, the latest editor reads, I am lured and proud with apostrophes, i.e. loved and proved, which certainly seems best to suit the context, for in the final stanza holly kneels in token of submission. Akin to this is a superstition that holly affords protection or brings good luck to the men of the household and ivy to the women. In this connection it may be worthwhile to quote a holly and ivy song from a manuscript in the British Museum, additional 3192, which is ascribed to King Henry VIII and was almost certainly set to music by him. As the holly groweth green and never changeeth hue, so am I, ever hath been, to my lady true. As the holly groweth green with ivy all alone, when flowers cannot be seen and greenwood leaves be gone. Now unto my lady promise to her I make, from all other only to her I me but take. It would be interesting to know to which of his six wives this ditty was addressed. End of section 6 Read by Jane Bennett Section 7 of Christmas and Christmas Law This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Christmas and Christmas Law by Thomas G. Crippen Section 7 Laurel, Rosemary, Fur, etc. Of the other evergreens used for Christmas Adornment, the Laurel or Bay, the emblem of triumph aptly symbol as the triumph of humanity as represented by the Son of Man. In Friesland a carol is sung by men impersonating the wise men from the east, of which every line has for a burden the word Laurel. A part of it is thus translated, we come walking with our staves, wreathed with Laurel. We seek the King Jesus, him that saves, to bring him Laurel, etc. As the Bay tree, the true Laurel of the ancients, is rather scarce in England, the common cherry Laurel is generally made to do duty for it, sometimes also Portugal Laurel, Okuba, etc. These are mere substitutes and have no symbolism. Footnote, box, which is sometimes found among the Christmas evergreens, has no seasonable significance. Indeed, if the witness of Herrick may be relied on, its decorative use was only thought legitimate from Candlemas to Easter Eve. End of footnote. Rosemary was thought to be extremely offensive to evil spirits, and therefore naturally appropriate to the advent of their conqueror. This seems also to have been in the popular mind, a fanciful association between the name of the shrub and that of the Blessed Virgin. This seems the most convenient place to mention a custom which obtained at Ripon in the latter part of the 18th century. The choir boys of the collegiate church brought in baskets of red apples, in each of which a sprig of rosemary was stuck. One of these apples was offered to every member of the congregation, in return for which a small payment of tuppence, forpence or sixpence was expected. You and Cyprus, notwithstanding their funereal associations, appeared from their exceeding durability fit emblems of that eternal life, which is the portion of those who entertain the Christ child, not in the house, but in the heart. And the sweet-smelling fur afforded a kind of natural incense in honour of the incarnate deity. Perhaps this thought had to do with the choice of fur, as especially suited for church adornment. So a Cleveland Cox sings, I know, I know where the green leaves grow, when the woods without our bear, where a sweet perfume of the woodland's bloom is afloat on the winter's air. When Tempest Strong has howled along with his war-woop, wild and loud, till the broad ribs broke of the forest oak, and his crown of glory bowed. I know, I know where the green leaves grow, though the groves without our bear, where the branches not of the trees of God and the wild vines flourish fair, for a fragrant crown when the Lord comes down, of the deathless green we braid, or the altar bright, where the tissue won't, like the winter's snow it's laid. And we think it meet our Lord to greet, as the wise men did of old, with the spiceries of incense trees and hearts like hoarded gold. And so we shake the snowy flake, from cedar and myrtle fair, and the boughs that knot on the hills of God, we raise to his glory there. End of Section 7 Section 8 of Christmas and Christmas Law This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Christmas and Christmas Law by Thomas G. Krippen Section 8 Missal Toe And what about the Missal Toe, which we are apt to regard as the crown of all? Readers of Virgil will remember it as the golden bow, by plucking of which Aeneas is enabled to descend into hell, and come safely back. The druids, as is well known, held it sacred, called it all-heel, and described to it all sorts of miraculous virtues. It was not only a specific for every disease, but an antidote to every kind of poison. It rendered cattle prolific, and he who bore it was safe from all witchcraft, was able to see ghosts and to make them speak. This was especially the case if, as really happened, it was found growing on an oak tree. It was then solemnly consecrated by a sacrifice of white oxen, and cut from its parent's stem by the arch druid with a golden knife. Special care being taken that it should by no means touch the ground. Ladies, please remember, when Mr. Somebody claims the privilege of the Missal Toe, it has not its proper virtue unless it was cut with a golden knife. Also, that the extent of the said privilege is measured by the number of its berries, one of which is to be plucked off at every kiss. There was an old jest that the maid who is not kissed under the Missal Toe at Christmas will not be married that year. This custom of kissing under the Missal Toe seems to be peculiarly English, and no reliable explanation of its origin seems to be forthcoming. It is not unlikely, however, that it may be a survival from a Scandinavian custom of pre-Christian antiquity. The Missal Toe was deemed so sacred that if enemies met casually beneath it in the forest, they laid down their arms and maintained a truce till the following day. Thence grew a practice of hanging Missal Toe over a doorway, the entering by which was understood to imply a pledge of peace and friendship to be sealed with a friendly greeting. It was, moreover, an invitation to the spirits of the forest, who would come in a friendly way in the long winter night, bringing good cheer and security against any possible jealousy of the gods. Others say that the kiss under the Missal Toe is a relic of some primitive marriage right. The ceremonial cutting of Missal Toe for medicinal, or more correctly, magical purposes, was practiced at mid-summer. It was thought of as a spirit or god of vegetation in the tree, which could not, or ought not to, be cut down until the Missal Toe was culled. How and when the mid-summer right was transferred to Yuletide does not appear. In Shropshire the Missal Toe is associated