Erika Hewitt
@wintryminx.bsky.social
• Unitarian Universalist clergy • feminist • activist • sparklepants ✨• wedding officiant 💒 • hymn & liturgy nerd 🎶 • furious we have to resist That Guy again • she/her • all opinions my own (I do not represent the Mothership) •
For over 282 years, every #Messiah performance has begun with the sung words “Comfort ye” and ended with a gloriously sustained “Hallelujah.”
In 1741, George Frederic Handel—whom Beethoven called the “greatest composer that ever lived” and of whom Mozart declared:
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In 1741, George Frederic Handel—whom Beethoven called the “greatest composer that ever lived” and of whom Mozart declared:
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December 25, 2024 at 9:35 PM
For over 282 years, every #Messiah performance has begun with the sung words “Comfort ye” and ended with a gloriously sustained “Hallelujah.”
In 1741, George Frederic Handel—whom Beethoven called the “greatest composer that ever lived” and of whom Mozart declared:
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In 1741, George Frederic Handel—whom Beethoven called the “greatest composer that ever lived” and of whom Mozart declared:
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The tune name for one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs, Past Three O’Clock, is LONDON WAITS: two little words that reveal a fascinating chapter of history. Warning: I'm going to nerd out on this. Follow along or skip to the bottom, whichever makes you holiday merrier.
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December 24, 2024 at 3:47 PM
The tune name for one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs, Past Three O’Clock, is LONDON WAITS: two little words that reveal a fascinating chapter of history. Warning: I'm going to nerd out on this. Follow along or skip to the bottom, whichever makes you holiday merrier.
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The goose is getting fat! So sings Christmas Is Coming, a merry little song of unknown roots. Its lyrics appeared in print near the end of the 19th century, reflecting traditions of the Victorian era.
We can’t invoke Victorian England without mentioning #Dickens and his magnificent novella,
We can’t invoke Victorian England without mentioning #Dickens and his magnificent novella,
December 23, 2024 at 3:58 PM
The goose is getting fat! So sings Christmas Is Coming, a merry little song of unknown roots. Its lyrics appeared in print near the end of the 19th century, reflecting traditions of the Victorian era.
We can’t invoke Victorian England without mentioning #Dickens and his magnificent novella,
We can’t invoke Victorian England without mentioning #Dickens and his magnificent novella,
Sometimes a Christmas song is so lovely that I’m astonished how few people know it. See Amid the Winter’s Snow is at the top of that list (known in England as Hymn for Christmas Day).
This hymn text is by Edward Caswall, published in 1858 after quite the religious journey...
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This hymn text is by Edward Caswall, published in 1858 after quite the religious journey...
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December 22, 2024 at 6:01 PM
Sometimes a Christmas song is so lovely that I’m astonished how few people know it. See Amid the Winter’s Snow is at the top of that list (known in England as Hymn for Christmas Day).
This hymn text is by Edward Caswall, published in 1858 after quite the religious journey...
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This hymn text is by Edward Caswall, published in 1858 after quite the religious journey...
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As a Mary enthusiast/devotee, I love hymns and carols that focus on her experience—even if it's "just" her experiences as a mother. The Seven Joys of Mary (which has existed for around seven hundred years!) is one of my favorites.
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December 21, 2024 at 5:34 PM
As a Mary enthusiast/devotee, I love hymns and carols that focus on her experience—even if it's "just" her experiences as a mother. The Seven Joys of Mary (which has existed for around seven hundred years!) is one of my favorites.
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Who’s tired of #Christmas lullabies? I thought I might be, to be honest, until I found the quiet space to receive and be moved by them—all of them!
Stille, Stille, Stille is a carol and lullaby from Salzburg that first appeared in 1865 in a collection of folksongs.
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Stille, Stille, Stille is a carol and lullaby from Salzburg that first appeared in 1865 in a collection of folksongs.
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December 20, 2024 at 3:41 PM
Who’s tired of #Christmas lullabies? I thought I might be, to be honest, until I found the quiet space to receive and be moved by them—all of them!
Stille, Stille, Stille is a carol and lullaby from Salzburg that first appeared in 1865 in a collection of folksongs.
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Stille, Stille, Stille is a carol and lullaby from Salzburg that first appeared in 1865 in a collection of folksongs.
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This isn’t the first time in my #CarolsAndSongs advent devotional that a Christmas song takes the form of a lullaby (nor will it be the last!): El Noi de la Mare (The Child of the Mother) is a Catalan folk song with a a gentle, swaying feel.
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December 19, 2024 at 4:25 PM
This isn’t the first time in my #CarolsAndSongs advent devotional that a Christmas song takes the form of a lullaby (nor will it be the last!): El Noi de la Mare (The Child of the Mother) is a Catalan folk song with a a gentle, swaying feel.
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It’s Day 2 of our international arc: a drumming song (…but not THAT drumming song, which came two centuries later!)
