{"id":50865,"date":"2024-12-12T17:27:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T16:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/08d3e561-66ca-4fc2-938e-bbdac97c3965"},"modified":"2024-12-12T18:09:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T17:09:22","slug":"christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas carol meanings: the hidden messages behind your favourite carols"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 16:27 PM<\/p>

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Countless millions today know the tune, if not the words, of at least one traditional Christmas carol. Thanks to dogged scholarship by twentieth-century collectors and editors, we can unlock the meaning and trace the roots of our favourite carols. The following examples should add spice to flavour ten of the most popular pieces in the Christmas repertoire. Here are some common Christmas carol lyrics and their meanings.<\/p>

Find hundreds of Christmas carol lyrics<\/a> on our website<\/strong><\/p>

Christmas carol and meanings: the messages behind your favourite carols<\/h2>
Jump to:<\/p>
1.<\/strong> 12 Days of Christmas<\/a><\/strong>2.<\/strong> The Holly and the Ivy<\/a><\/strong>3. O Come, all ye Faithful<\/a><\/strong>4. Good King Wenceslas<\/a><\/strong>5. The Sans Day<\/em> Carol<\/a><\/strong>6. I Saw Three Ships<\/a><\/strong>7. The Coventry Carol<\/a><\/strong>8. The Boar’s Head Carol<\/a><\/strong>9. The Seven Joys of Mary<\/a><\/strong>10. King Herod and the Cock<\/a><\/strong>11. Wassail! Wassail! All Over the Town!<\/a><\/strong>12. Past Three O’Clock<\/a><\/strong><\/p>
12 Days of Christmas<\/strong> meaning<\/h3>
And you thought this one was just a fun, whimsical list of gifts? Well, on one level, it certainly is just that, but…<\/p>
The popular counting song and Christmas carol ‘12 Days of Christmas<\/a><\/strong>‘ has also been interpreted as a tool for catechism (essentially, a summary of the principles of the Christian religion) during periods of Catholic persecution in England. Each gift is thought to symbolise aspects of faith. So, for example, the partridge in a pear tree represents Christ, while The\u00a0two turtle doves\u00a0<\/strong>represent the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.<\/p>
The\u00a0three French hens\u00a0stand for the three Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, while the four calling birds\u00a0represent the four Gospels and\/or the four evangelists.<\/p>
Still with us? OK, then! The\u00a0five golden rings\u00a0stand in for the first five books of the Old Testament, while the six <\/strong>geese a-laying\u00a0are the six days that God spent creating the Earth. Seven <\/strong>swans a-swimming? The seven sacraments, or gifts of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>

<\/div> <\/figure> <p>Eight maids a-milking? The eight beatitudes, the solemn blessings at the start of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Blessed are the\u00a0poor\u00a0in\u00a0spirit: for theirs is the\u00a0kingdom of heaven, and so forth). The\u00a0nine ladies dancing\u00a0are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the ten<strong> <\/strong>lords a-leaping\u00a0are the Ten Commandments.<\/p> <p>Last two: the 11 faithful apostles are depicted as the\u00a011 pipers piping, while the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed appear as the\u00a012 Drummers Drumming\u00a0are the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle\u2019s Creed.<\/p> <p>Fun fact: if you were to give all the presents named in the song, bearing in mind it’s cumulative (so for example, on the seventh day you’d still be giving all the six previous days’ gifts all over again), you would end up giving an eye-watering 364 gifts!<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"holly\"><strong>The Holly and the Ivy<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>Known in Germany as \u2018Christ\u2019s thorn\u2019, holly or the holy-tree served as an emblem of the Roman feast of Saturnalia. The Saxons also used holly and ivy in their winter rites. The Druids regarded ivy as a portent of death. However, the early Christians came to associate the plant\u2019s evergreen properties with everlasting life.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/songs-about-death\">Songs about death: 10 of the most powerful melodies on mortality<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>The famous <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-folk-music\">folk music<\/a><\/strong> collector <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/cecil-sharp\">Cecil Sharp<\/a><\/strong> notated the words and melody of the most familiar \u2018Holly and Ivy\u2019 carol from the singing of Mrs Mary Clayton at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Sharp drew on other sources for the version he published in 1911. That one has since become a staple of the Christmas carol repertoire. Several \u2018holly and ivy\u2019 carols survive from the medieval period. In each of them, ‘masculine’ holly and ‘feminine’ ivy are presented as rivals.<\/p> <p>Here is the popular <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-melody\">melody<\/a><\/strong> composed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/who-is-henry-walford-davies\/\"><strong>Henry Walford Davies<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"King's College Cambridge 2008 #4 The Holly and the Ivy arr Walford Davies\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l7eHtDtZ7hs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/holly-and-the-ivy-words\/\"><strong>The Holly and the Ivy<\/strong><\/a>, holly symbolises the Virgin Mary, while the blood-red juice of its berry, the bitterness of its bark and the sharpness of its prickles represent the suffering of the Crucifixion. Chaucer\u2019s wayward cockerel Chauntecleer could crow \u2018merrier than the merry organ\u2019, perhaps inspiring the author of the Gloucester carol\u2019s refrain.