Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

LET US SING During these days leading up to Christmas, carols fill the air. Where did these songs come from, and why are they so important? Let's look at the origins of some of these carols. First, we must remember how the celebration of Christmas began. Christmas is so widely recognized in today's society that it is hard to realize how controversial this holiday has been over the centuries. Historians trace its roots back to Saturnalia, an ancient Roman religious festival honoring the god Saturn. This pagan holiday began each year on December 17th and was known for its vice and debauchery. Around A.D. 350, the church in the West decided to honor the birth of our Lord. Purging out the pagan elements of the Saturnalia feast, Christians appropriated December 25th for the churches' own celebration. During the Middle Ages, the church--trying to instruct the illiterate masses--often used drama to teach Bible stories and doctrine. Between acts of a play, a person would sing a folk song and do a ring dance called a "carola" (from which we get the word carol). In the early 1600s, England was ruled by the Puritans. They observed how Christmas had sunk into drunken, shameless orgies that did not glorify Christ or promote wholesome values. So, in 1627, the Puritan-controlled parliament abolished worldly festivals including Christmas. For the next 150 years, there were very few carols sung in England. It's hard to realize now that Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (written by Charles Wesley in 1739) was one of the only Christmas carols of its day. Only in the last 130 years has Christmas reached such a prominent place on our calendars and in our lives.