Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Part 5

Monsieur des _Trois-Couronnes_, Avez-vous logement, Chez vous pour trois personnes, Quelque trou seulement.

_L'Hote._

Vous perdez votre peine, Vous venez un peu tard, Ma maison est fort pleine, Allez quelqu'autre part."{10}

The most remarkable of the _patois Noelistes_ of the seventeenth century are the Provencal Saboly and the Burgundian La Monnoye, the one kindly and tender, the other witty and sarcastic. Here is one of Saboly's Provencal _Noels_:--

"Quand la miejonue sounavo, Ai sauta dou liech au su; Ai vist un bel ange que cantavo Milo fes pu dous qu'un roussignu.

Lei mastin dou vesinage Se soun toutes atroupa; 63 N'avien jamai vist aqueu visage Se soun tout-d'un-cop mes a j.a.pa.

Lei pastre dessus la paio Dourmien coume de soucas; Quand an aussi lou bru dei sounaio Au cresegu qu'ero lou souiras.

S'eron de gent resounable, Vendrien sens estre envita: Trouvarien dins un pet.i.t estable La lumiero emai la verita."[24]{11}

As for La Monnoye, here is a translation of one of his satirical verses:--"When in the time of frost Jesus Christ came into the world the a.s.s and ox warmed Him with their breath in the stable. How many a.s.ses and oxen I know in this kingdom of Gaul! How many a.s.ses and oxen I know who would not have done as much!"{12}

Apart from the rustic _Noels_, the eighteenth century produced little French Christmas poetry of any charm. Some of the carols most sung in French churches to-day belong, however, to this period, _e.g._, the "Venez, divin Messie" of the Abbe Pellegrin.{13}

One cannot leave the France of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries without some mention of its Latin hymnody. From a date near 1700, apparently, comes the sweet and solemn "Adeste, fideles"; by its music and its rhythm, perhaps, rather than by its actual words it has become the best beloved of Christmas hymns. The present writer has heard it sung with equal reverence and heartiness in English, German, French, and Italian churches, and no other hymn seems so full of the spirit of Christmas devotion--wonder, 64 awe, and tenderness, and the sense of reconciliation between Heaven and earth. Composed probably in France, "Adeste, fideles" came to be used in English as well as French Roman Catholic churches during the eighteenth century. In 1797 it was sung at the chapel of the Portuguese Emba.s.sy in London; hence no doubt its once common name of "Portuguese hymn." It was first used in an Anglican church in 1841, when the Tractarian Oakley translated it for his congregation at Margaret Street Chapel, London.

Another fine Latin hymn of the eighteenth-century French Church is Charles Coffin's "Jam desinant suspiria."{14} It appeared in the Parisian Breviary in 1736, and is well known in English as "G.o.d from on high hath heard."

The Revolution and the decay of Catholicism in France seem to have killed the production of popular carols. The later nineteenth century, however, saw a revival of interest in the _Noel_ as a literary form. In 1875 the bicentenary of Saboly's death was celebrated by a compet.i.tion for a _Noel_ in the Provencal tongue, and something of the same kind has been done in Brittany.{15} The _Noel_ has attracted by its aesthetic charm even poets who are anything but devout; Theophile Gautier, for instance, wrote a graceful Christmas carol, "Le ciel est noir, la terre est blanche."

On a general view of the vernacular Christmas poetry of France it must be admitted that the devotional note is not very strong; there is indeed a formal reverence, a courtly homage, paid to the Infant Saviour, and the miraculous in the Gospel story is taken for granted; but there is little sense of awe and mystery. In harmony with the realistic instincts of the nation, everything is dramatically, very humanly conceived; at times, indeed, the personages of the Nativity scenes quite lose their sacred character, and the treatment degenerates into grossness. At its best, however, the French _Noel_ has a gaiety and a grace, joined to a genuine, if not very deep, piety, that are extremely charming. Reading these rustic songs, we are carried in imagination to French countrysides; we think of the long walk through the snow to the Midnight Ma.s.s, the cheerful _reveillon_ spread on the 65 return, the family gathered round the hearth, feasting on wine and chestnuts and _boudins_, and singing in traditional strains the joys of _Noel_.

Across the Pyrenees, in Spain, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries saw a great output of Christmas verse. Among the chief writers were Juan Lopez de Ubeda, Francisco de Ocana, and Jose de Valdivielso.{16} Their _villancicos_ remind one of the paintings of Murillo; they have the same facility, the same tender and graceful sentiment, without much depth. They lack the homely flavour, the quaintness that make the French and German folk-carols so delightful; they have not the rustic tang, and yet they charm by their simplicity and sweetness.

