dreams.
“Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella,” was not originally a Christmas carol. It began life as a fourteenth-century dance tune. The French nobility liked to indulge in a lively
ritournelle
, and it was for this that the unusually upbeat tune (for a carol) was composed. The lyrics are believed to have come from either Anjou or Burgundy, and the two were first paired in print in a private publication,
Songs of the First Advent of Jesus Christ
, in 1553. Three hundred years later it crossed the sea to England and eventually became a firm favorite in America.
Back in France, in Provence, children still dress up as shepherds and milkmaids to sing the carol on their way to Christmas Eve services.
How might the story have turned out if two such wise young women
had
alerted everyone to the miracle they found in a barn? Of course, a world in which Christ was worshipped from the beginning probably would have had no need for a Savior in the first place. We know that’s not real life—but we can wish and wonder all the same.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child
.
L UKE 2:16–17
Here We Come A-Wassailing
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen
.
Love and joy come to you
,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send
you a happy New Year
,
And God send you a happy New Year
.
Salute the Real Lord King
T he custom of wassailing at Christmas, or midwinter, is a long and sometimes gory one! It was an old tradition among the Saxon people before they crossed the North Sea to Britain.
Sometime in the fifth century, the Saxon princess Rowena presented British king Vortigern with the skull of an enemy. The skull was full of wine, and she offered the trophy with the salutation, “Lord King,
wass-heil
!”
“Wass-heil” means “good health,” and while it might not have done much for the health of the poor fellow who donated the skull, it worked wonders for Vortigern and Rowena, who married shortly afterward.
In (slightly) more civilized times, Vortigern and Rowena’s descendants in the southeast of England would descend upon their fruit orchards on the twelfth night of Christmas. Fueled by home-grown cider, either they would threaten their trees with the ax if they didn’t produce a good crop the following year, or they would bless them with whatever cider hadn’t already been drunk.
As the tradition moved away from the countryside into the city, it was taken up by waifs and orphan children who would go from house to house singing blessings for “donations.” Older carolers would take bowls of mulled wine, beer, or cider and cinnamon and sell drinks along with their blessings.
The resultant drunken revelry often got out of hand. During the Puritan period, when Christmas was canceled, many people who might have had their houses invaded by wassailers probably breathed a sigh of relief.
These days going wassailing is a happier, more loving experience. Hot drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, might be imbibed—but the event is much more about celebrating Christmas with friends, singing joyfully, and bestowing blessings.
Doing things the “traditional” way has a lot to recommend it, but when it comes to wassailing, well … let’s stick to saluting the real “Lord King,” Jesus Christ, and leave drinking from skulls and scaring fruit trees firmly in the past.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it
.
M ATTHEW 26:27
Joy to the World
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King
.
Let every heart prepare Him room
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing
.
The Greater Day
I t would be difficult to imagine Christmas without “Joy to the World,” but there was a
“Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella,” was not originally a Christmas carol. It began life as a fourteenth-century dance tune. The French nobility liked to indulge in a lively
ritournelle
, and it was for this that the unusually upbeat tune (for a carol) was composed. The lyrics are believed to have come from either Anjou or Burgundy, and the two were first paired in print in a private publication,
Songs of the First Advent of Jesus Christ
, in 1553. Three hundred years later it crossed the sea to England and eventually became a firm favorite in America.
Back in France, in Provence, children still dress up as shepherds and milkmaids to sing the carol on their way to Christmas Eve services.
How might the story have turned out if two such wise young women
had
alerted everyone to the miracle they found in a barn? Of course, a world in which Christ was worshipped from the beginning probably would have had no need for a Savior in the first place. We know that’s not real life—but we can wish and wonder all the same.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child
.
L UKE 2:16–17
Here We Come A-Wassailing
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen
.
Love and joy come to you
,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send
you a happy New Year
,
And God send you a happy New Year
.
Salute the Real Lord King
T he custom of wassailing at Christmas, or midwinter, is a long and sometimes gory one! It was an old tradition among the Saxon people before they crossed the North Sea to Britain.
Sometime in the fifth century, the Saxon princess Rowena presented British king Vortigern with the skull of an enemy. The skull was full of wine, and she offered the trophy with the salutation, “Lord King,
wass-heil
!”
“Wass-heil” means “good health,” and while it might not have done much for the health of the poor fellow who donated the skull, it worked wonders for Vortigern and Rowena, who married shortly afterward.
In (slightly) more civilized times, Vortigern and Rowena’s descendants in the southeast of England would descend upon their fruit orchards on the twelfth night of Christmas. Fueled by home-grown cider, either they would threaten their trees with the ax if they didn’t produce a good crop the following year, or they would bless them with whatever cider hadn’t already been drunk.
As the tradition moved away from the countryside into the city, it was taken up by waifs and orphan children who would go from house to house singing blessings for “donations.” Older carolers would take bowls of mulled wine, beer, or cider and cinnamon and sell drinks along with their blessings.
The resultant drunken revelry often got out of hand. During the Puritan period, when Christmas was canceled, many people who might have had their houses invaded by wassailers probably breathed a sigh of relief.
These days going wassailing is a happier, more loving experience. Hot drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, might be imbibed—but the event is much more about celebrating Christmas with friends, singing joyfully, and bestowing blessings.
Doing things the “traditional” way has a lot to recommend it, but when it comes to wassailing, well … let’s stick to saluting the real “Lord King,” Jesus Christ, and leave drinking from skulls and scaring fruit trees firmly in the past.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it
.
M ATTHEW 26:27
Joy to the World
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King
.
Let every heart prepare Him room
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing
.
The Greater Day
I t would be difficult to imagine Christmas without “Joy to the World,” but there was a
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