Show 4 10 on 0 4 in woo JIM M L M hy r ell 1 N P 1 1 A A 3 z T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON drawing by ray walters hj NE of the inte interesting esting devel matl ot of the celebration r OI of christmas in america Is the revival of the ancient custom of singing christmas carols on christmas eve and the I 1 increasing creasing r observance of ta that bat custom in all parts of the country of course we have bave always had some christmas carol singing varying in prevalence in different parts of the country and confined mainly to the christmas exercises in church and school by the celii dren just before the holiday but in the hurry and haste of this modern high speed age and our departure in man many y respects from the old forms of abse observing the day tile the singing of carols Is one custom which lias has been allowed to lapse to a great extent it Is interesting to note however that the christmas christinas carol Is staging a comeback come back and that in ili places where its appearance seems all the more sup surprising because it Is in the very center of oui our modern commercialism in many of the big department stores in the lar large go cities in hotels and in restaurants groups of musicians dressed in the costumes of old england tire are playing and singing christmas carols during the week before christmas in some soine of the railroad stations in the big cities hurrying commuters and other railway travelers er 11 are surprised to hear the sound of voices singing old fashioned christmas carols pealing out through the cathedral like spaces of these great structures and upon pausing for a moment they see that the singing comes from a balcony overlooking the concourse and that it Is a trained choir of many voices which Is thus adding to the christmas spirit in evidence everywhere the first christmas carol Is said to ie that sung by the heavenly host when the birth of christ was ans announced to the shepherds here Is a description of that singing as told by st luke there were in the same country shepherds thep herds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night and lo 10 the lite angel of the lord came upon them and the glory of tile the lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them rear not for behold I 1 bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you Is born tills this day in the city of david a savior which Is christ the lord and this abail be a sign unto you ye shall find the babo babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god and singing glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men probably the practice of singing at christmas rose in imitation of this as the majority of the carols declare tho the good tidings of great joy the word carol itself comes from two latin words meaning to sing joyfully or tie as it wits was defined long ago in a curious old know you sou what Is a carol carol singing with praise of god if you sou praise god and sing not you utter no carol II 11 you sing and pria an a not god you utter no sarol carol if you sou praise anything which does not appertain to the praise of god though in singing you u praise you utter no carol it Is a curious fact that the singing of carols like man mans of our other christmas Chilst mas customs owes something to a pagan as well as a christian origin the early eaily church found that all pagan religions celebrated the birth I 1 of a new year the druids druies gathered mistletoe on what Is our lay day of christmas the romans held their saturnalia satur nalla them the persians held agricultural agil cultural ceremonies emo n lei as did the chinese Theop lillus bishop of caesarea toward the middle of the second century recommended the observance of the birthday of our lord on what day the of december shall happen there follows follow a definite statement that the first official carol was gloria in Ex celsis deo and the y icar car in which it was sung on oil the new date was A D thus thui the church was able to profit from the mood of merriment created by the pagans angan s the spirit of joy from many religions was merged into that of one many high churchmen in the ancient times opposed the introduction of song into the solemn moments no power however could stem the tide of innocent song which had invaded religious observance the first crusade preached prea clied by urban in 1095 gave gaie impetus to the troubadour movement and the holidays for five centuries were to resound with the songs of their inspiration by 1 carol singing was widespread in europe and was being introduced into england in the england of today wandering hands bands of minstrels or waits preserve the old customs by going from house lohouse to house christmas Chil straas tunes on reed instruments and singing carols it may be this that they sing bin wassail w wassail I 1 to our town tow n I 1 the bowl Is white and the ale Is brown the bowl is made of the rosemary tree and so Is the ale of the good berlee little mald little maid tirl the pin I 1 open the door and let us come in I 1 or they may lift bp up their voices in this equally old carol caral here us its comes a wassailing was sailing under the lie holly green here us us comes a wandering so merry to be seen good luck good master faster 11 in and kind mistress also and all the little children that round the table go I 1 your pockets full of money your cup boards full fall of good cheer A merry christmas guizzardo Gul and a n happy new yearl year the poor women and children also sing bins carols orf the streets and are arc given cakes by those who listen some of the carol singers carry peaked lanterns to light them on their way the bringing in of the yule log loe in eng land was the occasion ot of a joyous jolou a ceremony vad und tile the singing of merr merry songs such as the boars baars head carol still sung at oxford tit at christmas I 1 which goes as follows the boars baars head in land hand bear I 1 with will bays and lo io and I 1 pray you sou my masters be merry estis in conyl vio caput aarl defero reddens laudes domino I 1 our ste steward ivard hath provided this in lionor honor of the king of bliss which on tills this day to be served Is in atrio caput aarl defero reddens laudes domino 11 almost every land has its own christmas carols they are called Wiegen lieder or KrIsti leder in germany noels in france and carols in E england in russia tile the student ancient kolyada songs once sung to pa pagan gan gods now dedicated to the christina christian saints are sung sting about the streets it Is to austria however that we are indebted for one of our best known of all christmas songs for silent night had its origin in e P simple pre christmas party to which it a young priest joseph cited in oberndorf near salsburg austria in 1818 at oberndorf Obern dorl it was tile the custom shortly before christmas for wandering comedians from the nearby near by village of lauren to glye give crude representations of the christ mus mas story as recounted in the bible A named maler invited joseph mohr young assistant priest who had bad recently come to the village from salzburg to be his guest at a little party As a special surprise for the priest falar arranged arrange d fo for r the comedians from daufen laufen to stage their festival play at his home the thoughtful hospitality of the maler couple and tile the touching simplicity of the festival play pay so stirred the young priest that instead of going straightway home lie climbed the so called barg mountain or of tile the dead overlooking oberndorf Obe indorf and stood there in silent meditation the silence of the night tile the blinking of the tars stars the murmur of tho the salzach Salza cli river till all inspired him quickly lie he descended to ills his parish house and late that night the alie words to stille were written the next lay day lie hurried to his chum and worker coworker co franz gruber P organist s and school teacher ile ho requested ills his friend to write the music for Ms his song happy at this opportunity composed tile melody that Is 19 known perhaps to more people than any other single melody christmas eve of 1818 came and tile the pr priest lest and the teacher were ready to offer alie soil song ig for tile the flat time unfortunately the organ orann of st nicola was out of commission that night for a moment it seemed its as though aitho tho congregation were to be cheated out of this unique premiere but gruber ran back to his home and got lilg his gulf gul f tar to its accompaniment mohr and gruber then ahen sang stille nacha fort the first time na as a duet duct 0 by wyteria newspaper uit union len |