We Have Seen His Star in the East

Tomorrow is the Octave Day of the Feast of the Epiphany:  January 6th, the day on which, according to tradition, the Three Kings ended their search for the Child of whose birth they had read in the stars.  It is an event that has been much celebrated in Western art and in music.  And with the octave day comes the official end of Christmastide.

I though I'd celebrate the last liturgical day of Christmas by sharing several of the Adoration of the Magi works from the wonderful museum at  El Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes and a last piece of music for the season.   The styles - both artistically and theologically - are disparate but none the less celebrate the last Feast of Christmas.

The most famous modern Epiphany carol is, of course, We Three King, written in 1857 by John Henry Hopkins Jr, the rector of an Episcopal church in Pennsylvania.  He had written it for a Christmas pageant at the seminary where he taught.  It was the first "American" carol to be included in Christmas Carols Old and New.

And as the most popular Epiphany carol comes from America I thought I'd post another lovely American carol for the Feast as an end to this year's Christmastide musical posts.

Oh Beautiful Star of Bethlehem is a modern carol in the tradition of Southern Baptist gospel music.  It was written by a Tennessee farmer, Robert Fischer Boyce in 1938.   With eleven children in the house Mr Fischer couldn't find peace and quiet so retired to the cow barn and wrote the words for what was to become a much recorded gospel carol.  His daughter Nannie-Lou Taylor helped him with the music and it was eventually published by  James D. Vaughan Music Publishing.  At one point this led to the carol being attributed to Adger M. Pace, an music editor at the company.  As was usual for the time Boyce received a flat fee for the song and gave up all rights and royalties to the music publisher.

 It was first recorded in 1953 but has since become a standard on gospel, country and cross-over Christmas albums.  It has been a feature in many of the Gaither Homecoming Christmas concerts.  I've always loved these concerts - perhaps not the theology behind them but certainly the music and here is a great version from one of their recorded specials.  Ben  Speer is very much in the old style gospel (and sadly his voice has lost much of its power) while Amy Lambert is more modern in her delivery.  But as with so many of the Gaither recordings its the ensemble that makes things take flight.

The tree has been taken down, the decorations put away, the Christmas CDs shelved for another year.  But where we living in another time there would be one more celebration before we went back to the humdrum days of winter.  But more about that tomorrow.

January 12 - 1554: Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma.

As she has done for almost a thousand years if not longer, tonight La Befana will mount her broomstick and fly from house to house in Italy and in Italian households all over the world.  The good will be, justly, rewarded with sweets, fruits and perhaps a small gift; the bad will reap the rewards of their badness - a lump of coal or in some households a turnip.

Given the onslaught of Halloween - a holiday unknown in Italy until a decade ago - and the appearance of Babo Natale (Santa Claus) there is a chance that this lovely and age old tradition will disappear before the forces of marketing.  However this little vignette on YouTube from Walks of Italy gives me some assurance that she will not go the way of the zampognari or shepherds who would come down from the mountains and serenade Romans with the bagpipe carols.  Let's hope that when Beatrice wakes up tomorrow there will be both "sweet carbone" and an extra treat for being a good girl and sharing her traditions with us.

I've written extensively in the past about the stories - there are several versions of her history - and celebration of La Befana.  As I said last year each story enriches both the old lady and the traditions surrounding her.  If you haven't read them before do take a look; if you have, well a second look does not harm.

January 2008 - An Italian Christmas Tradition - La Befana 
January 2009 - Ephipania II
January 2011 - Viva La Befana! La Befana!
January 2012 -  The Flight of La Befana


To all my loved ones in Italy - don't forget a glass of warming wine and a biscotti will help the old lady on her way in the cold night.  And my hope is that when you wake in the morning La Befana will have left your stockings full of good things and for that once or twice that you just may have been less than good a lump of carbonne but like Beatrice carbonne dolci to sweeten the experience. 

Viva la Befana! Viva!



December 5 - 1974: Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59 °F (+15 °C) recorded at Vanda Station.

A Winter's Tale

MAMILLIUS
A sad tale's best for winter: I have one
Of sprites and goblins.

