Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 46 · Carols of Many Lands · Page 68 in print
Deck the Halls
Grove’s Dictionary used Nos Galan, the Welsh tune of Deck the Halls, as its example of penillion singing, in which a chorus answers each line of the verse with a burden.
Jump to a word
The words
Boughs
The boughs of holly that deck the hall.
Calennig
Welsh New Year’s Day custom of children singing door to door.
Fa La La
The carol’s nonsense refrain.
Harp
The harp struck in verse two; Welsh Melodies was set for harp.
The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab) · IMSLP Petrucci Music Library (opens a new tab)
John Thomas
Welsh harpist (Pencerdd Gwalia) whose Welsh Melodies printed the carol in 1862.
Wikisource transcription “Deck the Halls (opens a new tab) · Grove (opens a new tab)
Mead Cup
The mead cup filled in the third line of verse one of Oliphant’s 1862 words.
Mistletoe
Hung with holly on Noson Gyflaith.
New Year's Eve
The meaning of Nos Galan; the carol was a New Year’s Eve song.
The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab) · Grove (opens a new tab)
Nos Galan
The Welsh New Year’s Eve air to which “Deck the Halls” is sung.
The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab) · Wikisource transcription “Deck the Halls (opens a new tab) · Grove (opens a new tab)
Oliphant
Thomas Oliphant, author of the English words (1862).
Wikisource transcription “Deck the Halls (opens a new tab) · IMSLP Petrucci Music Library (opens a new tab)
Penillion
Welsh verse-singing to the harp; Grove’s example tune is Nos Galan.
Plygain
The Welsh pre-dawn Christmas carol service.
Talhaiarn
Welsh poet who supplied the Welsh words for Welsh Melodies.
Toffee Night
Noson Gyflaith, the Welsh Christmas Eve when toffee was made before Plygain.
Welsh Melodies
John Thomas’s collection (1862) in which the English words first appeared.
Wikisource transcription “Deck the Halls (opens a new tab) · IMSLP Petrucci Music Library (opens a new tab)
Sources
- The Oxford Book of Carols (first published 1928; 1964 printing), Internet Archive scanInternet Archive
- Wales.com (Welsh Government), “Welsh Christmas Traditions” by Jude Rogerswales.com
- IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, “Welsh Melodies for the Voice (Thomas, John)”IMSLP
- Wikisource transcription “Deck the Halls (1862) by Thomas Oliphant” (editorial header)Wikisource
- Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1st ed.), “Welsh Music”, transcribed on WikisourceWikisource