| Author | Topic: Add: Candlemas Eve | |
| dmcg | Posted - 19 Nov 05 - 08:48 am | |
Down with the rosemary and bays, Down with the mistletoe; Instead of holly now upraise The greener box for show. The holly hitherto did sway: Let box now domineer Until the dancing Easter Day, Or Easter's Eve appear. Then youthful box, which now has grace Your houses to renew, Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crisp-ed yew. When yew is out, then birch comes in, And many flowers beside, Both of a fresh and fragrant kin, To honour Whitsuntide. Green rushes then, and sweetest bents, With cooler oaken boughs, Come in for comely ornaments, To re-adorn the house. Thus times do shift, thus times do shift; Each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, new things succeed, As former things grow old. Source: Oxford Book of Carols, OUP, Ed. Percy Dearmer, R Vaughan Williams, Martin Notes: This tune is from an old church-gallery book, discovered by the Rev. L. J. T. Darwall. I liked the aptness of the ending! Edited By DMcG - 19 Nov 05 - 08:52 am | ||
| nutty | Posted - 20 Nov 05 - 08:43 pm | |
by R. Herrick 1591 - 1674 | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 20 Nov 05 - 11:30 pm | |
Thanks, nutty. I must admit that, once a song is over about 70 years or so, I'm rarely able to guess when they were written with any sort of reliability. If asked, I would have suggested late Victorian for this one. Its useful to be put right! | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 21 Nov 05 - 05:03 am | |
Herrick is credited on the same page of OBC, Dave. Like me, you may need new glasses for that small print! The arrangement was by Martin Shaw. | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 21 Nov 05 - 10:36 pm | |
Ah, but we've had this problem before, Malcolm. You have a different edition of OBC to me, and it's not in mine. (Either that, or I really do need new glasses!) | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 01:22 am | |
Well, I do anyway. My copy is the 23rd impression (1956) of the "music edition" (originally 1928). Which are you working from? | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 07:14 am | |
Mine is the 38th impression, but more importantly the notes say "The twenty-fifth Impression Re-engineered and Reset". I believe that in that resetting quite a lot of the notes were tweaked for good or ill. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 03:43 pm | |
Ah, I see. It's a pity they did that. If at any time you need to know if the earlier edition has any extra details on anything, do let me know. | ||
| IanC | Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 04:58 pm | |
Just as a matter of interest, the song refers to the old habit of removing the Christmas decorations before Candlemas (now it's Epiphany). I think it was Charles II who got fed up with the Christmas celebrations going on for 6 weeks and reduced the season down to 12 days in England. :-) | ||
| nutty | Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 09:18 pm | |
Sorry Ian .... the song refers to the custom of decorating the house and particularly the floor (as there were no carpets) with the products of Nature. Which was something that happened all the year round ... not just at Christmas. Herrick wrote lots of rhymes about 17th/18th century customs which make very interesting reading. | ||
| nutty | Posted - 22 Nov 05 - 09:20 pm | |
correction to the above. I'm getting old >>> I meant 16th/17th century customs | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 25 Nov 05 - 01:26 pm | |
From From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert Herrick, Arranged with introduction by Francis Turner Palgrave: *20* | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 26 Nov 05 - 08:51 am | |
From The Book of Days Vol_ 1, page 214: Somewhat before this time, we find Herrick alluding to the customs of Candlemass eve: it appears that the plants put up in houses at Christmas were now removed.'Down with the rosemary and bays, Edited By masato sakurai - 02 Jan 06 - 03:30 pm | ||
| Edward Frostick | Posted - 02 Jan 06 - 02:29 pm | |
I have a farmhouse in Connaught (West of Ireland)and the local shops often have window displays for Candlemass. I've also noticed that, in Ireland generally, Xmas decorations are left up much longer than in the UK. | ||
| Pip Freeman | Posted - 03 Jan 06 - 09:41 am | |
In my childhood on the Welsh borders the Christmas decorations were always taken down on New Year's Eve and the house cleaned from top to bottom to be ready for a bright new year. | ||
| Clive (guest) |
Posted - 15 Dec 07 - 03:13 pm | |
Kate Rusby sang this song on stage in Ulverston, Cumbria last Thursday. It was stunning. | ||