SRSCRO December 2020 Update

History of Christmas Carols

Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around 22nd December. The word Carol actually means dance or a song of praise and joy! Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived.

Christmas, celebrate the birth of Jesus, then started to be celebrated at the same time as the solstice, so the early Christians started singing Christian songs instead of pagan ones. In the year 129, a Roman Bishop said that a song called "Angel's Hymn" should be sung at a Christmas service in Rome. Another famous early Christmas Hymn was written in 760, by Comas of Jerusalem, for the Greek Orthodox Church. Soon after this many composers all over Europe started to write 'Christmas carols'. However, not many people liked them as they were all written and sung in Latin, a language that the normal people couldn't understand. By the time of the Middles Ages (the 1200s), most people had lost interest in celebrating Christmas altogether.

This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or 'canticles' that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling.

When the Puritans came to power in England in 1640s, the celebration of Christmas and singing carols was stopped. However, the carols survived as people still sang them in secret. Carols remained mainly unsung until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England.

Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called 'Waits'. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called 'Waits' because they only sang on Christmas Eve (This was sometimes known as 'watchnight' or 'waitnight' because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.), when the Christmas celebrations began.

New carols services were created and became popular, as did the custom of singing carols in the streets. One of the most popular types of Carols services are Carols by Candlelight services. At this service, the church is only lit by candlelight and it feels very Christmassy! Carols by Candlelight services are held in countries all over the world.

Joy to the World

Merry Christmas to All!

In This Issue

History of Christmas Carols

Christmas Carol Fun Facts

While we associate "Jingle Bells" with Christmas, the song was written by James Lord Pierpont to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The first Christmas song to mention Santa Claus was Benjamin Hanby's "Up On The Housetop." Written in 1864, Hanby was inspired Clement Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas."

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is one of the oldest Christmas hymns to still get airplay. Originally composed in Latin during the twelfth century, it was translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1851.

Thurl Ravenscroft, the singer responsible for How the Grinch Stole Christmas' classic song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," also famously voiced Tony the Tiger, the mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

Irving Berlin hated Elvis Presley's version of "White Christmas" so much that he tried to prevent radio stations from playing Presley's cover.

In April 1975, the American military played "White Christmas" over Armed Forces Radio as a covert signal instructing soldiers in Vietnam to evacuate Saigon.

Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas" is the highest-selling single of all time.

In 1906, a violin solo of "O Holy Night" was the second piece of music to ever be broadcast on radio.

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the World" are two of the oldest English language Christmas hymns, originating in the 1700s.

"Let It Snow" has made its way into the Christmas cannon despite the fact that it never once mentions the holiday and was written by Jewish songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn.

"Jingle Bells" was the first song performed in space.

Songwriter Gloria Shayne Baker wrote "Do You Hear What I Hear?" as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans' holiday classic "Silver Bells" was originally titled "Tinkle Bells." They changed it when Livingston's wife explained that "tinkle" was often a synonym for something else.

Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song" (more commonly known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") was written during a summer heatwave in 1944.

Singer Brenda Lee recorded the original version of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" when she was only 13 years old.

The 2021 SRSCRO meeting schedule is available here.

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Rick McLeod | President/CEO | 803.508.7402

Mindy Mets | Director of Regional Workforce Programs |803.508.7403

Amy Merry | Administrative & Business Manger | 803.508.7401

Kim Saxon | Assistant Coordinator | 803.508.7656

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