Green Grow the Rushes, O

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Green Grow the Rushes, Ho (or O) (aka The Twelve Prophets or The Carol of the Twelve Numbers or The Teaching Song ), is a folk song popular in the United States of America as well as in England, Scotland, and Wales. The song is extremely old, first recorded in Hebrew in the 16th century and probably much older than that; at the present, it is sometimes sung as a Christmas carol. Some linguists claim that the Mexican word "Gringo" is derived from the words "Green Grow" which were heard throughout Mexico when sung as a marching song by U.S. soldiers during the Mexican-American War. The song is not to be confused with Robert Burns' Green Grow the Rashes, O, with which it shares only the title. It is cumulative in structure, with each verse built up from the previous verse by appending a new stanza. The first verse is:

I'll sing you one, Ho (or O)

Green grow the rushes, Ho

What is your one, Ho?

One is one and all alone

And evermore shall be (it) so.

The twelfth is:

I'll sing you twelve, Ho

Green grow the rushes, Ho

What are your twelve, Ho?

Twelve for the twelve Apostles,

Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven,

Ten for the ten commandments,

Nine for the nine bright shiners,

Eight for the April Rainers, (or April Showerers, or occasionally Eight for the eight bold Rangers,)

Seven for the seven stars in the sky, (or "Seven for the seven who went to Heaven")

Six for the six proud walkers,

Five for the symbols at your door,

Four for the Gospel makers,

Three, three, the rivals,

Two, two, the lily-white boys,

Clothèd all in green, Ho

One is one and all alone (sometimes One is one and one alone or One is one and stands alone)

And evermore shall be (it) so.

The lyrics of the song are in many places extremely obscure, and present an unusual mixture of Christian catechesis, astronomical mnemonics, and what may very well be pagan cosmology. The song's origins are uncertain, but the first recorded instance of it is in Hebrew; it may have originated in the intricacies of medieval Jewish thought, although the Kabbalistic mystics were seldom interested in composing songs. A parallel may also be drawn with the Jewish Passover song "echad mi yodeia" (Who knows 1?), where e. g. 5 represents the books of the Pentateuch, 2 represents the luchot habrit (the stone tablets on which the 10 commandments are said to have been written), and one represents "our Lord, our Lord, our Lord who is in the heavens and the earth".

"Green grow the rushes, Ho (or O)" sounds sufficiently out of place that one is inclined to ascribe it to the same origin as "Fine flowers in the valley" in one version of the ballad The Cruel Mother, namely, an attempt to turn a misremembered line of Gaelic into something that it sounds like in English. However, the song did not originate in the British Isles; thus, the line must have been included for a conscious reason, or been the product of an earlier disruption.

• Twelve is almost certainly the twelve apostles of Jesus, although the number has other meanings; it may originally have referred to the months of the year, for example.
• The eleven are the eleven Apostles who remained faithful (minus Judas Iscariot), or possibly St. Ursula and her companions.
• Ten are, fairly obviously, the ten commandments given to Moses.
• The nine may be an astronomical reference, although counting the sun, moon and planets known before 1781 yields at most 8, not 9. It could potentially refer to the nine orders (or 'choirs') of angels.
• The April rainers refer to the Hyades star cluster, called the "rainy Hyades" in classical times, and rising with the sun in April; the Greeks thought of them as inaugurating the April rains. "Eight bold rangers" is a very recent corruption, most likely the unfortunate consequence of singers with more knowledge of Tolkien than Greece.
• The seven are probably the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades star cluster, or perhaps Ursa Major, the Big Dipper. They may also be the planets or other stars. Alternatively, the seven stars are those referred to in Revelation chapter 1. They are first cited in verse 16 as being held in the right hand of Christ and then explained as referring to seven angels of the seven early Christian churches.
• The six seems to be a historical reference, but remains obscure. It is possible that they were members of a Saxon warband who beat the bounds of their fortified camp in a traditional way between A.D. 450 and A.D. 1066. Perhaps it is a Biblical reference to Ezekiel 9:2 - six men with swords come in a vision of the prophet to slaughter the people, whose leaders (8:16) have committed such sins as turning East to worship the Sun, and "have filled the land with violence." It may also be a corruption of "waters," but what "the six bold waters" might refer to remains unanswered.
• "Five for the symbols at your door" probably refers to the practice of putting a pentagram at the door of a house to ward off witches and evil spirits; this was relatively common in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, and is alluded to in no shortage of literary works from or set in those eras. It can also refer to the five books of Moses - the pentateuch. An alternative interpretation is given by John Timpson in his book Timpson's England, where he states that it refers to five symbols displayed above the doorways of houses that would shelter Catholic priests. He gives an example a house where these can still be seen.
• Four refers to the four Evangelists, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
• Some have suggested that "the three" are the Trinity, but this leaves "the rivals" unexplained. The I Ching contains the interesting proverb that "when three meet together, doubts arise among them," although it probably has no bearing on the interpretation of this song. The three could also refer to the 3 major religious traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. "The three" could also refer to the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, alluding to the previous line. These three give similar though slightly different accounts of the life of Christ. Or the "three rivals" could be Peter, James and John who are often mentioned together in the Gospels and at one time: "A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest." (Luke 22:24).

Some suggest the three are three similar and adjacent mountains in Wales.

• The two remain obscure. Jesus and John the Baptist have been suggested. Possibly they are the holly and the ivy (although the holly berry is red, the ivy berry is black), both have white wood and are evergreen. Pagan tradition also has the holly and the ivy as male and female, so they are not both 'boys'. Possibly they are holly and mistletoe (white berries with green branches) which would align more closely with the tradition of the defeat at yule of the holly king by the oak king (mistletoe 'traditionally' grows on oak trees, although it will grow on other types of tree). Robert Graves suggested that they are the Holly King and Oak King. There is some suggestion that the two may be the Old and New Testaments, perhaps referring to some mediaeval tradition, although "clad all in green" strongly suggests that the two boys were in some way connected with the growth of plants.
  • Another explanation is that the statues of St John and Our Lady which in Christian Churches flank the Crucifix on the Altar reredos or the Rood screen were, during Holy Week, bound round with rushes to cover them. (During Holy Week, from Palm Sunday until Easter Day all statues, crosses, crucifixes etc are traditionally covered up from view or removed and no flowers are in the Church). The two figures were portrayed in similar garments, hence the 'lily-white boys' and wrapped in rushes they were 'dressed up all in green'.
• One would suppose that the "One" of the last line would be God, but God in the Middle Ages was more commonly thought of as the Trinity, and "one is one and one alone," if applied to God, sounds more like Jewish or Muslim theology than Christian in its strong insistence on the Divine unity.

[edit] Media

[edit] Alternate titles

• Children Go Where I Send Thee
• I'll Sing You One Oh
• The Carol Of The Twelve Numbers
• The Twelve Apostles
• The Dilly Song
• The Dilly Carol
• The Counting Song

[edit] Related works

The song 'The Ten Commandments' by Figgy Duff on the CD Music:After The Tempest is a variant of this song that that does not include the eleventh and twelfth symbols.

There is also a song titled "Green Grow the Rushes" on the album Fables of the Reconstruction by the band R.E.M., which refers to and is partially based upon this song.

A filk song titled "High Fly the Nazgul-O!" uses the same tune but the lyrics have been changed to refer to The Lord of the Rings.

The late comedian Kenneth Williams sang a parody called "Green Grow My Nadgers, O" on the Round the Horne radio comedy programme.