HERMIONE
Let's have that, good sir.
Come on, sit down: come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it.

MAMILLIUS
There was a man--

HERMIONE
Nay, come, sit down; then on.

MAMILLIUS
Dwelt by a churchyard: I will tell it softly;
Yond crickets shall not hear it.

HERMIONE
Come on, then,
And give't me in mine ear.

Act 2 Scene 1

The Winter's Tale (1610-11)

William Shakespeare

I was reminded of both the title of and the beginning of this scene from Shakespeare's play while watching a BBC Christmas ghost story early last week.  And then again when my friend Jenn mentioned a series of Christmas Ghost Stories that appeared in the Guardian Magazine a few days before Christmas.

In 1862 Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96) pubished his watercolour Christmas Story-telling based on a sketch created for that year's Christmas edition of the Illustrated London News.  Perhaps not as atmospheric as Irving's 1819 description of the old Parson thrilling his Christmas night listeners but a good indication of a long-held tradition

A Christmas Ghost story?   Well yes a Christmas Ghost story!  After all what is, arguably, the most famous English Christmas story (pax the KJV nativity) of all time?  A Christmas Carol!  And what is A Christmas Carol about?  A visit by...   ghosts!  There are people that trace the telling - and selling I might add - of Christmas Ghost stories to Charles Dickens and his four Christmas books and short stories for Christmas periodicals.  But even in 1610 young Mamillius, unknowning of his own terrible fate and tragic events that are to befall his family, was very much aware that stories of sprites, goblins and graveyards were best kept for wintertide.  And when is the depths of wintertide?  December 21!  Christmastide, of course!

Dickens' first Christmas ghost story (The Christmas Carol) was published in 1843 but back in 1819 Washington Irving - who is fast becoming one of my favourite to-oft-neglected authors - described Christmas at an English country house in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.  Mr Crayon's Sketch Book topics ranged far and wide and included The Legend of Sleepy Hallow, one of the most famous ghost stories in American literature as well as the story of Rip Van Winkle.  But many of his stories and essays trace the author's travels through Britain of the time. Crayon, Irving's literary alter-ego throughout much of his writing career, visits Bracebridge Hall and the good Squire extends the hospitality of Yuletide to him with all the traditional fare and entertainments of the season.  Crayon tells us that on that Christmas day: 

When I returned to the drawing-room, I found the company seated around the fire, listening to the parson, who was deeply ensconced in a high-backed oaken chair, the work of some cunning artificer of yore, which had been brought from the library for his particular accommodation. From this venerable piece of furniture, with which his shadowy figure and dark weazen face so admirably accorded, he was dealing forth strange accounts of popular superstitions and legends of the surrounding country, with which he had become acquainted in the course of his antiquarian researches.

But the tradition of telling stories to thrill and frighten goes back beyond Shakespeare and certainly beyond Irving or Dickens.    It is a tradition shared by every culture known since stories were first shared.  It is a tradition as old as the dark of midwinter and the gathering of folks around a comforting warmth and reassuring light of a fire.

With advancing technology the narrator may have changed by even with the advent of radio and then television,  listening to the Christmas Ghost Story is still a tradition in many places.  Photo:  Corbis

 In more recent times that light has come from the dial of a radio or the screen of a television but the stories are still the same.  Mamillius's goblins, sprites and churchyards still thrill and chill in many places.  In the early years BBC featured annual radio dramatizations of Christmas Ghost stories on the days leading up to December 25; normally starting on December 21 - the longest, darkest night of the year.  The tradition continued with the advent of television and reached its peak in A Ghost Story for Christmas - a series of adaptions first broadcast in the 1970s.  Many of the stories came from the pen of M. R. James a preeminent writer of ghost stories in the early 20th century.

Here's Robert Hardy and Clive Swift telling a fearful story of two ungodly carvings in The Stalls of Barchester from the BBC in 1972.

Though the medium has changed these stories still had the ability to send a chill through the body and have you bending forward reflexively to catch the warmth of the fire and take that chill from your bones.

