Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! Today we open Door 9 and discover what I shall stand for. And it’s not ice, icicles, nor the inn at Bethlehem had no room, for I shall stand for holly’s famous other half, ivy!
Ivy or Hedera Helix to give its Latin designation - is an exceedingly common plant .And while holly was thought to be traditionally male, ivy was seen as female, and the two have often been paired in Christmas symbolism and décor. Of course, most famously there is the well-loved carol The Holly and the Ivy, which certainly sound very ancient and pagan to many listeners.
However, surprisingly, we are not entirely sure how old this carol is, and Christmas historians do wonder whether it is genuinely ancient at all, despite all those stags, deer, and rising suns. For the earliest references we have found to this carol only date to the early 19th century. Although one early printing of the carol - in Joshua Sylvester’s 1861 book A Garland of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern - did claim that it was being reprinted from “an old broadside, printed a century and a half since” which would date the song as far back as 1711.
Certainly the imagery sounds a little pre-Christian and the merry tune would very much suit the way the oldest carols were originally sung - while dancing in a circle. However, given there were many traditions invented as recreations of older lost lore, we cannot be sure if this well-loved carol is genuinely ancient or merely deftly fashioned in a later age to sound old and pagan.
However despite its close links with holly, ivy does have something of a darker reputation, as it was associated with graveyards and tombs. And even today, when we picture a spooky old churchyard, we imagine blasted trees with ivy creeping over the branches, across the ground and even up the headstones themselves. Hence it was considered to be unlucky to bring it into the household at any time other than Christmas. And there is a dark folk charm associated with ivy too from Cornwall, which was practised on Twelfth Night. Each member of the family would pick an ivy leaf and label it as their own. The ivy leaves were then left in a bowl of water overnight. In the morning, any member of the family who was fated to die in the coming year would find their leaf marked with black spots, or even the shape of a coffin.
But, ivy did have other more widely cherished and pleasanter properties. Like holly, it had the reputation of giving protection from lightning, and in Germany, a sprig was often affixed to the doors of churches for this very purpose. Also due to the fact that it is a climbing vine that clings, it was seen as a symbol of friendship, marriage and faithfulness. Furthermore, as an evergreen, it was also thought to confer fertility upon a house. However as ivy was also the symbol of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, possibly ivy helped out folks to, ahem, shall we say, feel like getting fruitful in a somewhat different way!
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