Advent Calendar: 9 December – ‘Christmas Chants’
The Scottish folklorist Alexander Carmichael edited the songs, lore and poems of the Gaelic speaking regions of Scotland in the work Carmina Gadelica, 1900 (r PB1631.C2).
Carmichael records that ‘Christmas chants’ were common throughout Scotland and that on Christmas Eve, young men would go from house to house chanting Christmas songs. Here is one such song, a ‘Christmas Carol’, printed in both Gaelic and English.
I love the initial cap on the Gaelic version. Many thanks!