• M. R. James' The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral is available here.  
• The Guardian's five stories taking us from that dark night of December 21 until the "light" of Christmas Day can be found here. (Thanks to Jenn for reminding me about them.)

January 3 - 1962:  Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

A Mystery Solved

When I checked my e-mails this morning I was surprised to open one that solved a mystery that I posted about back in October of 2011.  We had been on a trip to Ravenna, that incredible city of great mosaic treasures, and I had noticed an unusual mosaic.

At the time I wrote:

As I strolled through the gate I noticed an intriguing tableau in the greenery surrounding one of the square towers that had been added in the 1700s.  A park bench!  Not unusual of itself but the fact that a coat and book had been left on it seemed a bit odd.

A closer look revealed - as it often did in Ravenna - the art and artifice behind the reality.  A beautifully conceived and crafted modern mosaic calling to mind not legions of angels and saints nor any heavenly vision but a few commonplace items left out in the open.

The mosaics from the earlier periods are filled with symbols and signs meant to convey the messages of religion to the faithful.  I'm wondering what message the artist was giving us with this piece.  Secular or sacred?  Had someone abandoned the book and coat in a moment of abstraction, had they been suddenly forced to flee the bench leaving possessions behind, had they been assumed into one of the heavenly clouds of an earlier mosaic  or perhaps had the owner simply wandered over to look in one of the store windows or have a quick espresso knowing that in a small town things could be left unguarded?  Unfortunately I was remiss in making note of the details of the work (title, the artist's name etc) that perhaps would have signaled the intent of the work.  For me, at least, mosaics seem to have an air of the mysterious about them so I guess this one is no different.

This morning in her e-mail Geraldine from Ireland revealed the mystery behind this strange but somehow touching monument:

Hi, just thought you would like to know that this piece of work was created by a wonderful mosaic artist and teacher called Luciana Notturni*. Along with some of her students she made this work as a monument to a man who was much admired in Ravenna.

People had been very unhappy with local politics in Ravenna and finally someone they felt really cared about them was voted in as mayor. He was popular, intelligent, and cared, according to Luciana. Unfortunately, a very short time after he was elected to the job, he passed away. It was a heart felt tragedy in Ravenna and Luciana made this mosaic, along with some of her students, in his honour. Inside the mosaic coat is his actual coat and the book is there to represent his love of reading and knowledge.

I hope this is as nice a story as you could have imagined. It's true.
All the best,

Geraldine. Ireland.

Geraldine, I think its a nicer story than I could have imagined: a heart-felt tribute to someone who matter to its creators and their community. I can't thank you enough for sharing it with me.

*Lucianna Notturni is the director of Studio Arte del Mosaico in Ravenna; the school has been in operation since 1969 and offers courses in the techniques of mosaic making.  She is also on staff at the Scuola Nazionale del Restauro di Ravenna, teaching restoration work and overseeing the laboratory projects at the school.  



January 2 - 1492: Reconquista: the Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.

Mercoledi Musicale

For some strange reason  - perhaps good marketing by the Austrian Tourist Board - Vienna is linked emphatically with New Year's and celebrations of seeing out the old and bringing in the new.

But perhaps it is not so strange - Vienna is the birthplace of so much of what was new in the 20th century.  And much of the history of Europe and the Western world in that century can be traced to the Imperial City of the Hapsburgs.  Modern music, art, philosophy, psychiatry, political and economic theory have many of their roots in a city known for living in the past.  The roots of two devastating World Wars that defined much of the century can be traced to the capital of one of the last dynastic Empires.

Now lest this sound like the beginnings of a rant against Vienna and all the gemütlichkeit associated with the city,  I will say that it has become one of my favourite cities in the world.  It took a long time for that affection to develop - there is always a certain melancholy about the city and Austria is a country that I have had a love-hate feeling for since my first visit in 1969.  But develop it has: I love Vienna and I love all the schmaltz that goes with it.  And as always one of my, and it appears some 50 million people in 90 countries, New Year's traditions is to listen to the Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Day Concert.  

This year's concert was a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the start of the First Great War.  Well known for his Peace activism, particularly in the Middle-East,  for the second time in five years Daniel Barenboim was asked to be the guest conductor.  As always it was a more than enjoyable way of spending the first day of the new year.  

