[et_pb_section background_color=”#020f7c” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”css”][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blurb admin_label=”Blurb” title=”Early beginnings of the tradition of Christmas Carols” url_new_window=”off” use_icon=”off” icon_color=”#2EA3F2″ use_circle=”off” circle_color=”#2EA3F2″ use_circle_border=”off” circle_border_color=”#2EA3F2″ image=”http://www.peacefulcolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/4x6musicbookandcandles.jpg” icon_placement=”top” animation=”top” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left”]

By Kathy Mordeaux, Director of Music, Christ’s Episcopal Church[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://christsepiscopalchurch.org/sandbox/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1kathy.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kathy Mordeaux has served at Christ’s Episcopal Church since 1992, and contributed several original hymns to the church’s songbook, Open Doors, Open Hearts. Kathy holds Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, and Master of Arts degrees in English Literature from the University of Denver. [/author_info] [/author]

The word “carol” originally came from a Medieval French word, carole, meaning a circle dance. They were the medieval counterpart of folk music, the music of the people, and were often sung outdoors as part of a circle dance, honoring the various seasons of the year. Usually, like the folk songs we know today, they tell a story. In those days, few people could read, and the songs helped people remember the stories. Early carols were composed in dance rhythms, and were joyful, celebrative songs, used as part of a dancing celebration.

By Late Medieval times, there were a substantial number of carols that retold parts of the story of the birth of the baby Jesus in memorable ways. A good example is the well-known English carol, Good Christian Friends Rejoice, with its image of farm animals around the manger. Carols also came to be used as part of plays enacting the events surrounding the story of the birth of Jesus, but plays and carols were performed outside the church walls. Churches in Medieval times were very proper, somber places, where neither dancing nor singing in folk languages, nor play-acting, were welcomed. Only properly authorized Latin hymns were sung in church. But folksongs are engaging and amazingly persistent, and Christmas carols proliferated in many languages. Occasionally, some carols even incorporated pieces of those Latin hymns. A beautiful example is Angels We Have Heard on High, which tells the story of the Angels’ visit to the shepherds, then uses a fragment of the Latin Hymn Gloria in Excelsis Deo for the refrain.

I like to think about an especially lively group of carolers singing and dancing around the entrance to the church on a very cold winter night, capturing people’s attention as church goers and clergy were arriving for Christmas services. At some point, perhaps a particularly kind and compassionate clergyman took pity on their cold feet and red noses and invited them inside to get warm, where they kept on singing, bringing new light and life to the celebration. At any rate, one way or another eventually carols did become an integral part of our Christmas liturgies, and now we wouldn’t dream of Christmas without them. In fact, we even create special services based on a celebration of carols! We hope you also enjoy the light and life they bring.

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