| Show the carols we sing at christmas R perpetuate a custom which began centuries Cent udes before birth of christ hrista C latt iiii by katherine ferguson chalkley Chalk lcy released He leased by western newspaper union aarol AROL singing in ameri C I 1 ca at christmas is the continuance of a custom which had its beginning many centuries before the birth of christ when the druids druies celebrated the festival of gule in honor of the return of the sun at the winter solstice and which clung to the rites of the christmas feast that replaced the ancient pagan festival after the conversion of the anglo saxons to christianity back in the ages when the druids druies gathered about the oaks to cut the mistletoe and offer it to the gods go ds the ancient britons would join hands and dance in circles about their priests singing praises of the deities as they danced these dances came to be called carols which means dancing songs when christianity came and the christmas feast superseded the ohp ancient feast of gule these dancing songs along with other pagan rituals were brought into the christian church here fused with christian hymns they became a substantial part of the cere ceremonies monies and customs surrounding the celebration of the nativity As the centuries passed however the word carol became more and more inclusive until from the middle ages down to the present day it has ceased to name only a part of a religious ritual and is the term applied to christmas songs and poems convivial and sacred alike the first christmas carol to picture the beginning of the C christmas carols one must imagine a starlit star lit plain where in the half gloom are huddled the shepherds and their flocks suddenly the sky becomes brilliant the night is as bright as day the angels have come to announce bounce the birth of christ from the clouds comes the sound of heavenly voices singing the first christmas carol adlo glory ry to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men since music has always had a large part in the worship of all peoples it was only natural that the early christians should compose hymns that the writing of christmas hymns had absorbed the attention of latin churchmen early in the christian era we learn from the etall epistle of Telesphor us in the second century he wrote in the holy night of the nativity of our lord and saviour they do celebrate pub lique church services services and in them solemnly do sing the angelis hymns because also on that same night he was declared unto the shepherds by an ang angell e 11 as the truth itself doth wit nesse by the fourth century the singing of christmas hymns had become an established custom wherever christianity 1 existed the birthday of our lord however was not entirely given over to religious ceremonies it was an occasion for so much merriment and good cheer thit that gregory Nazi anzen who died in in in mentioning the feast of the nativity cautioned against feasting to excess dancing crowning the doors with wreaths and merrymaking merry making in general origin in england in bede introduced christianity into england and that date perhaps marks the origin of the christmas songs and poems we have today anglo sax ons after their conversion showed a great fondness for religious music at the same time preserving their love for their old customs dearest to them of these customs were their dances hymns were composed and when these hymns celebrated the best and greatest of all feasts the nativity they were sung to dance tunes and danced about cribs that were set up in the churches it was during the tenth century that carols ceased to deal only with the nativity the rol holy y family and sacred subjects they came to include festive and drinking songs at this time also there came a curious intermingling of the sacred and profane in songs that were ono one would suppose meant to be strictly sacred in their praises the french influence with william the conqueror in 1066 there came a new influence into the english carol for centuries in franceil france Franc eit it had been the custo cosing songs in honor of the christmas gason season these we were re called N hoes Is and after the norman invasion the word nt L 2 noel nowell or novel was used again and again in christmas songs by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries christmas carols were flourishing in all parts of england they were usually set to simple rhythmic melodies with catchy tunes characteristic of 0 popular music one of the early writers mentions this carol which was sung to the tune of king solomon even christ 1 I 1 meane that virgins VIrg lna e chelde hild e in bethlem born that lambe of 0 god that prophet mild crowned with thorne two yuletide customs mystery and miracle plays pageants and masques had reached the height of their development by the fifteenth century into these performances which sometimes lasted for several days carols and drinking songs were frequently introduced it is to the fifteenth century also that several fin fine e carols celebrating two of the oldest english yuletide customs the bringing in of the boats ald head to the christmas