{"id":5817,"date":"2024-12-18T19:55:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T23:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=5817"},"modified":"2024-12-18T19:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T23:55:29","slug":"christmas-carols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/12\/18\/christmas-carols\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Carols"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Solstice:<\/strong> December 21
\nChristmas:<\/strong> December 25
\nHanukkah:<\/strong> this year, sundown December 25 \u2013 sundown January 2
\nKwanzaa:<\/strong> December 26 \u2013 January 1
\nNew Year:<\/strong> January 1<\/p>\n

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1500s: A Haunting Song<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Coventry Carol, 1534<\/strong>
\nTraditional<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a haunting melody, it\u2019s about Herod\u2019s massacre of babies. See our holiday issues on the Massacre of the Innocents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

O sisters too, how may we do
\nFor to preserve this day
\nThis poor youngling for whom we sing,
\n“Bye bye, lully, lullay”?<\/p>\n

Herod the king, in his raging,
\nCharg\u00e8d he hath this day
\nHis men of might in his own sight
\nAll young children to slay.<\/p>\n

That woe is me, poor child, for thee
\nAnd ever mourn and may
\nFor thy parting neither say nor sing,
\n“Bye bye, lully, lullay.”<\/p>\n

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1800s: Traditional Carols<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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O Holy Night, 1843 \/ 1855<\/strong>
\nWritten in French by Placide Chapeau \/ Translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dwight added this third verse, which made it popular among abolitionists of the time:<\/p>\n

Truly He taught us to love one another;
\nHis law is love and His Gospel is Peace
\nChains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
\nAnd in His name, all oppression shall cease<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a story which may or may not be true but at least has made the rounds. In the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, on Christmas Eve the French troops sang this uplifting song (French version, of course) across the trenches during a truce in hostilities.<\/p>\n

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It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, 1849<\/strong>
\nWritten by Massachusetts pastor Edmund Sears<\/strong><\/p>\n

The poem was written with violent revolutions in Europe and the recent war between the United States and Mexico in mind, accounting for anti-war sentiment throughout. This was most explicit in Verse 3:<\/p>\n

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
\nThe world has suffered long;
\nBeneath the angel-strain have rolled
\nTwo thousand years of wrong;
\nAnd man, at war with man, hears not
\nThe love-song which they bring;
\nO hush the noise, ye men of strife,
\nAnd hear the angels sing.<\/p>\n

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I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, 1864<\/strong>
\nWritten on Christmas day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nEdward K Hermann gives the full story<\/a> with a performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir<\/p>\n

Longfellow had suffered personal tragedy, but this was also written with the U.S. Civil War raging and uppermost on his mind.<\/p>\n

I heard the bells on Christmas day
\nTheir old familiar carols play
\nAnd mild and sweet their songs repeat
\nOf peace on Earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

And in despair I bowed my head
\n“There is no peace on Earth, ” I said
\nFor hate is strong and mocks the song
\nOf peace on Earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
\nGod is not dead, nor doth He sleep
\nThe wrong shall fail, the right prevail
\nWith peace on Earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

1900s: Modern Takes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Do You Hear What I Hear?, 1962<\/strong>
\nWords by No\u00ebl Regney, music by Gloria Shayne, husband and wife<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cPray for peace people everywhere\u201d
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThis carol was written at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis<\/a> and was a response to the dangers of nuclear annihilation. There were double meanings throughout. \u201c\u201cA star, dancing in the night, with a tail as big as a kite\u201d\u00a0could be the Star of Bethlehem, but authors were thinking of a nuclear missile as well.<\/p>\n

From The Atlantic<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the studio, the producer was listening to the radio to see if we had been obliterated,\u201d Regney once explained. \u201cEn route to my home, I saw two mothers with their babies in strollers. The little angels were looking at each other and smiling.\u201d This inspired the first line of the song: \u201cSaid the night wind to the little lamb . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>
\nHappy Xmas (War is Over), 1969<\/strong>
\nby John Lennon <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the middle of the American war in Vietnam and the movement to stop it, along with the Civil Rights movement, Lennon wrote a song that\u2019s explicit about opposing war and racism. As with much of good poetry, it applies to other historical periods as well and so remains commonly sung today. Verse 2:<\/p>\n

