McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, December 21, 1939, Image 6
McCORMTCK MESSENGER. McCORMICK. S. C.. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21. 1939
The Carols We Sing at Christmas
Perpetuate a Custom Which Began
Centuries Before Birth of Christ
By
Katherine Ferguson Chalkley
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
C AROL singing in Ameri
ca at Christmas is the
continuance of a cus
tom which had its beginning
many centuries before the
birth of Christ when the
Druids celebrated the festival
of Gule in honor of the return
of the sun at the winter sol
stice and which clung to the
rites of the Christmas feast
that replaced the ancient
pagan festival after the con
version of the Anglo-Saxons
to Christianity.
Back in the ages when the
Druids gathered about the
oaks to cut the mistletoe and
offer it to the gods, the an
cient Britons would join hands
and dance in circles about
their priests, singing praises
of the deities as they danced.
These dances came to be
called “Carols” which means
“Dancing Songs.”
When Christianity came and
the Christmas feast superseded
the ancient feast of Gule, these
dancing songs, along with other
pagan rituals, were brought into
the Christian church. Here, fused
with Christian hymns, they be
came a substantial part of the
ceremonies and customs sur
rounding the celebration of the
Nativity. —'
As the centuries passed, how
ever, {he word “Carol” became
more and more inclusive until,
from the Middle ages down to the
present day, it has ceased to
name only a part of a religious
ritual and is the term applied to
Christmas songs and poems, con
vivial and sacred alike.
The First Christmas Carol.
To picture the beginning of the
Christmas carols, one must im
agine a star-lit plain where in
the half gloom are huddled the
shepherds and their flocks. Sud
denly the sky becomes brilliant;
the night is as bright as day.
The angels have come to an
nounce the birth of Christ. From
the clouds comes the sound of
heavenly voices singing the first
Christmas carol:
“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace, good will to
ward men.”
Since music has always had a
large part in the worship of all
peoples, it was only natural that
the early Christians should com
pose hymns. That the writing of
Christmas hymns had absorbed
the attention of Latin churchmen
early in the Christian^ era, we
learn from the “Decretall Epis
tle” of Telesphorus. In the sec
ond century he wrote:
In the holy night of the Nativity of
our Lord and Saviour, they do cele
brate publique church services and in
them solemny do sing the Angells
Hymne, because also on that same night
He was declared unto the Shepherds by
an Angell, as the truth itself doth Wit-
nesse.
By the Fourth century the sing
ing of Christmas hymns had be
come an established custom
wherever Christianity existed.
The birthday of our Lord, how
ever was not entirely given
over to religious ceremonies. It
was an occasion for so much
merriment and good cheer that
Gregory Nazianzen, who died in
389, in mentioning the feast of
the Nativity, cautioned against
feasting to excess, dancing,
crowning the doors with wreaths
and merry-making in general.
Origin in England.
In 523 Bede introduced Chris
tianity into England, and that
date, perhaps, marks the origin
of the Christmas songs and po
ems we h*ve today. Anglo-Sax
ons, after their conversion,
showed a great fondness for re
ligious mVsic at the same time
preserving their love for their old
customs. Dearest to them of
these customs were their dances.
Hymns were composed, and
when these hymns celebrated the
best and greatest of all feasts,
the Nativity, they were sung to
dance tunes and danced about
cribs that were set up in the
churches.
It was during the Tenth cen
tury that carols ceased to deal
only with the Nativity, the Holy
Family and sacred subjects.
They came to include festive and
drinking songs. At this time, al
so, there came a curious inter
mingling of the sacred and pro
fane in songs that were, one
would suppose, meant to be
strictly sacred in their praises.
The French Influence.
With William the Conqueror in
1066, there came a new influence
into the English carol. For cen
turies in France it had been the
custom to sing songs in honor of
the Christmas season. These
were called “Noels,” and after
the Norman invasion, the word
“Noel,” “Nowell,” or “Novel”
was used again and again in
Christmas songs.
By the Twelfth and Thirteenth
centuries Christmas carols were
flourishing in all parts of Eng
land. They were usually set to
simple, rhythmic melodies with
“catchy” tunes characteristic of
popular music. One of the early
writers mentions this carol which
was sung to the tune of “King
Solomon”:
Even Christ, I meane, that Virgin’*
childe.
In Bethlem born;
That lambe of God, that prophet mild.
Crowned with thorne.
Two Yuletide Customs.
