Advent has always been my favorite time of year. Not only does it lead up to the festival of Christmas, but my birthday falls right around half way through. What\u2019s more, I grew up in snowy Central New York\u2014that\u2019s the barren hinterlands of Upstate, for those in the city so nice they named it twice\u2014and if I didn\u2019t get a White Christmas, the Great Lakes were good for a storm around my birthday so there\u2019d at least be a good beginning to the winter.<\/p>\n

Advent is far from an untouched subject around these parts, so I\u2019m clearly not alone.<\/p>\n

Your OT Advent Calendar this year will be musical. We\u2019ll talk about diamond-in-the-rough traditional tunes just waiting for renewed popularity, crimes against Christmas, the silly songs and the songs that have become modern traditions. We\u2019ll also talk about the notion of true Christmas Carols, those which address the twelve days festival beginning on Christmas itself, including not just the one day-counting song but another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive in, shall we?<\/p>\n

Todays songs are \u201cGod Bless the Master\u201d and the English and Yiddish song \u201cHannukah, Oh Hannukah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another wassail, though this one straddles the line between wassail and hymn. It was collected by Cecil Sharp[LINK] in 1909 in Hampshire, England. It is thus probable that the song had been current in the area for some time previous.<\/p>\n

Song collecting began as concerned and educated people, Brits in this case, realized that many hyper-local folk traditions were threatened or near extinction. Collectors travelled about, listening to traditional songs and hymns, Cecil Sharp being a prominent example.<\/p>\n

Steve Roud, who has complied and categorized about 25,000 song in the English tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod Bless the Master of This House\u201d is number 1066.<\/p>\n

The lyric, so easily imagined sung before some gentle\u2019s threshold, is simple, endearing and genuine. If you imagine yourself opening this Advent calendar further, be prepared to meet again The Watersons, my absolute favorite vocal folk quartet.<\/p>\n