"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly"

An Ancient Welsh Tune

Christmas is coming, and for Tony and me that also means that our wedding anniversary is upon us. Early in our marriage we began the custom of spending that day browsing antique shops, where we most enjoy doing our gift shopping. The antique shops usually broadcast traditional holiday music, likely with the idea of building on the kind of good memories of “the old days” that make people like us love antiques. It was always fun, and inevitably I’d find myself humming or singing along with the familiar music as I shopped.

Yesterday, then, we went on such a jaunt, but stayed a bit closer to home than usual due to a threat of snow. And for the first time in our 38 years of this ritual shopping trip, we found ourselves listening to .. a different kind of Christmas music, frankly un-hummable and more annoying than appealing. This was consistent in both shops we visited. I still enjoyed the shopping trip, but I have to admit that I missed the experience of hearing the loved old tunes “in the air,” if only during this one time of year.

Like most of you I am busy with preparations for the coming celebration. At our house we still decorate rather extensively for Christmas, starting outside, with lights and greenery, and then moving indoors. This past week, we have a literally been decking the halls with boughs of holly — from our bush in the front yard. And so for this week’s Sometimes a Song I want to revisit a simple but jolly tune I hope you will have a chance to sing with your family and friends this joyous season.

“Christmas Eve,” Carlton Alfred Smith. Public Domain.

“Deck the Halls with Bough of Holly” is a traditional carol set to an ancient Welsh tune (Nôs Galan), first transcribed in about the middle of the 18th century by the blind harpist, John Parry (Bardd Alaw), a member of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain, a charitable foundation which supports to this day the work and careers of worthy artists. Parry and his associate produced a work called British Harmony: Being a Collection of Antient Welsh Airs, the Traditional Remains of those Originally Sung By the Bards of Wales.

The first lyrics in English were composed by a famed Welsh musician and composer of his own day, Thomas Oliphant, and first appeared in 1862 in a four-volume collection called Welsh Melodies. Oliphant’s lyrics underwent a number of changes over the years, from the original Welsh tune traditionally sung at New Year’s to the light-hearted English carol which has been sung at Christmas for over two centuries.

Not to beat any longer about the holly bush, here — sung by the grand Welsh Treorchy Male Voice Choir — is “Deck the Halls,” sent to you along with best wishes from the Esolens for a very Merry Christmastide!