Angelus ad virginem
Subintrans in conclave,

A1

With 8 walking steps or 4 skip-change travelling steps 2h turn partner cw once around, open out facing in and take hs in a circle.

Virginis formidinem
Demulcens, inquit, 'Ave!

A2

With next 8 walking or 4 skip-change steps all into the centre and retire, turning to face partner.

Ave, regina virginum;

B

Clap partner r.h., l.h., both hs, then, while turning over l.sh. to face corner clap own shs (arms crossed) and own hs

Coeli terraeque Dominum

Repeat with corner, turning over l.sh. back to partner.

Concipies / et paries / intacta
Salutem hominem;
Tu porta coeli facta,
Medula criminum.'

C

Give r.h. to partner and with 18 walking steps (2 for each person) chain (M acw, W cw) 9 hs around set, passing partner l.h around other side of set and finishing just short of home place ready to take former corner (the 10th in chain) as new partner for 2h turn.

This carol is mentioned by Chaucer in his late 14th century Miller's Tale, when he describes how the poor scholar Nicholas of Oxford, kept by his lonely bed a sautry, 'On which he made a nightes melodye / So sweetly, that all the chambre rong, / And Angelus ad virginem he song.' The carol was probably Franciscan in original and brought to Britain by French friars in the 13th century. There is a 14th century Irish source for the Latin version and a Middle-English version that begins:

Gabriel fram Heven-King / Sent to the Maide sweete,
Broute hir blisful tiding / And fair he gan hir greet

The Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols' translation of the first Latin stanza is:

The angel, coming secretly to the Virgin calming the Virgin's fear, said: 'Hail! Hail, Queen of Virgins! You shall conceive the Lord of Heaven and Earth and give birth, remaining a virgin, to the Salvation of mankind; you, made the Gateway of Heaven, the cure for sin.

The peculiar structure of this carol, with a 8 beat phrase in the A part, 5 beat phrases in the B part, 2 beat link to the C part and an 8 beat C part which is repeated, poses a choreographic challenge. The challenge can be turned to advantage, however, when it is realised that a 5 beat clapping sequence can fit the B part and that from the end of the B part to the end of the tune there are 19 beats, just enough to take r.h. with partner and grand chain, 2 brisk walk steps or one skip-change travelling step for each hand, to one place short of home ready to start again from progressed position. A 5 couple format makes not only for a progression in the chain, but also, given that there are 5 stanzas usually sung, a chance for everyone to start dancing with all possible partners.

Lully lullay thou little tiny Child,

A

2h turn partner cw, then all take hs in one large circle.

By-bye lully, lullay.

All circle left.

Lully lullay thou little tiny Child,

B

All circle right back to place, then all take hs with partner.

By-bye lully, lullay.

2h turn partner acw and open out, W on M's right, facing up.

O sisters too, how may we do

A

1s, followed by others, cast outto star on own side.

For to preserve this day,

Switch to other star, M going behind partner to change places.

This poor youngling for whom we sing
By-bye lully, lullay.

B

Switch back to original star, M going behind partner again. Taking inside hs with partner, tops arch and retire to bottom while others lead forward under arch to new position.

This tune and text are based closely on ones found in a 16th century source. The carol possibly goes back still further to the 15th century - making it one of the oldest extant ones in the English language. It used to be sung towards the end of the Pageant of the Shearman and the Tailors, part of the cycle of mystery plays performed in the streets of Coventry on the feast of Corpus Christi. In the play the mothers of Bethlehem try to send their children to sleep lest their crying alert Herod's soldiers to their presence. Their lullaby is, however, in vain and Herod's men charge in upon the children. There is some debate as to whether this massacre of the infant boys of Bethlehem ever happened. Some observe that neither Roman nor Jewish records contain any mention of such an event (despite the great interest writers such as Flavius Josephus had in recording Herod's abuses) and that although mentioned in Matthew 2:16 the rest of the New Testament is silent on the topic. Others suggest that such a massacre fits well with all that is known of Herod and that the underreporting was simply due to the fact that Herod was responsible for so many deaths in so many places. Whatever the case, this carol offers a rare insight into the type of biblical story that had resonance for the common folk of renaissance England.  The refrain, as in many of these older carols, appears to have been an opportunity for fuller community participation in the song and the expression of feeling it carried.

This dance attempts to capture the carol's story of love and grief. The chorus of the dance is charged with tender cradling and being-pulled-in-different-directions motifs. The verses of the dance use a small scale version of a German folkdance mill figure to generate images of searching, bewilderment and loss - couples parting, casting this way and that, then retiring helplessly to the bottom of the set. To assist in smoothly switching between stars the two stars should be as close as possible, even interleafed - like a pair of cogs. To fully capture the poignancy it is suggested dancers use an unfaulting smooth walking step throughout and make all turns as wide as possible. It is almost too sad to dance.

Gaudete, gaudete
Christus est natus

A1

1/2 r.h. turn partner with a l.f. double then, releasing hs., step back from partner with a r and l, bend l.knee and reverance pointing r.f.

Ex Maria virgine, gaudete.

1/2 l.h. turn partner back to home place with r.f. double, then release hs, step back from partner with a l and r, bend r.knee and reverance pointing l.f.

Repeat chorus 

A2

Repeat A part of dance

Tempus ad est gratiae

B

Double forward on own left diagonal to form a wave, M facing out W in, all holding r.h. in r.h. with original partner, l.h. in l.h. with corner.

Hoc quod optabamus

In wave, balance right (step onto right and kick left across) and left (step with left back to left and kick r.f. across).

Carmina laetitiae

Double to own right across in front of partner to form a new wave, l.h. in l.h. with original partner, r.h. in r.h. with new corner.

