Continuing on with Christmas Carols, The Reformation in the 1500's brought some good things with it: 1) the Sacred Scripture was now available in the vernacular (present day language), including the sacrifice of great men to make this happen like John Wycliffe (The Morning Star), William Tyndale, and many others. 2) with Martin Luther leading the way, the whole meaning of Christianity took on a major change, going from the religious rituals of the Church to a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, and 3) the meaning and depths to our church year calendar of events like Christmas was now enriched with the emphasis now on knowing Jesus and the reading of the Scriptures.
Yet, with a sudden interest in Christmas Carols and their meaning, which Martin Luther also enjoyed and did in deed write some of his own carols for the Christmas season, Christmas itself was now a problem during its celebration.
The Christmas Season was not like we know of today. By the late 1500's Christmas was more like a Mardi Gra event...a time to relax and indulge yourself with wild parties, getting drunk, and indulge in sex. It was a time when people worked long hours every week, poor wages, and little hope for their future. Add to this the fear of the dreaded winter, many facing death from the bitter cold about to cover Europe, and the shortage of food to make it through the winter, the general state of mind was to simply "Eat Drink and be Merry, for tomorrow we will surely die".
So, Christmas caroling did become popular...if you liked people at your door step drunk and sometimes naked people singing folk songs and bar tunes to drown their misery away. For many of those who faced poverty throughout the year, Christmas and Christmas caroling had become a time to "forget the pain they faced in real life". Christmas...was simply...a "pain killer".
By 1647, the Puritans were able to gain some control of English rule...and Christmas was banned because of it's "carnality". The Scriptures had taken hold in people's lives during the Protestant Reformation, and the "fight" against the very lopsided relationship between the Roman Catholic church and it's people ( control and dictating what the people should do when in truth it was for selfish motives)....was now infecting the Protestant Puritan church itself.
Witch hunts began to make it's way into the Puritan church, strict guidelines were set for this sect to follow, and the church services themselves would be perhaps 3 hours in length with an "Iron Hand" mentality. As for Christmas...and Christmas carols...if you were caught doing either...pity you my friend.
As the Puritans arrived in America, Christmas in it's entirety was banned because of the "Mardi Gra" image. In places like Boston Mass., fines were enforced to anyone found observing Christmas in their households or neighbor hoods. As late as 1789, the United States Congress with George Washington...met on Christmas Day, considering it just a normal day in the work week.
But then... a turn of events was soon to happen that changed the entire world's view...on the meaning of Christmas.
The Industrial Revolution had begun...and England was the leader. By the 1830's, the selling and trade of items had shifted, from merchandise made in the home and small "Ma and Pa" shoppes...now were made in commercial places...like factories and large companies beginning to emerge and change the economic climate.
The beginnings of the Industrial Age...were simply horrible...for those who were already poor. It was a time in England where the rich (less than 5% of England's entire population) obtained much more wealth, while the rest of English society got poorer...and poorer.
The common man and woman in England were now forced to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week...for very meager wages. Even children, as young as 4 or 5 years old were forced into labor because of poverty being so widespread. Children were sent for example to work in tin mines, crawl into crevices within the mines that adults could not reach, and dig out the mineral, facing the long hours and days like everyone else...until...they simply died.
By 1840, although England was experiencing a population growth, death was climbing at an alarming rate because of the severe work conditions. In London for example, it was estimated that as high as 40% of the poor population were dying under such extreme conditions , and a large percentage of the funerals at that time...were children 10 years old and younger. The condition of life was simply deplorable, and as for Christmas and the singing of Christmas carols....the Mardi Gra idea was reinforced...and drinking, sex, and general partying continued...a welcome break from hopeless futures...for many.
In fact, numerous first class passengers aboard the Titanic in 1912 were heirs and recipients to the fortunes made during this time period. Christmas and Christmas carols...had become nothing more than a time to party...party...party, because there was nothing left...to live for.
That is...until a young boy named "Tiny Tim" got the world's attention.
