Sans Day Carol

The "Sans Day Carol" or "St. Day Carol" is one of the many traditional Cornish Christmas carols probably written in the 19th century. This carol and its melody were first transcribed from the singing of Thomas Beard, a villager in St Day in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall. The fourth verse is a translation from the Cornish version, "Ma gron war'n gelln".[1] The lyrics of "Now the holly bears a berry", the text most associated with the Sans Day Carol, are similar to those of "The Holly and the Ivy" and it is no. 35 in the Oxford Book of Carols. According to the Roud Folk Song Index, the "Sans Day Carol" and "The Holly and the Ivy" are variants of the same song, listed as number 514.

Words "Now the holly bears a berry"

The words of the text "Now the holly bears a berry," the most common and earliest used text for this carol, are as follows:

1. Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary she bore Jesus, who was wrapped up in silk:

Chorus: And Mary she bore Jesus our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree that's in the greenwood, it was the holly.
Holly! Holly!
And the first tree that's in the greenwood, it was the holly!

2. Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary she bore Jesus, who died on the cross:

Chorus

3. Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary she bore Jesus, who died for us all:

Chorus

4. Now the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red,
Then trust we our Saviour, who rose from the dead:

Chorus

Traditional recordings

Several traditional recordings have been made of the song, including one recording by James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s of an old Cornish man from Penzance named W. D. Watson, which can be heard online via the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.[2] The song appears to have travelled to the United States with American immigrants, where it was sung by the traditional Appalachian singer Jean Ritchie, who presumably learnt it in her rural Kentucky community.[3] This suggests the song is much older than the nineteenth century.

"When the Angel Came to Mary"

British hymnodist Michael Perry composed the text "When the Angel Came to Mary" which is also sung to the Sans Day Carol.[4]

Cover versions

References
  1. Dearmer, Percy (ed.) (1928) The Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford U. P.; pp. 74-75
  2. "Holly Bears a Berry, The (VWML Song Index SN19089)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  3. "The Holly Bears the Berry (Roud Folksong Index S304355)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  4. "When the angel came to Mary - Jubilate". Jubilate.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2021.


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