<\/p> <p>The Holly and the Ivy made it into our list of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/christmas-carols\/\"><strong>best Christmas carols of all time<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"faithful\"><strong>O come, all ye Faithful<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>This Christmas hymn, which neatly carries the simple qualities of the best carols, poses few linguistic teasers. No, not too many hours need be spent pondering the meanings of this particular Christmas carol. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/o-come-all-ye-faithful-lyrics\/\"><strong>O come, all ye Faithful<\/strong><\/a> owns a history that took serious scholarly detective work to unravel.<\/p> <p>In a 1947 pamphlet, Jean St\u00e9phan of Buckfast Abbey identified the hymn\u2019s earliest manuscript source, now dated c.1740 and associated with the English College in Douai, France. He ascribed it to the English Catholic John Francis Wade, a well-known copyist resident in Douai, active in Lancashire in the 1750s and known to leading London-based Catholic musicians, Thomas Arne and Samuel Webbe among them.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) at Westminster Abbey\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l1wHyMR_SCA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>The editors of <em>The New Oxford Book of Carols <\/em>suggest that Arne, composer of \u2018Rule, Britannia!\u2019, may have contributed to the hymn. It seems likely, however, that Wade created four Latin verses, beginning <em>Adeste, fideles<\/em>, and probably set them to music. The tune in the form we know it today was first published in 1782 in <em>An Essay on the Church Plain Chant<\/em>. Three extra verses were added in the nineteenth century.<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-christmas-carol-lyrics-and-their-meanings\">More Christmas carol lyrics and their meanings<\/h2> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wenceslas\"><strong>Good King Wenceslas<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p><em>Melody from Piae Cantiones (1582); words by J.M. Neale (1818-66)<\/em><\/p> <p>If the Rev. J.M. Neale, warden of Sackville College, East Grinstead, Sussex, had set his poetical sights elsewhere in bohemian martyrology, we might count \u2018Johann Nepomuk looked out\u2019 among our favourite Christmas carols. As it was, the noted Greek and Latin scholar, an inveterate supplier of hymn texts, recalled the legend of Saint Wenceslaus (Vaclav) or Wenceslas in its Germanised form. Result: the much-loved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/good-king-wenceslas-lyrics\/\"><strong>Good King Wenceslas<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a class=\"standard-card-newarticle-title qa-card-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/when-was-the-first-christmas-carol\/\">When was the first Christmas carol?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>The 10th-century ruler of Bohemia attempted to establish Christianity among the ruling Czech families. Alas, he was murdered in September 929 by his brother\u2019s supporters. Neale\u2019s dodgy verse presents a colourful narrative. Yet it fails to explain why king and page took such trouble to deliver firewood to a peasant living nearby the \u2018forest fence\u2019.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/the-ten-best-czech-composers\">Ten of the best: Czech composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Good King Wenceslas Traditional): Westminster Cathedral 1985 (David Hill)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B0auGcjcxTY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>The author probably took his lead from the acts of charity customary on Boxing Day, the feast of Saint Stephen, otherwise known as the Christian protomartyr. Neale set his words to a fourteenth-century spring carol preserved in the Finnish <em>Piae Cantiones<\/em> of 1582. This had been unveiled in England in 1853 by G.J.R. Gordon, Her Majesty\u2019s Envoy to the court of Sweden. The rejuvenated carol was first published in 1853-54.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a class=\"standard-card-newarticle-title qa-card-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-best-ancient-christmas-carols\/\">Five of the best ancient Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sans-day\"><strong>‘Sans Day’ \/ The Holly Bears a Berry <\/strong>meaning<\/h3> <p>Like <em>The Holly and the Ivy<\/em>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/sans-day-carol-lyrics\/\"><strong>Sans Day Carol<\/strong><\/a> presents the traditionally masculine Holly as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. Its natural range of green and red berries are fancifully extended to include fruits of white and black.<\/p> <p>The repetition of the opening phrase in each verse underlines the poem\u2019s powerful imagery, linking the holly\u2019s berries with Jesus\u2019s birth, crucifixion, death and resurrection. Percy Dearmer, Ralph <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/ralph-vaughan-williams\/\"><strong>Vaughan Williams<\/strong><\/a> and Martin Shaw, editors of the original <em>Oxford Book of Carols<\/em>, reported that the carol\u2019s catchy tune and its first three verses were notated by the Rev. G.H. Doble from the singing of W. D. Watson.<\/p> <p>Dan Watson learned the words and music from Thomas Beard, an elderly inhabitant of the Cornish village of St Day, two miles east of Redruth. The Breton Saint Day or They, abbot of Saint Gu\u00e9nole de Land\u00e9vennec, was widely worshipped in Cornwall. Watson translated Beard\u2019s folk-carol into Cornish, creating a fourth verse later added to the work\u2019s familiar English form.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/history-of-carol-singing\">Carol singing: when did the Christmas tradition begin?