Table of Contents
I would challenge you to find any animals in the actual nativity story of the Gospels with the exception of the “flocks” over which the shepherds are watching in the fields. We usually assume that these were flocks of sheep, but there could have been goats too. Other than that, I regret to inform you that those cleaned-up, prettified little animals that show up in manger scenes almost certainly weren’t there—with the exception, perhaps, of some ewes and newborn lambs. So when the little drummer boy says that “the ox and lamb kept time” while he played his drum for the Christ child, we can be quite sure that this is a later interpolation into the story, at least as far as the oxen are concerned.
Regardless of any scriptural basis for animals in attendance, there are surprisingly many carols that include animals, and not just as window dressing. Below is a selection of carols that include birds. (My own choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, is singing a couple of them for our December 2024 concert. Follow the link if you live in the Denver area to get your tickets!)
“Carol of the Birds”–Three Different Compositions
The Catalan “Carol of the Birds” portrays different bird species that participate in telling aspects of the Christmas story. The Catalan version has a ton of verses, with many of them including birds that are totally unfamiliar to American listeners. (Redstart? Stonechat?) Other, more familiar birds used in the English version are the eagle, nightingale, sparrow, and thrush—but really, if you poke around enough, you can find just about any bird to suit your fancy.
The birds’ songs are all tied to central ideas about Christmas, so it’s not as if each species conveys a specific message. These ideas include: the star in the East, the beauty of the Christ child and of Mary, Christ as the Prince of Peace and the bringer of life and joy. I won’t try to go into details for all of the versions but will link to a post that includes four of them.1 Some of the imagery implies that the birds sing in chorus at the appearance of the Christmas star because they think it’s the sunrise. In fact, the Catalan version mentions that several owl species “Seeing the sunrise/Leave confused.”
The great cellist Pablo Casals made this carol more well known outside of Spain when he started using it as the closing piece at his concerts after 1939 as a reminder of his country’s fall into authoritarianism under Franco. As perhaps an homage to Casals the composer Chris de Silva has included a lovely cello part in his arrangement. Here’s a video of that version, although unfortunately I couldn’t find a live performance. I’ve included his lyrics at the end of this post.2
As I googled “Carol of the Birds,” I discovered two other completely different compositions by that name. One is by the American folksinger and songwriter John Jacob Niles and was written in 1941, for which the lyrics, as he says in the liner notes to a CD of his music, “were the result of my interest in St. Francis of Assisi.” Niles is such a fascinating character! I had no idea that he also wrote “I Wonder as I Wander,“ another beautiful carol, basing it on a melody fragment he heard in Appalachia during the 1930s. I’ve included both carols below; you’ll be struck by his vocal technique, I’m sure, as indeed I was. We’re told that “He employed a trademark very high falsetto vocal range that he described as the ‘electrifying effect of the male C# alto.’” (Wikipedia) Ignore the unnecessary apostrophe!
Here’s a true historical treasure, with Niles singing and playing one of his homemade dulcimers.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also include a mention of the Australian “Carol of the Birds,” which was written in 1948 by lyricist John Wheeler and composer William G. James. We provincial Americans and Europeans don’t think much about the fact that the southern hemisphere has opposite seasons from us; this carol, with its list of Australian birds, reflects the hot summer weather going on for their Christmas season. “Orana” is an Aboriginal word meaning “Welcome.”
“Riu, Riu, Chiu”
On to the other sort-of-bird-based song I’m singing with my choir this holiday season, “Riu, Riu, Chiu,” also of Catalan, or perhaps Basque, origin. (Both regions are areas of Spain that have tried, at various times, to become independent countries; none of these efforts have succeeded.) We have exactly one original manuscript of this song, found in a Swedish library but printed in Venice. Here’s how it’s described in a delightful blog post3 I ran across: “That a collection of Spanish songs printed in Italy should end up at a Swedish university appears to be one of the more delightful accidents of history.” The song dates to the mid-1500s.
Why do I say that this carol is “sort of bird based”? Because no one’s sure exactly what “riu riu chiu” means. I’ve seen several explanations and list them here in ascending order of believability:
1. They’re just nonsense syllables.
2. They’re the call of a Basque shepherd to his sheep.
3. They’re the call of a nightingale.
4. They’re the call of a kingfisher, a bird that nests on riverbanks, hunts for fish in the water, and can be quite fierce in defending its territory.
Since the chorus of the song specifically mentions a river, I think that #4 makes the best sense. Here how it goes:
Riu, riu, chiu
la guarda ribera (the guardian of the river)
Dios guardó el lobo (God has guarded [from] the wolf)
de nuestra cordera (Our lamb—“cordera” has the female ending, and so many translations render this as a reference to the Virgin Mary. But the word can also simply refer to a young lamb, or kid, so it could refer to the Christ child—or to both Mary and her child.)
Note that many English translations will make the wolf black, but that’s only because “wolf” is only one syllable and “lobo” is two, so there needs to be a second syllable if the translation is to be sung.
There’s a wealth of Christian theology in the verses of this song; the version that my own choir is singing has seven of them. Most of the time the number of verses is cut; you can follow the link in the footnote below to read a fairly thorough (although not word-for-word) translation of most verses;4
But I must hasten on to this carol’s real distinction: it is the only Renaissance song performed on US television by a pop group, specifically the Monkees. Anybody remember them? I certainly do, and their television series was a highlight of my teenage years. (Sigh.) They actually do an excellent job, singing a cappella and blending beautifully. This was a live recording, and they’d had only one rehearsal beforehand. We’re told that their producer had performed the song with a previous band and liked it, so there’s no big story about their singing it. Here’s the video, joss sticks and all:
- Carol of the Birds–Let Heaven and Nature Sing!
↩︎ - The rising Eastern star calls birds from lands afar,
And brightens all in glory.
Songs streaming through the earth,
Rejoicing in the birth:
They sing of God’s love story.
God’s promise born this night;
Birds call in joyous flight, “Who is this Son of Mary?”
Sweet music all night long,
Their ancient cradle song of God’s unending glory.
The birds sing through the dawn,
“The Prince of Peace is born to take away our sadness.”
“Christ overcomes all sin; new life is born within,”
They sing in joy and gladness.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
(Note that this is copyrighted material, as de Silva wrote these lyrics himself and didn’t use a public domain set of words. I am including it here as part of this educational material and also as a plug for this arrangement–it truly is lovely!)
↩︎ - Songs of the Season: “Riu, Riu, Chiu”
↩︎ - “Riu, Riu, Chiu”–Spanish Christmas Carol ↩︎
© Debi Simons
