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What's a Christmas Carol?

TheOldMole Dec 15 2006 08:46 PM

I went caroling with a group from my grandson's elementary school last night. It was really nice -- this was the first time they had done it -- I'm not sure who organized it, I think a group of parents. There must have been close to 200 people who showed up, way beyond what the organizers expected. We went through the nearby housing development, Mout Marion Park. They sang "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph" and "Frosty" and "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" -- not, I think, out of any war on Christmas, or concern for school and religion (if they were concerned about that, they should have called the ACLU, which supports the right of religious clubs to meet on school grounds after school hours). Anyway, that wasn't it. They did include "Silent Night." I think the selections were made on the basis of what they figured Kindergarteners and first and second graders would know. Afterwards, when I brought Arick home, I said to his mom that while it was lovely, I missed having more of the real Christmas carols, instead of just the seasonal songs. She was surprised...it hadn't occurred to her that "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph" weren't Christmas carols. So I looked it up, and Sue may have been right. I had thought of carols as those old hymns -- "O Holy Night," "O COme All Ye Faithful," etc. But here's the definition from Wikipedia: ]A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a dance-like or popular character. Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Christmas carol, the Advent carol, and to a much lesser extent by the Easter carol, however despite their present association with religion, this has not always been the case.

Yancy Street Gang Dec 15 2006 08:48 PM

Interesting. I always picture carolers singing songs like "Hark the Herald Angel" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem." I've also never actually seen carolers going door to door. I'm surprised to hear that it's still being done. I thought it had gone out with Norman Rockwell and Frank Capra.

TheOldMole Dec 15 2006 08:57 PM

It was lovely to see it happening. They didn't quite have it organized -- maybe too many people to organize -- but a great idea.

cooby Dec 15 2006 09:31 PM

I can think of three kinds of Christmas songs The ones about the nativity- O Holy Night, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, etc The fun juvenile songs- Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman... And the non religious ones that you can belt out - Silver Bells, Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls A good caroling party has a good mix of all of these. Did you ever notice how many Christmas songs are just good old winter songs? Like "Sleigh Ride" for instance...

DocTee Dec 15 2006 11:16 PM

]Did you ever notice how many Christmas songs are just good old winter songs? Like "Sleigh Ride" for instance... The prelude to the world's most popular tune, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, speaks to the palm trees and warm breezes of Southern California-- it's omitted from almost all renditions...

Edgy DC Dec 15 2006 11:47 PM

Short definition for carol: "Song of joy."

Rockin' Doc Dec 15 2006 11:53 PM

The high school kids from our church went caroling this Wednesday evening. They went to the houses of many of the older members of the church and then went over to a retirement home and sang a few carols. I think it was a good experience for both the kids and their "audience".