A Holiday Wish - from a musicians point of view....

[Uncle Al]

Well, the weather man is saying we’re in for some cold temperatures, may be
some snow. So, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow for I’m Dreaming
Of A White Christmas. We will be having family Home For The Holidays.
O’ Christmas Tree, O’ Christmas Tree why haven’t you been put up yet!
We still must Deck The Halls with Boughs of Holly yet we’ve ran out of
The Holly and The Ivy. On Christmas morning, we’ll be Rock-n-Around the
Christmas Tree as we listen to the Jingle Bells and Silver Bells play their sweet song.

I hope that all have A Holly, Jolly Christmas!

Merry Christmas
&
Happy New Year!

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX

(I just had to sneak in a bunch of song titles )

And or Of---Thats what you get for thinking faster than you're typing

[sapphire]

Deck the halls with cows and collies?

The storm should be over by morning so we can go out and get our Solstice roast

One of my faves:

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina laetitiae devote redamus.
Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Deus homo factus est naturam erante,
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante.
Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Ezecheelis porta clausa per transitor
Unde lux est orta sallus invenitor.
Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro,
Benedicat domino sallas regi nostro.
Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete

[Since1982]

That's nice Sapphire, what does it say?

Uncle Al said: We still must Deck The Halls with Boughs and Holly yet we’ve

I must be really dense, my whole life long I've thought that verse went "Deck the halls with Boughs of holly, fa la la la la... la la... la laaaaaa". I'm amazed that it's really "boughs AND holly"...dumb me. O well

[sapphire]

The best translation from Latin I could come up with is below.
The group Steeleye Span did a stunning a capella version of this hymn. They also did wonderful versions of very old carols.

Another group that has done recordings of mid winter carols, both Christian and pagan, is John Roberts and Tony Barrand. Their recordings are on a series called Nowell Sing We Clear. Wonderful if you can find them. The recording label for John and Tony is Golden Hind.

Rejoice, Rejoice!
Christ is born
Of the virgin Mary,
Rejoice!

It is now the time of grace
That we have desired;
Let us sing songs of joy,
Let us give devotion.

God was made man,
And nature marvels;
The world was renewed
By Christ who is King.

The closed gate of Ezechiel
Has been passed through;
From where the light rises
Salvation is found.

Therefore let our assembly now sing,
Sing the Psalms to purify us;
Let it praise the Lord:
Greetings to our King.

[Uncle Al]

OK Skip--I've edited my post, and admitted my error at the bottom!

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX

[Sarongman]

And I allus thought it went "Deck the halls with poison ivy Tra la etc. Tis the season to be hivey & so on.

[Since1982]

HUMOR...Uncle Al, I didnt know it was your error, I really thought it was my error, I DO like Sarongman's rendition better than either of ours tho...lol lol lol lol lol ....lol lol ....lol lol ..(instead of la la etc. Deck my balls with boughs of thornbush, or is it Deck my boughs with balls of thornbush, la la lalalaaa lalalalaaa, Hit my head with loaves of hard bread, la la lalalalalaaa lalalaaaaa...Tis' the season to be horny..oops belay that, Tis' the season to be thorny, lala lalalalaaaal llaalalalaaaa Take we now our gay apparel, oops belay that, Take we now our gray apparel..nuts, forget it..my rhyming skills went to lunch. HUMOR tyme.
Good thing we're mature. Victor Mature? I'm old enough to remember when "gay apparel" meant happy and light-hearted...how things do change. mumble mumble!

Sapphire, THAT's Beautiful, thank you very much for translating that. Really let's us know how miniscule we all are in the grand scheme of things.

[sapphire]

Thanks Skip.

The group Steeleye Span broke up years ago, but I thinksome of their later albums are still available. If you can find one with "Gaudete" on it I urge you to buy it. The vocals are stunning.

I do have a fascination with songs from the late December holidays, Christian, pagan and blended. "The Holly and the Ivy" is an example of a blended carol. Martin Carthy's "The Wren", recorded by Steeleye Span as "The King", is essentially a hymn to the Druid tradtion of a ritual sacrifce of the bird and Christmas is mentioned as an afterthought.

