Podcast Episode Details

The Story Behind Christmas Carols

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Season 10 Episode 5

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On Day 5 of the Lifespring! WhyChristmas Advent Calendar, Steve Webb and James Cooper turn their attention to something almost everyone associates with Christmas: carols. From a playful burst of O Come All Ye Faithful on the zither harp to stories from church history and village life, this episode traces how Christmas carols grew from ancient songs into one of the most loved parts of the season.

What Is a Carol, Really?

Steve kicks things off by having a little fun with a musical intro, then points out that Christmas Carols really do help many of us feel that Christmas has arrived. He explains that the word carol originally meant a dance or song of praise and joy. That means carols were not always tied to Christmas. You could have a carol about anything that deserved praise. In fact, the earliest carols were connected to pagan winter solstice celebrations, long before they were used to sing about the birth of Jesus.

As the early Christians began to shape worship around the coming of Christ, they took over some of these winter celebrations and replaced pagan songs with Christian ones. Over time, these songs became part of the way believers told and remembered the story of Jesus coming into the world.

From Latin Hymns to Village Songs

James shares that one of the first recorded Christmas carols dates back to the year 129, when a Roman bishop encouraged the singing of a piece called Angel’s Hymn at Christmas services in Rome. Many early carols were written in Latin, so ordinary people could not understand them well. That kept them from spreading widely outside of formal church settings.

As the Middle Ages rolled on, carols started to appear in local languages. James mentions a carol from 1410 about Mary and Jesus meeting people in Bethlehem, although only a fragment survives. Many songs from this period and from the Elizabethan era were loosely based on the Christmas story and leaned more toward entertainment than formal worship. They were usually sung in homes and streets instead of churches and were considered too common for use in services.

Travelling singers and minstrels helped carols spread from place to place. They often adjusted the lyrics so the songs connected with local people. One carol that changed in this way is I Saw Three Ships, which now exists in many different versions around the world. For more background and examples, you can visit the carols section at
WhyChristmas.com.

Bans, Revivals, and New Carols

James then moves into a dramatic chapter of history. When the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell came to power in England in 1647, they banned carol singing along with most other Christmas celebrations. Some carols survived as folk songs, but many disappeared from public worship for a time.

A fresh wave of interest came in the Victorian era. Two Victorian men collected old Christmas music from villages across England, and carols found their way back into public life. Official carol singers, called waits, would sing on Christmas Eve, sometimes known as Watch Night or Wait Night, recalling the shepherds who were watching their flocks when the angels appeared. As more choirs and orchestras formed in the cities, people wanted music to sing, and carol services became popular again. New carols were written, including Good King Wenceslas. If you want to know the surprisingly intense story behind that carol, you can read more in the customs section at
Published on 3 weeks, 1 day ago