Well understanding the difficulties of the poor people, he created a sort of living celebration of Christ’s birth, with a shed and characters that, differently from what is usually believed, did not stay there motionless, just to be admired, but used to sing traditional songs, that had never died, with flutes and bagpipes, telling shortly the story of the Nativity. It was a whole week of preparation for Christmas with games and competitions, as well as prize contests for the yearly staging of the best nativity scene . The highlight was on the December 25th, when joyful dances took place both in the open and, if weather did not permit it, inside the church, debunking the belief that the dances in honor of our Lord were sinful. It must be said that at first the Church did not like this innovation but Francis’ fame of holiness was so pure and uncontaminated that the Pope let it go, even because this joyful custom had arrived to France, Spain and Germany and it was such a publicity for the Christianity that forbidding it would have been like shooting himself in the foot.
PICTURE 2. Francis took often part to the Christmas plays, placing in the middle of the night a newly born child in a crib and celebrating at the same time the Holy Mass. This way the mysteries of Jesus’ Birth and Mary’s Virginity were taught to ignorant people in a simple and effective way.
So, beside the church hymns that were strictly sung in Latin, in Europe Christmas began to be celebrated with carols in vernacular, that were more and more accurate and complex, spread around by minstrels and shepherds, who taught them to the people . The word CAROL, that indicates exactly the secular song linked to Christmas with dances and feasts, is French. We have no written proofs of the first Middle Ages popular carols, as they were spread orally and scholars did not transcribe them at all.
The oldest one we know comes from England, is dated 1470 and it’s the very first version of I SAW THREE SHIPS . England was the leader of the Christmas carols, with enthusiastic and well organized people that cranked out the first solo singers, called WAITS (i.e. those who wait). And they waited all year long as they went around several villages, accompanied by musicians, bringing the Christmas music and living on alms. They were the first street artists, and when they arrived to a village they brought cheerfulness together with The Good News . When Christmas was closer they went back to their own village, accompanied by the notables who sang with them in public.
PICTURE 3. One of the most widespread customs in the English Middle Ages was the Christmas celebration with big banquets, whose main course was a living peacock . This beautiful bird was killed and carefully skinned, so as not to ruin its plumage, it was then stuffed with eggs and spices and roasted. It was finally “coated” with its own skin and adorned with gold. Once the Pilgrim Friars arrived to America they almost immediately replaced the peacock with the turkey, which became the culinary symbol of the American Christmas.
So the Waits became WAITNIGHTS, as they, wearing shepherds clothes, stayed out singing all night long looking at the stars, reminding the first shepherds that crowded Jesus hut. That was for sure not a healthy custom, as climate was frigid, and this probably encouraged the creation of the first wooden nativity scenes, around which whole families gathered in vigil at Christmas night or even all the people of the village, when the scenes were life-sized . A big farm was found for these “giant scenes” and suddenly physical and spiritual health were protected at one fell swoop . This tradition grew so intense that Churches in Europe geared up to allow people to celebrate Christmas with their own songs too. There was therefore a period when, even though the mass was said in Latin, folk choruses were added to canonical ones, and, as they narrated Jesus birth in vulgar, were not considered sinful anymore. So happy people crowded the churches that shined with the lights of thousands of candles, as needed: doubly happy indeed, since once candles, made of tallow, were out they were given as presents to the hundreds of hungry believers who … ate them right after the service! Yes, life was hard in the Middle Ages!
Time for Christmas cheerfulness was anyway short: the Inquisition in Spain and Italy was harsh towards carols and dances, considered devil’s temptation for the flesh and therefore once again forbidden and fought. Germany and England, embracing the new surge of Protestantism, made people plunge in the strictest austerity. Even the very Catholic France, now oppressed by sovereigns of Spanish origins who swooped there for political marriages armed with crosses and rosaries, lost its dancing tradition. In these dark times people didn’t forget Christmas carols, that were sung in fact in private as a protest especially in England, despite Cromwell and his strict puritan laws that had brought austerity even to the American colonies.
A scandal dated 1730 was reported by Reverend Mather, who complained about a “deplorable custom” in the Massachussetts Bay Colony where, at Christmas night, people “played cards, guzzled at the table and sang very vulgar carols about Jesus birth!”. A trend that set in more and more and that, like every self-respecting tradition, had hundreds of minstrels as heroes, as they had collected all Christmas folk songs from the motherland, in spite of the English laws, before disembarking to the new continent and spread them there! The custom of the WAITS was then not only dusted off but also better organized, with real preparations of scenes that, with the coming and going between England and America, went back to the start. Most of the old Christmas carols we’re still singing today, like “Stille Nacht” or “What a Child is This?” were indeed written in the second half of 1700.
The way was paved, the great Powers adjusted to that: in 1822 the member of parliament and historian DAVIES GILBERT publishes an anthology of Old Christmas Carols, and right after him WILLIAM SANDYS publicized some historic songs, like THE FIRST NOWELL or HARK the HERALD ANGELS SING . The final stroke was given in the Victorian Age when the very puritan Queen, who covered the table legs with a skirt out of modesty, marries the Teutonic and handsome Prince Albert.
He was a lover of the old Christmas music and worked hard to organize again the Festivities setting them free from the loop of the “funereal celebration” and give them the former glory . A secular Christmas was therefore born and it spread like wildfire throughout the world, and people were looking forward to it. Since then, beside nativity scenes and decorated trees, carols have been enriching themselves with new symbolisms that mark the changing times. Snow, mistletoe, reindeers and Santa Claus come into scene, drawn generously from traditions of countries which are often little known, and become public heritage at least at Christmas.
Christmas carols became a real business for cinemas, record labels and TV stations. Thousands of authors got rich writing real successes that still make us cry and dream, like WHITE CHRISTMAS OR THE CHRISTMAS SONG.
Then, like it happens for everything, this current dried up and the market changed. Today everything we listen to at Christmas is simple reworking of songs of the past, and the few novelties don’t make history. Traditions are lost, Festivities are just a cold trade and it looks like people have lost the will to sing too.
How come? Where’s the Christmas Spirit gone? Have we lost it maybe?
ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
A…modern Christmas!
Let’s start our review of the most beautiful Christmas songs from a song with a captivating melody, a light text and a definitely important author.: Johnny Marks, one of the few composers of Christmas songs who rightfully entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame..