Pat-a-Pan is a French #carol, written in the Burgundian dialect. Published in 1720, its original title was “Willie, Bring Your Little Drum” (Guillô, pran ton tamborin)—
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Pat-a-Pan is a French #carol, written in the Burgundian dialect. Published in 1720, its original title was “Willie, Bring Your Little Drum” (Guillô, pran ton tamborin)—
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December 18, 2024 at 3:58 PM
It’s Day 2 of our international arc: a drumming song (…but not THAT drumming song, which came two centuries later!)
Pat-a-Pan is a French #carol, written in the Burgundian dialect. Published in 1720, its original title was “Willie, Bring Your Little Drum” (Guillô, pran ton tamborin)—
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Pat-a-Pan is a French #carol, written in the Burgundian dialect. Published in 1720, its original title was “Willie, Bring Your Little Drum” (Guillô, pran ton tamborin)—
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Our international arc begins today—in chronological order, no less! Gaudete (“rejoice, y’all”!) is another medieval carol. Its source is interesting to me: a 16th century collection of Finnish and Swedish sacred songs. I also find it curious that its original Latin text—
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December 17, 2024 at 2:13 PM
Our international arc begins today—in chronological order, no less! Gaudete (“rejoice, y’all”!) is another medieval carol. Its source is interesting to me: a 16th century collection of Finnish and Swedish sacred songs. I also find it curious that its original Latin text—
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Fellow Unitiarians, this one’s personal! Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth is a fourth-century smackdown against the Arian “heresy” that eventually formed a theological foundation for us today.
If you’re not #Unitarian or #UU, “Arian” refers to Arius, a religious leader born in Libya...
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If you’re not #Unitarian or #UU, “Arian” refers to Arius, a religious leader born in Libya...
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December 16, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Fellow Unitiarians, this one’s personal! Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth is a fourth-century smackdown against the Arian “heresy” that eventually formed a theological foundation for us today.
If you’re not #Unitarian or #UU, “Arian” refers to Arius, a religious leader born in Libya...
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If you’re not #Unitarian or #UU, “Arian” refers to Arius, a religious leader born in Libya...
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I’m cheating today: #CarolsAndSongs is all about celebrating “obscure” songs, and yet The Holly and the Ivy is familiar to most people. I can’t resist, though: not only does it echo the Sans Day Carol (Dec. 14), linking the two songs, but the strong pagan imagery...
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December 15, 2024 at 5:27 PM
I’m cheating today: #CarolsAndSongs is all about celebrating “obscure” songs, and yet The Holly and the Ivy is familiar to most people. I can’t resist, though: not only does it echo the Sans Day Carol (Dec. 14), linking the two songs, but the strong pagan imagery...
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“The first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly.” There’s our nod to #Yule (the Saxon/pagan Solstice celebration)! These references to holly & greenwood suggest that the Sans Day (or St. Day) Carol is older than Christianity—
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December 14, 2024 at 3:36 PM
“The first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly.” There’s our nod to #Yule (the Saxon/pagan Solstice celebration)! These references to holly & greenwood suggest that the Sans Day (or St. Day) Carol is older than Christianity—
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How often do we think about Joseph? What do we think he was like? A text from the ninth century, Pseudo-Matthew—one of the infancy gospels whose stories fill in the gaps left by the canonical gospels—has a surprising take that’s expressed the the Cherry Tree Carol.
#CarolsAndSongs
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#CarolsAndSongs
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December 13, 2024 at 4:24 PM
How often do we think about Joseph? What do we think he was like? A text from the ninth century, Pseudo-Matthew—one of the infancy gospels whose stories fill in the gaps left by the canonical gospels—has a surprising take that’s expressed the the Cherry Tree Carol.
#CarolsAndSongs
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#CarolsAndSongs
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If you thought a boar’s head was offputting (Dec. 10), brace yourself: out of the hundreds of #Advent and Christmas #CarolsAndSongs, The Coventry Carol can be one of the most unsettling if you tune in to what it’s really about. (Yes, I'm offsetting the sadness with a music pun.)
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December 12, 2024 at 3:03 PM
If you thought a boar’s head was offputting (Dec. 10), brace yourself: out of the hundreds of #Advent and Christmas #CarolsAndSongs, The Coventry Carol can be one of the most unsettling if you tune in to what it’s really about. (Yes, I'm offsetting the sadness with a music pun.)
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Also known as “On Christmas Night All Christians Sing,” this carol's story echoes others in #CarolsAndSongs: we sing it today because over a century ago it was collected—overheard and written down—both in Sussex and Gloucestershire by, respectively, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp.
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December 11, 2024 at 1:55 PM
Also known as “On Christmas Night All Christians Sing,” this carol's story echoes others in #CarolsAndSongs: we sing it today because over a century ago it was collected—overheard and written down—both in Sussex and Gloucestershire by, respectively, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp.
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For over 500 years, the Boar’s Head Carol has heralded the presentation of a boar’s head to guests at a Yuletide feast. Naturally, there’s a great story behind this song—which is the first #Christmas #Carol known to be printed in England (1521).
