feature Christmas Carols Christmas is almost here, and most of us really look forward to singing and hearing Carols, they evoke the traditional spirit of Christmas and the winter season. Actually Carols did not originate with Christianity, but were pre-Christian. The word carol derives from Old French, carole, a circle dance accompanied by singing. The tunes are lively, and were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to 1350s, after which they became processional songs sung during festivals and also accompanied the religious mystery plays. Much earlier people danced, possibly round a stone circle, at the winter solstice, in order to encourage the return of the sun. ‘Traditional’ carolling, as we know it, was introduced by the Victorians. The best known Carol service of all, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, most famously sung in Kings’ College Chapel on Christmas Eve, and heard all over the world, was introduced in the late 19th century. Some of the carols we sing today, such as ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ originate in pagan fertility myth, where Holly is male and good, and Ivy is female and evil. Some churches do not allow this carol for fear of encouraging dancing and debauchery! ‘Silent Night’ (Stille Nacht) comes from Germany, from a village near Salzburg, when on Christmas Eve a priest discovered that the organ did not function as mice had damaged it. He quickly wrote some simple verses, and his organist found the tune, which could be played on a guitar. This carol has been translated into more than 200 languages, and was sung across the trenches during WWI. ‘Good King Wenceslas’ (a Boxing day Carol, as the Feast of Stephen is December 26th) is rather strange. Wenceslas was a tenth century Catholic Duke of Bohemia, Vaclav the Good, who was murdered by his brother, Boleslaw the Bad, and is buried in St Vitus cathedral in Prague. He is the Patron Saint of the Czech Republic. Why he is taking firewood to a peasant who lives in a forest is a mystery! The tune is Finnish, and was obviously a vigorous dance. Of course there was singing in early Christian times, and the Apostles would have sung songs of praise, probably based on the psalms of the Old Testament. One of the earliest Christmas songs is from the 4th century, composed by St Hilary of Poitiers. St Francis of Assisi encouraged composers and poets to write music for Christmas, but lighter Christmas music was introduced during the Renaissance in the 14th century. These tunes spread after the introduction of the printing press, and monks made significant contributions. However, in England between 1649 and 1660 carols were banned, by Oliver Cromwell, who thought that Christmas should be a solemn occasion. On the continent, when carols couldn’t be sung in churches, they found a stage elsewhere, and the most famous religious play, the ‘Passion
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Play’ was performed in Oberammergau, in Germany in 1634, and has been performed every 10 years since then. Ralph Vaughan Williams was fascinated by English church music and folk music, and travelled round the country recording music in villages, pubs, farms and churches. These were edited, and published as the English Hymnal for the Church of England. About 500 early English carols have been found in museums and libraries, some in English and some in Latin, and some in a mixture. The most famous of the latter is ‘The Boar’s Head Carol’, the verses of which are in English, with the last line in Latin, and the refrain in Latin ‘Caput Apri defero’, Reddens laudes Domino. (I bring in the Boar’s head, Give thanks to God). This is thought to date back to Anglo Saxon times, and probably from Scandinavia, where a Boar’s Head was brought in to honour the gods. The best selling Christmas song of all time is Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’, which has sold more than 30 million copies. ‘Waits’ were official groups led by important local leaders, they sang, and collected money, food and drink from the public: if others did the same thing they could be called beggars! Waits were so called as they sang only on Christmas Eve, wait-night or watch-night, as the shepherds were watching sheep when the angels appeared to tell them of the birth of Jesus. From this has developed the modern practice of groups of carol singers going from house to house singing to collect money for charity, (and receiving mince-pies and a drink!) Ann Dekkers