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"three-ships\"><strong>I Saw Three Ships<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>In December 1644, the Puritan-dominated English parliament voted to turn Christmas Day into a time of fasting and repentance, \u2018because it may call to remembrance \u2026 the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this feast \u2026 into an extreme forgetfulness of [Christ], by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights\u2026.\u2019 Carols were totally abolished five years later, replaced by drab Puritan hymns.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Blackmore's Night - I Saw Three Ships (Official Lyric Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GD7a0g9uODg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>English folk carols proved stubbornly resistant to parliamentary decree or extremes of religious fundamentalism. The earliest recorded text of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-i-saw-three-ships\/\"><strong>I saw three ships<\/strong><\/a> dates from a 1666 publication. But its folk origins are almost certainly much older.<\/p> <p>The carol\u2019s legendary \u2018plot\u2019 concerns the Magi, those three wise men from the East, known in medieval lore as the Three Kings of Cologne. Tradition has it that the Emperor Constantine\u2019s mother brought their remains from Byzantium to Milan, from where Frederick Barbarossa had their skulls shipped to Cologne Cathedral in 1162.<\/p> <p>\u2018Our saviour Christ\u2019 and the Virgin Mary become substitute passengers in the carol\u2019s most popular form. That said, one version from Humberside mentions three crawns or skulls \u2018ganging to Coln upon Rhine\u2019.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a class=\"standard-card-newarticle-title qa-card-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-pieces-christmas-choral-music\/\">Six of the best pieces of Christmas choral music<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"coventry\"><strong><em>The Coventry Carol<\/em><\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>When Thomas Sharp\u2019s <em>Dissertations on the Pageants or Dramatic Mysteries, anciently performed in Coventry<\/em> appeared in 1825, its pages contained a poorly transcribed copy of the songs from the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, one of the mystery plays performed annually in Coventry since the 1390s on the feast of Corpus Christi (Thursday after Trinity Sunday).<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"VOCES8: Lully, Lulla, Lullay - Philip Stopford\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-7qYeZcOioI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Part of the 16th-century manuscript containing these plays burned in a fire in 1879. This left Sharp\u2019s book as an important but corrupt source for the music of what modern editors have dubbed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/coventry-carol-lyrics\/\"><strong>The Coventry Carol<\/strong><\/a>. This lullaby appears towards the play\u2019s end, as the holy family makes its escape. Meanwhile, Herod\u2019s soldiers arrive and carry out their orders to slaughter all young children. The mothers are left to \u2018morne and say\u2019 (grieve and sigh) for the loss of their infants.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"boars-head\"><strong>The Boar\u2019s Head Carol<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>Just as holly and ivy became essential decorative items in the popular celebration of Christmas, the roasting and presentation of a boar\u2019s head, served with mustard, provided a suitably extravagant preface to yuletide feasts.<\/p> <p>The tradition\u2019s roots probably lie in pagan fertility rites. The best known of all surviving late medieval boar\u2019s head carols still gets a performance in procession each year at Queen\u2019s College, Oxford. Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton\u2019s Alsatian-born apprentice and successor, published a version of the text in his <em>Christmasse Carolles Newly Emprynted at London in the flete street<\/em> in 1521.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a class=\"standard-card-newarticle-title qa-card-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-best-modern-christmas-carols\/\">Five of the best modern Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>The tune used by the Queen\u2019s College revellers appeared in print in 1860. Its refrain got a revision just over 40 years later. \u2018So many as are at the feast\u2019 (Quot estis in convivio) are called to be merry by a solo voice. \u2018The boar\u2019s head I bring, giving praises to the Lord,\u2019 (Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino), respond the choir.<\/p> <p>Here is a fine rendition from the brilliant <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/six-bestkings-singers-recordings\">King’s Singers<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Boar's Head Carol\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZxneviXDTAA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"seven-joys\"><strong>The Seven Joys of Mary<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>Generated by the medieval cult of the Virgin Mary, many of the symbols of this Christmas carol have now lost their meanings. <em>The Seven Joys of Mary <\/em>today sounds more like a nursery rhyme than a work of popular devotion. This impression is intensified by the jaunty nature of its surviving folk-carol melody.<\/p> <p>In pre-Reformation England, Marian worshippers generally addressed their prayers to the Virgin in groups of five. The so-called Joys traditionally comprised the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Assumption, although the Annunciation and Coronation also appear in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/medieval-music-guide\">Medieval<\/a><\/strong> carols of the Five Joys.