<P> After they are allowed in and perform a Mummers play, the boys are served beer by the farmer's maid . </P> <P> Another example is recorded in 1883, from the villages of Burford, Church Stretton and Worthen in the English county of Shropshire: </P> <P> I wish you a merry Christmas, a happy New Year, A pocket full of money, and a cellar full of beer; A good fat pig to last you all the year . Please to give me a New Year's gift . </P> <P> The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve, such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern - day Christmas puddings . A variety of nineteenth - century sources state that, in the West Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs . </P>

Traditional lyrics to we wish you a merry christmas