Boar's Head Carol
Encyclopedia
The Boar's Head Carol is a macaronic
15th century English Christmas carol
that describes the ancient tradition of sacrificing
a boar
and presenting its head at a Yule
tide feast. Of the several extant versions of the carol, the one most usually performed today is based on a version published in 1521 in Wynkyn de Worde
's Christmasse Carolles.
In Scandinavia
and England
, Saint Stephen
may have inherited some of Freyr's legacy. His feast day
is December 26 and thus he came to play a part in the Yuletide celebrations which were previously associated with Freyr (or Ingwi to the Anglo-Saxons). In old Swedish art, Stephen is shown as tending to horses and bringing a boar's head to a Yuletide banquet. Both elements are extracanonical and may be pagan survivals. Christmas ham
is an old tradition in Sweden and may have originated as a winter solstice boar sacrifice to Freyr.
continues at The Queen's College, Oxford
, England. William Henry Husk, Librarian to the Sacred Harminic Society, wrote about the tradition in 1868 in his Songs of the Nativity Being Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern:
Queen's College celebrates the tradition by three chefs bringing a boar's head into hall, with a procession of a solo singer who sings the first verse, accompanied by torch bearers and followed by a choir. The procession stops during verses and walks during the chorus. The head is placed on the high table and the Provost distributes the herbs to the choir and the orange from the Boar's mouth to the solo singer.
As of 2008, the tradition of processing with the Boar's Head whilst singing the carol was believed to be still observed at:
As of 2010, the tradition of processing with the Boar's Head whilst singing the carol is still observed at:
In the United States, the Boar's Head Carol and procession is often a part of madrigal dinner
performances, even though the main dish is usually chicken.
Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary.
I pray you, my masters, be merry (Or: And I pray you, my masters, merry be)
Quot estis in convivio (Translation: As many as are in the feast)
CHORUS
Caput apri defero (Translation: The boar's head I offer)
Reddens laudes Domino (Translation: Giving praises to the Lord)
The boar's head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico. (Translation: Let us serve with a song)
CHORUS
Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the King of Bliss;
Which, on this day to be served is
In Reginensi atrio. (Translation: In the Queen's hall)
CHORUS
Macaronic language
Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages, sometimes including bilingual puns, particularly when the languages are used in the same context . The term is also sometimes used to denote hybrid words, which are in effect internally macaronic...
15th century English Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
that describes the ancient tradition of sacrificing
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
a boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
and presenting its head at a Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
tide feast. Of the several extant versions of the carol, the one most usually performed today is based on a version published in 1521 in Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press in England....
's Christmasse Carolles.
History and origins
According to folklorists the boar's head tradition was:"initiated in all probability on the Isle of Britain by the Anglo-SaxonsAnglo-SaxonsAnglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, although our knowledge of it comes substantially from medieval times....[In ancient NorseNorse paganismNorse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
tradition] sacrifice carried the intent of imploring FreyrFreyrFreyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with farming, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...
to show favor to the new year. The boar's head with apple in mouth was carried into the banquet hall on a gold or silver dish to the sounds of trumpets and the songs of minstrels."
In Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
may have inherited some of Freyr's legacy. His feast day
St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which...
is December 26 and thus he came to play a part in the Yuletide celebrations which were previously associated with Freyr (or Ingwi to the Anglo-Saxons). In old Swedish art, Stephen is shown as tending to horses and bringing a boar's head to a Yuletide banquet. Both elements are extracanonical and may be pagan survivals. Christmas ham
Christmas ham
A Christmas ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Fennoscandian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun among the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr, a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility. It was later...
is an old tradition in Sweden and may have originated as a winter solstice boar sacrifice to Freyr.
