'The Holly and the Ivy, when they are both full-grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown'

d=4,6That's one of our most beautiful and popular Christmas carols and, like many of the songs we enjoy in the festive season, it has its roots in older times.

The celebration of the holly harks back to pagan times when the gods of the forest were worshipped, and the evergreen leaves celebrated for their strong life qualities at the dead of winter.

Bands of wrapped-up singers have strolled our streets and villages for centuries entertaining householders with festive songs.

Originally they were mummers, performing traditional plays, and they then became known as waits, who would tour the town every evening before Christmas.

As they went about their musical business, the waits were usually given money and almost always a drink, so the celebrations invariably grew raucous.

Their songs were traditional and tied in with pre-Victorian mid-winter celebrations where the Lord of Misrule presided over jollities which were rather wild.

Our first proper carols came from the French in the 14th century. They put Christian words to old music because it was familiar to people and had simple tunes.

Their usage spread widely; people like to sing. In fact, the Puritans were so alarmed by how much people enjoyed singing carols that they suppressed them in the mid-17th century.

With the explosion of enthusiasm for Christmas in the Victorian era, carols made a comeback.

It helped that when the waits were banned at the end of the 19th century for being too rowdy, choristers from local churches took over. With their lanterns and pure voices, they were welcome at every door.

And every Christmas, parishioners the world over crowd into church to join their voices in song never realising that the Christian tunes they enjoyed have an older, hidden rhythm.