The Carol of the Birds
William G. James (music)
John Wheeler (lyrics)
Out on the plains, the brolgas are dancing
Lifting their feet like horses prancing
Up to the sun, the woodlarks go winging
Faint in the dawn light echoes their singing
Friarbirds sip the nectar of flowers
Currawongs chant in wattle-tree bowers
In the blue ranges lorikeets calling
Carols of bush birds are rising and falling
Orana! Orana! Orana to Christmas Day!
Orana! Orana! Orana to Christmas Day!
This charming Christmas carol from Down Under reads like an Australian bird watcher's guide with its dancing brolgas, chanting currawongs, and calling lorikeets, reminding us the Southern Hemisphere celebrates the birth of Christ in the summertime. The repeated refrain, "orana," means "welcome" in the language of the indigenous Wiradjuri people of New South Wales. The Nativity scene, painted in a traditional style with earth pigments on a panel from a stringybark eucalyptus tree, is the work of an unknown artist from the Djinang people of the Northern Territory, depicting the Holy Family in a wood frame shelter with their hunting dogs and woven plant fibre dillybags. Under a sky ablaze with stars, hunters pay homage to the Baby Jesus with gifts of fresh game. (John Kohan)