Origins Of Christmas Carols And Songs

Everyone of us has memories coming from Christmas songs that we cherish since our childhood.  As a child, we never questioned these things; we just learned them and grew to love them.  Legend says that the first Christmas chant would have been sang when Jesus is born. Can you imagine that it is well over 2,000 years ago?  However, it is only during the 13th century that Saint Francis of Assisi made Christmas songs published in a language understandable and spoken by everyone instead of Latin.

Born in Italy, Christmas songs arrived in England where they have been associated with dances and became the popular Christmas carols. Over the centuries, the tradition changed: carolers also sang to raise funds for charity, receive gifts or a wassail bowl.  For decades, American Christian culture grows by the addition of Christmas carols from various parts of the world.
 
In 1447, Johannes Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press; which enabled publishers to print things in a very short period of time. And so the words and lyrics to the Christmas carols were copied and distributed all over the countries; which made them become so popular.

Of course, during the past centuries Christmas and Christianity were a great part of everyone’s life.  Unfortunately, the year 1649, Cromwell banned Catholicism in England, including Christmas. When in 1661 Charles II restored these traditions, singing carols became one of the most popular traditions.

The largest part of the most famous Christmas carols have been written from the mid-1700’s to the early 1800’s and are still popular today.  In 1742 there was a fundraiser in Ireland where George Frederich Handel performed the well known "Messiah" carol.
 
Actually "Silent Night" has been written in 1818 by the Austrian Joseph Mohr and its original title was "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht".  Here is the story of this  Christmas carol: the organ of his church had broken and he needed to write a song that did not require to use this instrument but that could be accompanied by a guitar.

Today, it is easy to create a carol: when the holiday season comes, artists as well as Hollywood produce their Christmas hymn. But we always have a preference for the flavours and the sounds of the old Christmas songs. Traditions are hard to leave and while we might like new carols none of them would ever replace oldies such as The Little Drummer Boy or Silent Night.  While the number of Christmas carols we listen to is really large, almost none of them is a recent one. 

One of the best ways to celebrate the Christmas season is to gather around and sing songs with your family and friends.