OK guys, I'm holding my hands up. I surrender. Holly berries come in different colours. Well, how was I to know. Asda only sells red ones; I expect there's an EU directive about it ( "Acceptable pigmentation of ilex species and associated seasonal fruiting bodies ...")

IB's comment struck a big chord with me. I read "The White Goddess" with great interest and enjoyment some years ago, and ever since I've been looking for some of the metaphors which Graves described. Occasionally I've found them in folk song and story (and that could be a fun thread), but I missed the white/red/black sequence in this carol. In Graves' interpretion of European mythology it is the classic triad of colours symbolising virginity, motherhood, and death. No doubt the green verse threw me off the scent. So, IB, thanks for that. Nice one.

Which version of this carol came first - all berry verses or different tree parts - must be anyone's guess. I don't have a copy of the 18th C broadside I mentioned above, and in any case that wouldn't necessarily prove anything. I just wish this carol got SUNG more often. To the Sans Day tune I mean, or the the other "folkie" HollynIvy tune.