with the New Year rather than with the Nativity. Probably because of its druidical associations, the Missal Toe has usually been disallowed in church decorations. There was one remarkable exception. At York Minster it was long customary for a priest ceremoniously to lay a large bunch of it on the altar. This may possibly have been a survival of some pre-Christian usage, or it may have been a symbol borrowed from the neo-druidism of the 12th century, according to which the Missal Toe, dependent on the tree, represented the dependence of man on God. In that case the laying of the plant on the altar might symbolize man, or humanity as expressed in the Incarnate Son becoming an offering acceptable to God. But indeed of all our evergreens there is none richer than this in Christian symbolism. Its medicinal properties, whether real or imaginary, make it a fitting representative of that tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations, while its mysterious parasitical growth led to its adoption as a lively emblem of the virgin birth. But a still more beautiful symbolism comes to us from the old Norse mythology. Baldr, the god of the summer sun, cannot be heard by anything on the earth or under the earth. But he is hated by the feigned Loki, who notes that the Missal Toe grows neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on a tree. By his craft, therefore, Hoida, the blind old god whose feet are shod with silence, slays Baldr with a spear tipped with Missal Toe. When all things in earth and heaven have wept for Baldr, he is restored to life by Freya, the goddess of love, whose tears become the pearls of the necklace brising, or by another version of the legend, the pearly berries of the fateful plant. Therefore it was decreed that the Missal Toe should be sacred to Freya so long as it was neither on the earth nor under the earth, for which cause it must always hang on high. What could be more natural than to adopt the spirit of this old fable from a Christian point of view and to accept the Missal Toe as the emblem of that love which is stronger than death, and to give it the place of honour on that night when mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other? And why should the Missal Toe Bower be so constantly associated with that gruesome legend of the old oak chest? Surely its proper significance is the victory of love over death, not that of death over love. The weird melody to which the unseasonable story is usually sung, not so very old after all, has come to be a regular element in our Christmas minstrelsy. Why should we not sing it to something like this? The Missal Toe Bower in the olden time was honoured in many a sacred rhyme by bards and singers of high degree, when cut from its place on the old oak tree by white-ribbed druid with golden knife, for they thought it a magical tree of life, and many a promise and holy vow was solemnly sworn on the Missal Toe Bower. The Missal Toe Bower in the Norseman's lay told ever of horror and love's dismay, when the old blind god by a sportive blow laid Balder, the beautiful sun god, low. Thenceforth it was deemed an accursed thing, but love out of sorrow could victory bring, and the tears of Freya are shining now, like orient pearls on the Missal Toe Bower. The Missal Toe Bower on the festive throng looks down amid echoes of mirthful song, where hearts make music as old friends meet, whose pulse keeps time to the dancer's feet, and eyes are brighter with looks of love, than gyms out shining the lamps above, and who is she that will not allow, a kiss claimed under the Missal Toe Bower? The Missal Toe Bower at our Christmas board shall hang to the honour of Christ our Lord, for he is the evergreen tree of life, whom the old blind world amid hate and strife, rejected and slew, but he saw it above, alive from the dead in the power of love, and mercy and truth are assembling now with justice and peace at the Missal Toe Bower. In Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where Missal Toe is scarce, a substitute ears or wars provided in the shape of two crossed hoops covered with greenery, and adorned with ribbons and oranges, or bright coloured apples. Sometimes three small dolls were arranged in the middle to represent the Holy Family. This was suspended in the place of honour, and served all the purposes of the Orthodox Kissing Bush. It has been suggested that the Missal Toe of the Oak, to which such marvellous virtues were ascribed, was not the familiar viscum album with greenish white flowers which grows freely on apple trees, and occasionally on poplars, willows and hawthorns, but very rarely on oaks. But the closely related Loranthus Europius with red flowers, which is usually found parasitical on an oak, but is not native in England. Wherever either of these plants is found, it is associated with similar superstitions, even as far to the east as Kamchatka and among the Ainu in Japan. End of section 8 Section 9 of Christmas and Christmas Law. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Christmas and Christmas Law by Thomas G. Crippen. Section 9 Placing and Removing Evergreens Tradition prescribed Christmas Eve as the proper time for placing the festive evergreens, and in Rutland it was thought unlucky to bring Holly into the house before that time. A likely explanation of this may be that, in popular belief, wood spirits were tricksy and might do mischief if they were invited into the house before the Christ child could hold them in restraint by his mystical presence. On this topic more will be said hereafter. Stowe tells us in his survey of London, 1598, that formally not only houses and churches, but the conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished, among which I read that, in the year 1444, by tempest of thunder and lightning, towards the morning of Candlemas Day, at the Leaden Hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in the midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of home and ivy, for despite of Christmas to the people, was torn up and cast down by the malignant spirit, as was thought, and the stones of the pavement all about were cast in the streets and into diverse houses, so that the people were sore aghast. The motive of arranging the decorative evergreens, both in house and church, must always have varied with individual taste. A humorous account of what seems to have been fashionable about 1712 appears in the spectator of 23rd January in that year. Our clerk, who was once a gardener, has this Christmas so over-decked the church with greens that he has quite spoiled my prospect. The midlile is a very pretty shady walk, and the pews look like so many arbours on each side of it. The pulpit itself has