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
\nFor weak and for strong (If you want it)
\nThe rich and the poor ones (War is over)
\nThe road is so long (Now)
\nAnd so happy Christmas (War is over)
\nFor black and for white (If you want it)
\nFor yellow and red ones (War is over)
\nLet’s stop all the fight (Now)<\/p>\n

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Christmas In the Trenches, written before 1984<\/strong>
\nWritten by John McCutcheon<\/strong><\/p>\n

McCutcheon was inspired to write this about the 1914 Christmas Truce, when soldiers up and down the line of trenches in Europe took Christmas a little more seriously than their superiors did.\u00a0 A good version with story: Christmas in the Trenches (1984)<\/a>. McCutcheon clearly wrote it well before then, since he refers to reactions from men who experienced the Truce when he sang the song in concert.<\/p>\n

Also on the same topic:<\/em><\/p>\n

Pipes of Peace<\/a> with Paul McCartney.<\/p>\n

Celtic Thunder offers\u00a0Christmas 1915<\/a>. They have the wrong year, but the art still has the spirit of it.<\/p>\n

A movie dramatization:\u00a0Joyeux Noel<\/a><\/p>\n

And our own blog post on it: The Christmas Truce of 1914<\/a><\/p>\n

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This is a list of holiday editions of our weekly e-newsletter, <\/em><\/strong>Peace & Life Connections<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2023<\/a>, we covered Kwanzaa.<\/p>\n

In 2022<\/a>, the topic was the Christmas Truce of 1914, when World War I soldiers up and down the line treated each other as friends rather than enemies for the holidays. (Also the same content in a 2022 post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In 2021<\/a>, there was a somber topic, but one appropriate to the season: the Massacre of the Innocents, and its role in quotations and art that oppose massive violence of all kinds. (Also the same content in a 2021 post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In 2020<\/a>, given what was most on people\u2019s minds at the time, we covered Pandemics Related to Christmas. (Also the same content in a 2020 post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In 2019<\/a>, we showed Christmas as a Nonviolent Alternative to Imperialism.<\/p>\n

In 2018<\/a>, we detailed Strong Women against Violence \u2013 Connected to the Holidays.<\/p>\n

In 2017<\/a>, we covered Interfaith Peace in the Womb.<\/p>\n

In 2016<\/a>, we discussed how \u201cThe Magi were Zoroastrians\u201d and detailed how good the Zoroastrians were on consistent-life issues. The ancient roots of the consistent life ethic run deep!<\/p>\n

In 2015<\/a>, we had a list of good holiday movies with consistent-life themes \u2013 check it out for what you might want to see this season. We also had information on Muslim nonviolent perspectives.<\/p>\n

In 2014<\/a>, we offered a quotation from a lesser-known Christmas novella of Charles Dickens and cited the treatment of abortion in the Zoroastrian scriptures.<\/p>\n

In 2013<\/a>, we shared several quotations reflecting on Christmas.<\/p>\n

In 2012<\/a>, we had a couple of quotes showing the pro-life aspects of two prominent Christmas tales: A Christmas Carol<\/em> with Ebenezer Scrooge, and the movie It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em>. We also quote from John Dear about Jesus as peacemaker and Rand Paul about the 1914 spontaneous Christmas Truce; he then related it to the culture of life.<\/p>\n

In 2011<\/a>, we covered the materialism-reducing \u201cAdvent Conspiracy”<\/a> and offered two pieces of children\u2019s art: a 1939 anti-war cartoon called \u201cPeace on Earth,\u201d and the anti-war origins of \u201cHorton Hears a Who,\u201d whose tagline \u2013 \u201ca person\u2019s a person, no matter how small\u201d \u2013 is irresistible to pro-lifers.<\/p>\n

In 2010<\/a>, we showed \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Movement\u201d by using the theme of what would happen if the peace movement and the pro-life movement hadn\u2019t arisen. We also had quotes from Scrooge (against respect for life) and a Martin Luther King Christmas sermon.<\/p>\n

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Get our SHORT Biweekly e-Newsletter<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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  Solstice: December 21 Christmas: December 25 Hanukkah: this year, sundown December 25 \u2013 sundown January 2 Kwanzaa: December 26 \u2013 January 1 New Year: January 1   1500s: A Haunting Song \u00a0 The Coventry Carol, 1534 Traditional With a haunting melody, it\u2019s about Herod\u2019s massacre of babies. See our holiday issues on the Massacre… <\/p>\n