The Holly and the Ivy: the words, the meaning, and how a choir sings it
The Holly and the Ivy is an English folk carol. Nobody knows who wrote it; printers in Birmingham sold it on broadsheets in the early 1800s, and the tune everyone sings was taken down from a woman in a Cotswold town in the 1900s. This guide prints the words, explains what the holly and the ivy stand for, and covers how a choir sings it.
Where does The Holly and the Ivy come from? The words are traditional and survive in Birmingham broadside printings from the early nineteenth century. The folk song collector Cecil Sharp took down the tune and words from Mary Clayton at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, and published them in English Folk-Carols in 1911. That is the version sung today.
We supply the choir and the organist for church carol services, from £1,150 for four singers in Greater London, and carol singers for offices, hotels, and parties.
The words of The Holly and the Ivy
These are the six verses Mary Clayton sang to Cecil Sharp, as he printed them in 1911, with the refrain after each verse. The words are traditional and out of copyright, and Sharp died in 1924.
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.
The holly bears a blossom,
As white as the lily flower,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ,
To be our sweet Saviour.
The holly bears a berry,
As red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to do us sinners good.
The holly bears a prickle,
As sharp as any thorn,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas day in the morn.
The holly bears a bark,
As bitter as any gall,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
Text: traditional, as sung by Mary Clayton at Chipping Campden, from Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Carols (1911), Wikisource. The refrain is sung after each verse.
A folk carol from the broadsheets
The Holly and the Ivy has no author. It is number 514 in the Roud Folk Song Index, the catalogue of English-language folk songs, and its earliest printings are cheap broadsides printed in Birmingham between about 1812 and 1830. Broadside printers took songs from singers and from older sheets, so the words were already in circulation before then.
The tune came later. Cecil Sharp, the folk song collector, heard Mary Clayton sing it at Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire and printed her version in English Folk-Carols in 1911. Choir arrangements and hymn books since have used Sharp’s tune.
Sources: “The Holly and the Ivy”, Wikipedia; “The Holly and the Ivy” and Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Carols, Wikisource.
What the holly and the ivy mean
Holly and ivy are two of the evergreens that keep their leaves through an English winter, and people brought them indoors at Christmas long before the carol was written. Medieval songs set them against each other: a fifteenth-century carol, “Nay, Ivy, nay”, has holly standing in the hall with his merry men, dancing and singing, while ivy stands outside the door in the cold. In those songs holly is male and ivy female, and the holly always wins.
The carol keeps the contest in its first verse, where “the holly bears the crown”, and then drops the ivy. Each middle verse takes one part of the holly and reads it as part of the Christian story: the white blossom for Mary’s purity, the red berry for Christ’s blood, the prickle for the crown of thorns, and the bitter bark for the gall offered to him on the cross. The carol runs from the birth to the crucifixion in four verses; though the tune is cheerful, most of the words are about death.
The refrain has nothing to do with the verses. The rising sun, the running deer, the organ, and the choir are a picture of an English Christmas morning, with no connection to the verses except the season.
How a choir sings it
The Holly and the Ivy has a short verse and a longer refrain, and a choir can vary it from verse to verse. We can give a verse to the sopranos or the men alone and bring everyone in for the refrain, then sing the last verse in full harmony. Unaccompanied, a quartet can sing it from start to finish.
It is a carol rather than a hymn, so it suits places where O Come, All Ye Faithful would feel out of place: an office lobby, a hotel at teatime, a Christmas market. Our carol singers for events page covers those bookings.
Four singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours, eight cost £2,000 and an organist is £250, so a choir of eight with an organist is £2,250. Each figure includes fees and travel within Greater London; the Christmas prices page lists every size.
Where to put it in a carol service
Give it to the choir alone, or let the congregation join the refrain only. In a carol service it fits between two readings in the first half, and it brightens the service after a solemn reading. Our list of the best carols for four voices has others that pair with it, and the best carols for a carol service covers the order.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote The Holly and the Ivy?
Nobody knows. It is a traditional English carol, first found in Birmingham broadsides of the early nineteenth century. The tune sung today was collected by Cecil Sharp from Mary Clayton at Chipping Campden and published in 1911.
What do the holly and the ivy symbolise?
In older songs holly stands for men and ivy for women, and the two compete. In the carol the holly’s white blossom, red berry, prickle, and bitter bark stand for Mary, Christ’s blood, the crown of thorns, and the gall offered at the crucifixion.
Why does the ivy disappear after the first verse?
The carol keeps the old holly-and-ivy contest only in its opening line and then turns to the holly alone, reading each part of the plant as part of the Christian story.
Can carol singers sing The Holly and the Ivy at an office party?
Yes. It is a folk carol rather than a hymn, so it suits offices, hotels, and markets as well as churches. Four carol singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours in Greater London.
Book carol singers or a choir
For a carol service, a reception, or a lobby set, tell us the date and the venue and we will suggest how many singers you need and which carols to sing.
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