Mystery and miracle plays,
pageants and masques had
reached the height of their de
velopment by the Fifteenth cen
tury. Into these performances,
which sometimes lasted for sev
eral days, carols and drinking
songs were frequently intro
duced. It is to the Fifteenth cen
tury, also, that several fine car
ols celebrating two of the oldest
English yuletide customs, the
bringing in of the boar’s head to
the Christmas feast and the
drinking from the Wassail bowl,
are attributed.
Singing a toast to the boar’s
head as it was being carried into
the Christmas feast is a tradi
tion that is probably almost as
old as the celebration of Christ
mas on English soil. We know
that by 1340 the custom had been
established at Queen’s college,
Oxford; and that it has continued
ever since. As trumpeters an
nounced the arrival of the boar’s
head, the guests at the feast
would rise and sing an appropri
ate song.
The legend of the wassail bowl
dates back to the time when Row-
ena, daughter of the Saxon king,
Hengist, presented a bowl of liq
uor to the British king, Vorti-
gern, with these words: “Louerd
king—Was-heil.” To which the
king replied: “Drinc heile.”
From that time on “Was-heil-
ing” became an expression of
hospitality and good fellowship.
During the Christmas season
when conviviality was at its
height, groups of gay merry
makers went from house to
house, and the streets of the
towns echoed with:
Wassail! Wassail! All over the town,
Our bread it is white, our ale it is brown.
Our bowl is made of a maplin tree,
To here, my good fellow; I’ll drink to
thee.
The wassailing bowl, with a toast within.
Come fill it up unto the brim;
Come fill it up so that we may all *ee;
With the wassailing bowl, I’ll drink to
_ thee.
Carols had their greatest vogue
during the Sixteenth century. So
popular had they become by 1521
that Wynkyn de Worde, one of
the earliest printers in England,
was induced to print a collection
in that year. This undertaking
had such a marked success that
between the years 1546 and 1552,
Rychard Kele got out an edition
of Christmas songs which con
tained three volumes. Directly
after these followed a series of
collections. Ralph Newberry’s
appeared in 1559; John Tysdale,
1562; Thom Becon, 1563; Chris
topher Payne, 1569; Moses Pow
ell, 1587.
Abolished by Puritans.
Carol singing had reached its
height when the reformation at
tempted to sweep England clean
of su^h a sacrilege as the festive
celebration of Christmas. In the
general onslaught of the Puritans
carol singing was abolished and
holly and ivy were made sedi
tious badges.
Neither wholesale decrees nor
fines and imprisonments could
stamp out a custom so popular
as the singing of Christmas
songs. Men and women met se
cretly to observe the Yuletide
and to keep alive its glorious tra
ditions. So, when the restora
tion came, there was a general
revival of carol singing through
out England.
Boys and troops of children
would go through the streets on
Christmas eve, singing the old
carols and making their songs
pretexts for collecting money.
They went from house to house,
receiving welcomes and cakes
wherever they stopped.
Wandering minstrels also be
long to this period. Up and down
the land these songsters went.
At the great Christmas gather
ings of the squires and tenants,
their carols were an important
part of the entertainment. In 1661
appeared a new collection of
songs called, “The New Carols
for the Merry Time of Christmas,
to Sundry Pleasant Tunes.”
The custom of carol singing
continued unabated until the end
of the Eighteenth century when
other interests and practices
gradually absorbed it. During
this century, however, two of the
finest carols that we have today
were written.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born king;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinner* reconciled! Etc.
And:
While shepherds watched their flocks by
night,
All seated on the ground.
The angel of the Lord came down.
And glory shone around.
An artificial revival of carols
brought many new and beauti
ful ones in the Nineteenth cen
tury. Swinburne, Chambers, Mor
ris and many other poets cele
brated the Christmas festival in
verse derived and patterned, of
ten, after the old Latin songs.
Brought to America.
Naturally the carols of Eng
land were brought to America
along with other customs and
ceremonies. They never became
so popular here as in the Mother
Country. However, since the be
ginning of the Twentieth century,
there have been endeavors to
make the singing of carols an
American Christmas custom.
In the public schools, children
were taught hymns and carols.
In the churches, it is often the
custom to have a song service.
Sometimes the choirs go about
the streets of the towns on Christ
mas eve or morning, singing car
ols as they go. Many schools
and colleges make it traditional
for one class to go about the
campus and through the college
buildings during the last day be
fore the Christmas recess, carol
ing the other classes.
Whether or not carol singing
will ever again have the vogue
that it did during the Sixteenth,
Seventeenth and Eighteenth cen
turies, is entirely a matter of
conjecture, but it is safe to say
that as long as there is an Eng
lish language, there will be men
and women who will cherish the
old Christmas carols even though
they may express their own fes
tive spirits in new ones.
