As we enter the Christmas season, I've actually chosen a sad traditional carol for this week. Future weeks will feature some which are more joyful. I promise. When I was in fifth grade we were taught this week's choice. We sang it as part of our school-wide Christmas program. My how times have changed. Unfortunately, today it would not be politically correct to teach this and use it in an assembly. But that sad change is not the topic of this blog. Looking back I doubt that when I learned it that I really understood at all what is was speaking about. The background is from the scripture found in Matthew 2: 16-18, "Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more." So while we sing it at Christmas, it really relates to a time after the birth of Christ, a sad time when Herod ordered the death of all children who were two or under. What a tragic time for mothers. Mothers had carried their child in their womb for nine months, lived through the pain of child birth, and then nursed and raised their little son to the point where he was beginning to walk and talk. Then they were taken away and killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. But as sad as it is, it does remind us that God did miraculously protect His Son who later would be the lamb slain for the salvation of mankind. The "Coventry Carol" actually dates from the 16th century where it was performed in Coventry, England, as a play called "The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors". It is the only carol that has survived from this play. The oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the oldest known printing of the melody dates from 1591. The carol is traditionally sung a cappella. Now maybe in the midst of the joyful Christmas season I should not have chosen this sad hymn. But it still is a part, though a sad part, of the Christmas season and the story of the miracle of Christmas.
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.
You can listen to it here. LISTEN
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