such clusters of ivy, holly and rosemary about it that a light fellow in our pew took occasion to say that the congregation heard the word out of a bush, like Moses. About that time it was customary in London for evergreens to be hawked through the streets. In Gay's poem Trivia, 1713, we read, when rosemary and bays, the poet's crown, are bawled in frequent cries through all the town, then judge the festival of Christmas near, Christmas the joyous period of the year, now with bright holly all the temples strove, with laurel green and sacred mistletoe. It is now usual for decorations to follow, as far as may be, the architectural lines of the building. As to the removal of the greenery, custom was not uniform. Some thought that as the Christmas holidays ended with twelfth night, or at the latest with Plough Monday, the decorations ought to remain no longer. Others regarded the festival season as lasting till candle mass, the fortieth day after Christmas, when, according to the law of Moses, the mother of our Lord presented him in the temple, together with her thank offering, and Simeon recognised the holy child as the long-awaited light to lighten the Gentiles. This latter seems to have been the more general English custom, if we may accept the witness of Herrick, who, under the title, ceremonies for candle mass eve, writes, Down with the rosemary and so, down with the bays and mistletoe, down with the holly, ivy, All wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall, that so the superstitious find, not one leased branch there left behind. For look how many leaves there be, neglected there, mates, trust to me, so many goblins you shall see. In many places it was a rule that the Christmas evergreens, when taken down, should be left to perish by natural decay, to burn them with very unlucky. In shrubshire, on the other hand, the tradition was that they should be burnt on candle mass eve. End of Section 9 The mention of goblins reminds us that in many places the twelve days of Christmas were deemed a particularly uncanny time, when witches, ghost, fairies, and the like were apt to be abroad on various mischief-making errands. This unpleasant superstition may have had a dual origin. In the howling of the winds and raging storms amid the winter's darkness, men thought they heard the voices of supernatural beings who were probably malignant, and the spread of Christianity, such as it was, among the rude northern peoples, brought in its train the adoption of the Roman calendar. Thus the superstitions associated with the end of the old and beginning of the new year would gradually be transferred from Halloween, the Celtic New Year's Eve, and the corresponding Scandinavian date, which fell near about martin mass, to Christmas and the Callens of January. So it came about in Germany, in the Slavonic countries, Christmas Eve was deemed a favourable time for Argyris, as Halloween was in Scotland within living memory. As to those mysterious beings whose voices were heard in the winter storms, they were very diversely conceived of, though always as objects of dread. They were the wild hunt, or the raging host, or Gabriel's hounds, or the devil and his dandy dogs. They were the souls of those who died by violence or unbaptised or under a curse, and Odin, attended by the Valkyries, was their leader. In other places they were ancestral ghosts, the family dead revisiting the old homestead, and in some of the Scandinavian countries it was usual in this belief to have a meal spread for the ghosts on Christmas Eve, and to leave the beds for their enjoyment while the family slept in a straw. In Sweden and also in Poland it was usual before supper on Christmas Eve to scatter hay or straw on the floor on the table, obviously a memorial of the stable at Bethlehem. But some anthropologists who derive all religious observances from a supposed primitive animism suggest that the custom was designed to establish or confirm family relations with the corn spirit, and thus ensure a plentiful harvest. In other parts of the North witches or trolls were thought to ride about on bears, werewolves, or broomsticks, so that it was dangerous to go out alone. One version of the story was that the trolls and etc. were on their way to Rastikas, a mysterious palace within the mountain, where they would hold festival for the disappearance of the sun. In Germany the leader of the host was a woman called by different names in different places, who was attended by dogs and who in various ways punished the lazy and sometimes rewarded the industrious. This reminds one of Milton's Lubrophines, the English Robin Goodfellow. In France it was thought that Satan was exceptionally busy on Christmas Eve, trying to tempt worshippers on their way to church. He sent witches and warlocks, hobgoblins and ghosts, especially the ghosts of suicides, to roam around farm yards and lurk near cattle sheds. Therefore on Christmas Eve all doors of stables, cow houses and sheep pen were securely fastened and no woman was allowed to enter them on any account. Oxen and asses were indeed secure from harm, but horses were especially exposed to the mischievous attentions of La Follette, the French equivalent of Puck. The immunity of oxen and asses from the attack of malignant spirits is in no doubt related to the legend of the ox and the ass, as attendance at the Holy Nativity. Universally popular as this legend is it has no foundation in the New Testament, nor in any ecclesiastical writer earlier than the year 400. It seems to be based on a strange mistranslation or misreading in the Greek version of Habakkuk. Chapter 3, verse 2, where instead of in the midst of the years make it known, we read, between two beasts thou art made known. In Hebrew the two phrases are so similar in appearance that if badly written, one might easily be mistaken for the other. Now in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 3 we read, the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib. And with this the misread passage about the two beasts has been associated. And so in an apocryphal gospel of the 5th century we read, the most blessed Mary went forth out of the cave, an entering stable placed the child in the stall, and the ox and the ass having him in their midst incessantly adored him. Pseudomathu chapter 14. A literal fulfillment was thus invented for an imaginary prediction, but is with real regret that we give up the tradition which tells that ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now. In Poland and Livonia the unseen tears of Christmas Eve were werewolves and vampires. In Greece they were the calicansero, hideous monsters from the underworld, half human half bestial, who went about by night