Robert Herrick, ..the famous
poet of the Seventeenth century,
wrote about 1650 one of the best-
known of all Christmas carols:
r^me, bring with noise.
My merrie, merrie boyes.
The Christmas log to the firing;
While my good dame, she
Bids ye all be free.
And drink to your heart’s desiring.
• With last yeeres brand
Light the new block, And
For good success in his spending,
On your psaltries play
That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a teending.
Drink now the strong beere.
Cut the white loaf here.
The while the meat is a shredding;
For the rare mince-pie,
And the plums stand by.
To fill tiie paste that’s a kneading.
Algernon Charles Swinburne,
an English poet of-the Nineteenth
century, wrote one of the loveli
est of all Christmas poems and
called it
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
^Three damsels in the queen’s chamber,
The queen’s mouth was most fair;
She spake a word of God’s mother
As the combs went in her hair.
Mary that is of might.
Bring us to thy Son’s sight.
They held the gold combs out from her,
A span’s length off her head;
She sang this song of God’s Mother
And of her bearing-bed.
Mary most full of grace.
Bring us to thy Son’s face.
When she sat at Joseph’s hand.
She looked against her side.
And either way from the short silk band
Her girdle was all wried.
Mary that all good may.
Bring us to thy Son’s way.
Mary had three women for her bed,
The twain were maidens clean;
The first of them had white and red,
The third had riven green.
Mary that is so sweet.
Bring us to thy Sen’s feet.
She had three women for her hair,
Two were gloved and shod;
The third had feet and fingers bare,
She was the likest God.
Mary that wieldeth land.
Bring us to thy Son’s hand.
She had three women for her ease,
The twain were good women;
The first two were the two Maries,
The -third was Magdalen.
Mary that perfect is.
Bring us to thy Son’s kiss.
Joseph had three workers In his stall.
To serve him well upon;
The first of them were Peter and Paul,
The third of them was John.
Mary. God’s handmaiden,
Bring us to thy Son’s ken.
“If your child be none other man’s.
But if it be very mine.
The bedstead shall be gold two spans.
The bedfoot silver fine.”
Mary that made God mirth,
Bring us to thy Son’s birth.
“If the child be some other man’s,
And if it be none of mine.
The manager shall be straw two span*.
Betwixen kine and kine.”
Mary that made sin cease.
Bring us to thy Son’s jfeace.
Christ was born upon thi* wise,
It fell on such a night.
Neither with sounds of psalteries.
Nor with fire .for light.
Mary that is God’s spouse.
Bring us to thy Son’s house.
The star came out upon the east
With a great sound and sweet:
Kings gave gold to make him feast
And myrrh for him to eat.
Mary, of thy sweet mood.
Bring us to thy Son’s good.
He had two handmaids at his head.
One handmaid at his feet;
The twain of them were fair and red.
The third one was right sweet.
Mary that was most wise,
Bring us to thy Son’s eyes.
Eleanor Farjeon, an American,
has written this delightful carol
called “Six Green Singers,” that
is brimming with the old medie
val spirit:
The frost of the moon fell over my floor
And six green singers stood at my door.
“What do ye here that music make?”
“Let us come in for Christ’s sweet Sake.”
“Long have ye journeyed in coming
here?”
“Our pilgrimage was the length of the
year.”
“Where do ye make for?” I asked of
them.
“Our shrine is a stable In Bethlehem.”
“What will ye do as ye go along?”
“Sing to the world in evergreen song.”
What will ye sing for the Ustening
earth?”
“One of the Holiest Mystery,
The Glory of glories shall one song be,
“One of the Memory of things.
One of the Child’s imaginings.
“One of our songs is the fadeless Faith,
And all are the Life more mighty than
death.”
“Ere ye be gone that music make.
Give me an alms for Christ’s sweet
Sake.”
"Six green branches we leave with you;
See they be scattered your houae-place
through.
“The staunch, blithe Holly your board
shall grace.
Mistletoe bless your chimney-place,
“Laurel to crown your lighted hall.
Over your bed let the Yew-bough fall,
“Close by the cradle the Christmas Fir,
For elfin dreams in its branches stir,
“Last and loveliest, high and low.
From ceil to floor let the Ivy go.”
From each glad guest I received my
gift
And then the latch of my door did lift—
“Green singers, God prosper the song
ye make
As ye sing to the world for Christ’*
sweet Sake!”
Here is another by an Amer
ican poet, Lizette Woodworth
Reese:
Mary the Mother
Sang to he.* Son,
In a Bethlehem shed
When the light was done.