Modern times
The Boar's Head FeastBoar's Head Feast
The Boar's Head Feast is probably the oldest continuing festival of the Christmas season.-History:This pageant is rooted in ancient times when the boar was sovereign of the forest. A ferocious beast, and menace to humans, it was hunted as a public enemy. At Roman feasts, boar was the first dish...
continues at The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, England. William Henry Husk, Librarian to the Sacred Harminic Society, wrote about the tradition in 1868 in his Songs of the Nativity Being Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern:
Where an amusing tradition formerly current in Oxford concerning the boar's head custom, which represented that usage as a commemoration of an act of valour performed by a student of the college, who, while walking in the neighbouring forest of ShotoverShotoverShotover is a hill and forest in Oxfordshire, England.Shotover Hill is east of Oxford. Its highest point is above sea level.-Early history:The toponym may be derived from the Old English scoet ofer, meaning "steep slope"...
and reading AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, was suddenly attacked by a wild boar. The furious beast came open-mouthed upon the youth, who, however, very courageously, and with a happy presence of mind, thrust the volume he was reading down the boar's throat, crying, "Græcum est," and fairly choked the savage with the sage.
Queen's College celebrates the tradition by three chefs bringing a boar's head into hall, with a procession of a solo singer who sings the first verse, accompanied by torch bearers and followed by a choir. The procession stops during verses and walks during the chorus. The head is placed on the high table and the Provost distributes the herbs to the choir and the orange from the Boar's mouth to the solo singer.
As of 2008, the tradition of processing with the Boar's Head whilst singing the carol was believed to be still observed at:
- The Queen's College, OxfordThe Queen's College, OxfordThe Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, England. - Netherthorpe SchoolNetherthorpe SchoolNetherthorpe School is a secondary school designated science college status that is based in the town of Staveley in the Chesterfield district of Derbyshire.-History:The school was founded in 1572A quote from an 1857 directory:...
, Chesterfield, England. - Hurstpierpoint CollegeHurstpierpoint CollegeHurstpierpoint College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4–18, located just to the north of the village of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex in the lee of the South Downs...
, West Sussex, England. Here, it has been observed annually almost since the College's foundation in 1849 and may have been imported by a Headmaster who was at Queen's College. It now takes place on the first Wednesday in December after a short service in Chapel for all, and heralds the feast which is held to acknowledge the work done by the College's Sacristans and Choir. The Boar's Head is carried on a platter carried by four Sacristans and preceded by the mustard pot carried by a fifth. The remainder of the Senior School lines the cloisters which form three sides of the Inner Quadrangle, the fourth being formed by the Chapel and Dining Hall. The lights are extinguished and the procession, its members carrying candles, moves from the east of the college through the cloisters lined by unusually silent students and back through the Chapel to the vestry. - StourbridgeStourbridgeStourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
Old Edwardian Club, England. The Boar's Head supper has been celebrated on Christmas Eve since 1911. The Boar's Head, carried on a platter by the Club's President, is ceremonially presented to the members. After the welcome and seasonal greetings, a supper is served, which includes brawn-filled bread rolls. - Reed CollegeReed CollegeReed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, Portland, Oregon, where a procession similar to the above has been performed since introduction by Rex Arragon via Oxford in the 1920s, with the Carol being sung by the processants. Hog Wild - Notting Hill & Ealing High SchoolNotting Hill & Ealing High SchoolNotting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 - 18, located in West Ealing, a suburb of London. Founded in 1873 it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust...
, England. Here, the Boar's Head itself is actually a fake made from papier mache. The GPDST council of 1911 declared this inappropriate, however the tradition is still enforced. - Christ Church CathedralChrist Church Cathedral, CincinnatiChrist Church Cathedral, Cincinnati is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, United States.- History :Christ Church was founded in 1817 by William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, Dr. Daniel Drake and other early settlers of Cincinnati...
, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival has been celebrated every year since 1940. - Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Maryville, Tennessee, every year on the Twelfth Night of Christmas
- University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Fort Worth, Texas. Inaugurated in 1977, this Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival features a cast of 300 magnificently costumed characters, live animals, orchestra, pipe organ, bell choir and the congregation's renowned Chancel Choir.
- Oglethorpe UniversityOglethorpe UniversityOglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...
