As it happens, I know all of the words to the carol "Good King Wenceslas," which dates only from 1853 although its melody is an ancient one from perhaps the 13th century. At times, as a party trick, I've performed them all, a capella, uninvited. That's a treat you-all have been spared this year.
Yesterday, the second day of Christmastide in the western church and also the feast day of St. Stephen, protomartyr, would have been the best day for this performance. But in that segment of the Eastern Rite that bases its calculations on the Gregorian calendar (rather than Julian), the feast day is Dec. 27 --- an appropriate morning, too.
So here's a favorite version, performed some years ago by The Irish Rovers.
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