The word carol derives from the Middle English carole (ring) -- a ring-dance with a song. Hymns that were originally written for church use, but became popular as carols included "Joy to the World" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". Early secular carols included "Deck the Halls" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".
Classic Christmas Songs
The "Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English folk song without hidden symbolic meanings. A legend holds that the song was symbolic for English Catholics when their religion was forbidden in England.
"Silent Night" (the most popular of all Christmas carols) was first written as a poem in Germany in 1816 by a young priest named Joseph Mohr who was assigned to an Austrian pilgrimage church. The church organ was too rusted to play for the 1818 Midnight Mass so Mohr asked his friend Franz Gruber (a local teacher) to compose a tune. Mohr and Gruber sang the song together, with Gruber playing a guitar.
"Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" was written as a poem by Phillip Brooks, a Philadelphia pastor who ministered to Union soldiers during the Civil War. Thrree years later, the poem was set to music. The song was sung by a children's choir in Brooks's church.
"Jingle Bells" was composed in 1857 by James Pierpoint, who became a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. Although Pierpoint never rose out of poverty, his nephew James Pierpoint Morgan (J.P.Morgan) became one of the wealthiest businessmen in America.
The song "White Christmas" was composed by Irving Berlin early in World War II. Bing Crosby sang the song to troops who were moved by memories of what their homeland was before the war -- and would be after the war.
Other popular Christmas songs that would not be called carols include "Frosty the Snowman", "Silver Bells", "Jingle Bell Rock", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".
In 1938 a Melbourne, Australia radio announcer organized a Christmas Eve sing-along concert. "Carols by Candlelight" has become an annual tradition all over Australia as well as in other countries.
Mumming
Mumming arose from a pagan tradition where men & women swapped clothes, dressed in animal skins, wore masks and visited neighbors for merry-making (a tradition still observed in rural Newfoundland) -- although the mummers also trace their origins to the Roman Saturnalia & Kalends festivals. Plays were sometimes performed with masked, costumed mimes (who could be "mum"). In 1901, the first New Year's Mummers' Parade took place.
From the late 1920s Hollywood Boulevard has been renamed Santa Claus Lane every December for a Christmas Parade. In 1946 singing cowboy Gene Autry rode his horse in the parade and was thereby inspired to write "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)".
Christmas music now includes classical pieces, oratorios, popular tunes, rock music and every other form of music known to man. Also, The Nutcracker Ballet is a traditional Christmas performance which was set to music by the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. It is now the most popular ballet in the world and has become a Christmas tradition for many.
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