Coventry Carol
15th century English carol
arr. by Kevin Holsinger & Michèle Sharik

In 15th century English villages, it was the custom for various trade guilds (similar to today's labor unions) to perform "mystery plays" that re-enacted Christmas scenes from the Bible. At a time when church services were conducted exclusively in Latin, these plays were in English — and performed publicly in the streets instead of within churches.

The Coventry Carol - one of the oldest songs extant in the English language - was sung towards the end of the "Pageant of the Shearman and the Tailors", performed in the streets of Coventry, England. 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 to slaughter their children.

In many churches today, those children who were killed by Herod are commemorated on December 28, the feast day of the Holy Innocents.

(Matthew 2:16-18)
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they were no more.

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