An Englishman named Charles Dickens wrote a novel entitled " A Christmas Carol" in 1843. Dickens himself had seen and experienced the poverty many in England were facing at that time...and his novel literally changed the entire world's view on...Christmas. Christmas, much like how the Industrial Revolution changed the economics of the entire world, now experienced a tremendous shift...for the good of mankind. Dicken's novel put emphasis on what the meaning of Christmas was meant to be...for children, on the needs of the poor, and exposing the greed of the wealthy. Christmas in only a few short years was no longer a "Mardi Gra" atmosphere...but one that promoted family togetherness, gifts for children, candle lit services, and Christmas carols that no longer were sung of drinking and revelry...but of the Christ-child and the hope of mankind. From a literary standpoint...it was a true miracle...and the entire world responded. Tiny Tim, Mr. Scrooge, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future...has forever changed the meaning of Christmas...including Christmas carols! Dicken's novel also fueled the beginning of labor laws...which gave great relief to the many who suffered during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.
And Christmas lives on...today!
As far as Christmas carols?...many of the Christmas carols we sing today became popular after Dicken's novel "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. Some were written before Dicken's novel was published...yet his novel gave "fuel" to a world already crying out for a Savior...and God heard the cries of the people...and answered....using his humble servant Charles Dickens.
Here are but a few Christmas carols that came out around the time of..."the days of Tiny Tim".
1. O Holy Night...written by Adolphe Adam in 1847. He wrote this song using a French ballad tune that was known in that era.
2. Silent Night...a few years before Dicken's novel, in 1818 a priest named Joseph Mohr and a school master named Franz Xavier Gruber introduced this song on a Christmas Eve mass in Obernorf Austria.
3. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear...written in 1849 by Edmund Sears.
Even in America, Christmas carols took on meaning and acceptance:
1. What Child is This?...William Dix wrote this song from an old English ballad "Greensleeves" around 1865. Dix was an insurance manager who had become severely ill and had a spiritual renewal and recovered.
2. Jingle Bells...John Pierpoint wrote this song in 1857 in Savannah Georgia. He was a pastor of a church there and even today the church is called "The Church of the Jingle Bells". Piermont went on and became a soldier in the cavalry of the Confederate Army.
Today, Christmas and the singing of Christmas carols is a permanent custom within the cultures of many societies. As Tiny Tim made his now famous comment at the end of Dicken's novel: "A Merry Christmas to us all; God Bless us, every one!"...I remember the words of Tiny Tim's father, Bob Cratchit who responded: "I say...God Bless it!"
May God always bless...our Christmas season...and the singing of Christmas carols!!
Yet, with a sudden interest in Christmas Carols and their meaning, which Martin Luther also enjoyed and did in deed write some of his own carols for the Christmas season, Christmas itself was now a problem during its celebration.
The Christmas Season was not like we know of today. By the late 1500's Christmas was more like a Mardi Gra event...a time to relax and indulge yourself with wild parties, getting drunk, and indulge in sex. It was a time when people worked long hours every week, poor wages, and little hope for their future. Add to this the fear of the dreaded winter, many facing death from the bitter cold about to cover Europe, and the shortage of food to make it through the winter, the general state of mind was to simply "Eat Drink and be Merry, for tomorrow we will surely die".
By 1647, the Puritans were able to gain some control of English rule...and Christmas was banned because of it's "carnality". The Scriptures had taken hold in people's lives during the Protestant Reformation, and the "fight" against the very lopsided relationship between the Roman Catholic church and it's people ( control and dictating what the people should do when in truth it was for selfish motives)....was now infecting the Protestant Puritan church itself.
Witch hunts began to make it's way into the Puritan church, strict guidelines were set for this sect to follow, and the church services themselves would be perhaps 3 hours in length with an "Iron Hand" mentality. As for Christmas...and Christmas carols...if you were caught doing either...pity you my friend.
As the Puritans arrived in America, Christmas in it's entirety was banned because of the "Mardi Gra" image. In places like Boston Mass., fines were enforced to anyone found observing Christmas in their households or neighbor hoods. As late as 1789, the United States Congress with George Washington...met on Christmas Day, considering it just a normal day in the work week.
