Some of us remember when it was a custom, in the parishes of West Cornwall, for a few elderly persons to meet in Church, late on Christmas Eve, and sing till after midnight, a good number of cheerful, quaint old carols, which were quite different from the solemn Christmas hymns that have supplanted them.

  The favourite carols, for the most part contained such legends as are preserved in the Mystery or old Miracle Plays, which continued to be performed in the western parishes, on Sunday afternoons, down to Elizabeth’s reign or later. Others may have been derived from the Apocryphal Gospels.

Such, for instance, are the circumstances referred to in the Cherry-Tree carol, beginning with “Joseph was an old man, an old man was he."

Many other examples might be given of these legendary pieces, which are now almost forgotten.

We were delighted, however, last Christmas, to hear a few youngsters singing in Penzance streets the pleasant one called the Sunny Bank, or the Three Ships, which is also very old.  

Among those of special interest may be noticed “In those Twelve Days,” “The Joys of Mary,” and “Man’s Duty.” Slightly different versions of these are common here and in Wales; and according to Mr. W. Sandys, there is a Breton song, as old as the fifth century, in the dialect of Cornouaille, called “Ar Rannou,” or “Lea Series," arranged as a dialogue between a Druid and his disciple on their ancient maxims and rites, which is similar in idea and construction to “In those Twelve Days,” or “What is that which is but one I”

The early missionaries engrafted on this ancient Armorican poem a Latin hymn, in the same form, where the series of twelve subjects in connected with the Christian religion and agrees with those of the carol,

“What is that which is but one?”

At the end of each verse in the Druids Song, the Latin hymn, and the three last mentioned carols, all the previous subjects are repeated in the style of “The House that Jack built.” The whole piece can be constructed from the last verse. That of  “The Joy of Mary,” is given as an example, below.

Old country folk may still be often heard chanting this ancient effusion, with all its repetition it is more frequently, however, recited or taught to children as a kind of pious exercise for their memories at Christmastide.

Cornish people have been famous for their carols from an early date. Scawen says :—“ They had them at several times, especially at Christmas, which they solemnly sung, and sometimes used in their churches, alter prayers, the burthen of them being “Novell, Novell, goad news, good nova, of the Gospel.”

These old joyful Christmas songs have long held their own— thanks to there wonderfully interesting legends and their lively tunes, that seem like the echoes of merry peals of bells.

Music: The first good joy that Mary had

The first good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of one,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ when he was first her son.
When he was first her son, good man, and blessed may he be
Praise Father. Son and Holy Ghost throughout eternity.

The second good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of two,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ to make the lame to go.

The third good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of three,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ to make the blind to see.

The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of four,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ to raed the Bible o'er.

The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of five,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ to bring the dead alive.

The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of six,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ upon the crucifix.

The last good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of seven,
To see the good Lord Jesus Christ to wear the crown of heaven