ONE highly enjoyable part of the Christmas season involves the season’s popular carols. We hear them on the radio along with screened services on television, whilst carol singers can be heard in the open air, either moving from door to door with a collection box or singing around Christmas trees in our cities and market towns. We can hear carols in church too, often with children making them even more enjoyable to hear.

So what exactly is a carol? Is it merely an alternative name for a hymn that is sung around Christmas time or is it a religious song that can be sung at any time of the year? Indeed, does it necessarily have to have a religious flavour or a Christmas theme? And when did the notion of singing carols during the Christmas season actually begin? And why?

There is a belief that carols were originally based on singing dances known as caraulae that were looked down upon by educated people. This probably occurred long before people could commit musical notes to a form of writing. The rhythm and tune would be passed on by custom and word of mouth and if the music was sufficiently stimulating, then it would seem natural to dance.

My thesaurus suggests several alternative words for carol. They include canticle, canzonet, chorus, ditty, hymn, lay, noel, song and strain.

It was Martin Luther who referred to German hymns as chorales and the name of a European singing dance was caraula.

At times during the coming days, some of us might question the precise meaning of carol and some years ago, it was said by some purists that Good King Wenceslas did not originate as a folk song, therefore it could not be considered a true carol. The reason for this might have been that the music of this carol does not lend itself to dancing and that it is of fairly modern origin. It was created in Victorian times by a clergyman called Dr Neale.

In fact, many of our well-known carols originated in the 19th century. For example, Silent Night was composed in 1818 on behalf of an Austrian village; Away in a Manger dates to 1883 when it was composed in Philadelphia, USA and In the Bleak Midwinter was composed in 1885 with words by Christina Rossetti.

There is a strong hint in our well established Christmas customs that some of our best known Christmas songs date to pagan times when this season was known as Yule. We still refer to it as Yuletide, we place greenery in our homes in the form of the Christmas tree along with the Yule log and evergreens like ivy and laurel, not forgetting communal singing, dancing, feasting and all forms of merrymaking.

Many of us will know the words of the carol widely known as The Holly and the Ivy. In the original version of that short carol there was no reference to God, the Birth of Christ or the vigil of the shepherds. However, some modern versions appear to celebrate the birth of Christ.

It might be said that the celebrations of Yuletide were essentially pagan, being enjoyed by the people long before Christianity appeared. The fact was that the spread of Christianity both in this country and around the world literally took over and eventually replaced the Yuletide celebrations by arranging our Christian festivities at the same time that Yule was being celebrated. In time, the two traditions merged, apparently peacefully, and so it is today.

Today, however, Christmas is celebrated with little heed of its long and interesting history. In some ways, it does seem that shopping is the new religion at this time of year. I am sure the shops attract greater numbers of their faithful than do the churches with their bargain hunters.

And it may be interesting to know that the carol singing season begins officially next Sunday.

St Thomas' Eve

Next Sunday is the Eve of St Thomas, with St Thomas’ Day following on Monday which is also the shortest day, more formally known as the Winter Solstice (December 21).

One very old belief in rural England was that ghosts would roam freely on the Eve of St Thomas and continue their wanderings until Christmas Eve. I have never found any reason why they should do this.

One curious custom in rural Yorkshire was that before going to bed on St Thomas’ Eve, every lovesick Yorkshire lass would try to establish the identity of her future husband. To achieve this she had to peel a large red onion and stick nine pins into it. One had to be in the centre with the others around it and as she pressed home the pins, she had to sing this verse:

Good St Thomas, do me right,
Send my true love to me tonight;
In his clothes and his array,
Which he weareth every day
That I might see him in the face
And in my arms may him embrace.

She had then to place under her pillow, the onion complete with its pins with the hope she would dream of her true love.

The following day, December 21 is the shortest day of the year but also the Feast Day of St Thomas when the young lads of the North York Moors would go a-Thomassing. This meant going to all the outlying houses to ask for St Thomas gifts. Usually, the lads were expected and the gifts were a piece of Christmas ginger bread or a slice of pepper cake.

In the poorer areas, women would tour the mills to beg portions of wheat that were ground free of charge so they could make their Christmas cakes. In return, they would give the mill-owners free gifts of holly. This was known as A-Gooding. Another custom was that St Thomas’ onions, otherwise known as shallots, were planted on this day, and it was also considered a good day to plant broad beans.

Beautiful buntings

Shortly before compiling this week’s dairy, I was informed that a flight of snow buntings had been noted on the East Yorkshire coast at Bempton Cliffs. Slightly larger than house sparrows, the handsome males have black and white plumage in the mating season, but in winter this changes to a sandy brown colour, although in flight large areas of white will be seen on the wings. In general terms, the female looks rather like the male in his winter plumage and young ones are also a very similar colour to the female.

As their name suggests these are birds from the Arctic regions but in winter they may be seen around our coasts and on higher ground in Scotland, the Lake District and the Border areas. Sturdy and finch-like in appearance, they often form large flocks and are surprisingly tame in the presence of humans.

I have never had the good fortune to see this species and to my knowledge, none has ventured onto our bird feeders which are a long way from the coast. When feeding, however, they appear to spend a lot of time on the ground. Their actions make it appear they have rather short legs! Which is not entirely true but they do sport a rather large beak. end