The Twelve Days of Christmas Days 10, 11 and 12
I planned to post information about the last three of the twelve days of Christmas on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of January. I also planned to take down the Christmas Decorations on the 5th. Unfortunately, I have a chest infection, which needed a course of antibiotics.
Day Ten commemorates the feast of St John the Apostle, Day Eleven is the Octave Day of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, and Day 12 is the Feast Day of St. Simon Stylites (390-459). The saint mortified his flesh. After he was dismissed by his horrified abbot, St. Simon became a hermit, eventually living on a 6 foot wide platform on a pillar 60 feet high. From there he prayed and preached to the curious and the faithful, who included three emperors, and received letters.
The twelfth day of Christmas also represents the coming of the Magi for the Epiphany.
In the Middle Ages, the Twelve Days of Christmas were celebrated with non-stop feasting and merry making, often presided over by a Lord of Misrule, which concluded on Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas Season.
Finally, in Tudor England, William Shakespeare chose to name one of his stage plays, Twelfth Night.
Showing posts with label The Magi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Magi. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Friday, 28 December 2012
The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Four
The 12 Days of Christmas – Day 4
According to the Gospel of St. Mathew, the Magi (the three wise men) told Herod that the King of the Jews would soon be born. Herod requested the Magi to return and tell him when they found the baby. However, an angel warned them not to, so they returned home by another route.
Thwarted because he could not implement his plan to murder the Christ Child, Herod gave orders for all the boy children in Bethlehem who were under the age of two to be slaughtered. The murdered innocents are regarded as saints and are the patron saints of foundlings.
People believed no work undertaken on the 28th of December would prosper, and that the day of the week on which Holy Saints’ Day fell would be unlucky throughout the following year.
A carol titled The Coventry Carol dates from the 16th century, it was part of a mystery play called "The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors". The carol is a mother’s imaginary lament for her ill-fated son. The following is one of the modern
Chorus
“Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Lullay, thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay. )
O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Chorus
Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
Chorus
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lulla.”
Chorus
The fourth of the twelve days of Christmas on the 28th of December is Holy Innocents’ Day, which was for fasting not feasting.
According to the Gospel of St. Mathew, the Magi (the three wise men) told Herod that the King of the Jews would soon be born. Herod requested the Magi to return and tell him when they found the baby. However, an angel warned them not to, so they returned home by another route.
Thwarted because he could not implement his plan to murder the Christ Child, Herod gave orders for all the boy children in Bethlehem who were under the age of two to be slaughtered. The murdered innocents are regarded as saints and are the patron saints of foundlings.
People believed no work undertaken on the 28th of December would prosper, and that the day of the week on which Holy Saints’ Day fell would be unlucky throughout the following year.
A carol titled The Coventry Carol dates from the 16th century, it was part of a mystery play called "The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors". The carol is a mother’s imaginary lament for her ill-fated son. The following is one of the modern
Chorus
“Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Lullay, thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay. )
O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Chorus
Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
Chorus
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lulla.”
Chorus
Friday, 7 December 2012
Nativity Carols Mediaeval and Modern
Nativity Carols
Some mediaeval carols written in the 15th century query how a humble girl would react if an angel appeared. Such nativity carols would have helped ordinary people to understand that, like them, Mary had been a real person.
However the Magi were far removed from the experience of common folk. The three kings, frequently called Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, who had travelled far from home, perhaps as far away as India, bringing exotic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, must have seemed extraordinary.
I enjoy the popular carol We Three Kings Orient Are, written in 1857 by Reverend John Henry Hopkins, the first verse of which is:
"We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star."
I have no doubt that mediaeval men, women and children of high and low degree enjoyed carols which celebrate the Adoration of the infant Jesus by the Magi, the first verse of one of which was:
"A sterre shone bright on Twelfte Day,
Ouer that place where Jhesus lay.
On Twelfte Day this sterre so clere,
Brought kinges in oute of the eest,
Vnto that King that hath no pere,
In Bethleem Jude where he did rest,
This steere that day tho went away,
From that swete place where Jesus lay.
In an age when most people were illiterate such a carol was both enjoyable and instructive."
I’ve just shared this article with my six year-old granddaughter, who is starring in her school play ‘Little Angel Gets Her Wings’. She has shared the part in the play about the three kings, and sung a carol about them. So, today, children ike my granddaughter share the same joy and wonder as children in times past.
Some mediaeval carols written in the 15th century query how a humble girl would react if an angel appeared. Such nativity carols would have helped ordinary people to understand that, like them, Mary had been a real person.
However the Magi were far removed from the experience of common folk. The three kings, frequently called Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, who had travelled far from home, perhaps as far away as India, bringing exotic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, must have seemed extraordinary.
I enjoy the popular carol We Three Kings Orient Are, written in 1857 by Reverend John Henry Hopkins, the first verse of which is:
"We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star."
I have no doubt that mediaeval men, women and children of high and low degree enjoyed carols which celebrate the Adoration of the infant Jesus by the Magi, the first verse of one of which was:
"A sterre shone bright on Twelfte Day,
Ouer that place where Jhesus lay.
On Twelfte Day this sterre so clere,
Brought kinges in oute of the eest,
Vnto that King that hath no pere,
In Bethleem Jude where he did rest,
This steere that day tho went away,
From that swete place where Jesus lay.
In an age when most people were illiterate such a carol was both enjoyable and instructive."
I’ve just shared this article with my six year-old granddaughter, who is starring in her school play ‘Little Angel Gets Her Wings’. She has shared the part in the play about the three kings, and sung a carol about them. So, today, children ike my granddaughter share the same joy and wonder as children in times past.
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