Page 51 - Discover Winter 2021
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Trolling The Ancient




        Yuletide Carols





                                                                                       ByTim Ernandes

               Whilst pondering the curious title “A            sung in the language of the locals. In this way,
        Christmas Carol” of the legendary Dickens               they could not only enjoy them because they
        story, I found myself scratching my head. The           understood the lyrics, but they could also join
        famous tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s spiritual             in.
        awakening was not a song, nor even a poem. I
                                                                       The resulting new carols gained
        needed answers.
                                                                widespread popularity, and soon spread to
               That led me to wonder why Christmas              France, Spain, Germany, and other European

        songs and hymns were called “carols”. It                countries. The earliest known of the more
        turns out that thousands of years ago, pagan            modern carols were at least part fiction,
        worshippers observed the Winter Solstice,               loosely based on the Christmas story, and
        which is the shortest day of the year. It falls         were considered more as entertainment
        on or about December 22nd, which may                    rather than religious songs or hymns. It
        explain why Christmas is celebrated at about            wasn’t unusual for the lyrics to change as
        that same time. The word “carol” meant a                minstrels traveled to different places.
        dance or a song of praise and joy. This was
                                                                       A good example of such carols is “I
        convenient for the early Christians, who
                                                                Saw Three Ships”. It was probably adapted
        adapted the pagan rituals to align with their
                                                                from a song with similar lyrics. I can’t recall
        faith.
                                                                any biblical passages that refer to these ships
               There was a long period during which             of song, or any mention of Jesus, Mary,
        carols were written and sung in Latin, which            and Joseph on any passenger manifest.
        was a turnoff for the many folk who did not             Furthermore, it would not have been possible
        speak or understand the language. Eventually,           for these ships of song to have sailed into
        interest in singing them waned, and most                Bethlehem, given that the ancient city is
        people lost all interest in the celebration of          landlocked and could not possibly be a
        Christmas.                                              seaport.


               Things turned around in 1223,                           Many of today’s popular carols have
        thanks to the efforts of one of my favorite             interesting origins. “Good King Wenceslas”
        Saints, Francis of Assisi. St. Francis had an           is a lovely ballad about a nobleman who
        admirable penchant for leading by example.              spread the spirit of Christian charity to the
        So, he started putting on Nativity Plays in             poor at Christmastime. Although he was a
        Italy. The performers would sing canticles              real person, he wasn’t a king, and his name
        that told the story, and normally these were            was not Wenceslas. His real story is rather


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