New Years' Eve

Here's to the customary Wassail song for the occasion-- dare I say, let us wassail the day?

So, Wassails songs are funny. We all know Here We Come a-Wassailing and most of us can sing a bit of it. For all intents and purposes, it is the Wassail song, as far as most of us are concerned. But once you start looking for others.... well, golly, the sheer number of them can be surprising. And while most of them recycle much of the lyrics, imagery and tune amongst themselves, there are also rather a lot of quirkily singular Wassails to be found.

This is such a one. The Sugar Wassail:

There is a rather odd line in it : "Bring out your silver tankards, likewise your kissing spear"..... And I blinked, wondering what on Earth a "kissing spear" is. Nothing for it, but looking it up. It turns out, it is just a weirdness, for which we have no real explanation. The lyrics ought to be "golden spear" but for some reason, it was changed while being collected. At least, if this exchange on Mudcat is to be believed.

And I also have a poem for all of you. 

Prayer to the New Born King

I am made hard by sorrowing,

My heart is closed, even to Thee.

Oh, Thou my Jesus, my Infant King,

Touch my hardness, my sorrowing,

With Hands of Healing, heal Thou me,

Make Thou my barren heart to sing,

Break open for love and joy of Thee.

Sunday Within the Octave of Christmas

This Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. While looking for something interesting to post today, I came across this quite lovely explanation of the importance of octave commemorations. It mentions Easter in passing, but is focused on the Christmas octave. I found it inspiring, and beautiful and I hope you all do as well. 

In honour of the Holy Family, you are getting a very new song, that sounds quite old-- a song by my sister, and which I am taking this opportunity to shamelessly plug.... And to boast. She's pretty darned good, isn't she?

Lordings, Listen to Our Lay

Today being the feast day of St. Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Norman by blood, I have, after a prodigious amount of search, found a translation of an old Anglo Norman carol to share with you. It is a bit late for our purposes, as it dates back to the 13th century, while St. Thomas lived at the end of the 12th, but it still seems rather appropriate. You can read about the carol at the incomparable Hymns and Carols of Christmas. I like that the original contained wassails at the end, and while I am both pleased and gratified to have found this carol (after having come across a mention of an early Anglo Norman carol encouraging the drinking of wine and ale, until heads do sink) I would have been even more delighted if they had managed to include the last verse. Ah well. One cannot have everything:

Salvete Flores Martyrum

One of the goals I set for myself when I do posts like the 12 days of Christmas posts, is for the songs, or poems I chose to be original-- something which I may not have heard before, and something I am pretty sure you have never heard before. Form most of the Christmas season, this can be reasonably easy, as there is a huge body of Christmas carols throughout the world, just waiting for someone to come poking along and find them. However, some of the individual feasts within the Season are harder to accommodate. The Feast of the Holy Innocents is such a feast. It isn't that there are no songs associated with it, there are. Quite a number, actually. The problem is finding recordings of them. So this year, you are getting and odd little carol about King Herod. It sets the stage for this feast, though it focuses on a miraculous affirmation of the Divinity of Christ, and cuts before Herod infamously orders the massacre of the Holy Innocents.

And, as I came across this poem in my search for a song for today, you are being treated once again to the incomparable Christina Rossetti:

Holy Innocents

 Sleep, little Baby, sleep;

The holy Angels love thee,

And guard thy bed, and keep

A blessed watch above thee.

No spirit can come near

Nor evil beast to harm thee:

Sleep, Sweet, devoid of fear

Where nothing need alarm thee.

The Love which doth not sleep,

The eternal Arms surround thee:

The Shepherd of the sheep

In perfect love hath found thee.

Sleep through the holy night,

Christ-kept from snare and sorrow,

Until thou wake to light

And love and warmth to-morrow.

Feast of St. John

Merry Christmas! Yes, I am several days late with a Christmas post, but A.) we are within the octave of The Day, and according to the age-old tradition of the Church, every day within the octave is Christmas; and B.) I have been celebrating properly, a right good and merry series of Christmas days,which is far more important that writing about it. But, in the proper spirit of this most joyous and blessed of seasons, I say it again: Merry Christmas! May it be a time of blessing, grace and joy to all of you. And to that end, here's to a cup of cheer with friends, round the fire.

Today is the feast day of St. John the Evangelist, the disciple Christ loved, the youngest, the one to whom He gave the care of His most blessed Mother, John the Evangelist who, having taken up eagle’s wings and hastening toward higher matters, discusses the Word of God.

I don't have a carol nor a hymn to share with you today, but I found this beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti, which seems ideally suited for the day:

Earth cannot bar flame from ascending,

Hell cannot bind light from descending,

Death cannot finish life never ending.

Eagle and sun gaze at each other,

Eagle at sun, brother at Brother,

Loving in peace and joy one another.

O St. John, with chains for thy wages,

Strong thy rock where the storm-blast rages,

Rock of refuge, the Rock of Ages.

Rome hath passed with her awful voice,

Earth is passing with all her joys,

Heaven shall pass away with a noise.

So from us all follies that please us,

So from us all falsehoods that ease us,–

Only all saints abide with their Jesus.

Jesus, in love looking down hither,

Jesus, by love draw us up thither,

That we in Thee may abide together.