Christmas Carol

A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, or the winter season in general. They are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas. The tradition of Christmas carols hails back as far as the thirteenth century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols begun to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas. Today carols are regularly sung at Christian religious services. Some compositions have words that are clearly not of a religious theme, but are often still referred to as "carols". It is often difficult to draw a distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song. To be sung by a church choir or sung in the street by amateurs, a song would have to have a fairly rapid, regular beat, which would therefore exclude a meandering crooning song such as "White Christmas". A country music song such as "Blue Christmas" might qualify, but in this case it would have to be adopted by many choirs, over many years to be truly "vernacular", and so far it has failed to gain wide acceptance. People in the audience hold lit candles and join in singing some of the carols in accompaniment with the celebrities. They are often rewarded with sweets or money, which is typically given to a local church or charity. In 1843, A Christmas Carol appeared. It was the first in a series of successful Christmas books, "a whimsical sort of masque intended to awaken loving and forbearing thoughts"--by Charles Dickens. He financed the publishing of the book himself, with gilt-edging and hand-colored illustrations. It's one of the most popular works that Dickens ever created. By Christmas, the book had sold 6,000 copies. Between the times the book was first published until May 1844, the popular book went through seven editions. Unfortunately, even thought the sales continued to be good, Dickens earned very little money from the sale of the book.