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Back to Christmas/Yule
Dec. 30th, 2003 11:05 amOkay, so December 25-Jan. 6 is actually 13 days, but it's counted as twelve... I guess because Christmas itself was considered a day unto itself, and was meant for solemn prayer and such, and not general frivolity. So, if Boxing Day is actually the first day of Christmas, today is the day for
Five Golden Rings!
But there are only so many partridges a person can stand. Rest assured, I will spare you. Here, instead, is a song that appeared in print in the 1719 edition of Pills to Purge Meloncholy (I have no idea how long folks were singing it before someone decided it was worthy of the printed page):
All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.
Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries now,
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek,
Nor let her inhabit thy brow.
Cross out of thy books malevolent looks,
Both beauty and youth's decay,
And wholly consort with mirth and sport
To drive the cold winter away.
This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song,
To drive the cold winter away.
When Christmas's tide comes in like a bride,
With holly and ivy clad,
Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer
In every household is had.
The country guise is then to devise
Some gambols of Christmas play.
Whereat the young men do best that they can
To drive the cold winter away. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Say no more!)
To hear the tune, cut and paste the following bolded text into the window at CONCERTINA.net - Tune-O-Tron: Converter and click on submit (make sure any pop-up blockers are turned off):
X:1
T:In praise of Christmas
M:6/4
Q:1/4=275
K:F
D2F3ED2A4|d2c3BA2f4|F2G4A2B3c|B2A10|d2c3BA2c4|
c2B3AG2B4|B2A3GF2E3D|E2D19/2||
Enjoy!
But there are only so many partridges a person can stand. Rest assured, I will spare you. Here, instead, is a song that appeared in print in the 1719 edition of Pills to Purge Meloncholy (I have no idea how long folks were singing it before someone decided it was worthy of the printed page):
All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.
Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries now,
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek,
Nor let her inhabit thy brow.
Cross out of thy books malevolent looks,
Both beauty and youth's decay,
And wholly consort with mirth and sport
To drive the cold winter away.
This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song,
To drive the cold winter away.
When Christmas's tide comes in like a bride,
With holly and ivy clad,
Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer
In every household is had.
The country guise is then to devise
Some gambols of Christmas play.
Whereat the young men do best that they can
To drive the cold winter away. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Say no more!)
To hear the tune, cut and paste the following bolded text into the window at CONCERTINA.net - Tune-O-Tron: Converter and click on submit (make sure any pop-up blockers are turned off):
X:1
T:In praise of Christmas
M:6/4
Q:1/4=275
K:F
D2F3ED2A4|d2c3BA2f4|F2G4A2B3c|B2A10|d2c3BA2c4|
c2B3AG2B4|B2A3GF2E3D|E2D19/2||
Enjoy!
