In listening to medieval Christmas music, as I usually do at this time of year, I discovered the Elthin version of En Virgo Parit Filium/Narodil se Kristus Pán. A YouTube link to the song is embedded below. Being cheerful and bouncy, it cried out to me for a dance. So of course I choreographed two.
The Song
The song is evidently a popular Czech Christmas song dating back to at least the very early 16th century. The earliest manuscript in which this song is found (in the collection of the Czech Museum of Silver in Kutná Hora) is dated to around 1500. While I had difficulty finding information in English about the song, I eventually tracked down a source which contained some details about the manuscript it appears in. This site even includes an image of the original page, which does not appear on the website of the holding museum. (I have also ordered a book by one of the authors linked in the Literature page of the above site, in hopes that it will inspire further choreographies.)
The Dances
Each of the two dances I created takes 32 counts, or one repeat of the music. The single Latin verse I have been able to locate with confidence takes up one repeat of the music, as does each verse in the Czech version.
Ly Bens-style dance
In listening to this song, I found it strongly reminiscent of the music for the Gresley manuscript dance Ly Bens Distonys, to the point where I would occasionally mix the songs together. With this in mind, I set out to create a similarly fun and lighthearted dance. I eventually settled on a choreography for two as follows:
| Counts | Steps |
| 1-4 | two singles forward |
| 5-8 | double forward |
| 9-12 | single backward, single forward |
| 13-16 | turn over opposite shoulders |
| 17-20 | two singles forward |
| 21-24 | double forward |
| 25-32 | two hand turn all the way around to place |
Bransle
At the suggestion of Aasa Thorvaldsdottir (of the West Kingdom), I also created a bransle suitable for a circle of unpartnered dancers. I cobbled together bits and pieces from various period bransles to create this dance, as seems to be the usual construction method.
| Counts | Steps |
| 1-4 | double left |
| 5-8 | single right, single left |
| 9-12 | double right |
| 13-16 | single left, single right |
| 17-20 | single left with kick, single right with kick |
| 21-24 | double left |
| 25-28 | single right with kick, single left with kick |
| 29-32 | double right, turning |
Once we return to in-person activities, I hope to try these dances out with real live dancers. I hope I have captured an appropriate period feeling with these dances, simple as they are.