In the Christian church tradition, the 12 days of Christmas start on Dec. 25 and continue until Jan. 5, the eve of Epiphany, with each day marking a remembrance of a saint or feast day. In many homes the decorations will stay up until the 12th night, Jan. 5, making the season last a little longer. David Poon likes this tradition and he leads the Motet Chamber Choir in songs celebrating each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
At St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church in Gibsons on Jan. 1, a small crowd gathered to hear a reduced Motet choir: director David Poon, Sarah Poon, Michael Molnar and Martha Ansfield-Scrase.
“You came to listen to a choir and I make you sing,” said Poon, handing out hymn books to the audience. “Singing is good for the soul,” he said, and the audience agreed, singing along on such carols as Good King Wenceslas that celebrates the Feast of Stephen on the second day of Christmas, Dec. 26.
The Coventry Carol, for the fourth day, grieves for the slaughter of children by Herod’s hand and is lovely and sad. The seventh day of Christmas celebrates the consecration of the pope and it was shared through organ music in a dynamic piece of music from Molnar. David Poon also performed on the organ with an original older version of Ave Maria.
The ninth day is a paean to the Feast of St. Basil and the choir and audience voices soared in a hymn taken from a text from St. James. The homage to church bells on the tenth day gave us Ding Dong Merrily on High, a familiar carol. The 11th day that honours sailors gave the choir an opportunity to sing the traditional I Saw Three Ships.
The event closed with a poem by Christina Rossetti made into a hymn, In the Bleak Midwinter, and that brings us to Friday, Jan. 5, the 12th night. You may take down your Christmas decorations today, but for the Motet Choir it’s not over. They perform again Jan. 6 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Vancouver. Motet strives to preserve sacred musical traditions and build up sacred music for the future. See www.motet.ca for more.
