When it comes to Christmas, one cannot imagine it without Christmas carols. However, you will be surprised to know that carols were not always a part of Christmas. As a matter of fact, the Church believed that singing carols during Christmas was actually a pagan tradition and did not approve of it. Strangely, the Church was correct.

Carols were part of the winter solstice celebration that used to take place in the month of December. The word carol actually means a song of joy and praise. During the winter months, the nights became long and the number of daylight hours was reduced. It was a difficult period for the pagans, who had to either hunt for their food or grow it. So, when the winter solstice came, they used to be very happy because it meant that the daylight hours would increase and they would have more hours to hunt and grow their crops. So, they welcomed this increase in the daylight hours by singing songs of praise, thanks and joy. Winter solstice was the shortest day in the year.

While the Church did not approve of the singing, the members of the clergy found it very difficult to get the people to stop this practice that they had been following for generations. So, the Church decided to give it their approval. Hence, singing of carols during Christmas became a Christian practice that is followed even today.

Angel's Hymn is considered to be one of the first carols that was sung at a service conducted by a Christian bishop in 129 AD. The carols that were sung in the early days were penned in Latin, and as time went by, fewer people could read and write Latin. So, many of the carols were translated to English for convenience.

It was only during the medieval period that singing of carols became an integral part of Christian tradition. The credit for carols that we sing today is given to St. Francis of Assisi, who used to hold nativity plays in the early 1200s. His singers used to sing in the language that the audience knew and this used to encourage the audience also to join in.

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