Here are a few stanzas by Ocana:--

"Dentro de un pobre pesebre y cobijado con heno yace Jesus Nazareno.

En el heno yace echado el hijo de Dios eterno, para librar del infierno al hombre que hubo criado, y por matar el pecado el heno tiene por bueno nuestro Jesus Nazareno.

Esta entre dos animales que le calientan del frio, quien remedia nuestros males con su grande poderio: es su reino y senorio el mundo y el cielo sereno, y agora duerme en el heno.

Tiene por bueno sufrir el frio y tanta fortuna, sin tener ropa ninguna con que se abrigar ni cubrir, 66 y por darnos el vivir padecio frio en el heno, nuestro Jesus Nazareno."[25]{17}

More of a peasant flavour is found in some s.n.a.t.c.hes of Christmas carols given by Fernan Caballero in her sketch, "La Noche de Navidad."

"Ha nacido en un portal, Llenito de telaranas, Entre la mula y el buey El Redentor de las almas.

En el portal de Belen Hay estrella, sol y luna: La Virgen y San Jose Y el nino que esta en la cuna.

En Belen tocan a fuego, Del portal sale la llama, Es una estrella del cielo, Que ha caido entre la paja.

Yo soy un pobre gitano Que vengo de Egipto aqui, Y al nino de Dios le traigo Un gallo quiquiriqui

Yo soy un pobre gallego Que vengo de la Galicia, Y al nino de Dios le traigo Lienzo para una camisa. 67

Al nino recien nacido Todos le traen un don; Yo soy chico y nada tengo; Le traigo mi corazon."[26]{18}

In nearly every western language one finds traditional Christmas carols.

Europe is everywhere alive with them; they spring up like wild flowers.

Some interesting Italian specimens are given by Signor de Gubernatis in his "Usi Natalizi." Here are a few stanzas from a Bergamesque cradle-song of the Blessed Virgin:--

"Dormi, dormi, o bel bambin, Re divin.

Dormi, dormi, o fantolin.

Fa la nanna, o caro figlio, Re del Ciel, Tanto bel, grazioso giglio.

Chiudi i lumi, o mio tesor, Dolce amor, Di quest' alma, almo Signor; Fa la nanna, o regio infante, Sopra il fien, Caro ben, celeste amante.

Perche piangi, o bambinell, Forse il giel Ti da noia, o l'asinell?

Fa la nanna, o paradiso Del mio cor, Redentor, ti bacio il viso."[27]{19}

68 With this lullaby may be compared a singularly lovely and quite untranslatable Latin cradle-song of unknown origin:--

"Dormi, fili, dormi! mater Cantat unigenito: Dormi, puer, dormi! pater, Nato clamat parvulo: Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies.

Lectum stravi tibi soli, Dormi, nate bellule!

Stravi lectum foeno molli: Dormi, mi animule.

Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies.

Ne quid desit, sternam rosis, Sternam foenum violis, Pavimentum hyacinthis Et praesepe liliis.

Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies. 69

Si vis musicam, pastores Convocabo protinus; Illis nulli sunt priores; Nemo canit castius.

Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies."{21}

Curious little poems are found in Latin and other languages, making a dialogue of the cries of animals at the news of Christ's birth.{22} The following French example is fairly typical:--

"Comme les bestes autrefois Parloient mieux latin que francois, Le coq, de loin voyant le fait, S'ecria: _Christus natus est._ Le boeuf, d'un air tout ebaubi, Demande: _Ubi? Ubi? Ubi?_ La chevre, se tordant le groin, Repond que c'est a _Bethleem_.

Maistre Baudet, _curiosus_ De l'aller voir, dit: _Eamus_; Et, droit sur ses pattes, le veau Beugle deux fois: _Volo, Volo!_"[28]{23}

In Wales, in the early nineteenth century, carol-singing was more popular, perhaps, than in England; the carols were sung to the harp, in church at the _Plygain_ or early morning service on Christmas Day, in the homes of the people, and at the doors of the houses by visitors.{24} In Ireland, too, the custom of carol-singing then prevailed.{25} Dr.

Douglas Hyde, in his "Religious Songs of Connacht," gives and translates an interesting Christmas hymn in Irish, from which two verses may be quoted. They set forth the great paradox of the Incarnation:--

"Little babe who art so great, Child so young who art so old, 70 In the manger small his room, Whom not heaven itself could hold.