Why Do We Sing Christmas Carols?

Every culture in the world makes music. Songs can convey ideas, spread information and even strengthen social ties.

Few other activities are as intertwined with the common human experience as music and song. Some songs, like Christmas carols, have become tightly woven into our cultural celebrations and religious rituals.

A carol is a joyful song of praise and celebration. The old French word “carole” describes a popular dance that included singing.

Unlike Christmas carols, however, which focus on the Christ Child story, early carols were pagan songs performed at various seasonal celebrations. As Christian feast days replaced ancient festivals, carols became more closely associated with the Christmas season.

In 129, an early Catholic bishop suggested that the “Angel’s Hymn” should be sung during the Holy Night of the Nativity.

Other carols emerged between the 10th and 12th centuries. However, most early carols were sung in Latin, which common folk did not understand.

St. Francis of Assisi is said to have introduced Christmas canticles – chants with biblical lyrics – as part of his nativity plays around 1223. These songs helped explain the story of the nativity, spreading the Christian message in a language the spectators could understand.

By the 1400s, Christmas caroling – singing Christmas songs in a group or chorus – was common. In England, ensembles of traveling carolers commonly went door to door to sing Christmas songs.

Christmas carolers became known as “wassailers,” since their performances were sometimes rewarded with a hot, spiced, often alcoholic cider drink known as “wassail.” The term is said to come from the old Norse drinking toast, “ves heil,” or “be well.”

The Puritans in power during Britain’s civil war in the mid-1600s halted all holiday celebrations, including Christmas, for being too unruly, wasteful and indulgent, and too closely linked with Catholicism. Parliament banned marking the day in any way, forbidding religious services and any form of merry-making such as special meals, gift-giving and singing carols.

Since some Christmas celebrations continued in secret, carols survived the ban, which lasted more than a dozen years.

Caroling came back into fashion again in the 1700s. Many carols that remain familiar today, such as “Joy to the World" and “The 12 Days of Christmas,” were written during this period.

Sometimes, composers added words to older tunes. For instance, “What Child is This?” is sung to the traditional English folk song, “Greensleeves.” Other carols, like “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” were translated from Latin.

Christmas songs gained even more favor during Queen Victoria’s reign. Her husband, Prince Albert of Germany, introduced many German Christmas customs to England, including decorating a Christmas tree. The royal couple’s love of Christmas carols encouraged many new compositions.

Years ago, as now, carols were sung primarily during the Christmas season. Although most songs were religious, these joyful tunes could be heard just as often outside the church as in.

Families might sing a few carols over the dinner table after a meal, or gather in the parlor to make music.

Getting together to play instruments and sing – not just carols at Christmastime, but all kinds of songs, year long – was a popular form of entertainment before electricity changed the world.

These days, we take our piped-in Christmas tunes and easily accessible music apps for granted. However, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that phonographs first brought recorded music into the home, introducing Americans from all walks of life to professional performances.

Within 20 years, another home appliance, the radio, transmitted music through the airwaves from across miles and even oceans.

For decades afterward, people turned on their radios or record players to play Christmas music during the holiday season.

The great demand for Christmas music inspired hundreds of new Christmas songs. According to the Museum of the Bible, today there are close to 10,000 songs about Christmas. Yet, nostalgia often steers us time and again toward old favorites that may have been penned decades or even centuries ago.

The holiday season might be the only time of year when you’ll hear people singing the same songs that were popular when their grandparents and even great-grandparents were young.

For instance, the most popular Christmas song of all time, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” was first released in 1942 and is still played regularly today. Other classic Christmas songs that continually make the seasonal Top 10 list include “Jingle Bell Rock,” by Bobby Helms (1957), and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” by Brenda Lee (1958).

“Recent” is a relative term when it comes to Christmas hits. “Last Christmas,” by Wham!, has been replayed every year for more than 40 years. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” is more than 30 years old, but continues to dominate the Christmas charts.

Other perennially popular Christmas songs include “The Christmas Song,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

If Christmas truly is the “most wonderful time of the year” then it’s only natural to sing to express the joy we feel in the season.

Music and song not only reflect our emotions, it can affect them, too. Music has physical and emotional benefits. It can boost our mood, motivation and memory, help us sleep, reduce pain and anxiety.

Singing carols together strengthens our sense of community and reinforces our connection to the Christmas story.

Given the strong psychological and cultural benefits of music, it seems only natural that Christmas and carols have become so firmly intertwined.

The best part is that you don’t have to wait until the holidays to gain a brighter outlook on life. If you “need a little Christmas now,” just look up a carol or two on your favorite music app and sing along!