A Christmas Threefer, if you will.
Christmas Carols Explained, 11-13
Sorry, I fumbled the last few days, so here’s a combo run.
Song the First: The Cherry Tree Carol
No, you’ve never heard of this one and I haven’t either, so we’re on a journey of mutual discovery here, haha. But the origins are cool! Like the best things in America, this song started in England and was perfected in Appalachia. I fished around and found this version by Joan Baez and it seems pretty popular.
The song is about Joseph and Mary en route to Bethlehem, but it takes some creative liberties with the tale, throwing shade on Joseph at first. Mary is hungry and asks Joseph to hand her some cherries from a nearby tree, but he refuses because he’s still in doubt as to the origins of her pregnancy and he’s a little butthurt about it.
(I’ll mention that he was told by God not to doubt her by this point, so the song is really playing with Scripture here.)
Anyway, after Joseph rebuffs her, God Himself makes the cherry tree lower its branches so that Mary can eat. Joseph sees this, repents, and accepts the role God has assigned to him.
I think as a piece of scriptural folklore (even fanfic, if you’ll go that far) it has charm to it and it works as a lesson on humility and repentance. The fact that it’s not doctrinal matters less than the result.
Also I was surprised to learn that cherries do grow in the Middle East and the Fertile Crescent, but likely not on the route Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem.
Song the Second: Now Are Lit A Thousand Christmas Lights
We’re going Swedish with this one! Emmy Köhler composed “Nu tändas tusen juleljus” in 1898, and no, I have no clue how to pronounce that. In Scandinavia they have long-running traditions of lighting candles from Advent to Christmas to light up the dark season. The practical reasons and metaphors are obvious.
It’s predominately popular as a school piece and a family song, for the wee ones. It’ll stay that way provided Sweden doesn’t try to absorb too many more doctors and engineers, but let’s keep it moving.
Song the Third: Masters In This Hall
You know, England and France have beef that goes back farther than the Sooners and Longhorns (Boomer, says the righteous man), but occasionally they team up to produce something special. In this case, England provides the lyrics and France gives us the melody. The arrangement I found (thank you, TabCats!) is very energetic and I like my Christmas songs with a little punch-and-step to them.
The style, while “modern,” is a throwback to medieval mystery plays with its dramatic tone, which is where the aforementioned energy comes from. The song is about a lowly shepherd bursting into a hall and announcing Christ’s birth to the masters of said hall.
Thanks for reading to the end! I’ll block out some time this weekend to get next week all set up. I like doing the dailies.