#CarolsAndSongs
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#CarolsAndSongs
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December 10, 2024 at 2:53 PM
For over 500 years, the Boar’s Head Carol has heralded the presentation of a boar’s head to guests at a Yuletide feast. Naturally, there’s a great story behind this song—which is the first #Christmas #Carol known to be printed in England (1521).
#CarolsAndSongs
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#CarolsAndSongs
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The Somerset Carol, sometimes called Come All You Worthy Gentleman, is yet another holiday song (see Dec. 8) that might not have survived its journey through the ages without being “collected” (i.e. documented by a contemporary).
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December 9, 2024 at 3:11 PM
The Somerset Carol, sometimes called Come All You Worthy Gentleman, is yet another holiday song (see Dec. 8) that might not have survived its journey through the ages without being “collected” (i.e. documented by a contemporary).
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WELL. You can tell how excited I am about The #WexfordCarol by how easily I forgot the graphic.
December 8, 2024 at 4:45 PM
WELL. You can tell how excited I am about The #WexfordCarol by how easily I forgot the graphic.
Christina #Rosetti wrote multiple #Christmas poems that have been put to music (not just the other one you might be thinking of: In the Bleak Midwinter). Today in #CarolsAndSongs I’m highlighting Love Came Down at Christmas: a simple, 3-verse text.
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December 7, 2024 at 3:44 PM
Christina #Rosetti wrote multiple #Christmas poems that have been put to music (not just the other one you might be thinking of: In the Bleak Midwinter). Today in #CarolsAndSongs I’m highlighting Love Came Down at Christmas: a simple, 3-verse text.
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Grab your wassailing bowl! We’re setting Christianity aside on our #CarolsAndSongs journey to revisit an ancient pagan practice of spending Twelfth Night (Jan. 5th) drinking to people’s health and/or waking up the apple orchards to give them bread & cider for a good harvest in the new year.
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December 6, 2024 at 3:04 PM
Grab your wassailing bowl! We’re setting Christianity aside on our #CarolsAndSongs journey to revisit an ancient pagan practice of spending Twelfth Night (Jan. 5th) drinking to people’s health and/or waking up the apple orchards to give them bread & cider for a good harvest in the new year.
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We’ve finally arrived at not only a great story, but also the first song in this #CarolsAndSongs series—The Shepherds’ Farewell (L'adieu des bergers)—whose music and text were written by the same person: Hector #Berlioz, a French Romantic composer.
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December 5, 2024 at 4:02 PM
We’ve finally arrived at not only a great story, but also the first song in this #CarolsAndSongs series—The Shepherds’ Farewell (L'adieu des bergers)—whose music and text were written by the same person: Hector #Berlioz, a French Romantic composer.
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Love is about to arrive, declares People Look East: Love as Guest; as Rose; as Bird, Star, and Lord. This #Advent hymn is about the spiritual hospitality of anticipating and preparing ourselves for Love’s arrival.
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December 4, 2024 at 1:14 PM
Love is about to arrive, declares People Look East: Love as Guest; as Rose; as Bird, Star, and Lord. This #Advent hymn is about the spiritual hospitality of anticipating and preparing ourselves for Love’s arrival.
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Would you rather sing a 33-syllable “glo-o-o-o-ria” or a rousing “Hosanna in excelsis”? Good news: Ding Dong Merrily on High invites you to do both! (Bonus: this year is the official centennial of this #Advent carol.)
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December 3, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Would you rather sing a 33-syllable “glo-o-o-o-ria” or a rousing “Hosanna in excelsis”? Good news: Ding Dong Merrily on High invites you to do both! (Bonus: this year is the official centennial of this #Advent carol.)
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Day 2 of #CarolsAndSongs! There’s much to unpack in the #Advent hymn "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People."
The origins of this driving hymn—across all of its components—span two millennia.
The text is based on #Isaiah 40:1-5, written after the destruction of Jerusalem (around 588 BCE).
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The origins of this driving hymn—across all of its components—span two millennia.
The text is based on #Isaiah 40:1-5, written after the destruction of Jerusalem (around 588 BCE).
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December 2, 2024 at 1:34 PM
Day 2 of #CarolsAndSongs! There’s much to unpack in the #Advent hymn "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People."
The origins of this driving hymn—across all of its components—span two millennia.
The text is based on #Isaiah 40:1-5, written after the destruction of Jerusalem (around 588 BCE).
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The origins of this driving hymn—across all of its components—span two millennia.
The text is based on #Isaiah 40:1-5, written after the destruction of Jerusalem (around 588 BCE).
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Advent is here, and so is December! Let's get Elizabethan. 🏰 ❄️ The title for my musical Advent devotional, #CarolsAndSongs, comes from today's pick, "All Hail to the Days," also called "Drive the Cold Winter Away." It was published in the early 1600s as "Song in Praise of Christmas.”
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December 1, 2024 at 12:50 PM
Advent is here, and so is December! Let's get Elizabethan. 🏰 ❄️ The title for my musical Advent devotional, #CarolsAndSongs, comes from today's pick, "All Hail to the Days," also called "Drive the Cold Winter Away." It was published in the early 1600s as "Song in Praise of Christmas.”
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