doing all kinds of wanted mischief, and they were not completely exercised until epiphany when the priests sprinkled the house with holy water. It is evident that in all this there is very little but pure heathenism. End of section 10. Section 11 of Christmas and Christmas Lore. This is LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Brandon. Christmas and Christmas Lore by Thomas G. Crippen. Section 11. Christmas Tales. Notwithstanding these imaginary terrors, Christmas has long been accounted, in England at least, the most fitting season for ghost stories. Why this should be the case is a question that leads us into another interesting region of folklore. The proverb, talk of the devil, and he'll appear, embodies what was once an established article of belief. That a talk of malignant beings was to invite their approach, and perhaps give them power to do mischief. Yet there has always been a hankering to hear what might be told or dreamed about the night side of nature, and perhaps the possibility of danger may have wetted the edge of curiosity. It seems usually to have done so, from the days of Eve and the serpent, to those of Bluebeard and Fatima. But it was felt that the powers of darkness must be helpless in the presence of the Christ child. Moreover, in the Middle Ages and far back into the mists of Christian antiquity, there was an idea that the events commemorated in the great Christian anniversaries were mystically repeated at those holy seasons. So the Saviour was thought of as actually born at Christmas, manifested to the nations at Twelfth Tide, and was presented in the temple at Candlemas, fasting and tempted in Lent, triumphant on Palm Sunday, crucified on Good Friday, rising from the dead on Easter Sunday, ascending to heaven on Holy Thursday, sending down the spirit at Pentecost. Not literally, of course, but mystically. In such wise that the grace and power of those, his saving deeds were especially localised, so to speak, at the corresponding anniversaries. When we put these two beautifully poetic thoughts together, we understand somewhat of the fitness of Christmas Tide for conversation about the shadowy side of the universe of being. At other times there might be danger in talking too familiarly of fiends, ghosts and sprites that haunt the knights. But at Christmas the power of malignant spirits was so neutralised by the mystical presence of the Christ child the curiosity respecting them might be safely indulged. It is to this that Shakespeare eludes where he tells us that some say that ever against that season comes wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, the bird of dawning singeth all night long, and then they say no spirit dare stir abroad, the knights are wholesome, then no planets strike, no fairy takes nor which hath power to charm, so hallowed and so gracious is the time. Another tradition, which may well be counted as a Christmas tale, has to do with the gods of heathenism. The early Christians had no doubt in their real existence, not as gods, but as evil demons, and even earlier than the first clear mention of Christmas we find a widespread belief that at the advent of the Saviour there was a general collapse of the infernal dynasty. It was said that the demons whom the heathen had worshipped as gods were then revealed in their true character and the oracles which they formerly inspired became silent. Whether these oracles were in all cases pure imposture or whether belief in them was grounded on obscure facts analogous to the alleged phenomena of modern spiritualism is a question about which it seems prudent to be less dogmatic than were the men of the last generation. But however this may be, in Egypt, Greece, Italy and elsewhere the oracles had been accepted with unquestioning faith from time immemorial. In the age of the Caesars they began to be regarded with some degree of skepticism while the Christians generally thought of them as real but of diabolical origin. This opinion, together with a belief that they became unresponsive at the birth of Christ, survived until quite recent times. The words of Milton on this topic are well known. The oracles are dumb, no voice or hideous hum runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo, from his shrine, can no more divine, with hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. P. Orr and Balaam forsake their temples dim with that twice-battered god of Palestine and Moonded Ashtaroth, heaven's queen and mother-both, now sits not-girt with tapers holy shrine. In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Tamas mourn. And Selen Moloch fled, half left in shadows dread his burning idol, all of blackest hue in vain with cymbals ring. They call the grizzly king. In dismal dance about the furnace blue the brutish gods of Nile as fast, Isis and Oris and the dog Anibis haste. Nor is Osiris seen in Memphian grove or green, trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud. Nor can he be at rest within his sacred chest. Not but profoundest hell can be his shroud. In vain with timbered anthems dark the sable-stolid sorcerers bear his worshiped ark. He feels from Judah's land the dreaded infant's hand. The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky iron. Nor all the gods beside, longer dare abide. Nor Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine. Our babe, to show his godhead true, can in his swaddling bands control the damned crew. All these tales of the olden time, but there is another class of Christmas tales which cannot be altogether ignored. For many years past almost every popular cereal has honored the festival season by a Christmas number, consisting for the most part of seasonable fiction. A very large proportion of these tales are of reconciliation of a strange kinsfolk, recognition of long-hearted friends, return of errant sons or daughters, forgiveness of injuries, enmity subdued by the return of good for evil, or greed and selfishness, expelled from the heart by the hallowed memories of the time. Some few of these, like the immortal Christmas carol of Dickens, have a permanent place in literature, but most of them are too plainly written to pattern and are sadly lacking in originality. Nevertheless the motive is usually commendable and the feeblest of them are generally instinct with the true spirit of Christmas. End of Section XI. Recording by John Brandon Section XII. Of Christmas and Christmas Lore. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Brandon. Christmas and Christmas Lore. By Thomas G. Crippen. Section XII. Christmas Music. The Weights. From Christmas tales, the transition is natural to Christmas music. And first of the Weights. But let not that honourable title be abused by applying it to weary willy and others of the professionally unemployed who make hideous the long December nights with wheezy clarionettes, asthmatic trombones and fiddles that sound as if the cat guts were tormented with the colic. The best things become the worst in their degradation and abuse, and these nocturnal horrors are counterfeit or a degenerate survival of an ancient institution which one would rejoice to see restored to its pristine dignity. There is some doubt as to the origin of the name of Weights. Some derive it from Wait. Said to be the ancient name of a musical instrument now called Oboe or Hot Boy. Others say the term originally had nothing to do with music but merely designated the town Watchman. By the beginning of the 18th century these had in some places become the town musicians to whom the term the Weights is applied in the Tatler. Until about the year 1820 there were in the cities of London Westminster companies of Weights whose leaders held office by virtue of some kind of public appointment and who claimed an exclusive right to solicit contributions from the public. On the whole the word seems most naturally to refer to watching or waiting and may remind us that of old Christmas began in the evening. The evening and the morning not the morning and the evening were the first day. When the beautiful thought was cherished of a mystical reiteration of the holy nativity at every Christmas tide the night that ushered in the happy birthday was a vigil or watch night. Who would care to sleep if perchance he might hear as did the shepherds of Bethlehem the herald angels proclaiming the advent of a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. We may not hear that heavenly music but we may welcome the jubilant Gloria Inix Chelsis of Mozart rendered with true artistic feeling by a well-practiced band or a solemn strain of O' Kamol ye faithful peeling across the snow. Who does not love to hear a choir of youthful voices caroling the blithe old macaronic good Christian men rejoice or the sweet minor melody of the moon shines bright or who has spent a Christmas in Lancashire or Yorkshire has not pleasant memories of the ever-welcome chorale. Christians awake salute the happy-mourn wherein the Saviour of the world was born. Christmas and Christmas Lore This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Linda Marie Nielsen Vancouver, B.C. Christmas and Christmas Lore by Thomas G. Crippen Old Christmas Hymns Within the century which saw the Christmas anniversary fully established two great Christian poets vied with each other in producing hymns for its due celebration. First in order of time was Ambrose, the brave Bishop of Milan who so reluctantly accepted the office to which he was called by popular acclamation but who, when once he was installed therein showed that he feared not the face of man by repelling the great Emperor Theodosius from the Lord's Table until he showed penance for innocent blood which in his anger he had caused to be shed. The Christmas hymn of St. Ambrose Vinny Redemptor Genetum Redeemer of the Nations come is to be found in a few recent hymn books of the High Church type but it is not suited to modern taste better known and far better adapted for social worship is the hymn of his great contemporary Prudentius beginning Chordnatus ex-Parentius in English of the father's love begotten this has found acceptance with its fine medieval tune among all schools of religious thought except Unitarians these two probably the first Christmas hymns ever written were part of the ancient heritage of the English church and with many other good things were discarded at the Reformation not because they were unworthy to be retained but because King Henry's new bishops could not find anybody capable of translating them into decent singable English they are still used in the original Latin in the church of Rome as are two other fine Christmas hymns a solace Ortis Cardin from lands that see the sun arise by Saddullius said to have been an Irishman and Jezu Redemptor Omnictum Jesus Redeemer of all of uncertain origin but probably of equal antiquity but not withstanding the habitual use of these hymns in the Roman church 1500 years none of them except that of Prudentius can be said to have become popular the reason is that they are too theological they are orthodox divinity in meter hymns for students or for the clergy rather than for the people the same is true of all or nearly all famous hymns of earlier date than the 12th or 13th century such is the fine hymn of Venetius Fortunus Egnusat Omnaceculum let every age and nation own which was regularly used at York before reformation it is true of a hymn of the great schoolman and of another by his great antagonist Bernard no one who sings Bernard's immortal Jesus the very thought of thee can think that its author was lacking in devote emotion but when he tried to write a Christmas hymn he only produced a rhyming tract on the prophecies that were fulfilled in the incarnation with a rebuke of the Jews for not understanding them it was just the same in the east the first hymn that is sung at the Christmas morning service in the Greek church was written by Cosmas of Jerusalem who died about AD 760 it is to my mind very beautiful but it could never be popular in college or the Cloister here it is as translated by Dr. J. M. Neal Christ is born Cal forth his fame Christ from heaven his love proclaim Christ on earth exult his name sing to the Lord O world with exultation break forth in glad thanksgiving every nation for he hath triumph gloriously man in God's old image made man by Satan's wiles betrayed man on whom corruption prayed shut out from hope of life and of salvation today Christ maketh him a new creation for he hath triumph gloriously when the foe wrought his creature death and woe bowed the heavens and came below and in the virgin's womb he dwelling making became true man our varied nature taking for he hath triumph gloriously he the wisdom word and might God and Son discovered by the sight of earthy monarch or infernal spirit incarnate was that we might heaven inherit for he hath triumph gloriously all these hymns are theological if they mention the incidence of the holy nativity it is only to emphasize the wonder of the divine condescension there is absolutely nothing of the holy sentiment of our modern Christmas verse in a word they are hymns of the cloister not of the home and this indeed is all of a peace with the christiology of the early and middle ages alike in hymn and sermon and treaties the thought of christ as saviour was quite subordinated to that of christ as king and judge nor can we wonder at this the sort of government with which men were