Carols Through the Ages: The Melodic Journey of Christmas Celebration

Christmas Carols - the word itself rings bells and echoes melodic lyrics in our head. And there’s always that one Christmas carol which you’ll always remember the lyrics to; because of either listening to it repeatedly, or performing with a group of kids yourself! 

“Carols” as we call them, are not just songs; but a coming together of music, language, culture, religion and celebration. Fun to sing along, these short and simple songs are an inseparable part of the Christmas experience today. However, we might wonder if they were always there for as long as we’ve celebrated Christmas; and if not, when, and how did they come to be?

First up, let’s talk about definition and etymology: The word “carol” comes from the old French word 'carole', which meant a popular circle dance accompanied by singing. So, long before Christmas and Christianity, songs for celebration were sung by pagan communities in Europe thousands of years ago, as a part of festivities in all four seasons, accompanied by community dances circling around a rock.  

Now, speaking specifically of Christmas carols… The festival of Christmas is said to have cultural roots in the Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia, with certain customs and traditions from the pagan celebrations carried over. The involvement of music was one such part of the pagan festivities, developing into more specific “Christmas hymns”. The earliest known Christmas hymns date back to between the 1st and 4th centuries AD Rome, in the Latin language. An important example among these is called “The Angel’s Hymn”, which was sung for Christmas service in the churches of Rome.

Later in the 9th and 10th centuries, Northern European monasteries further developed Christmas hymns, organizing them into a system of stanzas. These “edited” hymns were something pretty close to what we would call a carol, composed and lyricised by various monks and composers across the land. 

One of the earliest composers among them was Adam of Saint Victor who lived in 11th century AD, now known as a significant contributor to Medieval European music. Though followed later by many composers, the major drawback of these proto-carols was their language- almost all of them, including those by Adam of Saint Victor, had lyrics in Latin, which most of the commoners did not understand. This was the reason why early carols weren’t as popular among the masses, and were soon lost by the middle ages parallel to a decline in people’s enthusiasm for Christmas celebrations.

However, carols soon made a strong comeback in Europe, this time having eliminated their major problem of language barrier. Composed now in vernacular European languages like Italian, Spanish, German and English; these new, official “carols” now became not only common and extensively used by people for celebrating, but also created a new profession among artists: Wassailers.

The word “wassail” was a toast and comes from the Old Norse; “ves heill” meaning “be well and in good health”. By the Victorian period, wassailers were carolling groups who went around town singing and performing for anyone who would listen. For their services they would be rewarded with a hot, spiced drink, known as ‘wassail’.

But before travelling to the Victorian period, let’s stop at 1647 England. When Oliver Cromwell came to power in England as Lord Protector, he had literally banned Christmas celebrations and carolling because such festivities were deemed as pagan and non-Christian! 

Such setbacks in the Christmas spirit were overcome later in the Victorian area, which saw a revival in proper Christmas celebrations, considering it a family holiday and festivity. Singing carols now became a tradition after Christmas meals, and new carols were composed, along with compiling records of the older ones. 

The publication in 1871 of “Christmas Carols, New and Old” by Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer was another significant contribution to a revival of English carols in Victorian Britain. 

Traditional carols are said to be based on Medieval chord patterns, which gives them their characteristic melodies. Some carols do not even have a fixed time of composition, because there was a large time gap between the time their lyrics were composed or music was given. For example, the music for “Ding Dong Merrily on High" dates back to the mid-1500s but the lyrics are from the 1800s. The tune for “Good King Wenceslas” is a medieval dance tune from the 1200s, while the words were written in the 1800s.

Singing carols also eventually became a part of Church services at Christmas time once again; a return to traditions from Roman antiquity as mentioned earlier in this article. 

Thus, the journey of carols through all these centuries reflects an interesting story of silent persistence; standing the test of time, being an integral part of “winter solstice” celebrations, then declining in popularity and being banned only to revive itself in the end…

The carol indeed very much proves itself to be the ever-travelling, changing, and high-in-spirits festive melody that it is.