Marta Eggerth and her husband, and often singing partner, Jan Kieprua in one of their international successes: Zauber Der Boheme (The Charm of La Boheme).  They often appeared together on stage in Lehar's The Merry Widow - Marta estimated that she had sung the part of 2,000 times in five languages. 

As one Viennese music tradition continued on January 1, 2014, a treasured exponent of that tradition had passed from the scene only a few days before.  Marta Eggerth was the last link to the great Austro-Hungarian tradition of operetta as created by Lehár, Kalman, Stolz, Straus and Sieczyński.  Her remarkable career - a debut at the age of 11 and a final appearance on the stage in 2011 at the age of 99.  Her longevity can be attributed to many things - she said she never drank anything other than the odd glass of Tokay for medicinal purposes - including a rock solid technique, a god-given voice and the good sense to use it for what it could do.  And what it did it did without parallel even at the age of 80 in this clip from a New York concert.  Of course the voice is not what it was - how could it be, voices like people age but this one aged like the Tokay she loved.  It may not all be there the way it once was but what you hear is the authentic voice of the Vienna of the waltz, the polka, the csárdás -
gemütlichkeit as no tourist brochure or website could capture it.  Marta Eggerth sings Rudolph Sieczyński's Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume.

But it would be unfair to base her fame on a clip from her advancing years. Here is the young Marta - a much beloved international movie star - in 1936 singing that most Viennese of Strauss waltz songs Donanuwalzer (The Blue Danube).

Yes the style of singing is dated by today's standards but as Laurent said earlier this morning when we were listening to several recordings by Marta: they really don't make voices like that anymore, do they?  And I had to agree with him: b y any standards there are no voices like that today. 

January 1 - 1773: The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17" is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, England.

New Year 2014

January 1 - 1700: Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer uses the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.

Lunedi Lunacy

As the New Year approaches we can only hope to greet it with a smile on our face and laughter on our lips.  Here's a few New Yorker cartoons* and a handful of quotes to at least start the smile/laugh process for 2014.

New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.

Mark Twain

The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to.

P. J. O'Rourke

New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.

James Agate

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.

Anonymous

Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.

Oscar Wilde

Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.

Bill Vaughan

The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.

W.H. Auden

But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits.

Andre Gide

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

Bill Vaughan

Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.

Anonymous

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!

Joey Adams

New Year's Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

Mark Twain

*The cartoons here come from The New Yorker magazine and more can be found here.

December 30 - 1702: Queen Anne's War: James Moore, Governor of the Province of Carolina, abandons the Siege of St. Augustine.

The Ways of Displays at Christmas

This is the time of year when curmudgeons like me moan about how things aren't like they use to be - how Christmas was less commercial and things were simpler when we were young.   I found myself thinking that in November while regarding the Christmas lights on Regent Street.  As well as celebrating Christmastide - sort of - they also rang bells for a soon to be released animated movie based on my beloved Mr Peabody, but let's not go there.  A walk past the windows at Selfridge's would lead one to think that Christmas was about high-end perfumes and designer dish towels.  And Harrod's?  Well what can be said about that parody of a once great emporium that is now the Disneyland of department stores.  Though we didn't get a chance to stroll down Piccadilly I understand from a video (click here) that Fortnum and Mason eschewed last year's highly commercial salute to a theatrical chain's Panto mixed in with their fine food stuffs to once again display a little nostalgic animation in their windows.  Mind you their fine products are still very much on display but its things like Christmas pud, crackers and the like.

By the time we reached London we were pretty much pictured out; however here's a shot of
Regent Street during the day light hours.  I must admit I was a bit bemused by this year's
lights?  Mr Peabody and Sherman - well now there's a Christmas theme I never thought of.

