In a television ad a couple of weeks ago, there it was. “Deck the Halls”. Sleigh bells jangling along. Do we really need to start the Christmas music weeks before we’ve reached Thanksgiving? I know that the marketing wants to get the season underway, and they’ve virtually blurred the season. But still? “Deck the Halls” in mid-November? Let’s wait a bit longer on the boughs of holly.
But, back to the carols. Did you know that early Christmas carols were mostly dances? Many of them are adaptations or amalgams of tunes and poetry. The earliest “carols” evolved from parts of pagan rituals that were absorbed by Christian holy days. “Deck the Halls” is an example. The melody is Welsh, probably from about the 1600’s, as a winter carol. Our current lyrics were composed in the late 1800’s in Scotland, and it’s come to reflect the festive decorations for Christmas. The Church, of course, had its body of chant that followed the liturgical year, and from it developed more complex music. But from many of the Christian traditions evolved what we now think of as Christmas Carols. We all know the story of “Silent Night”, the disabled organ in Austria and the guitar accompaniment composed by the church’s organist to the priest’s simple poetry. We might not know that one of the most popular carols, “Joy to the World”, was originally written as a psalm setting, not “Christmassy” at all, and set to a tune attributed to Handel, but arranged by American hymn composer Lowell Mason. Much of what we think of as our “body” of Christmas is borrowed or adapted. In a local connection, Brooks School in North Andover was named for Bishop Phillips Brooks, the Rector of Trinity Church in Boston, briefly, Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts in the 1800’s. He composed a number of works, including the lyrics to the beloved carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
One of the most interesting, and to me most beautiful, of holiday carols comes from Canada, “T’was in the Moon of Winter”, also known as “The Huron Carol”. It originated in the 1640’s, composed by Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary to the native Hurons. Using a French folk melody, it was originally in the native language of the Huron, and thus, the descriptions of the Nativity are adapted to their culture. The manger becomes of “lodge of bark”, and the newborn baby is wrapped in animal skins. The shepherds are hunters, and the Three Kings are “chiefs from afar”, bringing their valuable gifts – pelts of fox and beaver.
Like some of our carols, the poinsettia is a plant native to Mexico and Central America, where it grows in the wild, and quite large. Unlike many of our houseplants, it doesn’t “blossom”. What turns color are actually “bracts”, or leaf-like structures that surround the tiny, yellow blossoms. Poinsettias were brought to this country by Joel Poinsett, U. S. Minister to Mexico in the early 1800’s. In most parts of the world today, they’re raised and propagated specifically for the Christmas season, and have come to represent the holiday season. And because it’s very difficult to get the bracts to “rebloom” or return to their colorful display, most are disposed of shortly after the holidays. Similar to the poinsettia, holly has become a symbol of Christmas largely due to its coloring – the dark green foliage and bright red berries. The term, holly, has no real collection to “holy”, but rather comes from several older sources referring to its prickly leaves. The ancient Druids thought it a symbol of prosperity, and hanging it – particularly in doors and windows – would discourage evil spirits, while cutting down a holly bush or tree would result in bad luck. From the Medieval period onward, it has become associated Christmas because it maintains its look during the winter months.
In many ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, greenery symbolized rebirth, and therefore greenery – particularly evergreens – were brought into houses as part of their celebrations. In Northern Europe, the tree – particularly the evergreen, part of winter solstice rituals and festivities, was and repurposed and integrated, with the spread of Christianity, into our holiday traditions, becoming today what is one of our most recognizable symbols of the season. The Germans brought the Christmas Tree to the United States, although many Puritan New Englanders fought the notion of “paganism”. By the 1800’s, though, the tradition had caught on. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert promoted the practice of elaborately decorating trees with candles and ornaments, after a picture of them appeared in the newspaper standing with their family in front of the decorated tree. Just this week, we witnessed the lighting of the giant tree in Rockefeller Center in New York, while another mighty tree arrived in Washington, DC from Alaska, and adorns the US Capitol lawn.
Like the Christmas tree, the Nativity has evolved over centuries. Depicted in artwork – paintings and altarpieces, it has changed as the theology has been adapted, what we now refer to using the French term, creche, from the Latin for “cradle”, have come to be models or tableaus. They were simple representations, taking on greater scale up to the very elaborate representations in churches during the Renaissance. Added at various stages, were shepherds, angels, animals, and eventually the Three Magi.
Before Christmas actually arrives, and we partake of our own rituals and traditions, our meals, our music, our gift-giving, our acts of charity, and our gatherings of family and friends, it’s nice to remember that those traditions are rooted in history. Long before the holiday season became an economic juggernaut, it recognized the seasons, new life, and spiritual beliefs. Here in the United States today, we honor a number those traditions, some very different from our own and coming from many parts of the world. But all give us the opportunity to celebrate our families and our communities, along with histories and traditions of generations that have come before us. Let’s not forget to enjoy those traditions, those memories, and new ones we create each year.
Have a wonderful holiday season, everyone.
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