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-medieval-composers\">Best Medieval composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/medieval-musical-instruments\">Ten Medieval musical instruments<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Religious reforms had little effect on the popularity of the number carol. Nonetheless, although Mary\u2019s joys gradually increased as the tradition lost touch with its Rosary-inspired roots. Ten- and twelve-fold versions of this carol include the rare joys of bringing the crooked straight, turning water into wine and writing without a pen.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"herod\"><strong>King Herod and the Cock<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>As legendary carols go, <em>King Herod and the Cock<\/em> gets its message across without wasting a word. The star of the Nativity shines brightly in King Herod\u2019s chamber. And its significance is explained to the troubled ruler by the Wise Men. \u2018A princely babe was born that night\/ No king could e\u2019er destroy,\u2019 they report.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"King Herod and the Cock\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dbZbOmFpgHo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Herod points to a roasted cockerel in a dish and tells his visitors that, if their story is true, the bird \u2018shall crow full fences [times] three\u2019. The cock \u2018thrustened\u2019 or pushed out its chest and, \u2018by God\u2019s own hand, \u2018did crow full fences three.\/ In the dish where he did stand\u2019. This folk-carol\u2019s traditional tune and words, as sung by Mrs Plumb of Armscote, Worcestershire, were first written down by Cecil Sharp around a century ago.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wassail\"><strong>Wassail! Wassail! All over the Town! <\/strong>meaning<\/h3> <p>Christmastide luck-visits or \u2018goodings\u2019 formed a widespread custom in England during the early modern period. Part of a seasonal relaxation of the strict forms and order of society, they stretched back to the Middle Ages. <em>The Gloucestershire Wassail<\/em>, or ‘Wassail! Wassail! All over the Town!’ opens with a keyword in the luck visitor\u2019s vocabulary. One that grew to carry a meaning not so far removed from today\u2019s \u2018trick or treat\u2019.<\/p> <p>Wassail derives, by way of Norman French, from the Old Norse salutation <em>wesheill<\/em>, literally \u2018be whole\u2019 or \u2018be well\u2019. Joseph Strutt, in the third volume of his <em>The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England <\/em>(1801), refers to the wassail bowl, \u2018which was carried about by young women on New Year\u2019s Eve, who went from door to door \u2026 singing.\u2019 The company of carollers expected \u2018a small gratuity in return\u2019.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gloucestershire Wassail | The Longest Johns\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SiBsoMh03SA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>The white bread mentioned in <em>The Gloucestershire Wassail\u2019<\/em>s first verse was a foodstuff of the wealthy. That suggests that wassail singers began their rounds at the \u2018big house\u2019. The choristers were also on the lookout for \u2018Christmas pie\u2019, made from game, and \u2018a bowl of the best\u2019.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"past-three\"><strong>Past Three o\u2019Clock<\/strong> meaning<\/h3> <p>Last in our list of Christmas carol lyrics and their meanings – and this is a nicely atmospheric one. Long before the invention of Greenwich Mean Time, townsfolk learned of the hour, almost painfully so, by the ringing of church bells by day and the antics of the bellman and waits by night.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Carols from King's 2016 | #5 "Past three a clock" arr. Stephen Cleobury - Choir of King's College\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-tVkwBGEFt8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>The tune of <em>Past three o\u2019clock<\/em> appears to have been in the repertory of the ‘London waits’. This group of musicians was responsible for keeping watch between eleven at night and five in the morning, from the Monday following All Hallows Day to the week before Christmas and other times of the year. During Christmas the waits, ever ready to put on a show for civic bigwigs, came in from the cold to perform carols and other seasonal tunes.<\/p> <p><em>Past three o\u2019clock<\/em> carries an authentic refrain to remind listeners of the watchman\u2019s cold and frosty world, newly harmonised in the late 1800s by Charles Wood. The words of the carol\u2019s verse were freshly crafted to suit Wood\u2019s rustic setting by G. R. Woodward. Few carols can compete with such immortal lines as \u2018Hinds o\u2019er the pearly,\/ Dewy lawn early\u2019 or \u2018Cheese from the dairy\/ Bring they for Mary\u2019.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 16:27 PM Countless millions today know the tune, if not the words, of at least one traditional Christmas carol. Thanks to dogged scholarship by twentieth-century collectors and editors, we can unlock the meaning and trace the roots of our favourite carols. The following examples should add spice to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50866,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"12"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/christmas-carol-meanings-the-hidden-messages-behind-your-favourite-carols.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 16:27 PM Countless millions today know the tune, if not the words, of at least one traditional Christmas carol. Thanks to dogged scholarship by twentieth-century collectors and editors, we can unlock the meaning and trace the roots of our favourite carols. The following examples should add spice to…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}