Now Madrid is, or at least was, a different story.  The light displays there are created by well-known designers and reflect all sorts of styles and creativity.  Unfortunately we were only there for a few hours to change trains during daylight hours but did get a chance to get downtown.  And I hate to say it but LNB and myself both gave into the crass commercialism that appeared to represent Christmas at  El Cortes Inglés in Madrid.  After a wonderful lunch at De Maria we strolled over to the main store at Puerta del Sol and stopped off at their Christmas shop - hoping to, despite a vow of abstinence, find a Christmas ornament that cried "Spain".  Well we found lots that smirked "China" but nothing that you couldn't find most other places.

Sadly there was nothing at El Cortes Inglés that couldn't be found at any department story anywhere in the world. We had been hoping to find something that would remind us of our times in Spain but .......

By the time we hit the third floor of their six story Christmas store we were right smack in the middle of commercial Christmas with a capital C.  So if you can't fight 'em!

Laurent seems to have this, dare I say "unhealthy", obsession with mice.  And keep in mind this is
the man who will not take me to Disney World. But he'll cavort with El Ratón Mickey in Madrid.

Even Sidd bought into the commercialism - these straight gnomes!  And Cinderella was just his sort of girl - plastic!

Apparently Sulley (James P. Sullivan) got over his fear of the toxic touch of humans
or it may have just been Sidd's calming presence.

Sorry but Spidey was getting just a little too up-close and personal! 

And of course being selective in applying my curmudginliness I am truly delighted by the wonderful display that graces Henri Bendel's window in their New York flagship store.  Okay Al Hirschfeld may not have much to do with Christmas but his marvelous creations are cause for some sort of seasonal celebration.  Someone over at a Broadway musical group I belong to (You belong to a Broadway Musical group, says incredulous reader?  Quelle surprise!) discovered that the brilliant caricaturist is lining Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein at his worktable. 

A click on the poster heralding the Hirschfeld Spectacular will take you to  detailed photographs of the window and the iconic drawings that have been brought to, if not life, life size for the holidays.  And the store is decorated with Hirschfeld's - the originals as well as 3D reproductions.  And yes "Nina" is hidden in full view!

Okay maybe this old curmudgeon isn't entirely against commercialism - I noticed a bit of store promotion in quite a few photos of the old Eaton's windows that I loved so much.  And I guess that's the whole point of window displays - to get you in and to get you to buy.  But I do wish London would rethink those lights!  Mr Peabody and Sherman??? And not even the real thing just some cheap Dreamworks imitation!  What sort of Christmas celebration is that?

December  29 - 2003: The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.

Christmas 2013

What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's breast lies sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Baby, the son of Mary.

Merry Christmas    Joyeux Noël    Buon Natale

December 25 - 1642: Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.

As the Big Night Approaches

As we approach Christmas Eve I am reminded of what this night was like when I was a child.  Back in the 50s every night in December on CFRB, after the news and after Gordan Sinclair had reminded us of the evils of fluoride and the stupidity of the current Mayor and City Councillors of Toronto (plus ça change!) we would spend five minutes with Santa Claus.

On Christmas Eve he would tell us about his upcoming journey around the world - I was to discover later that it was the voice of Stan Francis, as "The Professor" he  had a popular children's after-school TV programme in the 60s.  He also did the voice of Santa on the well-known Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer animation.  I was not the only one who thought that Stan was exactly what Santa sounded like.

Now I have never been good at saying "goodbye" and especially when it came to Santa who had spoken directly to me every night for almost a month.  Already at 6 and 7 I had become a bit of a drama queen  actor and the hysteria was a sight to behold.   My Irish heritage was in full flight as I keened the departure of the Jolly Old Man, forgetting that he was going to drop off that "Mickey Mouse Playhouse Theatre" (didn't I tell you I was dramatically inclined?) that I had seen at Simpson's Toyland three weeks before.  How my patient parents put up with the drama I will never know - their crowns in heaven must be shining bright!

There has been much - needless to my mind - talk about Santa over the past few weeks with statements made from all sides that boggle even the average mind.  However that is not for me to go into at this point.  My Santa - the one who came down the chimney, ate those cookies, drank that milk and left presents - was straight out of Thomas Nast.  And whatever form your Santa took and whatever he - or she for that matter - may have looked like I can only hope you were saddened by his departure for the season but even more gladdened by the stop he made at your home on so many Christmas Eves.