familiar in those days was mere despotism which might be wise and benevolent but was more often selfish capricious and cruel the purpose of redemption was therefore so men thought to substitute for this a kingdom of god no less despotic but perfectly wise just and benevolent and such was the wretched state of mankind during the breakup of the roman empire that to bring home to the minds of men the thought that despite of appearances the universe was subject to an omnipotent ruler perfectly wise and just and good was a real salvation so long as the public services of the church were in an unknown tongue there was no place for hymns in the vernacular there was devotional poetry in plenty but always individual in sentiment and expression only after the reformation did congregational singing form a part of the usual public worship and even then in the calvinistic division of the reformed church the service appraise was long restricted to metrical palms hence we have few if any French hymns of the Huguenot period adapted to ecclesiastical seasons it was otherwise where Lutheran influence prevailed and the 16th and 17th centuries yielded many fine Christmas hymns in the German language probably the best known of these at least to English readers is that of Gerhard Frolic Sol Main in English all my heart this night rejoices the earliest English pieces to which the name of Christian hymns as distinguished by carols can be properly applied are that of Ben Johnson I sing the birth was born tonight and that of George wither as on the night before the blessed mourn with the latter development of Christmas church song we are not here concerned in of section 13 recording by Lendermy Nielsen Vancouver BC section 14 of Christmas and Christmas lower this is a Libra Vox recording all Libra Vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libra Vox.org recording by Lendermy Nielsen Vancouver BC Christmas and Christmas lower by Thomas G. Crippen Christmas carols from hymns we naturally pass to carols the distinction is often overlooked and a chap book containing say hymns and carols so called may include half a dozen true carols the rest being made up of hymns PS ballads and sentimental or festive songs more or less fitted to the season a hymn is essentially devotional a carol in the modern sense of the term is a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar playful or festive the word carol originally meant a dance especially a ring dance footnote the derivation of the word carol has been the theme of much learned discussion in remote origin it usually trace from the Greek word choros the singing and dancing part of the Greek tragedy through such intermediate forms as the Latin chorus Correa Italian Coralia and carol but one John Palsgrave in a French dictionary published about 1530 derives the word from Anglo-Saxon carol which must be derived in turn from the Greek courios lord some have suggested derviation from the Welsh carol but the Welsh seems more likely to have been borrowed from the English in footnote accompanied with singing like that of children here we go round the mulberry bush we have a classic example of this use in the letter roman of the rose lines 793-804 the poet comes upon a bevy of ladies dancing upon the carol wonder faced I again behold till at last a lady-gan me for to spy and she was clapped only she called me what do you there bo sir come and if you like yow to dancing dance it with us now and I without carrying went into the carolin gradually the meaning changed so as to denote a merry song with a tune suggestive of dancing in the promptorium Pauver Liam a curious English Latin vocabulary written about 1440 we find carol song paladonium another copy gives as the equivalent saldomium salm denascio agreeably to this we read in Spencers epithalamium hark how the cheerful birds do chant their laze and carol of love's praise the earliest metrical composition to which the term carol has been applied in England and which is all related to Christmas is the Anglo-Norman dialect of the 12th century it has no religious allusions of any kind and is in fact a mere drinking song Lordings Christmas loves good drinking is a typical line that Christmas was a time specially suitable for merry songs was universally recognized was also remembered that it was primarily a religious anniversary it seemed natural therefore that the merry songs should embody some religious element we do not dance to our carols nowadays but nothing deserves to be called a carol which does not tell a sacred story in a mirthful strain suggestive rather of the dance than of the closet or the church it is a curious fact that Christmas is the only festival for which carols have been not only written but kept in use thus it came to pass that in several French dictionaries carol is defined as above is interpreted chanson de Noël i.e. a Christmas song yet there have been good carols written for other seasons but nobody sings them it is hard to say why somehow it has come about that in England we have so disassociated religion from mirth that they can only shake hands about once a year it is well if then even custom compiles us to recognize that the religion most in harmony with the season is of a healthy all round type which hallows the whole circle of life trade, literature politics, recreation which takes up the right old Hebrew carol and sings praise God with sultry and harp, praise him with timbrels and dances and let everything that hath breath praise the lord end of section 14 recording by Linda Marie Nielsen Vancouver BC section 15 of Christmas and Christmas Lore this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Linda Marie Nielsen Vancouver BC Christmas and Christmas Lore by Thomas G. Crippen origin of carols for 800 years and more men had kept Christmas without carols unless indeed the term be applied to yuletide drinking songs and when at length these welcome aids to cheerful piety were produced it was in connection with a great religious revival the birthplace of the true world was Italy and its originator indirectly if not directly was St. Francis of Assisi that eccentric genius in whose blended merphilis and asceticism prophetic fever and childish simplicity the heart of Christendom had been compelled to recognize that heavenly which is content to be accounted folly for Christ's sake we cannot here narrate the strange life story of St. Francis it must suffice to say that the original friars whom he gathered around him early in the 13th century were the means of the greatest religious revival that had ever been known in Western Europe today's religion was at a very low ebb the state of society was very rude and that of mortals deplorable the services of