trad
One of the oldest printed Christmas carols in English, with its earliest known version published in 1521. Over the centuries it became associated with collegiate traditions, most famously at Queen’s College, Oxford, where it is sung annually during the Boar’s Head Gaudy, a Christmas banquet where the boar’s head is ceremonially presented while the carol is performed.
The boar’s head in hand bear I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary, And I pray you, my masters, be merry, Quot estis in convivio. Chorus: Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino. The boar’s head, as I understand, Is the bravest dish in all the land, Which, thus bedecked with a gay garland, Let us servire cantico. Our steward hath provided this, in honour of the King of bliss, which on this day to be servd is in Reginensi Atrio.