Maria Walks Amid the Thorn
Christmas Carols Explained, #16
Spain and Germany. Two countries with strong Christmas traditions who also historically hated communists and have since been “culturally enriched” have contributed greatly to our corpus of seasonal music. Yesterday was Spain. Today we talk about Germany.
“Maria durch ein Dornwald ging” dates back to the 1800s, but is probably older than that. It’s a story with a lot of symbolism, as it’s about a pregnant Mary walking through a destitute forest and watching it come to life around her because she’s carrying the Christ child. It’s sung during the Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) more than on Christmas itself, so it’s something of a reverent hype song, focusing on birth and renewal.