Friday, December 12, 2008

Blog Caroling - In The Bleak Midwinter

Footnote maven has caught the holiday spirit and is making certain it is spread.  Again this year she is holding her Blog Caroling festival and has invited all genea-bloggers to participate by listing their favorite Christmas carol.

If I were forced to choose, I'd have to say In The Bleak Midwinter which might sound like a right dreary choice but stick around, give a listen and read more about this wonderful song.

The words below were written by Christina Rossetti sometime before 1872 but the song did not become popular until after the turn of the century when the words were set to music by Gustav Holst.

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God incarnate,
Jesus Christ.

Worship night and day
A breast full of milk
And a manger full of hay.
Enough for him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him —
Give my heart.


I have several versions of In The Bleak Midwinter among the 1,690 holiday songs in my iTunes. My favorite is by the a capella group Chanticleer:

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