feast and the drinking from the wassail bowl are attributed singing a toast to the boars baars head as it was being carried into the christmas feast Is a tradition that is probably almost as old as the celebration of christmas on english soil we know that by 1340 the custom had been established at queens college oxford and that it has continued ever since As trumpeters trum peters announced the arrival of the boars baars head the guests at the feast would rise and sing an appropriate song the legend of the wassail bowl dates back to the time when n rowena daughter of the saxon king hengist arese prese presented anted a bowl of liquor to the british king with these words lolerd king was he heil 11 11 to which the king replied drina heile from that time on was heil ing became an ep expression of hospitality hospital ty and good fellow fellowship ship during the christmas S season eason when conviviality was at its height groups of gay merry makers went from hot house ise to house and the streets of the towns echoed with wass wassail aill wass wassailli Wassal aill ll an all over the town our bread it Is white our alg ale it Is brown brow n our bowl Is made of a caplin tree to here my good fellow ill drink to ito thee the wassailing was sailing bowl with a toast within come fill it up unto the brim come fill it up so that we mayall may all see with the wassailing was sailing bowl it ill drink i to thee carols had their greatest vogue during the sixteenth century so popular had they become by 1521 that de worde one of the earliest printers in england was induced to print a collection 1 in that year this undertaking had such a marked success that between the years 1548 and 1552 rychard kele got out an edition of christmas songs which contained three volumes directly after these followed a series of collections ralph ne rys appeared in 1559 john tysdale 1562 thorn thom bacon 1563 christopher payne 1569 moses powell 1587 abolished by puritans carol singing had reached its height when the reformation attempted d to sweep england i clean of such a sacrilege legeas as the festive celebration of christmas I 1 in n t the general onslaught of the purit puritans s carol singing was abolished and holly and ivy were made seditious badges neither wholesale decrees nor fines and imprisonments could stamp out a custom so popular as the singing of christmas songs men and women met se 1 creely to observe the yuletide and to keep alive its glorious traditions dit ions so when the restoration came there was a general revival of carol singing throughout england boys and troops of children would go through the streets on christmas eve singing the old carols and making their songs pretexts for collecting money they went from house to house receiving welcomes and cakes wherever they stopped wandering minstrels also belong to this period up and down the land these songsters song went event at the great christmas gatherings of the squires and tenants their carols were an important part pait of the entertainment in 1661 appear appeared ed a new collection of songs called the new carols for the merry time of christmas to sundry pleasant tunes the custom of carol singing continued unabated until the end of the eighteenth century when other interests and practices gradually absorbed it during this century however two odthe of the finest carols that we have today were written harki the herald angels sing glory to the newborn new born king peace on earth and mercy mild god and sinners reconciled reconcile dl 1 etc and shepherds watched the their it flocks by night all ali seated on th the e ground the a angel n gel of 0 th the e lord lard came down and glory shone around an artificial revival of carols brought many new and beautiful ones in the nineteenth ce cen n tury chambers morris and many other poets celebrated the christmas christma S festival in verse derived and patterned often after the old latin songs songs brought to america naturally the carols of england were brought to america along with other customs and ceremonies they never became so popular here as in the mother country however since the beginning of the twentieth century there have been b een enlea endeavors vors to make the sing singing rols an american christa atom in the public sc is children were taught hymna and carols in the churches it is often the custom to havea have a song service sometimes the choirs go about the streets street of the towns on christmas eve or morning singing carols as they go many schools and colleges make it traditional for one class to go about the campus and gif the college buildings during the last day before the christmas recess caroling the other classes whether or not carol singing will ever again have the vogue that it did during the sixteenth seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is eb entirely a matter of conjecture but it is safe to say that as long as there is an english language there ther e will be men and women who will cherish the old christmas carols even though they may express their 0 own wn festive spirits in ne robert herrick herrack Herr lck the jamous famous poet