The subject of this week’s column concerns the history of Christmas carols. Carol singing is among the oldest traditions in the celebration of Christmas.
However, many years after the use of singing came into fashion for Christmas celebrations the tradition came out of fashion for almost 200 years.
Queen Victoria and husband Prince Albert revived the celebration of music during Christmas shortly before the middle of the 19th century. The Victorian Era brought us many of the traditions, including the Christmas tree, that came to America from the influences of the British queen and her German husband.
The original use of singing in church that progressed to the carols we use today came from St. Francis of Assisi. He introduced religious music into church services during the 12th century. The music was somber to fit the strict settings found in religious rites. Church choirs usually sang Christmas hymns in acapella style. Instruments weren’t used except for some percussion that sometimes included bells.
Carols we sing today are full of joyful and merry themes. They are much lighter and uplifting than what people sang during the days of St. Francis.
Ironically, the origin of the word “carol” resembles today’s interpretation of the joyous music. The word carol is a derivation of the French word caroller, which means dancing around in a circle. Carols eventually became to include music and lyrics with the dancing. That led to our Christmas caroling.
It was approximately 175 years ago that our Christmas traditions were impacted by the Victorian Era and the influences of the works of Charles Dickens.
Thank you for reading this blog. We plan to have one more Christmas tradition before we return to our explanation of fiction writing. That will be near the New Year.
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