The Vision’s Wizards

Four Colly Birds - Why Blackbirds Should be Wary of Mince Pies!

Now you may be thinking why this post isnât titled âFour Calling Birdsâ?

The truth is that the original wording of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ song is ‘Four Colly Birds’, an archaic nickname for blackbirds. Over the years, as ‘colly birds’ has fallen into disuse, the rhyme has transformed through misinterpretation into ‘Four Calling Birds’.

So do blackbirds have any significance at Christmas? Actually, they do, as they were originally one of the ingredients in the humble, yet popular, mince pie.

No way, I hear you cry! Mince pies are those small pastries filled with mixed fruit and spices. How could a blackbird be included in that?

Ah, but the history of the mince pie has a lot more to it.

The Origins of the Christmas Pie

The mince pie used to be a major and central part of the Christmas feast. Rather than being a small dessert or snack-sized pie, the mince pie was a huge and lavish dish, filled with as many lavish and luscious ingredients as could be found, including blackbirds.

This meant that the pie contained far more than fruit. In fact, any kind of meat and poultry was minced together with fruits and spices.

In medieval times, this was simply called âThe Christmas Pieâ, and would often be shaped into a crib, to reflect the religious festival.

Of course, when Oliver Cromwell led the Puritans to power in England during the Seventeenth Century, this type of âabominable and idolatrous confectionâ was outlawed. The Christmas Pie was made illegal.

But, as with other Christmas traditions during Cromwellâs reign, it went underground. The Christmas Pie became a round, traditional pie and was called a Mincâd Pie, so as to avoid prosecution.

After Cromwellâs regime was removed in 1660, the Mincâd Pies remained in their new form, growing larger and more lavish.

A Farm in a Pie

One incredible pie baked in 1770 contained the following.

The pie was so large that it needed to be fitted with 4 wheels to enable in to be served.

Other Blackbird Pie References

Of course, there is one other historical reference to blackbirds and pies, confirming their original popularity as a tasty pastry ingredient. In the popular nursery rhyme âSing A Song of Sixpenceâ the second line refers to âFour and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pieâ. Although the rhyme reveals these to be live birds, the implication is that a blackbird pie was certainly not unusual.

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Could the rhyme actually be referring to a Christmas Pie?

The Modern Mince Pie

It wasnât until the Nineteenth Century that the mincemeat was gradually omitted and replaced with suet, nuts, fruits, spices and syrups. Bizarrely, this concoction was still referred to as mince, and sometimes even still as mincemeat, in reference to the origins of the dish.

The pie became smaller, and found its new position as a traditional dessert or small treat.

These days, we buy jars of fruit mince to make our mince pies, even though there is nothing minced about these ingredients at all.

So next time you see a blackbird, consider how they used to be one of the favoured eating birds of Christmas, and how lucky they are the tradition has passed.

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