Why We Sing Christmas Carols

Turn on your radio and you have half a chance of listening to one of your favorite Christmas songs. Now days you have it easier than in the past in that you can program or search for your favorite Christmas carol and listen to the great words that touch the strings of your heart. Christmas Carols also known as noels in French are songs or hymns with lyrics about Christmas that are often quite well known. However, did you know that these great Christmas hymns have been popular since the 4th century in Rome?

History of Christmas Carols:

The archbishop of Milan , Ambrose, wrote many of the early hymns in Latin. Another individual Bernard of Clairvaux introduced the "sequence" of Christmas during the 9th and 10th centuries. Shortly after in the 12th century a Parisian monk known as Adam of Saint Victor would be the first to introduce hymns and music more closer to the Christmas music of today's generation. 

Other nations including France, Germany, Italy and English based countries would all create strong traditional music that would be well recognized at Christmas time. Carolers or wassailers as they were known in England would travel from house to house sharing and singing carols for entertainment. Perhaps you will be surprised that in the beginning this activity had nothing to do with Christmas. 

The year of 1582 would see a collection of songs such as "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" , "O Come all ye faithful" and "Christ was born on Christmas Day" would be wrote in latin and reproduced in a book of Christmas music. Protestant churches would perform these songs helping to build their popularity. One of the most published Christmas hymns in North America is "Joy to the World" wrote by Isaac Watts. In fact, Martin Luther himself authored carols and encouraged the groups to sing them at worship. 








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