The Meaning of the Cherry Tree Carol Folksong: Old Christmas, Sacred Trees and Fertility Goddesses

#folksong #cherrytreecarol #christmascarol

Learn how to sing the Cherry Tree Carol here:    • Easy Folk Songs to Sing: The Cherry T...  

*Correction: Folks, I'm embarassed, but I switched up the names of the Julian calendar calendar and the Gregorian calendar. :( I'm not sure how I got my terms so mixed up! The Julian calendar is the older calendar system, with the Gregorian being the modified system adapted by many countries starting in the 1500s (with England doing so in the 1700s). All the info I share about these systems is correct, but imagine the names switched! *

Welcome: 00:00
Pt 1: 02:45
Pt 2: 05:55
Pt 3: 07:47
Listen to the Cherry Tree Carol: 12:30

*Sorry for the echoey space y’all! I have a new space to film, but I’m still putting up some foam wedges to dull the echo. :)

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LYRICS
This song comes from the singing of Jean Ritchie, a ballad singer and folk revivalist from east Kentucky. You can learn more about Jean here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/201...

When Joseph were an old man
And an old man were he
He courted the virgin Mary
And the Queen of Galilee
(last two lines repeat twice each time)

When Mary and Joseph
Were walking one day
Here are apples and cherries
So fair to behold

Then Mary said to Joseph
Unto Joseph said she
“Go and gather me some cherries
For I am with child.”

Then Joseph flew in angry,
And in angry flew he
Said, “Let the father of the baby
Gather cherries for you.”

Then up spoke Lord Jesus
From his mother’s womb
“Bow low, low cherry tree
Bow you low down to the ground.”

Then the cherry tree bowed a low down
All down to the ground
And Mary she gathered cherries
While Joseph stood around

Then Joseph took Mary
All on his right knee
Said, “Tell me, tell me pretty baby
When your birthday will be.”

“On the sixth day of January
My birthday will be
When the stars and the elements
All tremble with glee.”


Credits
Producer: Saro Lynch-Thomason
With thanks to Suleiman Ali Mourad for his work: “From Hellenism to Christianity and Islam: The Origin of the Palm tree Story Concerning Mary and Jesus in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Qur'an” Link: https://sophia.smith.edu/~smourad/SA%...

Photos & Images:
Kabkab Date Palm by M.M Yekta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Hera Borghese by Rabax63 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... (Image has been altered)
Artemis Kourotrophos by Zde https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Nativity Scene by Andrew Doane of the Noun Project

Music & Sounds:
Medieval Theme 01, 02 by Strobotone
Streets of Sant’Ivo, Remember the Way, Land of a Folk Divided, Another Night by Mid-Air Machine
Medieval Plague by Christian H. Soetemann
Viking Music by Kyster
Medieval Flute Loop by Carlocarty
Reception Bell by Flashtrauma
Reception Bell by Cdrk