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Roud Folk Song Index #514

The "Sans Day Carol", also known as "St. Day Carol", "The Holly Bears a Berry" and "The Holly Tree" is a traditional Cornish Christmas carol named after the Cornish village of St Day, where it was found around the turn of the twentieth century. The song, which is listed as no. 35 in the Oxford Book of Carols, is very closely related to the more famous carol "The Holly and the Ivy". - Wikipedia

Holly Bears A Berry, The

by trad
Now the [C] holly bears a [Am] berry
as [Dm] white as [G] any [C] milk
and [C] Mary she bore [Am] Jesus
who was [Dm] wrapped up [G] in [C] silk

( Chorus
And [C] Mary [F] she bore [C] Jesus our saviour for to [Am] be
and the [C] first tree in the greenwood it [Dm] was the [G] hol- [C] ly
Hol- [G] ly, ho- [C] lly and the [C] first tree of the [Am] greenwood
it [Dm] was the [G] hol- [C] ly )

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass
and Mary bore Jesus who died on the cross

Chorus

Now the holly bears a berry as red as the blood
and Mary bore Jesus who died on the rood (Old English "pole"; pron. 'rude')

Chorus

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal
and Mary bore Jesus who dies for us all

Chorus