A History of Christmas Hymns and Carols

I've decided to reinstate this section of the site ... with all it's warts and deficiencies in the usage of commas ... for the simple reason that I've recently run across some truly dreadful "histories" of Christmas carols. Without providing any links (I never publically rebuke others), these "histories" contained information that was in no case even remotely accurate. Thus, with its drawbacks and lack of recent research, this history is still significantly better than what I've seen, and will at least allow the reader to have an accurate starting point in his or her researches into the history of Christmas hymns and carols.

The history of Christmas hymns goes back much further than the history of Christmas carols.

Christmas hymn. Typically a religious song, most frequently heard in a Church or in the context of a religious Christmas play or presentation. Christmas hymns have been dated to the 4th century.

Christmas carol. Typically a song that celebrates the Christmas season in a joyous manner, originally accompanied by dance. The carol, as an art form, arose about the 13th century.

Today, Christmas carols include many types of Christmas songs.

And now, on with the show: Preface to The History.

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