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Show ' WIi He Ch ris I mas,' Modern Day Carol It-viiif Berlin's "White.1 Christ- j i mas" tin s definitely joined Ihc pro-1 J cession of Christmas music! Lest we hesitate to admit so recent a j creation to the inner sanctum of I cherished traditions, let's see just i how old some of our Christmas favorites fa-vorites really are. ( ., 1: . j y A . ' :': ' ' i , if.. j Denmark laur.cp.'jd U:. ,:.iuai j j Christmas Serl tmi'aiai against tuberculosis in 1904; Dickens' "Christmas Carol" was written in 1843; Samuel Clement Moore wrote "The Night Before Christmas" in 1822; W. C. Dobson, one of Queen Victoria's favorite artists, dispatched dis-patched the first Christmas card in 1845, and, historically, the first Christmas tree was set up in 1604. One can imagine the first Christmas Christ-mas carol the "Gloria in Excelsis" of the angels. However, of our popular popu-lar Christmas carols today, "Adeste Fideles" is undoubtedly the oldest. Its origin is controversial: some say it was a graduale of the Cistercians, Cister-cians, others date its composition variously from 1250 to 1680. Even accepting 1680, "O Come All Ye Faithful" antedates for example "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" (1730), "Silent Night" (1818), and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1863). There's a lot of Christmas tied up in' the confident expectancy of childhood child-hood and the nostalgic memories of grown-ups; so, "May your days be merry and bright And may all your Christmases be white.." |