Tomorrow shall be my dancing day

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. English Traditional.  The cosmic dance between Christ and humanity is the basis of this carol. Its unusual first-person-singular perspective and dance metaphor echoes the Apocryphal Acts of John (Second Century) in which Christ says:  I would be saved, and I would save. Amen. . . I would be born, and I would bear. Amen. . . Grace danceth. I would pipe; dance ye all. Amen. . . Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen. (ver. 95).  The eleven stanzas of ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’ are often described as a Cornish carol. It was first printed in William Sandys*’ Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern: The Most Popular in the West of England,...

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