Christmas Carols
We hear them, and view them as the first salvo of the Christmas shopping season. They are the confirmation our lives are going to get hectic with shopping, wrapping, and belaying the difficulties within families. But if this is true, it is only because we have fallen prey to the marketing blitz, and emotional tricks and traps put forth by retailers and the manufactures that feed them.
But Christmas carols have been around since the thirteenth century, long before the malls, the shopping, and even Wal-Mart itself. They were written and sung before Christmas became what Christmas is. These songs were written, not to remind us of what Christmas is, but to celebrate what Christmas is. From what may be the oldest, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, whose real title, if written in today’s meanings of the words would be: May God keep you gentlemen strong, to the fanciful Frosty the Snow Man.
Their ages may surprise you. 1885 saw the published birth of Away in a Manger, its real age lost like so many others. The First Noel, is older still, most likely from the 16th or 17th century. We have the birth certificates for some: Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr. wrote We Three Kings of Orient Are in 1857 and What Child Is This? found its voice in 1865, the same year Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest, visited the town of Bethlehem and came back with the inspiration for O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Even the whimsical The Twelve Days of Christmas has its roots from deep in time, derived from a children’s rhyme originally written in a book called Mirth without Mischief, published in London around 1780. Though, not all are old-timers; some are young, like Little Drummer Boy from 1958. There are those that are related to the Christmas season but not born in faith. Frank Loessers’ Baby, It’s Cold Outside, published in 1948 has been recorded by dozens of performers. The materialistic Santa Baby, having found its voice in 1953, has its own list of popular singers. Although not spiritual in nature, they come around each year to remind us to laugh at ourselves and at our own narcissism.
But of all the music written for the season, one interesting one stands out. Silent Night, its lyric written in 1816 by a German priest Fr. Josef Mohr, as they flooded his mind. Two years later on Christmas Eve, he took it to Franz X. Gruber, an Austrian headmaster, who, overnight, composed the music for the mass on Christmas Day. A part of the songs legacy is buried in what is known as “The Christmas Truce,” a cease-fire, on Christmas Eve, 1914, between the German and British troops. The lull became an opportunity to decorate the trenches and foxholes with reminders of home and of Christmas. The Germans broke the silence by singing Stille Nacht, the original Silent Night. The British troops responded in kind, singing the English version. Singing not against, but with the Germans troops. That bridge of communication enabled the trading of small gifts of cigars and flasks of whiskey. It culminated with a soccer game between the two sides, with the Germans winning the game.
These songs are not just a collection of notes and words, but are images of long journeys with no beds; of good times and good wishes; of tough times and making the best of them. Some are whimsical adventures down old London streets; some are shouts of joy, on any street in any town. They are emotions, guided by love and translated into notes. They are beliefs, steadfast in something unseen. They are amplifications of faith and a reminder that the world, with all of its faults, is still heavy with the love a man can have for his fellow man, reflected in small events, scattered here and there throughout the year, preceding larger ones, until they gather in a crescendo of peace and love.
The next time you find yourself cringing at the sound of yet another Christmas song, stop and listen to its words, and to the emotions written into music. For the power of Christmas is not just encased within its decorations, its events, and its merriment. It is carried upon a conduit of words and music, permeating hearts and souls. Its power is echoed in the help we give to one another, in the time we spend with those we love and those that need us. It is echoed in its ability, however short, to stop a war. It is and should always be a reminder to us of the love that preceded that first Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
g. steven nolte
But Christmas carols have been around since the thirteenth century, long before the malls, the shopping, and even Wal-Mart itself. They were written and sung before Christmas became what Christmas is. These songs were written, not to remind us of what Christmas is, but to celebrate what Christmas is. From what may be the oldest, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, whose real title, if written in today’s meanings of the words would be: May God keep you gentlemen strong, to the fanciful Frosty the Snow Man.
Their ages may surprise you. 1885 saw the published birth of Away in a Manger, its real age lost like so many others. The First Noel, is older still, most likely from the 16th or 17th century. We have the birth certificates for some: Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr. wrote We Three Kings of Orient Are in 1857 and What Child Is This? found its voice in 1865, the same year Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest, visited the town of Bethlehem and came back with the inspiration for O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Even the whimsical The Twelve Days of Christmas has its roots from deep in time, derived from a children’s rhyme originally written in a book called Mirth without Mischief, published in London around 1780. Though, not all are old-timers; some are young, like Little Drummer Boy from 1958. There are those that are related to the Christmas season but not born in faith. Frank Loessers’ Baby, It’s Cold Outside, published in 1948 has been recorded by dozens of performers. The materialistic Santa Baby, having found its voice in 1953, has its own list of popular singers. Although not spiritual in nature, they come around each year to remind us to laugh at ourselves and at our own narcissism.
But of all the music written for the season, one interesting one stands out. Silent Night, its lyric written in 1816 by a German priest Fr. Josef Mohr, as they flooded his mind. Two years later on Christmas Eve, he took it to Franz X. Gruber, an Austrian headmaster, who, overnight, composed the music for the mass on Christmas Day. A part of the songs legacy is buried in what is known as “The Christmas Truce,” a cease-fire, on Christmas Eve, 1914, between the German and British troops. The lull became an opportunity to decorate the trenches and foxholes with reminders of home and of Christmas. The Germans broke the silence by singing Stille Nacht, the original Silent Night. The British troops responded in kind, singing the English version. Singing not against, but with the Germans troops. That bridge of communication enabled the trading of small gifts of cigars and flasks of whiskey. It culminated with a soccer game between the two sides, with the Germans winning the game.
These songs are not just a collection of notes and words, but are images of long journeys with no beds; of good times and good wishes; of tough times and making the best of them. Some are whimsical adventures down old London streets; some are shouts of joy, on any street in any town. They are emotions, guided by love and translated into notes. They are beliefs, steadfast in something unseen. They are amplifications of faith and a reminder that the world, with all of its faults, is still heavy with the love a man can have for his fellow man, reflected in small events, scattered here and there throughout the year, preceding larger ones, until they gather in a crescendo of peace and love.
The next time you find yourself cringing at the sound of yet another Christmas song, stop and listen to its words, and to the emotions written into music. For the power of Christmas is not just encased within its decorations, its events, and its merriment. It is carried upon a conduit of words and music, permeating hearts and souls. Its power is echoed in the help we give to one another, in the time we spend with those we love and those that need us. It is echoed in its ability, however short, to stop a war. It is and should always be a reminder to us of the love that preceded that first Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
g. steven nolte
posted by G. Steven Nolte at 11:33 PM
1 Comments:
This is lovely wordcraft; it flows beautifully and is deep and soft with the sensation of Christmas. e
Post a Comment
<< Home