, Atlanta, Georgia. An annual winter tradition for the university. - St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island has held its annual Boar's Head procession since 1896 as part of its Christmas Festival.
- Immanuel Lutheran Church of St. Charles Missouri has held a Boar's Head Festival every December since 1986.
- Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Saginaw, Michigan has held a Boar's Head Festival annually since 1984.
- Victoria University in the University of Toronto, Canada.
- The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of RochesterUniversity of RochesterThe University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
in Rochester, NY. - Huntsville First United Methodist Church, located in downtown Huntsville Alabama in the southeastern United States. The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival has been celebrated every Christmas for over fifty years.
- St. John's Northwestern Military AcademySt. John's Northwestern Military AcademySt. John's Northwestern Military Academy was founded in 1884 as St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, by Rev. Sidney T. Smythe as a private, all-male college preparatory and leadership development school. In 1995, St. John's Military Academy merged with Northwestern Military and...
, Delafield, Wisconsin. This annual tradition is a highlight for the cadets and staff. - Queens University of CharlotteQueens University of CharlotteQueens University of Charlotte is a private, co-educational, comprehensive university located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The school has approximately 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, Jr. School...
, Charlotte, NC holds the Boar's Head Banquet every year as a part of university tradition. 2008 will be the 76th annual Boar's Head. - Hoosac School, Hoosick, New York. The Boars Head & Yule Log Festival has been held at this upstate boarding school each year for more than 100 hundred years.
- Concordia University, Ann Arbor hosts an annual Boar's Head Festival. 2008 marks the 31st year the festival has been performed.
- Plymouth Congregational Church, Fort Wayne, IN, http://www.plymouthfw.org hosts an annual Boar's Head Festival. 2009 marked the 35th year the festival has been performed.
- Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada. Dec 2008 was the 59th annual observance.
- First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Corpus Christi, TX has celebrated the festival since 1982.
- Gonzaga CollegeGonzaga CollegeGonzaga College is a private Roman Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland , under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus . Founded in 1950, the curriculum is traditional, with a broad general programme of subjects including Latin and Greek at junior cycle and the opportunity...
Dublin the senior choir has traditionally sung the Boar's Head Carol after the solemn Christmas EveChristmas EveChristmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
Midnight MassMidnight MassMidnight Mass is a Christmas Eve liturgical tradition in the Roman Catholic church.Midnight Mass may also refer to:* Midnight, Mass., a Vertigo comics series* Midnight Mass, a 2004 novel by F...
held at the College Chapel. On Christmas Eve 2008 the Schola (inner choir) initiated an impromptu rendition on the steps of the College to maintain the tradition after the Carol had strangely been dropped from the service. - Our Savior Lutheran Church, Louisville, KY, has put on a Boar's Head Festival for several years now.
As of 2010, the tradition of processing with the Boar's Head whilst singing the carol is still observed at:
- Camlann Medieval Village, Carnation, WA, at all Christmas Yule Feasts from Nov-Jan.
- Hurstpierpoint CollegeHurstpierpoint CollegeHurstpierpoint College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4–18, located just to the north of the village of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex in the lee of the South Downs...
, West Sussex, England. Here, it has been observed annually almost since the College's foundation in 1849 and may have been imported by a Headmaster who was at Queen's College. It now takes place on the first Wednesday in December after a short service in Chapel for all, and heralds the feast which is held to acknowledge the work done by the College's Sacristans and Choir. The Boar's Head is carried on a platter carried by four Sacristans and preceded by the mustard pot carried by a fifth. The remainder of the Senior School lines the cloisters which form three sides of the Inner Quadrangle, the fourth being formed by the Chapel and Dining Hall. The lights are extinguished and the procession, its members carrying candles, moves from the east of the college through the cloisters lined by unusually silent students and back through the Chapel to the vestry. - Notting Hill & Ealing High SchoolNotting Hill & Ealing High SchoolNotting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 - 18, located in West Ealing, a suburb of London. Founded in 1873 it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust...
