The first offering for your afternoon tea (for this time of year, I prefer Celestial Seasonings' Nutcracker Sweet) is a wonderful performance of "In the Bleak Midwinter" by the Gloucester Cathedral Choir. The lyrics are provided in the clip.The second is the "Coventry Carol," a lullaby dating from the 16th Century. It is a mournful carol because it specifically addresses the slaughter of the innocents, Herod's rabid attempt to destroy the Messianic rule before it began. The song is performed by the choir of Westminster Cathedral. I provide the lyrics below the clip so you can follow along.
The third may be the oldest English language carol to have survived to our day, "The Holly and the Ivy." It is sung (and nicely too) by the Mediaeval Baebes.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor Youngling for Whom we sing
By, by, lully, lullay?
Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever morn and day
For Thy parting neither say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
