A Very Vintage Christmas post #7
6 days until Christmas
We hope you are all having a truly joyous holiday season. This time of year can get so busy, with all of the shopping and decorating, and traveling and wrapping, etc. And those things are fun, to be sure, but do you ever stop and find that you are forgetting what the true spirit of Christmas is all about? Maybe you feel like you are just out of touch with the true meaning of Christmas.
Hopefully today's post will help with that.
"Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well, and bear in mind,
What our good God for us has done
In sending His beloved son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day.
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born.
The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking, up and down,
To find a lodging in the town.
But mark right well what came to pass:
From every day repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox's stall.
Near Bethlehem did shepherd's keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep,
To whom God's angels did appear,
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
'Arise and go,' the angel said,
'To Bethlehem, be not afraid.
For there you'll find this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born.'
With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find.
And as God's angels had foretold,
They did our Savior Christ behold.
Within a manger He was laid,
And by His side, a Virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.
There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star,
And on they wandered night and day,
Until they came where Jesus lay.
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah lay,
They humbly cast them at His feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet."
This song, which is known as the Wexford Carol, is a very old hymn. It originated from the county of Wexford in Ireland, after which it was named. It is believed to date back as far as the 12th century. The lyrics pertain to the original and traditional Christmas story, which centers on the birth of Christ, which is the background to the traditional nativity scene.
The Wexford Carol is one of the oldest dated traditional Christmas carols from Europe. For centuries it was considered a sacred song and it was only permissible for men to sing it. It is only very recently over the last two centuries that this has changed, and it is now often sung by both men and women. In fact, there are many well known female recording artists who have sung this song in more recent years.
The version we are posting today is the first recorded version of the song by a female, which was released by Julie Andrews in 1966.
If you enjoyed the version of the Wexford Carol which we have posted, and you would like to hear or purchase more from Julie Andrews' Christmas collection, we would recommend you click on the following link:
We sincerely hope you enjoyed this classic Christmas music post, as it is the last for this year's A Very Vintage Christmas.
Please come back tomorrow, which is Friday, December 20th, as we share a very lovable Christmas tradition with you.
Until then, we hope you have a very merry, and A Very Vintage Christmas!
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