VERY OLD SONGS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

VERY OLD SONGS

I Carol and Chorus It has been said many limes thai when human beings are glad, they sing. The angels of the heavenly Host were glad when they sang to the shepherds at Christ's Nativity: "In Excelsis Gloria!" and churchmen and laymen the world over have sung with joy the carols that are planned for singing at Christmas. The word carol goes back to Latin words eantare, to sing, and rola, an interjection ol' joy. This explains the chorus or burden found in some of the old carols. Here is the chorus of one of the oldest written in the lHth century or perhaps earlier. Hail, Father Christmas! hail to thee! Honour'd ever shalt. Thou be! All the sweets that love bestows. Endless pleasures wait on those Who, like vassals brave and true, Give to Christmas, homage due. A carol such as Ibis was sung in the church while "Good King Wenceslas," "The Holly and the Ivy," "O, Come all. Ye Faithful," and many others were chanted very early in the morning outside windows of houses where citizens slept. Very many writers refer to the fact that carol-singers drew sleepy heads to the windows to praise and not to scold. The tuneful sweet voices are mentioned many times; for it often happened that children went a-carolling with grown-ups just as they do in many parts of England still.

There are numbers of carols which call men and women to thanksgiving and praise—"Good Christian Men, Rejoice!" "Christtians. Awake!" and "I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In"—and numbers which describe the birth of the Saviour or which tell various parts of the story of Christmas—"Away in a Manger," "Once in Royal David's City," and "The First Nowell." An old carol, "The Cherry-Tree Carol," sings: i "Joseph and Mary walked < Through an orchard good, Where was cherries and berries \ go red as any blood."

The old-fashioned words say lhal Mary was (old of the Saviour "He neither shall be born In housen nor in hall. Nor in the place of Paradise. But in an ox's stall." A Cornish carol, old as old. is called "Modryb Marya or The Virgin Mary." Like many of the other old Christmas songs and carols it has a story, this time of the holly which, they say. is Modryb Marya's tree. Now of all the trees by the king's highway, Which do you love the best? Oh! the one that is green upon Christmas Day. The bush with the bleeding breast: Now the holly with her drops of blood for 7ne: For that is Modryb Marya's tree. Its leaves are sweet with our Saviour's Name. 'Tis a plant that loves the Door: Summer and winter it shines the same Beside the coitage door. Oh! the holly with her drops of blood for me: For that is Modryb Marya's tree. "'Tis a buch that the birds will never leave: They sing in it all clay long: But sweetest of all upon Christmas Eve * Is to hear the robin's song. 'Tis the merriest sound upon earth and sea: For it comes from Modryb Marya's tree." So, of all that grows by the king's highway. I love that tree the best: 'Tis a bower for the birds upon Christmas Day. The bush of the bleeding breast. Oh! the holly with her drops of blood for me: For that is Modryb Marya's tree.

SAINT STF.PHFN The reference in the carol to (lie Feast of Stephen is interesting. Because there are two Stephens who were canonised, there are two separate dates for the feast of Stephen. The one which is obviously intended in the carol is solemnised on December 26 and honours the St. Stephen who was one of the seven deacons in the early Church and who was the first of the Christian martyrs. The fete day of the second St. Stephen is held on September 2. and is an occasion of some importance in Central Europe, particularly in Hungary. This St. Stephen was the first king of Hungarv and died on August 15. 1038. He had one thing in common with Wencelaus—his desire to convert his subjects to Christianity even by resorting to force. His efforts as a missionary were recognised bv Pope Sylvester 11., who presented him with a crown which was buried with him. Forty years later, though, this crown was recovered and was welded to that of another king, Geza f. The composite crown is the oldest European crown still extant, and a soecial tradition has been attached to this relic Mo ruler amons; the Magvars evm- exercised his sovereign right until he had put the crown upon his he-d and it was admitted that ho who was in possession of the crown ruled Hungary. To-day this crown and other coronation insignia ire kept in a room which has onlv two keys, each of which is guarded bv a custodian, appointed bv the Hungarian Parliament. One'of the custodians is expected to be always near the crown, and in addition two guards are posted in an ante-room nearby both day and night So much reverence is paid to th~ crown by the Hungarians that U has appeared on nearly all me stamp issues of this country and on the lower values of recent issues of «re°d C e C sln d the Central portion