bestchristmasalbum.co.uk

The Holly and the Ivy

Like many carols, the Holly and the Ivy is a traditional song which has been adopted into church music; it shows its origins as a Yuletide carol more clearly than most.

Holly and Ivy have been used to decorate English churches for many centuries; they are regularly mentioned in churchwardens’ accounts.

Before that, though, as winter evergreens they are associated with much older beliefs to do with fertility religions. Holly was sacred to Druids, and associated by them with the winter solstice, and the Romans considered it symbolic of the Saturnalia

Cecil Sharpe found an old lady in Chipping Camden who swore that this carol was related to songs in which the Ivy represented woman and the Holly,Man, and the song itself their age-old battle for dominance.

This vocal version is straightforward and melodic; whatever its origins, the carol is allowed to sing , as it always has, of growth and life in the midst of winter snow.