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Carols

"It is also one of the domestic dances, and was usually danced by ladies and gentlemen alternately, who held each other's hands, and danced in a circle. The name was originally given by the Trouvères to a dance in which the performers moved slowly in a circle, singing as they went; the term first of all signified songs intermingled with dancing, in which sense it is used by Chaucer and other ancient writers."

"The name was afterwards applied to festive songs, and, these being most prevalent at Christmas-time, it has for a long time past designated those sung at that feast. There is a distinct difference between Christmas hymns and Christmas carols, the former being of a much more solemn nature. Mr. Sandys says that it appears to have been formerly the custom in country churches in England for the worshippers on Christmas Day to dance after prayers, and to sing out, 'Yole, yole, yole.' Since our sacred feast of Christmas falls at the same time as the Yuletide of Northern nations, it has absorbed many customs and ceremonials from the heathen festival, which have therefore no Christian signification; amongst others, decorating with holly and ivy, the use of mistletoe, the wassail, bowl, and perhaps also dancing and singing. Gregory Nazianzen, who died in 389, and other Christian writers of the same date, mention the feast, and in particular caution men against feasting to excess, dancing, and crowning the doors (all practices derived from the heathen), urging the celebration after a heavenly and not after an earthly manner. But such a caution had little or no effect, and these practices have continued down to our own day; and it may be, as Gregory feared, that the worship of the good things of this world, innocent enough in themselves, has tended somewhat to overshadow the more spiritual side of the festival."

"Be this as it may, the custom continued to flourish, and the Anglo-Norman kings celebrated these festivals with increased splendour, when all the prelates and nobles of the kingdom were by their tenures obliged to attend their sovereigns, to assist in the administration of justice, and in deliberating on the great affairs of the kingdom. On these occasions the King wore his crown, feasted the nobles in the great hall of his palace, and made them presents of robes, &c., as marks of favour; after which they proceeded to business."


From DANCING by MRS. Frazer LILLY GROVE, F.R.G.S., 1885
from The Badminton Library OF SPORTS AND PASTIMES
EDITED BY HIS GRACE THE (EIGHTH) DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. ASSISTED BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON