History of Christmas Carols

The First Christmas Songs

The earliest Christmas music wasn't quite what we'd recognise as carols today. The first known Christmas hymns were written in Latin for church services, following the formal celebration of Christ's birth being established by the Catholic Church around 336 AD. These were dignified, complex liturgical chants — the preserve of trained clergy, not the general population.

Among the oldest surviving Christmas songs is "Jesus Refulsit Omnium" (Jesus, Light of All the Nations), attributed to Saint Hilary of Poitiers around 360 AD. These early compositions were deeply reverent and entirely different from the joyful, participatory carols we know today.

Saint Francis & the People's Carol

The word "carol" itself has ancient roots — derived from the Old French "carole," meaning a circle dance accompanied by singing. The transformation of Christmas music from elite Latin hymns to popular vernacular songs is largely credited to Saint Francis of Assisi.

Around 1220, Saint Francis began promoting the use of songs in the common language — Italian — that ordinary people could understand and sing together. He believed that music should be accessible and joyful, not just reserved for the clergy. His nativity plays featured singing and became enormously popular, spreading through Italy and eventually across Europe.

Medieval Carols — Music of the Streets

By the 14th and 15th centuries, carols had become firmly established in England as popular songs — performed outdoors, at markets, feasts, and celebrations. These medieval carols were often lively and even bawdy, bearing little resemblance to the reverent hymns we associate with Christmas today.

The "carol" was originally a dance form — people would sing while moving in circles. Many carols from this period mixed religious and secular content freely, celebrating everything from the nativity to the pleasures of winter feasting. Important medieval carols that survive today include "The Coventry Carol" (c.1534) and "The Boar's Head Carol" (one of the oldest published carols, from 1521).

The Coventry Carol, with its haunting minor key melody, tells the story of the mothers of Bethlehem lamenting Herod's massacre of the innocents — a remarkably dark subject for what we now consider festive music, demonstrating how differently medieval people approached the Christmas story.

The Reformation — Carols Under Threat

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century brought dramatic changes to religious music. In many parts of Europe and England, particularly under Calvinist influence, elaborate music and festive celebration were viewed with deep suspicion. In England, the Puritans went so far as to ban Christmas celebrations entirely under Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth (1647–1660).

Despite suppression, carols survived — kept alive through oral tradition and private celebration. When the monarchy was restored under King Charles II in 1660, Christmas celebrations and carol singing returned with renewed enthusiasm. But the damage had been done; many older carol traditions were lost during this period.

Ironically, the Puritan settlers who later colonised Australia carried these more austere attitudes toward Christmas with them — which is one reason why Australia's early Christmas traditions were relatively subdued.

The Victorian Golden Age of Carols

The Victorian era (1837–1901) was arguably the most important period in the modern history of Christmas carols. The Victorians — led by authors like Charles Dickens — reinvented Christmas as a warm, family-centred, charitable celebration, and carols were central to this vision.

In 1823, William B. Sandys published "Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern," rescuing many old carols from obscurity. In 1833, musicians began collecting and publishing folk carols from the British countryside. The influential 1871 collection "Christmas Carols New and Old" by Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer brought carols into drawing rooms and churches across the English-speaking world.

It was during this era that many of today's most beloved carols were written or popularised: O Holy Night (1847), Good King Wenceslas (1853), Jingle Bells (1857), O Little Town of Bethlehem (1868), and O Come All Ye Faithful (translated to English 1841). The carol as we know it was essentially shaped by the Victorians.

Christmas Carols Arrive in Australia

European settlers brought Christmas carol traditions to Australia from the earliest days of the colony. The first Christmas in the new colony, celebrated at Sydney Cove on 25 December 1788, was a modest affair — but church services with hymns and carols were a constant throughout the colonial period.

As the Australian colonies grew and prospered through the 19th century, Christmas traditions became more elaborate. Victorian-era carol collections were imported and sung by growing congregations. By the gold rush era of the 1850s, Christmas celebrations — including carol singing — had become an important part of Australian community life.

Australian newspapers from the 1880s and 1890s regularly reported on Christmas carol concerts in town halls and church grounds across the colonies. The tradition of singing carols together — whether formally in church or informally in the street — had taken firm root.

🕯️ Carols by Candlelight — An Australian Invention

The most significant moment in the specifically Australian history of Christmas carols came in 1938, when Melbourne radio broadcaster Norman Banks noticed an elderly woman sitting alone in her darkened flat, listening to carols on the radio. Moved by the sight, he organised a community carol singing event in the Alexandra Gardens with real candles — creating the tradition of Carols by Candlelight.

The event was an immediate success and became an annual Melbourne tradition. It was soon adopted by other cities across Australia, evolving into the spectacular outdoor concerts we know today. The Melbourne Carols by Candlelight event, now run by Vision Australia, draws audiences of over 10,000 people annually and is broadcast to millions on television.

A Uniquely Australian Carol Tradition Emerges

The mid-20th century saw Australian composers and poets begin creating Christmas carols that reflected the unique character of the Australian summer Christmas. William G. James was particularly prolific, setting Australian Christmas poetry to music in a series of original carols that drew on the landscape, wildlife, and culture of Australia.

Key works from this era include "Carol of the Birds" (1948), "The North Wind is Tossing the Leaves," and others that firmly established an Australian carol tradition. In 1960, Rolf Harris wrote "Six White Boomers" — the most commercially successful and widely known Australian Christmas carol, which became an instant classic.

This period established a pattern that continues today: Australia happily embraces and performs the global Christmas carol canon while also nurturing a distinctly homegrown tradition that reflects our unique relationship with Christmas.

Modern Christmas Carols — Global & Digital

The 20th century brought an explosion of Christmas carol recordings and new festive songs. Bing Crosby's 1942 recording of White Christmas became (and remains) the best-selling physical single of all time. The mid-century produced beloved classics like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (1944), "The Christmas Song" (1945), and "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (1962).

In Australia, Christmas carols increasingly featured on television, beginning with the broadcast of Carols by Candlelight in the 1970s. Today, Australian carol concerts are major televised events drawing millions of viewers, and streaming services mean Australian Christmas carols reach audiences worldwide.

Contemporary Australian artists continue to record Christmas carols, adding their own flavour to familiar songs while audiences continue to pack outdoor venues across the country each December. The tradition is as vital and beloved as ever.