Not all Christmas songs have the exciting or inspiring origins of of the ones we have looked at. Not all have their genesis in war. Some just sort of happened, and that can be interesting, too. They just manage to hold together for years before they get noticed. Perhaps it the Lord’s watch care

          During the Middle Ages there were little or no entertainments. Life was to be survived, not necessarily enjoyed. There were, however, traveling troubadours, a group of people, often a single family unit, that would travel from one village to the next, singing songs, putting on plays and sometimes doing tricks and juggling and acrobatics. People in the villages and from the farms would flock to see these people perform, whether they were any good or not. As the troubadours traveled around, they picked up new songs and acts. They were a talented people and they filled a much needed place in society.

This happened all over Europe, but for our purposes we are going to look at England.

Cornwall, England in the 17 and 1800s was an important maritime town. Some great sailors came from Cornwall during the age of sail. Some ship building was done there and a lot of repair work. But it is located with some other towns on a long peninsula and very much cut off from the rest of the country. It could be reached by sea or one could travel the roads through the peninsula. The problem with traveling the roads were the outlaws who patrolled those highways. It was a problem until the modern age. But our story does not originate in the 17 or 1800s. This story goes back to the 1300s, at least.

At that time, the small town was well isolated from the mainland. Rarely did anyone leave the area and even more rarely did anyone come to Cornwall. They developed their own culture, very much different from other Englanders.

At that time, England was a Catholic nation. Not a good Catholic nation, but a Catholic nation. As an island nation they were separated from the rest of Europe by the sea. Their worship style was different. Even more so in Cornwall, which was as isolated from the rest of England as England was isolated from mainland Europe. The people didn’t seem to mind that their worship inside the church was all in Latin, but they wanted songs in their own language. The church would not allow such things, so the people would gather in front of the church before the service and sing songs they actually wrote in their language. I say their ‘language’ rather than in English because the English of the 1300s bears little resemblance to the English of today. And Cornwall English could not be understood in London.

If there were troubadours in the area, they would be there at these singings to lend their own music and to listen for something that caught their ear. At a time when people lived in grass thatched hovels, no one thought much about copyrights. Music was for everyone. It was to be enjoyed. Often the troubadours would take a song and make it fit the next town, but the religious songs they took with them were added to as they went along. While the song might start in Cornwall, by the time it got to Falmouth, only about ten miles away, the song would have added a couple of verses to add to the story. And that is what the song did. It told a story. So hungry were the people for the Word! But all the worship was in Latin. If you did know how to read Latin, you might get to read the Bible in the church just a bit, but mostly you were not allowed even to read the Bible. Their theological understanding came from what the few Latin readers could tell them and from what their songs said. So these songs grew as they were taken from town to town to add to the tale.

It was in this environment that our Christmas song for today originated. ‘The First Noel.’ No one knows who wrote it. No one knows what the original melody was. And, surprisingly, no one knows what a noel is. There is no such word in any language. There are five or six words it might derive from. There is a Latin word that vaguely sounds like it and it means ‘start,’ but that is unclear. It has come to mean, to us, the birth of Christ. In the 1300s it no doubt had a meaning out there on the peninsula and that was enough. The early song spoke of the birth and it has always been about the birth. If you could hear the 1300 version of the song, you probably wouldn’t recognize it, but you would still be hearing the same story told now.

As the song made its way from Cornwall to London, 300 hundred miles distant, it went through many changes. Stanzas added, music altered, some of the theological mistakes rectified. Understand, the song didn’t travel a straight line to London. It creeped along, taking well over a century. During that time, England had split with the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England had taken over. John Wycliffe and Miles Coverdale had translated the Bible into English. English songs could be sung in church. ‘The First Noel’ became a standard.

But it was still open to change. Like many songs of time, verses could be added or taken away to fit the circumstance or location. The song at one time had twelve verses. Some manuscripts with the song have the word ‘Noel’ spelled ‘Nowell.’ In one part of England the word is changed to ‘O Well’ ‘O well, O well the angels did sing….’ Makes it sound different.  

Finally, in 1823, the song was published with words and music in a book called Some Ancient Christmas Carols. It still wasn’t standardized and so two men decided to do something about that. Davies Gilbert and William Sandys took it upon themselves to rework the song. One played with the music and the other played with the words. The result was a six verse song that talks about the shepherds and the wisemen. In researching this I came across a music pastor of a large church in the South of this country. Some of you might know his name. He attacks the song because of the theological mistakes. And there are a number of those. However, many of our favorite hymns have theological mistakes. Given where and how the song originated it would be a miracle if it didn’t have some mistakes. The old Negro Spirituals had theological mistakes for the same reason ‘The First Noel’ did. The people could not read the Bible for themselves. But I have heard the church where this music pastor is at sing some of those Spirituals. Doesn’t seem to bother him then. There is, with ‘The First Noel,’ a quiet power not unlike ‘Silent Night.

          Our hymnbook only has five verses, which is too bad. The sixth verse is the verse that makes it work for me.

1.    The first Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

o   Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.

2.    They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far;
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.

3.    And by the light of that same star
Three* Wise Men came from country far;
To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the star where’er it went.

4.    This star drew nigh to the northwest,
Over Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.

5.    Then entered in those Wise Men three,
Full reverently upon the knee,
And offered there, in His presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.

6.              Then let us all with one accord

          Sing praises to our heav’nly Lord

         That hath made heaven and earth of naught,

         And with His blood mankind hath bought.

I love that here is a song that had dozens of authors and yet survived with its story intact. What a blessing.

I hope you are enjoying this series and I hope that Christ is the most important part of your Christmas. Blessings to you.