the church were conducted in a language that people did not understand the bible was locked up in an unknown tongue and had it been otherwise few could have read it and preaching was unusual and un- instructive Francis and his friars preached homely sermons full of homely illustrations and defective as his gospel might be it was the power of God unto salvation to multitudes in many lands it is only within living memory that Francis has come to be understood in protestant communities until lately men thought of little but his eccentricities and the corruption of the later Franciscans it was forgotten that in his day Christ was thought of chiefly as the awful judge the savior almost lost sight of in the king of majesty tremendous Francis revealed him as the little brother and kind as well the child Jesus says Thomas of Solano had been given over to forgetfulness in the hearts of many in whom by the working of his grace he was raised up again through his servant Francis there is no evidence nor indeed any likelihood that Francis himself wrote carols and comrades devised an instrument better adapted than even preaching to diffuse religious knowledge among the common people they composed in the vulgar tongue bright homely songs on the great facts of the gospel and thus nearly a hundred years before Dante gave stability and literary form to the Italian language the Italians were singing in the festive strains of the early friars the praises of the child of Bethlehem several carols of remarkable beauty and tenderness are ascribed to Giacopo Dottori otherwise called Giacopon a Franciscan poet of the latter part of the 13th century he is best known as the author of two Latin hymns each beginning one of them the Dolorosa probably the most pathetic poem in all ecclesiastical literature the other the speciosa though not a carol having so much in common with our best carols as fairly to demand recognition in this place here is an Italian carol of the same period the author is unknown but the tune is almost universally familiar being the theme on which Handel has built up the ever welcome pastoral symphony in Bethlehem is born the holy child on hay and straw a winter wild oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth they sing aloud in heaven the child is born glory to God and peace on earth for Lorne oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth already shines a star his advent light it shines above the child by day and night oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth first Mary greets the child in worship true wraps him in swaddling clothes and loves him too oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth the Joseph lowly bows with reverence do and class him in his arms and loves him too oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth the shepherds come upon the child to gaze and worship him with songs and sounds of praise oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth the mad king follow soon the child to greet offering gold and silver and incense sweet oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth let us adore the child this Christmas tide and offer him our hearts and souls beside oh my heart is full of mirth at Jesus' birth from Italy the carol passed over to Spain, France and Germany meaning its essential character of childish simplicity religious fever and genial mirthfulness some of the old carols are very quaint introducing not only legendary matter but p.s. fiction sometimes humorous one old French carol of great length is curiously dramatic Joseph and Mary arriving at Bethlehem on various pretexts without reason assigned refused admittance at several ends at length a hostess perceiving that Mary is in distress is about to make provision for her necessities but is roughly forbidden by her ungracious husband whom she dares not disobey once more repelled Joseph finds shelter in a stable where the promised child is born an interesting group of old German carols is that wherein the singer represents himself as accompanying the shepherds in their visit to the holy family and addresses Mary and Joseph in the homeliest as well as the kindliest fashion and sometimes in the broadest of dialect probably the best known and best loved of all German carols is that written by Luther for his little son Hans in 1540 from heaven above I come to you to bring you tidings good and true the tradition is that in Luther's household the first five verses were sung as a solo the singer personating the angel and the remainder in chorus one very curious group of which specimens in several languages are scattered throughout the southwest of Europe introduces gypsies in connection with the nativity in an Andalusian carol the rascally gypsies have stolen the swaddling clothes and have not left the child a single reg in a Spanish carol the gypsies at the town gate welcome the three kings i.e. the wise men from the east with a dance in a provincial carol the magic kings are themselves gypsies who read the lines on the hands of the child of Mary and of Joseph and predict their several destinies while in an Italian carol a gypsy woman offers hospitality to the holy family during their retreat to Egypt these odd fancies were probably an outgrowth of the belief long wildly entertained that the gypsies were exiled Egyptians the Noels are a particular group of which we have examples in French and English in which the word Noel or Noel is often times repeated generally as a refrain and evidently in the sense of news the English specimen the first Noel an angel did say is too well known to need quotation the original purpose of carols required that they should be in the vernacular but the medieval clergy were as a rule fairly familiar with Latin and it was only to be expected that some of them would compose Latin carols some of these became wildly popular such as in hoc any Circulo in the ending of the year dies tia t roll day that chaseth gloom resonet in laudibus faithful souls your praises bring but still more wildly popular were the macaronics in which the language is mixed part in the vernacular and part in Latin of these there are French German in English examples the original of the familiar good Christian men rejoice is of this class part Latin and part German thus in Dolce Jubilo none sing it and say for et cetera they celebrated boards head carol of which more and on is an English macaronic there are a few verses of another of which in the original the lines are alternately Latin and German a child is born in Bethlehem rejoice therefore Jerusalem low in a manger lieth he whose kingdom without end shall be the ox and ass that near him feed his lord indeed from seba come the deutiest kings one gold one mer