“Jesus, Jesus,
Little Son, sleep;
The tall kings are gone.
The lads with the sheep.
“Jesus. Jesus,
My bosom is warm;
And Joseph and I
Will keep you from harm.”
Mary the Mother
Sang to her Son,
In Bethlehem town
When the light was done.
IMPROVED
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
S UNDAY I
chool Lesson
Bv HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. D. D.
Dean of The Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago. „ . .
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Lesson for December 24
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Lesson subjects and Scripture texts se
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Council of Religious Education; used by
permission.
THE CHILD AND THE KINGDOM
LESSON TEXT—Matthew 1:18-25; 18:1-6;
19:13-15.
GOLDEN TEXT—A little child shall lead
them.—Isaiah 11:6.
The children’s holiday!
Yes, Christmas is the children’s
day of days, and it is also the day
for those who have been “converted
and become as little children”
(Matt. 18:3). It is quite proper that
it should be so, for Christmas really
means nothing very significant ex
cept as we gather at Bethlehem’s
manger and there we find a child,
the Christ-child. Those who come
on the morrow to do homage to Him
in the spirit of childlike faith will
truly keep Christmas. In that spirit
the writer of these notes wishes for
you who read these lines just that
kind of a holy day of joy and glad
ness.
Let us then go first of all to Beth
lehem, and there having seen the
One who “became flesh and dwelt
among us” as a little child, we shall
be ready to go on and learn from
Him what a blessed example, re
sponsibility, and opportunity there
is in the childhood which we see all
around us.
I. The Child—Jesus Our Saviour *
(Matt. 1:18-25).
The virgin mother Mary “brought
forth her firstborn son” and “called
his name Jesus”—the one who
should “save his people from their
sins” (w. 21, 25). In order that
He might be the Saviour, He had to
be both God and man. This could
only be true as God sent His own
only-begotten Son into the world by
giving to Him a human mother in
whom He as the eternal Son of God
was “conceived by the Holy Ghost”
(as we express it in the creed) and
became the Son of Man.
For anyone who believes that God
has all power and all wisdom to do
what He wills and as He wills, and
who further believes that Christ was
pre-existent as the Son of God be
fore His incarnation, there is no
difficulty in believing in the virgin
birth. In fact, no other manner of
incarnation would have been possi
ble. It necessarily follows that the
one* who denies the virgin birth of
Christ thereby declares that He does
not believe in the God of the Scrip
tures and in Jesus Christ His Son
our Lord.
II. The Child—Our Example (18:
1-4).
The disciples had been having a
discussion about who was to be the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This was not because they desired
their brothers’ advancement, for
each one wanted to be the greatest
(Luke 9:46).
Jesus frankly told them that they
needed a real change of heart, a
conversion. True greatness is not
a matter of worldly position or am
bition, but of a childlike humility.
Such an idea was absolutely revo
lutionary in the day of Jesus, and
in fact sounds unbelievable to the
worldly man today. But it is none
theless true that the great man or
woman is the one who knows and
recognizes himself to be utterly de
pendent on God in every moment,
every circumstance, every trial, and
in every opportunity of life. We need
to learn of our children.
III. The Child—Our Responsibili
ty (18:5, 6). i
These awful, solemn words should)
be considered with great care. What'
a terrible judgment awaits those
who cause little ones to stumble by
reason of their false teaching, their
failure to bring God’s Word to bear
upon their lives, improper discipline
in the home, or the influence of a
bad example. There are probably
preachers, teachers in the Sunday
School, grandparents, uncles, aunts,
mothers, fathers, yes, even friends
of little children who need to reread
these verses and then cry out to God
in repentance before it is too late.
IV. The Child—Our Opportunity
(19:13-15).
Jesus knew the real value of a
child and His loving heart reached
out to invite the children to come
unto Him in love, in obedience, and
in trust. When they came, He never
failed to bless them.
The glorious thing is that we
are privileged to thus bring little
children to Him. Someone may say,
“Jesus is no longer on earth, I can
not take my child to him.” Jesus
is not here in the flesh, but He is
here ever present with His children.
Ypu can bring your child to Him,
for the coming which He has in
mind in these verses is not in any
physical sense but rather spiritual.
The parents who teach their little
ones about the birth of Christ on
this Christmas day have brought
them to Him. Every word of in
struction, every encouragement to
pray, every example of devotion to
Christ which the child may follow
is the true bringing of that child to
Him.
Will you do it this Christmas—in
the home, in the Sunday School, in
the church, anywhere? If you do,
there will be blessing beyond your
ability to contain it and you will
have
A Blessed Christmas!
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