In the mean time:  Merry Christmas to all; and to all a good night!

24 December - 1294: Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.

A Bit of Christmas Magic

We received this card from some very old and dear friends who are spending Christmas at their place in Florida.  It made me think of them and of the real magic of Christmas - the joy and friendship we have shared with so many people in so many places in the past 35 years.

24 December - 563: The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

Lunedi Lunacy

I've been looking at the lovely tradition of Christmas Carols of the past few Sundays and for several posts in 2011.  That wonderful tradition of wassailing from house to house enchanting your neighbours with your heartwarming rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenpersons (hey we are nothing if not politically correct in our household).  Yes those engravings and woodcuts do cast a special glow over the seasons.  Well not if our friends at Horrible Histories are to be believed - and frankly I never doubt them for a minute.

And that touching moment when you give and receive a gift that someone has given a great deal of thought to is nothing new.  In Medieval times gifts were both thoughtful and useful.  Much like those warm, colourful, itchy socks that Aunt Millie use to give you every year.

These are just two excerpts from their inspiring and spiritually uplifting Christmas Special from (I believe) 2011; should you wish to view the entire 30 minutes here it is.  Merry Christmas! 

Okay I lied about the inspiring bit...  and the spiritually uplifting thing too.  Does that mean no chicken poo in my stocking this year?


December 23 - 583: Maya queen Yohl Ik'nal is crowned ruler of Palenque.

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Gradual for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: yea, all such as call upon him faithfully.
V. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy name.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
V. Come, O Lord, and tarry not: forgive the misdeeds of thy people.
R. Alleluia

Manual of Catholic Devotion
For Members of the Church of England (Revised 1969)

As the final candle is lit  on the Advent wreath - unless there is a Christmas candle - we approach the final days of Advent.  The much anticipated day is not far off and the Introit for the day tells us that very soon we will hear: the heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handy-work.

A Child This Day is Born, the last carol that I've chosen from Bramley and Stainers' Christmas Carols New and Old is one with more obscure origins than many of the others.  The words first appeared in Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, by William Sandys (London 1833).  Sandy's collection was in three parts with a length introduction.  The first part contained 34 carols which he maintained were from the early part of the 15th to the end of the 17th century.  The Second Part was a selection of 40 carols "still used in the West of England".  And the third were six French carols from Provence. There were 80 carols in all without music. There has been some suggestion that perhaps a few of the carols were not quite as old or traditional as Mr Sandys claimed but may have been of his own creation; though that is only rumour.

In the 136 page introduction, which makes for fascinating reading as a history of Christmas in England, he says that the carols (including A Child This Day is Born) are:

..... selected from upwards of one hundred obtained in different parts of the West of Cornwall, many of which, including those now published, are still in use.  Some few of them are printed occasionally in the country, and also in London, Birmingham, and other places, as broadside carols; others have appeared, with some variation, in Mr Gilbert's collection, having been derived from similar sources; but a large portion, including some of the more curious, have, I believe, never been printed before.

When it was published in Christmas Carols New and Old Stainer used a tune referred to as "Bailey" however in other carol collections both the words and music are shown as "traditional" or "anonymous".  Often when the author or authors of a hymn tune were not known publishers would create an "artificial person" to give the credit to rather than our old friend Anon.

The rather fearsome angel, I gather he/she is delivering the message to the waiting world, in the engraving that accompanied the carol in the 1871 edition was by W. J. Wiegand.  He was known for his illustrations for Wonderful Stories from Northern Lands and an edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  But much like the origins of this lovely carol I could find out almost nothing about him.

It was also difficult to find an acceptable version of the carol on YouTube so I created one using a very fine recording of the carol by the Choir of Magdelan College and matched it with photographs from the glorious Nativity Façade of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona which I took on our recent visit to that marvellous city.  I Gaudi's incredible design traces the story of Mary and Joseph from their wedding to Christ leaving his family as a young man.
It is a complex and multi-layered panorama and the details are numerous.    You may want to take a look in the expanded version to catch some of those detail.

22 December - 1890: Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville and Kingsport, Nova Scotia.