The term, “Christmas carol”, originates from England. According to this English story, a young girl named Carol got lost in the streets of London on a cold winter night. In an attempt to find her, her friends went from house to house similar to the way we do during Christmas. After this episode, the term “Christmas carol” became widespread.
The more pragmatic explanation is that the word, “carol”, comes from the Greek dance, “Choraulein”, which is accompanied by flutes. Later, the Frenchmen replaced the flutes with singing and named it, “caroller”, which means, “to dance around in a circle”.
The tradition of singing carols can be traced back to the monk, St. Francis of Assisi. He introduced the singing of carols in church ceremonies. Today, each country has its own traditions in connection with Christmas carols. In many places, people walk from house to house and sing at Christmas time; in other places, Christmas carols are sung in church.
Many people probably also think about modern songs like “White Christmas”, when they think of Christmas carols. However, there is a distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song. A Christmas Carol has a fairly rapid, regular beat, which would, therefore, exclude a meandering, crooning song such as “White Christmas”. Christmas carols can often be sung by a choir and usually have simple and straightforward rhythms. This is rarely the case for pop and rock songs, which often have more complex compositions.
The world’s most famous Christmas carol is "Silent night". “Jingle Bells” was originally named, “One-Horse Open Sleigh”, and was written for Thanksgiving, not for Christmas.
Charles Dickens’s story, "A Christmas Carol", is the world’s most read Christmas story.
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