Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 11 · Old English Folk Carols · Page 25 in print
The Holly and the Ivy
John Stow recorded that a storm on Candlemas Day 1444 uprooted a pole at Leadenhall in Cornhill, London, that had been nailed full of holly and ivy for Christmas.
Jump to a word
The words
Bark
The holly bark, bitter as any gall, in the carol text.
Berry
The holly berry, red as any blood, in the carol text.
Blossom
The white holly blossom of the second verse.
Campden
Chipping Campden, where Mary Clayton sang the tune to Cecil Sharp.
Sharp, English Folk-Carols (opens a new tab) · Cecil Sharp’s People (opens a new tab)
Churchwardens
Parish officers whose accounts record payments for holly and ivy.
Crown
The crown the holly bears among the trees of the wood.
Deer
The running deer of the chorus.
East Harptree
Somerset village where Sharp found extra verses.
Sharp, English Folk-Carols (opens a new tab) · Cecil Sharp’s People (opens a new tab)
Evergreens
The custom of decking houses with holly and ivy at the year’s end.
Holly
The tree that bears the crown in the carol text.
Mary Clayton
Chipping Campden singer whose tune became the standard one.
Sharp, English Folk-Carols (opens a new tab) · Cecil Sharp’s People (opens a new tab)
Merry Organ
The playing of the merry organ in the chorus.
Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols New (opens a new tab) · Husk, Songs of the Nativity (opens a new tab)
Prickle
The holly prickle, sharp as any thorn, in the carol text.
Thorn
The thorn to which the holly prickle is compared.
Wadsworth
Birmingham printer of a Holly and the Ivy broadside.
Sources
- H. R. Bramley and John Stainer (eds), Christmas Carols New and Old (London: Novello, Ewer and Co., undated scan); Internet Archive, Princeton Theological Seminary copyInternet Archive
- Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk-Carols (London: Novello; Taunton: Barnicott and Pearce, 1911); Internet Archive scanInternet Archive
- Cecil Sharp’s People (David Sutcliffe), performer profile ‘Clayton, Mrs Mary Ann’cecilsharpspeople.org.uk
- William Henry Husk (ed.), Songs of the Nativity (London: John Camden Hotten); Internet Archive scan (UCLA), catalogue date [1884?]Internet Archive