Episodes Described in Christmas Carols
Several different Christmas episodes, apart from the birth of Jesus itself, are described in Christmas carols, such as:
- The Annunciation, for example Gabriel's Message
- The Census of Quirinius, a rare subject, but touched on in On a Day When Men Were Counted by Daniel Thambyrajah Niles (1964)
- The Annunciation to the shepherds, for example While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
- The Adoration of the shepherds, for example the Czech carol Nesem Vám Noviny (translated into English as Come, All Ye Shepherds)
- The Star of Bethlehem, for example, Star of the East
- The journey of the Magi and the Adoration of the Magi, for example We Three Kings
- The Massacre of the Innocents, for example the Coventry Carol
In addition, some carols describe Christmas-related events which are of a religious nature, but not directly related to the birth of Jesus. For example:
- Good King Wenceslas, based on a legend about Saint Wenceslaus helping a poor man on December 26 (the Feast of Stephen)
- Ding Dong Merrily on High and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, reflecting on the practice of ringing church bells at Christmas
Read more about this topic: Christmas Carol
Famous quotes containing the words episodes, christmas and/or carols:
“Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“Monday’s child is fair in face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for its living;
And a child that is born on a Christmas day,
Is fair and wise, good and gay.”
—Anonymous. Quoted in Traditions, Legends, Superstitions, and Sketches of Devonshire, vol. 2, ed. Anna E.K.S. Bray (1838)
“The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever!... What at such a time are histories, chronologies, traditions, and all written revelations? The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)