Make We Merry This New Year,
Thanking God With Hearty Cheer

Words: English Traditional, Before 1529

Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 31-2.

1. Gabriel, brighter than the sun,
Graciously greeted that maiden free;
Through her meekness Christ have we found,
    Ecce ancilla Domini.

2. Ave Maria, virgin bright,
We joyeth of thy virginity;
The Holy Ghost is on thee light,
Thou hast conceived thy Son so free.

3. Now is that maidë gret with child,
Herself alone also credibly;
Fro the fiend she shall us shield;
So sayeth books in their story.

Note:

According to Rickert, Ecce ancilla Domini is translated as "Lo, the handmaiden of the Lord."

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