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:
“What is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow-men’s existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documentary history?”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“The eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eleven ladies dancing,”
—Unknown. The Twelve Days of Christmas (l. 76–78)
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and
strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)