The Holly and the Ivy

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I think my least favourite carol is "The Holly and the Ivy." "We three Kings" runs a close second. I don't understand why the ivy is mentioned at all. "The holly and the ivy when they are both full grown, of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown".... so why mention the ivy at all?  The carol goes on to talk about the holly, just the holly, until the last verse when the ivy gets another slap in the face because the first verse is repeated which always strikes me as unnecessary anyway. Then there's "the running of the deer," what have running deer got to do with holly and ivy and choirs and organs and the sun rising? Deer hate English ivy, so maybe that's why they are running. They have torn off a chunk of ivy (deer have no incisors in their upper jaw) and it is so horrible tasting that they have run away in disgust. Incidentally deer don't like strawberries or tulips either so the song writer could have written, "The holly and the tulips when they are both full grown..." Strawberries wont scan so they couldn't have written "The holly and the strawberries when they are both full grown..."  Furthermore, a study found that the ivy plant reduces airborne fecal-matter particles and has also been shown to filter out formaldehyde found in some household cleaning products. The only merry organs I have heard are fair ground organs and even they have an underlying sinister tone. 

So there you have it - my least favourite carol, my reasons, and some interesting facts.

Happy Christmas.