Here we come a wassailing

What better way to end our Christmas carol countdown than with a rousing round of ‘Here we come a wassailing‘?

The words were first published in Husk’s book of carols in 1864 (which we blogged about this past Tuesday), whose sources included a Manchester chapbook and a broadside printed in Bradford, c.1850 (Keyte, p. 545). The tune first appeared in 1871 in a collection of carols edited by the Rev. Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer titled Christmas Carols New and Old … With Illustrations, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel (London, Novello, Ewer & Co., and George Routledge and Sons, 1871).

We hope our readers have enjoyed our Christmas carol countdown as much as we have. Wishing you and yours a Happy Christmas, and a healthy start to the new year!