Faithful readers,
Once again December has caught me flat footed. It is almost 10 days into the month and I am still researching interesting historical information about Christmas holiday celebrations as Jane Austen would have known them. While many books, articles, bloggers and internet sites cover this topic in detail, I hope to add a few interesting items that might not be widely known. I urge you to read Austenonly’s excellent article, “But Surely Christmas in England Didn’t Exist Until Dickens Invented It? “, which explains how and why this season was suppressed for years by the Puritans in the mid-17th century, when Charles I had been deposed and beheaded, and how our customs managed to survive and flourish.
As many of you know, Christmas celebrations as we know it in modern times (the decorative tree, a German custom, the elaborately wrapped presents, and the many traditional carols we still sing today) are rooted in Victorian times. So how did Jane Austen and her contemporaries celebrate this important Christian holiday? I hope to link to many articles of interest and provide a few insights of my own.
I learned with shock that many of my favorite carols, such as Silent Night and The First Noel, were written after Jane Austen’s death. I chose the following two 17th century carols (which Jane Austen might not have known, but which had been retrieved from obscurity in 1841 by Thomas Wright in Specimens of Old Christmas Carols ) because of the Boar’s Head motif, which has endured to this day. I love the old English spelling in these songs and yet their content speaks to the celebrations we still hold today.
A Carol bringyng in the bores heed.
Caput apm’ dgfero, Reddens laudes Domino.
[From a Collection of Christmas Carols, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1521, from which book it is given by Hearne, in his notes to William of Newbery, iii. p. 17 5.]
The bores heed in hande bring I,
With garlands gay and rosemary;
I praye you all synge merely,
qui estis in convivio.
The bores heed, I understande,
Is the chefe servyce of this lande;
Loke where ever it be fande,
servite cum cantico.
Be gladde, lordes, bothe more and lasse,
For this hath ordeyned owr stewarde,
T o chere you all this Christmasse,
The bores heed with mustarde.
XIX. [The following modernised form of the foregoing carol, is given by Dr. Dibdin, as preserved and used up to a very recent period at Queen’s College, Oxford. Dibdin’s Ames, vol. ii. p. 252.]
THE boar’s head in hand bear I,
Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary;
And I pray you, my masters, be merry,
Quot estis in convivio.
Caput Apri defero,
Reddens laudes Domino.
The boar’s head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck’d with a gay garland,
Let us servire cantico.
Caput Apri dlfero,
Reddens laudes Domino.
Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the king of bliss;
Which on this day to be served is
In Reginemn’ Atria.
Caput Apri defero,
Reddens laudcs Domino.
Jane Austen's World 
Other carols possible at the time were:
Veni Emmanuel, which might have been translated for any community by a vicar well enough versed in Latin. There are a selection of more modern translations, but it’s not hard to take the Latin and make your own free translation.
Likewise Adeste Fideles, which had no official translation into Oh Come All ye Faithful yet.
Adam lay Ybounden is an old carol.
Shepherds Arise is a Sussex carol so would need an excuse to export it elsewhere.
In Dulci Jubilo
Lullay my liking
Love Divine was used for advent, but not to Blaenwern or Hyfrodol.
Hark! the glad sound, the saviour comes
While shepherds watched their flocks by night
On Jordan’s bank the baptist’s cry, also for advent.
A selection of Wesleyan carols:
Hark! the Herald Angels sing was at the time sung to the tune ‘Christ the Lord is Risen today’. Aka Hark! how all the welkin rings
Come thou long expected Jesus
Ye simple men of hearts sincere
Branch of Jesse’s stem arise
Light of those whose dreary dwelling
Isaac Watts’ Joy to the World was sung to a very boring tune nothing like the modern one
Also by Watts, Shepherds rejoice
Quelle est cette odor agreable might be used if the congregation were not too opposed to all things French, to a tune from Gay’s ‘Beggars Opera’.
”God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” for sure…
you both complicate it too much
I’d say back at JA times Christmas for real Christians *was* purer ,with or without Puritans…
without all the modern nonsense people had more focus on what should be in focus. At least I hope Jane did
It’s always nice to be reminded of history of customs and traditions we take for granted.
denise
I have a hobby of collecting traditional carols with as many verses as I am able to locate…so often the meat of the message lies in those that have been dropped off! Putting words to music is of course a fabulous aid for memorizing. I had not really paid much attention to chronology, more the variety and depth and also from as many countries as possible. That said, Praetorius (German) harmonized “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming in 1609; “The Friendly Beasts”, which goes by various animal names, dates from the 12th Century (France). And don’t forget the Psalms/Psalter, from which several denominations yet sing, as a likely source of music at any season! Aren’t we fortunate to live in a time when so much that is lovely is available to us?!
wow, is ‘Es ist ein rose entsprungen’ English first? I only know it for the OCB. I believe the Czech bird carol is quite old as well but not known in England until the Victorian period.
We are truly fortunate in the depth and breadth of music available. We also have the wonderful Welsh tunes denied to those of Austen’s time like Cwm Rhonda, Hyfrodol, Blaenwern and others I can’t spell.