Since the Rosine Bluegrass Gospel Show on Saturday, December 20 will include caroling, I thought it might be neat to look at the history of this tradition.
It seems caroling came about through the mingling of two old traditions—one Christian and one pagan.
In 1223 AD, St Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene. At the same time, he encouraged singing to celebrate the nativity (University of Plymouth). These songs were the precursors to “Christmas carols.”
While this was happening in Italy, elsewhere in Europe, pagans were “wassailing.” Originally, the wassail, an Old Norse word meaning “be well and of good health” was a cider drink used during a ritual to ward evil spirits away from fruit orchards and encourage a good crop (yesterdaysamerica).
Eventually, over hundreds of years, the wassailing moved beyond the orchard and into the streets.
The wassailers would come to your house and sing to wish you good luck and good health and either offer you a drink from a bowl of wassail or ask you to contribute to the bowl. And they would sing songs for you.
The idea of raising a toast and saying “cheers” comes from the wassail tradition, too, because a piece of toast was laid atop the wassail drink and later placed on a tree for good luck.
Oh, and guess what you create if you add milk and eggs to this drink. That’s right! The origin of eggnog is right here!
It’s important to note that although this tradition of wassailing occurred in the winter months, it wasn’t connected to Christmas.
It is generally agreed that sometime during the 1800’s the two traditions merged and folks began going from house to house singing Christmas carols (University of Plymouth).
Like all traditions, caroling has changed throughout history. I encourage you to read about it to obtain a much fuller understanding than what you can glean from my meager words.
A warning, though—the truth you’ll discover is—the tradition might be on its way out, at least in the United States. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2017, only 16% of Americans reported going caroling. I wonder what that poll would show today in 2025.
This is one reason I wanted to include caroling in our new Rosine Bluegrass Gospel Show—to do our part in continuing the tradition and keeping alive this activity that serves to strengthen a community.
Brother Danny Veteto, Pastor of Rosine Lighthouse Community Church, where the Rosine Bluegrass Gospel Show is held, said something that struck a note with me. He said he liked the “caroling” idea because we would be “…getting out from behind the walls.”
I couldn’t agree more, Danny!
So, come December 20, we’ll be doing just that! We will step out from behind the church walls as a group and go merrily caroling through the streets of Rosine, bringing the glad news of Christmas and prayerfully and hopefully spreading good cheer.
Come all ye faithful! And join us!
