Drive the Cold Winter Away

"All Hail to the Days", also known as “Drive the Cold Winter Away”, "In Praise of Christmas”, and “The Praise of Christmas”, is an English Christmas carol of Elizabethan origins. The carol first appeared as a broadside in circa 1625, though its origins are unclear; Thomas Durfrey is sometimes erroneously identified as the lyricist. Though obscure, the carol has featured in numerous hymnals over the centuries. It is traditionally sung to the tune “When Phoebus did rest”, under which it is printed in the Pepys and Roxburgh collections and Playford’s The English Dancing Master.

The carol's lyrics discuss various seasonal festivities during Christmastide, which is directly mentioned in the verse “When Christmastide comes in like a bride…Twelve days in the year, much mirth and good cheer.” During the Elizabethan era (from which the song originates), the majority of Christmas celebrations occurred during the Twelve Days of Christmas. Traditional Elizabethan Christmas festivities alluded to in the carol include wassailing, feasting, and theatre performances.

Canadian folk artist Loreena McKennitt recorded the carol, titled “In Praise of Christmas”, for her Christmas album To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987). English folksinger Kate Rusby recorded the song under the title “Cold Winter” for her album The Frost Is All Over (2015). Rusby’s version included four of the traditional verses, which were sung to a tune that she composed.

The music of the carol has also been arranged by Pascale Boquet and Martin Wheeler for the main soundtrack title of the movie Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013) by french director Arnaud des Pallières.

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Wikipedia