An Appalachian Nativity

Christmas is almost upon us and during the preceding fast this year I've been drawn to the folk sounds of Appalachia. America has real culture, its just been hidden from us.

This beautiful - and really, I mean beautiful - folk carol And The Trees Do Moan is about as soulful as it gets. I don't know who these people are, but holy smokes are they good:

In the valley of Judea,

Cold and wintry blown,

Christ was born one frosty morning,

And the trees do moan.

Darkened skies, and men a-stumbling;

High above there shone One bright star a-moving Eastward,

Where the trees do moan.

Herod and the ruling Romans Stately sat upon the throne,

Sent the soldiers out a-looking,

And the trees do moan,  and the trees do moan.

Mary took her little baby,

Set out all alone;

Down in Egypt land they tarried,

Where the trees do moan.

Jesus then became a carpenter,

Worked with wood and stone;

Nails he drove and cross-arms fashioned,

And the trees do moan.

There one day while in the forest black,

One tree he picked for his own,

A Christmas tree,

an evergreen one,

And the trees do moan, and the trees do moan.

Now I want to say the next one genuinely surprised me - an Appalachian setting of the Byzantine hymn God Is With Us. In the Eastern Orthodox Typikon, the hymn is prescribed for compline during Great Lent, but more to the point - used in both the Nativity and Theophany Vesper services for Christmas. 

I will let the music speak for itself, except to say this is absolutely haunting.

The original text:

God is with us. Understand, all ye nations, and submit yourselves: For
God is with us.
Hear ye, even unto the uttermost ends of the earth: For God is with us.
Submit yourselves, ye mighty ones: For God is with us.
If again ye shall rise up in your might, again shall ye be overthrown:
For God is with us.
If any take counsel together, them shall the Lord destroy: For God is with us.
And the word which ye shall speak shall not abide in you: For God is with us.
For we fear not your terror, neither are we troubled: For God is with us.
But the Lord our God, He it is to Whom we will ascribe holiness, and
Him shall we fear: For God is with us.
And if I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification: For God is with us.
I will set my hope on Him, and through Him shall I be saved: For God is with us.
Lo, I and the children whom God hath given me: For God is with us.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: For God is with us.
And they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, on them hath
the light shined: For God is with us.
For unto us a Son is born, unto us a Child is given: For God is with us.
And the government shall be upon His shoulder: For God is with us.
And of His peace there shall be no end: For God is with us.
And his name shall be called the Angel of Great Council: For God is with us.
Wonderful, Counsellor: For God is with us.
The Mighty God, the Highest Power, the Prince of Peace: For God is with us.
The Father of the world to come: For God is with us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: For God is with us.
Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. For God is with us.
God is with us.

Understand, all ye nations, and submit yourselves: For
God is with us.

(If you haven't heard a slavic redaction of the Byzantine chant, another amazing setting from my friends at St Elizabeth convent in Belarus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-Ph3lwbcI )

And one more: The World Is Old. Far less of that bluegrass spirit, this is just another example of high culture in a land that gets snubbed unjustly in much of America. Hard to believe, in fact inconceivable when you listen to these voices.

The world is old tonight,

The world is old;

The stars around the fold

Do show their light.

And so they did, and so,

A thousand years ago,

And so will do, my love,

When we lie cold.

The world is still tonight,

The world is still;

The snow on vale and hill

Like wool like white.

And so it did, and so,

A thousand years ago,

And so will do, my love,

When we lie still.

Whether you have come to understand that the Logos is the center of everything yet or not, these are surely carols that will be a balm for the soul.