Christmas Carol Day
Happy Christmas Carol Day!
You might be asking yourself, what is Christmas Carol Day? Well, it happens to be a holiday heralding in the Christmas season, a holiday that always falls upon December 1st. This holiday also happens to be completely made up by yours truly. But seeing as I invented the holiday several years ago, I feel as though it might be on its way to gaining some sort of traction, at least among a (very small) handful of people.
As the name suggests, Christmas Carol Day is all about listening and singing along to those familiar songs that mark this time of year. I must admit that I have broken my own rule and begun listening to such tunes before today, but I plan to spend a greater amount of time this afternoon and evening blasting my Christmassy music (apologies in advance to my neighbours). It has often been said that there is something magical about the Christmas season, and I think this is certainly true of Christmas carols as well. I think this “music magic” stems from several reasons.
First of all, Christmas music is capable of filling us with joy merely from its familiarity. Tradition is no small thing. In fact, it is a giant in our lives, governing much of our most important moments throughout the year. There are many Christmas carols that bring with them, for me, a flood of nostalgia and memories. Having continuity like this is a beautiful thing. If we treat tradition right, we can respect it but also re-invigorate it (this connects to my first Advent reflection, on transforming a “tired” story into something new). In a sense, we are building upon past memories while also paving a path into the future of new memories, new joys and new stories.
Christmas music is also special because it is concentrated in such a small period. Maybe you are one of those rebels who listen to “Jingle Bells” in the middle of July, but I have always been averse to unseasonal Christmas carols. If you think about it, we only really hear Christmas music for one to two months, and that only occupies about 10- 16% percent of the year. The magic of the music then might consist in the fact that it is not with us all the time. Just like the oft-spouted wisdom that having only one birthday makes it more special, the singularity of the season invests it with meaning.
But there is more to the value of Christmas music than its frequency and position in the year. Indeed, these two factors might actually work against one another and conceal the true essence of Christmas carols. The novelty of carols when Christmas time approaches creates excitement and added appreciation of the music. Yet when something is so familiar to us, it is easy to continue hearing but much more difficult to continue listening. This Christmas Carol day and beyond, I want to challenge myself with really listening to the Christmas carols that I encounter, because there is so much beauty both in the melodies and in the lyrics, even those we have heard hundreds of times and know by heart. Perhaps if we looked up the lyrics to a favourite Christmas song and read them through slowly and meaningfully, we might be able to recapture the wonder of the words, and the joy and hope they are meant to convey.
With that in mind, I’d like to finish this post with several lines from one of my favourite Christmas carols, and to reflect upon these lyrics with eyes open to recalling old times and receiving new truths:
“O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees O hear the angels voices.
O night divine O night when Christ was born
O night divine, O night, O night divine.”