History of Festive Music

Music has played an important role in most religions throughout time, with chanting, mostly in Latin taking the earliest form in the Christian church. Carols as we know them now, written in the venacular, became popular from the 13th century first in Italy, then Germany & England. In 1426 an English priest, John Audelay, listed 25 “caroles of Cristemas” which were probably performed by wassailers, who went from door to door.

The tradition of carol singing for charity began in Britian during the 17th century. In Britain today, very few wassailers are seen and heard, but we still get the large scale charity arrangements including our local rotary club arriving on the back of the horse drawn brewery cart, complete with brass band, choir & amplification – Victoriana at its finest, 21st century style. Somewhat surprisingly, and despite the long heritage and tradition of carols, most carols we sing today date back no further than the 19th century.

Since the mid 20th century pop Christmas songs have come to the fore, thanks in a large part to “Christmas creep” starting earlier & earlier in malls and on radio shows the world over. These are not generally religious but are often infuriatingly catchy and we all have our favourites.

With thanks to Wikipedia