The 9th Day of Christmas

On the 9th Day of Christmas, we sang 9 Christmas Carols. We picked our favorites, #1W played them on her keyboard and we sang them together. They included: Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Holly Jolly Christmas, Rudolf, We Three Kings, Up on the House Top, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We love Christmas music. Around here, the radio stations start playing these songs right after Thanksgiving, so we can enjoy them for an entire month. We learned that caroling began as a mix of singing and dancing that people did at festivals all throughout the year. St. Francis of Assisi created large nativity scenes outside of his churches so that people instead of just clergy could celebrate Christmas. He translated many Christmas carols from Latin and encouraged people to sing these songs during the Christmas season. This practice of singing Christmas songs outside the church spread throughout Europe and it was a natural next step for these Christmas carolers to start walking through the neighborhoods around the churches sharing these festive songs. People have been sharing the Christmas message with caroling for the past 1000 years!!