Why was the Partridge in the Pear Tree? (2 page)

It’s wholly possible that the earliest carols date back to the thirteenth century. There has been some speculation that the words of ‘Adeste Fideles’ (O Come all ye Faithful) date back to that century, if the lyrics can be attributed to St Bonaventure, the Italian scholar. This is still quite a mystery however, and there is no firm evidence either way.

‘The Coventry Carol’ refers to the Massacre of the Innocents when Herod ordered all infant boys to be killed. It is a haunting lament of a mother for her child, and was written for a Mystery Play in the sixteenth century that told the story of the nativity. All the earliest manuscripts have been lost, leaving some question over the original words. There were also two other carols written for the play that would have been sung by the shepherds in the nativity story. All three would have been performed in an unaccompanied three-part harmony.

‘I Saw Three Ships’ was thought to have first been sung in the fifteenth century, mainly because the original tune was a variant of Greensleeves, which people believed was written by King Henry VIII. This is wholly incorrect. Henry didn’t write Greensleeves; it is Elizabethan in origin and based on an Italian style of composition that didn’t arrive in England until long after his death. The carol first appeared in print in Derbyshire in the seventeenth century and was reintroduced by the prolific carol collectors and editors William B. Sandys and Davies Gilbert in 1833, at what was the start of the golden age of Christmas carols. This demonstrates the mystery that surrounds almost every Christmas carol and song.

Just as a popular musician can secure his or her place in musical history with one good Christmas Hit, it appears that hymn-writers have secured their place in the Christmas hall of fame with their writing or rewriting of classic Christmas carols. From the early eighteenth century and Charles Wesley, to John Mason Neale, Christina Rossetti and Cecil Frances Alexander in the nineteenth century, their best remembered and most loved compositions have been the ones they wrote for Christmas.

As a parish priest, working as a team rector in a large semi-rural parish, I can see how, as Christmas approaches, the Church has the opportunity to serve the community by leading the celebrations in many ways. We arrange advent services in the run up to the Christmas season, as one might expect. But also, in an old Moravian service, oranges are decorated to tell the Christmas story and message, commonly known as Christingle.

Midnight Mass, as Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day, fills the church with revellers, anxious to sing the classic carols and get a good start to their Christmas celebrations. In addition to these events we mustn’t forget the many carol services in the churches, pubs and streets. By the time the turkey is on the table, dozens of extra events have taken place, with the usual mountain of mince pies, washed down with a considerable amount of sherry and mulled wine. The celebrations and festivities all take place to the soundtrack of Christmas, the traditional carols and songs that are loved by so many. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them.

In this book we are going to look at some of the best loved carols and the age-old traditions that gave rise to them. We are going to look at how Christmas was nearly stopped forever, and how today in the strangest of places, carols and songs are kept alive by groups of people who protect histories and traditions that would otherwise disappear.

Reverend Mark Lawson-Jones, 2011

Here we come a-wassailing

Among the leaves so green,

Here we come a-wand’ring

So fair to be seen.

Refrain

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.

We are not daily beggars

That beg from door to door,

But we are neighbours’ children

Whom you have seen before.

Good master and good mistress,

As you sit beside the fire,

Pray think of us poor children

Who wander in the mire.

We have a little purse

Made of ratching leather skin;

We want some of your small change

To line it well within.

Bring us out a table

And spread it with a cloth;

Bring us out a cheese,

And of your Christmas loaf.

God bless the master of this house,

Likewise the mistress too;

And all the little children

That round the table go.

The history of Christmas songs, carols and traditions takes us on a journey of over a thousand years to the present day; almost everything we sing, say or do needs closer investigation to understand the rich tapestry of convention and practice. People of every generation have adopted, changed and made traditions to celebrate together in mid-winter. One of the most persistent and curious is the one we consider in this chapter. No book on Christmas would be complete without looking closely at the wassail and wassailing. It’s so curious that it has its own song!

The word ‘wassail’ derives from an Anglo-Saxon phrase,
Waes Hael
, which means to ‘to be healthy’. When Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote
The History of Kings
(1135), he told the famous story of wassail, dating back to the fifth century where Vortigern, King of the Britons, meets Rowena, daughter of Hengist, a Germanic mercenary who served him:

Rowena and King Vortigern.

While King Vortigern was being entertained by Hengist at a royal banquet, the girl Rowena, Hengist’s daughter, came out of an inner room carrying a golden goblet full of wine. She walked up to the King, curtsied low, and said ‘Lavert King, was hail!’ When he saw the girl’s face, Vortigern was greatly struck by her beauty and was filled with desire for her. He asked his interpreter what it was that the girl had said and what he ought to reply to her. ‘She called you Lord King,’ answered the interpreter, and did you honour by drinking your health. What you should reply is ‘drinc hail’.’ Vortigern immediately said the words ‘drinc hail’ and ordered Rowena to drink. Then he took the goblet from her hand, kissed her and drank in his turn. From that day to this the tradition has endured in Britain that the one who drinks first at a banquet says ‘was hail’ to his partner, and he who drinks next says ‘drinc hail’.

Unfortunately, history takes a cruel turn and eventually Rowena seduces King Vortigern, this results in the Night of the Long Knives when Hengist’s men massacre the Britons at a peace accord, bringing about the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.

A woodcut of a man preparing for wassailing.

The term ‘wassail’ at this stage is no more than a declaration, a blessing or a wish that your host might enjoy good health. Its association with treachery and murder seems to slip away, and the term wassail remains in popular usage. It is mentioned once again in the eighth-century epic poem
Beowulf
as a toast, it’s translated there as ‘be of good health’.

Since the twelfth century, the meaning of the word seems to have changed from a simple greeting and was instead used to describe an important event in the life of any community or village.

Usually held around Christmas and the New Year, the wassail was a party where people would meet and drink considerable amounts of beer or cider, pledging each others’ health. To be a wassailer was to be a merry maker, reveller and carouser.

Soon after this, it became traditional to have a Wassail Bowl with beer or cider, into which fine white bread and cakes were communally dipped. In the 1320s Peter de Lantoft repeated this story, portraying people drinking from the same cup with the words ‘drinkhaille’ and ‘wassaille’. Although this cannot be proven, it is believed that this practice continued and became widespread.

Around Christmas and Twelfth Night people would travel door-to-door giving away cider, beer or other alcoholic drinks, sometimes requesting payment. It has been suggested that this might have been a way to share the alcohol whilst avoiding taxation. A song from 1550 records this:

Wassail, wassail, out of the milk pail,

Wassail, wassail as white as my nail,

Wassail, wassail, in snow, frost and hail,

Wassail, wassail, that much doth avail,

Wassail, wassail, that never will fail.

This song was used to accompany the Wassail Bowl as it travelled around the village on the cold winter’s nights to encourage the participants as they shared good health with their friends and neighbours. The bowl, which was by now traditionally decorated with ribbons and evergreens and sprigs of rosemary, was carried by young girls singing songs.

It appears to have been around this time that the tradition took another route. In South-West England (Devon, Somerset, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire) and South-East England (Essex, Sussex and Kent) wassailing became associated with singing and drinking the health of trees in orchards, in the hope that they might thrive and produce a bumper crop at harvest.

Wassailing apple trees with hot cider on Twelfth Night.

In the orchards, villagers would gather, usually on Twelfth Night, and select a King and Queen in elaborate ceremonies. The pair would then be led to the trees where bread soaked in cider from the bowl, would be placed by the royalty on the branches. Whilst this was being done, the other villagers banged pots and pans and sang, beating the tree with sticks also to wake it up from its winter sleep.