Cartier, Fifth Avenue

"No article of diet is as often served at Christmas as the boar's head. At our feasts

the boar's head was brought to the festive table in great state. The Master of the Revels

ushered in the bearer of the head and he was followed by the choristers and minstrels,

singing and playing. Oftentimes a man entered first, accompanied by two pages. He carried

the bloody sword with which the boar was slain. Then followed the bearer of the boar's head."

-- from 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred Carl Hottes

'There was a star in David's land,

So bright it did appear

Into King Herod's chamber,

And brightly it shined there.

The Wise Men soon espied it,

And told the king on high,

A princely babe was born that night

No king could e'er destroy.

'If this be true,' King Herod said,

'As thou has told to me,

This roasted cock that lies in the dish

Shall crow full fences three.'

The cock soon thrustened and feathered well,

By the work of God's own hand,

And he did crow full fences three,

In the dish where he did stand.'

from King Herod and the Cock, Traditional

The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928

Days 'til Christmas