BRATTLEBORO — Nowell Sing We Clear, celebrating Christmas as it was known for centuries in Britain and North America - and as it continues in many places - returns to the Latchis Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 16.
One of the area's most popular holiday programs, Nowell will dazzle in its rollicking mid-winter carols, which just might ring through the Connecticut River Valley.
Nowell Sing We Clear hails from an age when this time of year was a time for joyous celebration and vigorous expression of older, perhaps pagan, religious ideas.
Many of these ancient customs are the basis of many of today's holiday traditions, from door-to-door caroling to adorning houses and churches with evergreen garlands.
The first half of the program, “The Prince of Peace,” celebrates the birth of Jesus as told in the vigorous carols and songs found in the folk traditions of Britain and North America.
The second half, “The Twelve Days,” offers carols heard in the 12 magic days following the winter solstice.
An annual treat: the enactment of a mummers play from Kentucky. Performed in the traditional manner, the play is typical of folk dramas, surviving throughout Britain and North America, portraying the “death” of the land at mid-winter and its subsequent spring rebirth.
The pageant of mid-winter carols is stamped with the energetic dance band sound of fiddle, accordion, concertina, and piano, although many of the songs are performed in unaccompanied four-part harmony. The audience will be supplied with song sheets and encouraged to sing along.
Nowell Sing We Clear is performed by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, widely known for their lively presentation of English folk songs; and Fred Breunig and Andy Davis, well-known New England-style dance callers and musicians.
Roberts lives in Schenectady, N.Y., while the other three members are all Brattleboro residents.
Barrand, a retired Boston University professor, is a highly respected folk dance teacher and scholar. Davis teaches music at Oak Grove, Green Street, and Dover elementary schools. Breunig is assistant director of marketing for World Learning.