Carolling Meant Facing Trouble

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15161, 19 December 1949, Page 5

Carolling Meant Facing Trouble

Regarded as a “heathen survival,” there was

a time when . . .

ILILE IT IS difficult today to think of Christ ipns W g without thinking: of carols and the atmosphere of mJwkm l )C ‘ a( -‘°fuliiess and goodwill always associated with 'ilf lliem, there was a time when carol singing was likely W * to get you into trouble.

Regarded as a “heathen survival”, the carol—many, many years back —was therefore unpopular among the clergy. Finally, however, those protesting had to be content with limiting the practice. The Puritans did their best to discourage carolling but it was revived at the Restoration and continued throughout the 18th cenHone, writing early in the 19th century, predicted that in a lew years Christmas carols would be heard no more. His prediction has not been borne out. For some time past, there has been a growing practice to sing carols in the churches, instead ol in the open air, and the quaint, fantastic carols of old days are m consequence being forgotten. Some suggest that the word carol is derived from chorus. Other views ally it with corolla, a garland, circle, or coronet. The earliest sense of the word is apparently a ring, or circle, or a ring dance. Stonehenge often call the giants’ dance —was also frequently known ns the carol. The “crib” set up in churches at Christmas was the centre of a dance and some of the most famous Latin Christmas hymns were written to dance tunes. These songs were called wiegenlieder in German, nocls in French, and carols in English. Literally, according to one authority, the word carol should be applied to lyrics written lor dance measures. Carolling—the combined exercise of dance and song—found its way from pagan ritual into the Christian church. The clergy, although averse to heathen survivals, had to content themselves with limiting the practice. Religious dances persisted longest on Shrove Tuesday and a castanet dance by the choristers around the lectern is nermitted three time a year in the Cathedral of Seville. The Christmas festival, which sychronised with and superseded the Latin and Teutonic feasts of the winter solstice, lent, itself especially to gaiety. The “crib” of the Savour was set up in churches or in private homes, in the traditional setting of the

stable, with earthen figures of the Holy Family and the ox and ass, and carols were sung and danced around it. The singing of the carol has survived in places where the institution of the crib, said to have been originated by St. Francis of Assisi to inculcate the doctrine of the incarnation, has long been in disuse. In Yorkshire, however, the children going carol-singing still carry “milly-boxes” My Lady Boxes containing figures which represent But it is at this stage that you may be inclined to look at carolsinging shrewdly. An authority has it, that carol-singing became an early pretext for money-seeking is obvious from an Anglo-Norman carol—“ Seigneurs Ore Entendey a Nus”—which, says the authority,' is little more than a drinking song. Many carols, with the character of the folk song, date back to the 15th century. The famous cherrytree carol “Joseph was an Old Man,” is based on an old legend related in the Coventry mystery plays. “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In,” and “The Camel and the Crane,” though of more recent date, preserve curious legends. Among 18th century religious carols, perhaps most famous is Charles Wesley’s “Hark, How all the Welkin Ring.” This is better known as “Hark, the Angels Sing,” the variant. The earliest printed collection of carols was issued by Wynkyn dc Worde in 1521. It contained the famous “Boar’s Head” carol. In a slightly altered form this is sung at Queen’s College, Oxford, on the bringing in of the boar’s head. . The term Noel' passed into the English carol as a favourite refrain “Nowell,” and seems to have been in common use in France as an equivalent for vivat. And who was “Good King Wcnccslas?” He was Wencoslas IV, King of Bohemia. Born in 13G1, ho had a sorely troubled reign and died, during disturbances, in 1419. He was the son of the Emperor, Charles IV, and Anna, daughter of Henry 11, Duke of Schweidnity. He married twice and left no children.