Time out....

I'll let your voice take a rest from singing all those wonderful Christmas carols and chat abit about the origin of the Christmas carols, hymns and songs.

"The birthplace of the true Christmas carol is Italy where, in the 13 c. St. Francis brought religion out from its "Latin" cloister and made of it a warm and human thing, a part of, rather than separated from, life. Here, in the 13 c., in the poems of another inspired Franciscan, Jacopone da Todi, come the first real outburst of Christmas joy in a popular tongue. From Italy the carol then spread quickly to all those countries where Christianity existed. Although the word "carol" originally meant ring dance and did not necessarily apply to Christmas, during the 15 c. it gradually came to mean "song" not necessarily accompanied by dancing. Before 1550, "carol" was defined by a definite form -- a group of uniform stanzas with a burden [refrain] which begins the song and is repeated after each stanza. Today the word "carol" is synonymous for most people with any song relating to Christmas." from A Book of Christmas Carols by H.& R. Shekerjian

There are carols of the shepherds -- While Shepherds Watched their flocks by night.
Dance carols - In Dulci Jubilo.
The beautiful, rocking Lullaby Carols -- Away in a Manger.
Nativity carols, which include the Magi -- We Three Kings and Silent Night.

And carols are sung that contain stories and legends -- The Friendly Beasts.
Carols that have customs from many lands -- Oh Christmas Tree.

Finally, there are those carols which are traditional, fun and have more to do with the holiday than the Holy Day -- The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Don't let the repetition and shallow use of the carols rob you of the joy that singing the Carols can bring. As the Trademan says to Christmas, in Make Room for Christmas (1675):

"We will send for some of our loving
Neighbors and be merry altogether,
until Childermas-day be past and gone.
In Which time my wife Joan shall lay
Apples in the fire to Roast,
my Man William shall tell thee a merry tale,
and my Maid Margaret shall sing the melodious Carrols of several pleasant Tunes;
And so, we'l be higly pigly one with another."!!