Devote redamus.

Balance left and right, finishing holding r.hs with new partner.

The verses of this carol derive from the medieval Bohemian song 'Ezechielis porta', a song which may have been heard by Finnish clerical students studying in Prague. Finno, the editor of Piae Cantione, included the verses in his book, adding a refrain which he may himself have adapted from a Lutheran German song. The Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols translates the text as follows:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Christ is born of the Virgin Mary; rejoice!

1. The time of grace has come for which we have prayed; let us devoutly sing songs of joy.

2. God is made man, while nature wonders; the world is renewed by Christ the King.

3. The closed gate of Ezekiel has been passed through; from where the Light has risen [the East] salvation is found.

4. Therefore let our assembly sing praises now at this time of purification; let it bless the Lord: greetings to our King.

This dance uses basic Renaissance steps such as doubles, singles and reverances, but combines them in such a way as to create a very lively social mixer. The giving of right and left hs in the A part encourages dancers to look at their partners and the jazzy sideways doubles and singles (chassées and balances) in wave formation in the B part offer an opportunity for the group as a whole to share weight and dance together. On those occasions when musician or singers want to repeat the A part of the tune (because the structure AAB is as common as AB), dancers simply repeat the A part of the dance - but they should be encouraged to take more extravagent steps and make more expansive reverances the  second time through.

In dulci jubilo

A1

Starting l.f. double forward (l,r,l,together).

Let us our homage show:

A2

Starting r.f. double back and face partner (r,l,r,together).

Our hearts delight in pleasure

B1

Greet partner with singles left and right.

Lies in praesepio;

L.f. double on l.diagonal pass partner r.sh and turn over l.sh.

And like a bright star shineth

B2

Facing new opposite, greet with singles right and left.

Matris in gremio

With r.f. double on r.diagonal pass opp. l.sh. and turn about over r.sh

Alpha es et O!

C

Take 2h and cw turn new partner with l.f. double.

Alpha es et O!

With r.f. double turn same acw back to original side.

This carol, in its original 1400 Leipzig manuscript form, was a mixture of Latin and medieval German (technically known as the macaronic style) and was said to have been taught by angels to German mystic Heinrich Suso, who then joined them in a dance of worship. English versions started appearing as early as the 16th century. One made in 1837 by Robert Lucas de Pearsall, an English lawyer, musician and amateur archaeologist, who converted to Catholicism and spent the last 30 years of his life in Germany, goes as follows:

Good Christian men, rejoice / With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say; / Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before him bow, / The is in the manger now;
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!

Good Christian men, rejoice, / With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye hear of endless bliss, / Jesus Christ was born for this!
He has op'ed the heav'nly door / And man is blessed evermore.
- Chorus -

Good Christian men, rejoice, / With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave; / Jesus Christ is born to save.
Calls you one and calls you all, / To gain his everlasting hall.
- Chorus -

In this dance, to match the provenance of this carol, we have late 16th century almain footwork (varying combinations of single and double steps alternating starting foot) - as in the English Inns of Court dances. The figures in each dance sequence offer an opportunity to make a double progression. To reduce the risk of confusion in the double progression, the dance leader might point out before the dancing starts that the M will be progressing continually along the l.o.d. and W against the l.o.d. and might invite everyone to look to their left and wave at their future partners.

On this day earth shall ring

A

Double left (step left, bring r.f. up, onto l.f. again, and pause).

with the song children sing

Double right (step right, left together, right, pause).

to the Lord, Christ our King,

Double left.

born on earth to save us,

Double right.

Him the father gave us,

Single left, single right.

Id-e-o-o-o,

B

Step onto  left, kick left and right.

id-e-o-o-o,

Step onto right, kick right and left.

ideo, gloria

Single left, single right.

in excelsis Deo!

Grapevine with 4 steps, stepping to side with left, behind with right, left to side, and right in front.

This happy 15th or 16th century Latin carol is probably a parody of an earlier medieval song beginning 'intonent hodie voces ecclesie' in honour of St Nicholas, the patron saint of Russia, sailors and children (to whom he traditionally brings gifts on his feast day, 6 December). The parody may have been written for Holy Innocents' Day, a day when choristers and their boy bishop ruled the choir and displaced the senior clergy from their stalls. The tune which accompanied it in the 1582 Finnish Piae Cantiones manuscript was possibly that of the earlier song as a very similar melody is found in a 1360 manuscript from Moosburg, Germany. The English translation used today is by James M. Joseph.

To match this carol is a renaissance-style branle, together with a kicking passage so typical of those branle in Arbeau's 1589 Orchesographie . Remember 'branle' meant to sway, so try to have everyone in your line swaying in unison as you dance, and remember that you most easily kick the foot that you have weight on so it is after stepping onto the l.f. with a single left that you need to kick the l.f. and after your single right that you kick your r.f.. As for hand hold, the usual custom in western Eruopean dance has been for the man to offer his r.h. palm up to any woman on his right and a woman to offer her l.h. palm down to any man on her left. When a man stands between two women he might offer both of them his hands palm up. In a dance such as this one, however, when no partners are necessary and there is no exact alternation of men and women, trying to apply these principles can get confusing so it may be best to either let all go with their own instincts or to agree on a pattern for all - either everyone offering r.h. palm up and l.h. palm down or vice-versa. The former is a closer extrapolation of the above principles but the latter is slightly more comfortable for an inward-facing left-moving circle (and is indeed the pattern used by the dancers in the illustration on the back cover of this book - if indeed the image has not been inverted in earlier transmission, which I don't believe it has been as the line is moving in its natural direction  to the left).  Anyhow, in a social setting any comfortable courteous hold should be acceptable - so just enjoy the dance.