This carol dates from the 15th century and mixes verses in English with a Latin refrain. The versions today derive from a printed copy in Wynkyn de Worde’s Christmasse Carolles of 1521.

The wild boar was an animal served at banquets centuries ago and the head with an apple stuffed into its mouth was brought into a dining hall accompanied by trumpets and minstrels singing. The connection with Christmas may have come from Scandinavia and the Feast of St Stephen on December 26th or the overall festival of Yule with its pagan connotations.

In any event, I have known this carol since the age of eleven when I first heard it in our school dining hall; at the end of the Autumn term each year, whatever passed as school Christmas lunch was brought into the dining hall in dimmed lighting and paraded around with lanterns whilst we sang the carol. It certainly did not look like an actual boar’s head!

I was not aware at the time that it was, and still is, in some cases, a tradition carried out in a number of old universities, schools and colleges, most notably, Queen’s College, Oxford. Because only one boar’s head was ever paraded, no matter how many people were dining, it is thought that it was only a ‘show’ dish.

The Queen’s College, Oxford procession is linked to a legend about a student who was chased by a wild boar and hurled a book at him which got lodged in his mouth, saving the student. This is said to be what led to the apple in the boar’s mouth!

Steeleye Span recorded this as a Christmas single in 1977 and believe it or not, the much more widely known Gaudete was on the B side.

I reproduce the following from Hymns and Carols of Christmas as I found it amusing.

Translations of the Latin from Adams, Round About Our Coal Fire (ca. 1860)

W. H. Davenport Adams provided these handy Latin translations for those of us who were unable to take a course of study in this ancient tongue.

1. Quot estis in convivio. = Ye who are now at the feast.
2. Caput Apri defero | Reddens laudes Domino. – I bring the boar’s head, returning praise to the Lord.
3. Let us servire cantico. = Let us serve it with a song.
4. In Reginensi Atrio. = In the Queen’s Hall.