Five Lesser-Known Christmas Carols Well Worth Rediscovery

Every Christmas the carols break out, and our long-held favorites are reintroduced to our services. But where does one go if they are looking for new song ideas to spice up their music selections?

Instead of looking ahead, and incorporating untested Carols, why not look behind, and discover some of the greatest carols that have been sung for ages before?

Here is a list of five such carols, part of the Christian tradition, but are due for rediscovery for today:

1. The Huron Carol – this carol was written by Jesuit missionary St. Jean de Brebeuf, who came to the Americas to evangelize the Native Americans in the sixteenth century.  He had crafted a Christmas carol that spoke the Christmas story in a way that they could understand it, and it is fascinating to read the juxtaposition between the traditional telling of the Nativity story, and this revised take.

2. Polish Lullaby – this carol is known as Lulajze Jezuniu.  I know very little about the song, except that somebody drew my attention towards it.  Upon learning it, I discovered that it can be sung in tandem with “Away In A Manger”, another Christmas lullaby song.  In fact, upon hearing these two together, it surprises me that nobody else has caught on that these two songs are inseparable.

3.  All Praise to You, Eternal Lord – this carol was written by Martin Luther.  This stands as one of the very few “vertical” carols out there, but it is not as well known as it should.  Part of it is because the carol could have one of three different melodies; the melody I preferred was breathed new life by pausing extra after each phrasing, to take in the meaning of the words that praises God for coming as a Child in the Manger.

4.  Ring Out Ye Wild And Merry Bells – written by C. Maitland, this is a song that encompasses joy:

Ring, sweet bells, ring ever more,
Peal from ev’ry steeple,
Christ the Lord shall be our God,
And we shall be His people.

5.  Angels From the Realms of Glory – this may be the most familiar hymn on this particular list, but I mention it here partially because some of the renderings have ignored the original melody altogether and grafted it onto “Angels We Have Heard on High.”  This, I feel, is a mistake.  This melody works beautifully on its own, and the chorus to “Come and Worship” is as deeply felt as ever.

All five of these songs, and a dozen more, are played either entirely or in part, in the latest Prayer Meeting Podcast, episode 040.  In addition, there is a free songbook available to anybody who wants one.