Deck The Halls

Deck the Halls or Deck the Hall (which is the 1877 title) is a traditional Christmas, yuletide, and New Years carol. The melody is Welsh dating back to the sixteenth century,[1] and belongs to a winter carol, Nos Galan, while the English lyrics date to 1862. The English lyrics first appeared (still called Nos Galan) in volume 2 of Welsh Melodies, a set of four volumes authored by John Thomas with Welsh words by John Jones (Talhaiarn) and English words by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant,[2] although the repeated fa la la goes back to the original Welsh Nos Galan and may originate from medieval ballads.[3] The song is in AABA form.[4] The series Welsh Melodies appears in four volumes, the first two in 1862, the third in 1870 and the final volume in 1874. As can be seen from the translation of Nos Galan below, Deck the Hall(s) is not a translation but new words by Oliphant to an old song.