But then... a turn of events was soon to happen that changed the entire world's view...on the meaning of Christmas.
The Industrial Revolution had begun...and England was the leader. By the 1830's, the selling and trade of items had shifted, from merchandise made in the home and small "Ma and Pa" shoppes...now were made in commercial places...like factories and large companies beginning to emerge and change the economic climate.
The beginnings of the Industrial Age...were simply horrible...for those who were already poor. It was a time in England where the rich (less than 5% of England's entire population) obtained much more wealth, while the rest of English society got poorer...and poorer.
The common man and woman in England were now forced to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week...for very meager wages. Even children, as young as 4 or 5 years old were forced into labor because of poverty being so widespread. Children were sent for example to work in tin mines, crawl into crevices within the mines that adults could not reach, and dig out the mineral, facing the long hours and days like everyone else...until...they simply died.
By 1840, although England was experiencing a population growth, death was climbing at an alarming rate because of the severe work conditions. In London for example, it was estimated that as high as 40% of the poor population were dying under such extreme conditions , and a large percentage of the funerals at that time...were children 10 years old and younger. The condition of life was simply deplorable, and as for Christmas and the singing of Christmas carols....the Mardi Gra idea was reinforced...and drinking, sex, and general partying continued...a welcome break from hopeless futures...for many.
In fact, numerous first class passengers aboard the Titanic in 1912 were heirs and recipients to the fortunes made during this time period. Christmas and Christmas carols...had become nothing more than a time to party...party...party, because there was nothing left...to live for.
That is...until a young boy named "Tiny Tim" got the world's attention.
An Englishman named Charles Dickens wrote a novel entitled " A Christmas Carol" in 1843. Dickens himself had seen and experienced the poverty many in England were facing at that time...and his novel literally changed the entire world's view on...Christmas. Christmas, much like how the Industrial Revolution changed the economics of the entire world, now experienced a tremendous shift...for the good of mankind. Dicken's novel put emphasis on what the meaning of Christmas was meant to be...for children, on the needs of the poor, and exposing the greed of the wealthy. Christmas in only a few short years was no longer a "Mardi Gra" atmosphere...but one that promoted family togetherness, gifts for children, candle lit services, and Christmas carols that no longer were sung of drinking and revelry...but of the Christ-child and the hope of mankind. From a literary standpoint...it was a true miracle...and the entire world responded. Tiny Tim, Mr. Scrooge, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future...has forever changed the meaning of Christmas...including Christmas carols! Dicken's novel also fueled the beginning of labor laws...which gave great relief to the many who suffered during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.
And Christmas lives on...today!
As far as Christmas carols?...many of the Christmas carols we sing today became popular after Dicken's novel "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. Some were written before Dicken's novel was published...yet his novel gave "fuel" to a world already crying out for a Savior...and God heard the cries of the people...and answered....using his humble servant Charles Dickens.
Here are but a few Christmas carols that came out around the time of..."the days of Tiny Tim".
1. O Holy Night...written by Adolphe Adam in 1847. He wrote this song using a French ballad tune that was known in that era.
2. Silent Night...a few years before Dicken's novel, in 1818 a priest named Joseph Mohr and a school master named Franz Xavier Gruber introduced this song on a Christmas Eve mass in Obernorf Austria.
3. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear...written in 1849 by Edmund Sears.
Even in America, Christmas carols took on meaning and acceptance:
1. What Child is This?...William Dix wrote this song from an old English ballad "Greensleeves" around 1865. Dix was an insurance manager who had become severely ill and had a spiritual renewal and recovered.
Today, Christmas and the singing of Christmas carols is a permanent custom within the cultures of many societies. As Tiny Tim made his now famous comment at the end of Dicken's novel: "A Merry Christmas to us all; God Bless us, every one!"...I remember the words of Tiny Tim's father, Bob Cratchit who responded: "I say...God Bless it!"
May God always bless...our Christmas season...and the singing of Christmas carols!!
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