"The Lord of the Dance" (Sydney Carter, 1963) is another favorite. This Lord of the dance has nothing to do with the stage show and is set to the tune of "Simple Gifts".

Another favorite is the hymn, "In the Bleak Midwinter", written in the mid-late 1800s with music by Gustav Holst.

Then for humor's sake, there's Tom Lehrer's ode to the commercialization of Christmas.... (Christmas time is here by golly, disapproval would be folly, deck the halls with hunks of holly, fill the cup and don't say 'when'.....)

Forgive me all, I'm blathering. I think it is time to crank up the stereo.

[Sasquatch]

Was it Dave Frishberg (sp?) who sang "Deck the halls with Boston Charlie"?

sasq

[Kris]

Was it Dave Frishberg (sp?) who sang "Deck the halls with Boston Charlie"?

sasq

I don't know who recorded it, but it came from the Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... on-charlie

Kris

[AMM]

Sapphire's carol got the Latin scholar in me going, and I couldn't resist trying to translate it. I had some problems, though.

You'll notice it consists of a two-line chorus alternating with two-line rhyming verses.

(chorus) Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Couldn't find any word beginning with "virgina-" It's either "virgine" -- "[born] (out) of Mary the virgin" or "virginea" -- "[born] (out) of virgin Mary". The meter suggests the latter, giving:
"Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is born
of virgin Mary, rejoice!"

(verse 1) Tempus adest gratiae hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina laetitiae devote redamus.

If I change the second line to "...devotae reddamus", I get:
"This time of grace which we were longing for is here
Let us respond with songs of pious joy".

(Verse 2) Deus homo factus est naturam erante,
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante.

I can't make the grammar work for the first line, unless I change the ending to "... est natura inerrante" (which would be pronounced "... est natura_nerrante")
"God was made man with an unerring nature,
the world has been renewed by Christ ruling."

(Verse 3) Ezecheelis porta clausa per transitor
Unde lux est orta sallus invenitor.

Here, I'm stuck. The first line is "Ezechiel's gate, closed by transitor," but "transitor" is the wrong form to follow "per" (would have to be "transitorem," but that screws up the meter and rhyme), and I can't guess at a meaning of the word that would make sense (it's not in my dictionary, but could be derived from the verb "transeo"= to go across/through or perhaps to die (cf. "pass away.") I'm guessing that "sallus" is "salvus", so that "Unde lux est orta salvus" would be "whence comes the light of salvation", but "invenitor" isn't in my dictionaries and from its form should be the subject of a verb; but with "porta", we would have two subjects and no verb.

(Verse 4) Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro,
Benedicat domino sallas regi nostro.

"Sallas" = salvus? "Therefore let our throng sing in purification, and bless the Lord of salvation our king."

(Whew!)

I'm not sure if my problems are due to the Latin being so different from what I'm used to or if there were just some spelling errors introduced somewhere along the way.

[Since1982]

I'm soo happy I don't understand any Latin other than the scientific names of sea creatures, and bunches of thoughtful persons translated several ways for me. I STILL love it. Thank you all. I'm usually maudlin and depressed this time of year so things like this brighten me up some, again, Thanks a lot. I can't drown my depression with booze as I quit that 40 years ago. Chrismas poems and songs are very uplifting.

[Skirt Chaser]

Sapphire, the Christmas Revels in Cambridge (and other US cities too!) sound like something right up your alley. http://www.revels.org/ Songs from many traditions and "Lord of the Dance" at intermission leading everyone to the lobby in a spectacle of audience participation.

[sapphire]

Thanks Skirt Chaser

At 50 miles away, Cambridge is just a bit too far.

But, Worcester does have a First Night that brings in lots of music and traditions. Several churches will have both choral and organ music. There will be a performance on the Hook organ at Mechanics Hall, arts, crafts, singing, dancing and fireworks.

[Skirt Chaser]

You are right, 50 miles in a New England winter is very different than the same distance in warmer areas!