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The Holly Bears a Berry (The Sans Day Carol)

[ Roud 514 ; Ballad Index K091 ; Bodleian Roud 514 ; DT HOLLYBR ; Mudcat 271 ; trad.]

Ralph Dunstan: The Cornish Songbook

The booklet of the anthology Songs of Christmas / Songs of Ceremony (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 9; Caedmon 1961, Topic 1970). commented:

[…] Another version of the Holly and the Ivy, known as The St. Day Carol, was taken down at St. Day in the parish of Gwennap in Cornwall, and printed in Dunstan’s Cornish Songbook (1929):

Now the holly bears a berry as white as any milk
And Mary bore Jesus who was wrapped up in silk

Chorus:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ
Our Saviour for to be
And the first tree of the greenwood
It was the holly

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass
And Mary bore Jesus who died on the cross

Now the holly bears a berry as red as the blood
And Mary bore Jesus who died on the road

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal
And Mary bore Jesus who dies for us all

Jean Ritchie sang The Holly Bears a Berry in 1959 on her Tradition album Carols of All Seasons. She noted:

I learned this carol one Christmastime from Mrs. Raymond K. McLain at Berea, Kentucky. She had learned it from an old book, and that book was probably, The Oxford Book of Carols, where I myself later ran across it under the title of Sans Day Carol. The footnote therein explains the title and gives the sources:  … has been so named because the melody and the first three verses were taken down at Saint Day in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall. Saint Day (or Saint They) was a Breton saint whose cult was widely spread in Armorican Cornwall. We owe the carol to the kindness of the Rev. G.H. Dohle, to whom Mr. W.D. Watson sang it after hearing an old man, Mr. Thomas Beard, sing it at Saint Day. 

The Watersons sang The Holly Bears a Berry in 1965 on their first album Frost and Fire. This recording was also included on the Topic CD sampler The Season Round. A live version from a Christmas radio programme recorded in December 1980 at Crathorne Hall, Crathorne, North Yorkshire, was published in 2005 on the CD A Yorkshire Christmas. A.L. Lloyd noted on the original album:

Another spring carol, proper to the period between Passiontide and Easter. In it the evergreen holly is celebrated along with the dying and resurrected god. In tradition this carol lasted longest in Cornwall. It shares some verses with the better known Holly and the Ivy.

Sandy Denny sang The Sans Day Carol in Alex Campbell’s house at 19 Rupert St, Glasgow on 5 August 1967. This recording was published in 2011 on their CD 19 Rupert St.

The Voice Squad sang The Holly She Bears a Berry on their 1987 album Many’s the Foolish Youth. Seán Corcoran noted:

This is an Easter carol from Cornwall which beautifully combines elements of paganism and older beliefs with Christianity.

Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band sang Now the Holly Bears a Berry (The Sans Day Carol) in 1987 on their Saydisk album A Tapestry of Carols, in 1998 on their Park Records CD Carols at Christmas, and in 2005 on their Park Records CD and DVD An Evening of Carols and Capers.

BACCApella (the singers of Bacca Pipes Folk Club; amongst them at the time were Maggie Boyle, Lynda Hardcastle, Fay Hield, Mike and Helen Hockenhull, and Tim Moon) sang The Sans Day Carol in 1999 on their privately released CD The Haworth Set.

The New Scorpion Band sang The Sans Day Carol in 2001 on their CD The Carnal and the Crane. They noted:

The Rev G Doble notated this carol from the singing of Mr Thomas Beard in the village of St Day, near Redruth in Cornwall. St Day, or Dei, was a Breton saint, abbott of the monastery of Landevennec. The adoption of his name by a Cornish village bears witness to the close historical links between the two regions. The words of the carol are of the familiar Holly and Ivy type, evoking the custom of using these evergreen plants as decoration during the midwinter festival. The custom was universal in mediaeval times, and in fact seems to be much older, reaching back to the pre-Christian Saxon festival of Yule, and perhaps even the ancient Roman Saturnalia. In this case the ivy does not make an appearance, and the carol is rather unusual in its list of multicoloured holly berries.

We use village band instruments again—comet, tenor horn, euphonium, tuba, violin, melodeon, guitar, percussion and vocals.

Cherish the Ladies sang The Holly and the Berry on rheir 2004 album On Christmas Night.

Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden and Giles Lewin sang The Holly Bears a Berry on the 2006 Gift of Music CD An English Folk Christmas.

Iontach sang the Sans Day Carol on their 2008 Christmas album Flight of the Wren. They noted:

This time we travel to our Welsh Celtic cousins to find the origins of this infectious song. The Mari Lwyd is one of the most ancient customs practised by the people of Glamorgan and Gwent to mark the passing of the darkest days of midwinter. It is no coincidence that Christmas with its emphasis on lights and decoration is celebrated at this time of year. Indeed the Romans held similar festivals before Christianity, and before the Romans, these long, dark, cold nights were a time for fire festivals across the Celtic world. The cause for celebration stemmed from man’s awe at the wonder of nature’s annual death and rebirth, as from this point onwards, the days became longer and re-growth began. Holly and ivy being evergreen became very celebrated and a feature of the season, along with the arrival of a horse at your door if you lived in Wales!

Mari Lwyd translates into Grey Mare and the tradition consists of a mare’s skull being fixed to a wooden pole, with white sheets attached to the base of the skull, hiding both the pole and the person carrying it The sockets are often filled with colourful materials such as green glass, and it has even been known for the jaw to be spring loaded in order for the mare to snap at passers by. The skull is carried through the streets by a group of people who then stand in front of each house to sing traditional songs. This turns into a battle of wits between the Mari party and the occupants of the house as they rival each other in rhyme. The competition lasts as long as the creativity of the parties allows and afterwards the Mari party enters with another song.

Sans Day Carol is one such song and it is thought that it originated in Cornwall, probably reaching its destination of the hilltop settlement and home to the Royal Mint, Uantrisant, via Cornishmen who went there to work in the mining industry.

Paul Sartin sang the Sans Day Carol in 2009 on Belshazzar’s Feast’s WildGoose album Frost Bites. He noted:

Sans Day Carol is named for the village of St Day, Cornwall, itself dedicated to the Breton St Day or St They who inspired a following in the county. The first three verses were sung by Thomas Beard in the village, the fourth [is] an originally Cornish-language later addition (Oxford Book of Carols).

The Albion Christmas Band sang The Sans Day Carol on their 2011 CD A Sound in the Frosty Air and on their 2014 CD One for the Road.

Kate Rusby sang this carol as First Tree in the Greenwood on her 2011 Christmas album, While Mortals Sleep.

Tan Yows sang the Sans Day Carol on their 2014 album Eweltide Bleatings.

Andy Turner sang The Holly Bears a Berry as the 3 April 2015 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

GreenMatthews sang The Sans Day Carol on their 2015 CD A Brief History of Christmas.

Burd Ellen sang the Sans Day Carol on their 2020 album Says the Never Beyond.

Piers Cawley sang The Sans Day Carol at a Trad Song Tuesday Twitter singaround. He included his recording in 2020 on his download EP Trad Song Tuesdays Volume 1.

Janice Burns and Jon Doran sang Sans Day Carol on their 2024 album Great Joy to the New. They noted:

A traditional carol collected from Mr Thomas Beard in St Day, Cornwall. For reasons we can’t quite fathom, this song is most popularly known today as a Christmas carol, despite three out of the four verses being about the death and resurrection of Christ.

Lyrics

The Watersons sing The Holly Bears a Berry

Now the holly she bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary she bore Jesus who’s wrapt up in silk.

Chorus (after each verse):
And Mary she bore Jesus, our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree that’s in the green wood
It was the holly.
Holly, holly,
And the first tree that’s in the green wood
It was the holly.

Now the holly she bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary she bore Jesus who died on the cross.

Now the holly she bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary she bore Jesus who died for us all.

Now the holly she bears a berry as blood it is red,
And we trust in our Saviour who rose from the dead.

Maddy Prior sings Now the Holly Bears a Berry

Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary she bore Jesus all wrapt up in silk.

Chorus (after each verse):
And Mary she bore Jesus, our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood
It was the holly.
Holly, holly,
And the first tree in the greenwood
It was the holly.

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary she bore Jesus who died on the cross.

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary she bore Jesus who died for us all.

Now the holly bears a berry as blood it is red,
Then Mary bore Jesus who rose from the dead.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of the Watersons by Garry Gillard