, England. - The Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, MI. The song is sung each year during the presentation of the boar by the underclassman at the schools "Senior Pageant." The tradition has been kept since the founding of the school, and all male seniors and alumni are allowed to attend. The pageant was modeled after the English tradition.
In the United States, the Boar's Head Carol and procession is often a part of madrigal dinner
Madrigal dinner
A Madrigal Dinner or Madrigal Feast is an American form of dinner theater often held by schools and church groups during the Christmas season. It is set in the Middle Ages and is generally comedic in nature. The meal is divided into courses, each of which is heralded with a traditional song...
performances, even though the main dish is usually chicken.
Lyrics
The boar's head in hand bring I, (Or: The boar's head in hand bear I,)Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary.
I pray you, my masters, be merry (Or: And I pray you, my masters, merry be)
Quot estis in convivio (Translation: As many as are in the feast)
CHORUS
Caput apri defero (Translation: The boar's head I offer)
Reddens laudes Domino (Translation: Giving praises to the Lord)
The boar's head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico. (Translation: Let us serve with a song)
CHORUS
Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the King of Bliss;
Which, on this day to be served is
In Reginensi atrio. (Translation: In the Queen's hall)
CHORUS
Recordings
- Nowell Sing We ClearNowell Sing We ClearNowell Sing We Clear is a four member musical group that performs an annual yuletide concert series. They have also released a series of related albums.The concerts consist of yuletide stories and music, and often include a Mummers Play.-Members:...
, "Nowell Sing We Clear" (Golden Hind Music, 1977) - King's Singers, A Little Christmas Music (EMI Angel, 1990)
- The ChieftainsThe ChieftainsThe Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
, The Bells of DublinThe Bells of DublinThe Bells of Dublin is an album of Christmas songs and traditional carols by the Irish band The Chieftains. The album features guest performances by various artists, including Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Marianne Faithfull, Nanci Griffith, Rickie Lee Jones and the...
(RCA, 1991) - Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band, Carols & Capers (Park Records, 1991)
- Magpie LaneMagpie LaneMagpie Lane is an English folk group, based in Oxford, England.The musicians of Magpie Lane first came together in the winter of 1992–93 to record The Oxford Ramble, a collection of songs and tunes from, or about, Oxfordshire. Although originally conceived as a one-off recording project, the band...
, The Oxford Ramble (Beautiful Jo Records, 1993) - The Sixteen, Christmas Music from Medieval and Renaissance Europe (Hyperion, 1993)
- Robert Shaw Festival Singers, Songs of Angels: Christmas Hymns and Carols (Telarc, 1994)
- The Young TraditionThe Young TraditionThe Young Tradition were a British folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.-Biography:...
with Shirley CollinsShirley Collins (politician)Shirley Jean Collins is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson....
and Dolly CollinsDolly CollinsDorothy Ann Collins, known as Dolly Collins , was an English folk musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of Shirley Collins....
, The Holly Bears the Crown (Fledg'ling Records, 1995) - Steeleye SpanSteeleye SpanSteeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
, A Rare Collection 1972-1996 (Raven, 1999) - Maddy PriorMaddy PriorMaddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
, Ballads and CandlesBallads and Candles-Line-up:* Maddy Prior - vocals*June Tabor - vocals* Rose Kemp - vocals* Steve Banks - percussion* Troy Donockley - guitar, uilleann pipes, low and tin whistle, cittern, vocals* Nick Holland - keyboards, vocals* Rick Kemp - bass, vocals* Peter Knight - violin....
(Park Records, 2000) - VeggietalesVeggieTalesVeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
, A Very Veggie Christmas (Big Idea, 2002) - Heather Alexander & Alexander James AdamsAlexander James AdamsAlexander James Adams is an American singer, musician and songwriter in the Celtic and World music genres. He blends mythical, fantasy, and traditional themes in performances, switching between instrumental fiddle and songs accompanied by guitar, bodhrán, and fiddle playing...
, WinterTide (Sea Fire Productions, 2007) - Dan Lyth Fat man and Baby boy (2009)