Here we come a-caroling among the leaves so green,

Here we come a-wandering so fair to be seen

Love and Joy come to you, and a Merry Christmas too

And God Bless You and send you a Happy New Year

God send you a Happy New Year.

Everyone is familiar with the Caroling Song. I had to learn it in music class when I was in elementary school, along with some additional verses, nearly forty years ago, and I still remember the song to this very day. The second verse goes;

We are not your daily beggars who go from door to door,

We are your neighbors children whom you have seen before.

And the third verse;

Good Master and Good Mistress while you’re sitting by the fire

Pray think of us poor children who are wandering in the mire.

But did you know that the song was originally an English song about children begging for an alcoholic beverage as they went from door to door singing Christmas carols? Yeah, of course our teachers left out the verses about drinking. And the verses we did learn had been changed dramatically from the original.

Christmas and alcohol have been together since the earliest days of the holiday, even before Christmas was Christmas, that is a celebration of the birth of Christ. It has origins in pagan celebrations of the Winter Solstice, and we all know what the pagans liked to do; drink. So this week we are going to take a look at the relationship between alcohol and winter celebrations, including some of the more famous drinks associated with the holiday.