of the seventeenth century 1 wrote about 1650 one of the best known mown of all christmas carols come eb bring m w with roe noise my merrle menla men er erdoes la boes T the he carrle christmas log ing t to ih the firing bring while whal my good d deme dame she bids ye a all be tree free and dr drink ank to your hearts desiring with last beeren b brand r and light the new hew block and for good good suc success cess in his spending on V your u Ps a lirles play that sweet luck may a y co come while the log 19 ls Is a te ending drink now the strong beers beere cut the white while loal loaf here the while the meat Is a shredding for the rare m mance pie and the aars ph plums ma stand d by to fill the paste i a kneading algernon charles an english poet of the nineteenth century wrote one of the loveliest e st of all christmas poems and called it A CHRISTMAS CAROL to i three damsels in the queens chamber chamber the queens mouth was most fair she a word of gods mother As aa the combs went in her hair mary that Is ot of might may bring rl 9 us to thy sons sight they held the gold combs out from her A spans length of off her head she sang this song oi of gods mother and of 0 her bearing bed mary most full of grace bring us to thy sons face when she sat at at josephs hand she looked against her side and either way from the short silk band her girdle was all mary that all good may bring us to thy sons way mary had three women tor for her bed the twain were maidens clean the first ot of them had white and red the third had riven green mary thatis that Is so sweet bring us to thy sons feet beet she had three amen women tor for her hall hair two were gloved and shod the third had feet and fingers angers bars bare she was the god mary that wl eldeth land bring us to thy sons hand she had three women for her ease the twain were good women the first two were bete the two marles maries the third was magdalen mary that perfect Is bring us to thy sons kiss joseph josep h had three workers in his stall to se serve him well upon the first of 0 them were peter and paul the third of them was john mary gods handi handmaiden naiden bring us to thy sons ken if your child be none other mans but it it be very mine th the bedstead shall be gold two spans the he silver fine mary that made god mirth bring us to thy sons birth 1 if I the child be some other mans man and it 11 it be none ol of mine the manager shall be straw two spans Bet wixon kino kine and kine mary that made sin cease bring us to thy sons peace carlst was born upon this wise it fell ell on such a night neither with sounds of psalteries psalter ies les nor with fire tor for light mary that is gods spouse bring us to thy sons house the star came out upon the east with a great sound and sweet kings gave gold to make him feast and myrrh for him to eat mary ot of thy sweet mood bring us to thy sons good he had two handmaids hand maids at his head one handmaid at his feet the twain of them were fair and red the third one was right sweet mary that was most wl wise se MAZ bring us to thy sons eyes eleanor farjeon an american has written this delightful carol called six green singers that is brimming with the old medieval spirit the frost ot of the moon teu fell over my floor and six green singers stood at my door what do ye here that music make let us come in tor for christs sweet sake long have hava ye journeyed in coming here our pu pilgrimage grimage we ra the length ot of the year where do yo ye ma maneor mak kefor eor I 1 asked of 0 them our shrine Is a stable in bethlehem what will ye do aa ye go along sing to the world in evergreen ver 9 ree n song what win will ye sing for or the listening e earth a rth on one win sing ot of a brave mirth one of 0 the holiest hollest mystery the G glory lory of 0 glories shall one song be one of the memory of things one ot of the childs imaginings one of 0 our songs Is the fadeless faith and all are the life more mighty than death ere yo ye b be gone that music make give m me e en a alms tor for christ a sweet sake six green branches we leave with ith you house ae see they be scattered your house place through the staunch blithe holly your board shall grace mistletoe bless your chi champey ampey place laul laurel lei to crown your lighted hau hall over your bed let the yew bough tan fall close by the cradle the christmas fir for elfin dreams in its branches stir last and loveliest high and tow low prom from cell ceci to floor lot let the ivy go from each glad guest I 1 received my gut gilt and then the latch of 0 my door did lift green singers god prosper the long gong ye e make A As ye sing ing to the world rid ir or christa Christ 1 sweet sakel sake I 1 here is another by an american poet lizette woodworth reese mary the mother sang to her son in a bethlehem shed when wh en the tee light was vm done 21 jesus jesus little son sleep deep the tall kings are gone the lads with the sheep J jesus esus jes jesus us M my y bosom istarra Is warm warra and oseph joseph and I 1 wilt will keep you from harm mar A a ry the mother sang to her son i I 1 la Bethie bethlehem hem town when the light was done done |
