About Christmas Carols

My childhood was shaped by a small town in Maine. Days before Christmas, times would be set for children, teens, and adults to gather, walking house to house and singing carols. Back then, we loved to carol – even those of us with no voice – just for the joy of it, and to put smiles on faces.

Like Christmas Eve’s service, carefully decorated trees, homemade wreaths, gifts, candles, and coming home, caroling was part of the Yuletide season, encouraged, enjoyed, and gift by all to all.

Unknown to many, or at least to me, caroling had a history. The first carol appeared around AD 129, although records are sketchy. That date could be off by a year or two or 200.

By the 4^th and 5^th centuries, after Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, carols appeared in Latin, but singing in Latin did not catch on. Byzantine chants began near 330, and the Russian tradition of chanting took wing in AD 988, with the baptism of the Russian people.

Only when the 13^th century rolled did Catholic Saint Francis of Assisi begin to what we may call carols or religious songs with words celebrating Nativity, or the birth of Christ.

Still, Christmas carols, as we know them, only came into their own a decade before the American Revolution. They were suddenly popular after a volume entitled “Relics of Ancient English Poetry,” published by an Anglican bishop, and then the epic story by Dickens, “A Christmas Carol.”

From that point forward, what was a scattered practice became a sacred Nativity tradition, blending neatly with far earlier musical traditions, elevating the human voice in harmony at Christmas.

Just as interesting, “Christmas Carols” celebrated – with orchestral music like Handel’s Messiah – not just Christ’s birth but other holy observances over “Twelve Days of Christmas,” or “Christmastide,” from December 25 to January 5, or in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, using the Julian Calendar, January 7 o January 19, when Theophany (Western Epiphany) occurs.

So, what does that mean? Well, you might be surprised. While we all know “Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel,” “Silent Night,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and lighter versions celebrating Saint Nicholas, whose “name’s day” is in December on the church calendars, other carols relate to other saints.

Thus, “Good King Wenceslas” relates to Saint Stephen’s Day, or “the Feast of Saint Stephen,” which occurs one day after Christmas; Saint Stephen was Christianity’s first martyr, dying in 36 AD.

Likewise, Saint John’s Day is celebrated two days after Christmas, and Saint John – the Apostle John or Saint John the Theologian – shows up, directly and indirectly, in carols. The Feast of the Holy Innocents is three days after Christmas, commemorating Herod’s edict to kill males under two, while Saint Sylvester’s Day is six days after Christmas; he converted Constantine to Christianity.

Other carols, like “Oh Christmas Tree” or “Oh Tannenbaum” – a reverential carol originating in Germany – are folk songs celebrating the evergreen tree’s constancy and faithfulness. 

Saint Nicholas’ life – also known as “Nicholas the Wonderworker” for his true and pious life, miracle-working, secret gift-giving, and love of children – is inspiring; it forms the basis for the modern “Saint Nick,” “Sinterklaas,” the Dutch patron saint of children, and our very own “Santa Claus.”

All this is to say, when words of carols tumble from your lips, as they often do mine this season, there is a deep and deeply moving origin to many, and deliberate lightness hidden in others. Somehow that seems altogether right, so … “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.”

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).