Christmas Is Coming, the Goose Is Getting Fat

DESCRIPTION: "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do. If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Baring-Gould)
KEYWORDS: money bird food Christmas
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US New Zealand Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, pp. 61-62, "(Please to remember the fifth of November)" (1 text, plus another fragment that might be from another Guy Fawkes game and a partial reqire of "Chrismas Is Coming, The Goose Is Getting Fat")
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #419, p. 195, "(Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat)"
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 24, "Christmas Is Coming" (1 short text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 45, "Christmas is Coming" (1 short text)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 49, "(Christmas is coming)" (1 text)
LibraryThingCampSongsThread, post 4, "(Christmas is coming)" (1 short text, from user John5918, posted August 28, 2021)
DT, XMASCOME*
ADDITIONAL: Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #153, "(Christmas Is Coming)" (1 text)
ST BGMG419 (Partial)
Roud #12817
NOTES [51 words]: This seems to be rare in tradition, and yet *I* learned it orally, in a version still close to the British, since it mentions ha'pennies (which I first heard as "hay-pennies," which made no sense at all). So I'm filing it on the assumption it's going to be collected in tradition in the future, at least. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: BGMG419

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