| Author | Topic: Add: May Day Carol | |
| Pip Freeman | Posted - 08 Dec 03 - 04:50 pm | |
May Day Carol Awake, ye pretty maids, awake, Refreshed from drowsy dream, And haste to dairy house, and take For us a dish of cream. If not a dish of yellow cream, Then give us kisses three The woodland bower is white with flower, And green is every tree. A branch of May we bear about Before the door it stands; There's not a sprout unbudded out, The work of God's own hands. Awake, awake ye pretty maids, And take the May-bush in, Or 'twill be gone ere tomorrow morn, And you'll have none within. Throughout the night, before the light, There fell the dew or rain, it twinkles bright on May bush white, It sparkles on the plain. The heavenly gates are open wide To let escape the dew, And heavenly grace falls on each place It drops on us and you. The life of man is but a span, He blossoms as a flower, He makes us stay, is here to day, And vanish'd in an hour. My song is done, I must be gone, Nor make a longer stay. God bless you all, both great and small, And send you gladsome May. Verses 6 and 7 were added when the character of the May-Day visit was changed from one of lovers to their swethearts into children seeking May gifts. Then kisses three were changed to "Pennies one or three." Source: Songs of the West - S. Baring Gould Notes: Baring Gould notes: Melody and words noted down a good many years ago by J.S. Cayner Esq. it was sung, till of late years in my neighbourhood, where a bunch of flowers at the end of a stick was carried about by children. it was customary in England for a lover on may morning to take a green bough to the house of the beloved. if she opened the door and took it in, this was a token of acceptance. At the Puritan epoch this custom was altered, and the song was converted into a carol with a moral to it, see "Notes and Queries," Third Series ix p. 380; Hone's "Every Day Book," 1826, i p. 567; Chamber's "Book of Days," i p. 578. Herrick refers to the custom of youths bringing their May bushes to the maids of their choice:- Added to database here | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 08 Dec 03 - 07:18 pm | |
Roud 305. Examples have been found throughout England -though most concentrated in the South and Midlands- and occasionally in the USA. I don't find the Notes & Queries reference at page 380, but perhaps page 388 may have been meant. It can be seen at The Internet Library of Early Journals: A Huntingdonshire May-Day Song The Chambers reference can be seen at Chambers's Book of Days: May-Day Carol | ||
| Jon Freeman | Posted - 08 Dec 03 - 11:39 pm | |
Just a comment on the page 380 reference. I thought that the most likely cause of error was a typo on our part. I've just "double checked" the source and am sure that is not the case. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 09 Dec 03 - 12:40 am | |
First thing I did. If it's a mistake, it's from the book. | ||
| Pip Freeman | Posted - 09 Dec 03 - 09:38 am | |
I couldn't access the Internet Library of Early Journals or the Chambers Book of Days, but the other reference was delightful to read, with the little 'feminine Mayers' being given refuge in the barn from the weather to play their May games. Interesting that Baring-Gould made a mistake with the page number, or maybe it was the publishers error. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 10 Dec 03 - 11:07 am | |
The Every-Day Book version ("Remember us poor Mayers all"; without music), quoted in full by Chambers (see Malcolm's link above), is titled "The Mayer's Song," with this note: The "Mayer's Song" is a composition, or rather a medley, of great antiquity, and I was therefore very desirous to procure a copy of it; in accomplishing this, however, I experienced more difficulty than I had anticipated; but at length succeeded in obtaining it from one of the Mayers. Edited By masato sakurai - 10-Dec-2003 11:08:22 AM | ||