one incense brings in this the time of Christmas joy to bless the lord be our employee a glory lord to thee be done now seen in flash the virgin son end of section 15 recording by linda mary nielsen Vancouver BC section 16 of Christmas and Christmas lore this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by linda mary nielsen Vancouver BC Christmas and Christmas lore by Thomas G. Crippen the oldest English carols the earliest known copy of an English carol is a fragment published by Ritzen and written probably about AD 1410 I saw a sweet a singly sight a blissful blurred a blossom bright the morning shade and mirth among a maiden mother meek and mild in cradle kept a naïve child that softly slept she sat and sung lullay lullay below my bairn sleep softly now this very old stanza is valuable as illustrating some well marked features of our best old English carols the alliteration is characteristic of the time when it was written but notice the homely simplicity of the strain the blessed virgin sings just such a lullaby as might have been sung by any English mother in the year 1410 then see how the whole scene is treated as if thoroughly present just what has been said above about the great events of sacred history being mystically repeated on their anniversaries and observe how the whole is brought into personal relation with the singer not the bare historic there was but the personal I saw the true carol is not the product of an age of historic criticism it belongs to an age of faith there is in existence an old manuscript song book considerably more than 400 years old supposed to have belong to a professional minstrel from this a great number of genuine carols were edited for the Percy society to be handed down by tradition from a time earlier than the Ritzen fragment it would be pleasant if space permitted to reproduce about a dozen of these and point out their most interesting features this is impractical so we must be content to take a few stanzas here and there which show how the old minstrels treated the leading incidents of the holy nativity first of the annunciation Gabriel that angel bright brighter than the sun's light from heaven to earth he took his flight at Nazareth that great city before a maid he nailed on his knee and said Mary God is with thee Hail Mary, full of grace God is with thee and ever was and hath in thee chosen a place etc we have not found among the oldest carols any reference to the occasion of the journey to Bethlehem in one which probably belongs to the early part of the 17th century we have not found to Bethlehem city in Jewry it was that Joseph and Mary together did pass all four to be taxed with many one Mo great Caesar commanded the same should be so but when they had entered the city so fair a number of people in the city whose substance was small could find in the inn there no lodging at all thus they were constrained in a stable to lie where oxen and asses they used for to tie they're lodging so simple they held in no scorn and against the next morning our savior was born the mystery of the miraculous dawn in these old diddies with considerable naivety it is not easy to find a quotable stanza on the subject perhaps this from the old minstrel's manuscript is the most presentable blessed be the lady bright who bires a child of great might without grief as it was right made mother Mary God's son is born his mother was a maid both after and before as the prophet said with a a a a wondrous thing it is to see how maid and mother one can be there was never none but she made mother Mary another from a manuscript written about 1450 is worth quoting I sing of a maiden that is makeless makeless king of all kings to her son she chess choose he came all so still to his mother's bower as do in April that falleth on the flower mother and maiden was never none but she well may such a lady God's mother be of the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night we have several descriptions here is one of the quaintest about the field they piped full right even about the midst of the night they saw come down from heaven a light turl turl so merrily the shepherds began to blow of angels came a company with Mary songs and melody the shepherds and on again them a spy turl turl so merrily the shepherds began to blow the shepherds usually find the holy child among the ordinary occupants of the stall the old carolers appear to have accepted in simple faith the legend of the ox and ass already referred to a legend which has left its impress not only on popular folk song but on the religious drama and on works of art even on some of a superior order so the old angel sings between an ox stall and an ass this child then truly born he was for want of clothing they did him lay in the crotch among the hay of the appearance of the star and the journey of the wise men from the east we have many spirited descriptions wise men are always kings their names are usually not always gasper melchor and balthazar one is young one old and one of middle age they represent the respective posterities of shem, hem and jaffet and the youngest is generally a more or a negro their gifts to the holy child are explained according to the symbolism which we owe to Arrhenius and Nazarene the gold proclaims his kinship the frankincense his godhead and the myrrh his morality perhaps the best verses are these spelling modernized three kings came out of indian land to see that wondrous infant bent with rich presence in their hand straightly a star before them went a wondrous thing it was to see that star was more than other three and it held the course to that country with a a I dare well say they did not miss of ready way when they with that lady met they found the child upon her knee full courteously they did her greet and present him with gifts three as king they gave him gold so read myrrh incense for his godhead of their offering this we read with a a I dare well say they worshiped him on 12th day the slaughter of the children by Herod is a favorite topic in the carols and is often treated with the wildest exaggeration the innocence being sometimes counted by thousands at other times the cruelty of Herod is made the subject of the virgin mother's cradle song as in a very pretty carol printed in 1587 la la la la la by my sweet little babe what meanest thou to cry be still my blessed babe though cause thou has to mourn whose blood most innocent the cruel king has sworn and lo alas behold what slaughter doth he make shedding the blood of innocence sweet jesus for thy sake a king is born they say which king this king would kill a woe and heavy woeful day when wretches have their will end of section 16 recording by lynda mary nielson vancouver bc