Silent Night (8 page)

These days going wassailing is a happier, more loving experience. Hot drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, might be imbibed—but the event is much more about celebrating Christmas with friends, singing joyfully, and bestowing blessings.

Doing things the “traditional” way has a lot to recommend it, but when it comes to wassailing, well … let’s stick to saluting the real “Lord King,” Jesus Christ, and leave drinking from skulls and scaring fruit trees firmly in the past.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it
.

M
ATTHEW
26:27

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King
.
Let every heart prepare Him room
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n and nature sing
,
And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing
.

I
t would be difficult to imagine Christmas without “Joy to the World,” but there was a time when this fine old traditional hymn seemed quite revolutionary—and it isn’t even about Christmas!

Isaac Watts, a Plymouth Nonconformist, was known as the father of English hymnody both for the quality of the hymns he wrote and because he led the way in penning “original songs of Christian experience.” Previously, songs of worship had consisted largely of the Psalms and biblical verses set to music. Watts acknowledges Psalm 98 as his inspiration, but the words are mostly his own.

The hymn was sung for a hundred years before it found “Antioch,” the tune we know it by today. The words of England’s premier hymn writer inspired one of America’s foremost composers of hymn music, Lowell Mason (who may also have supplied the music for another of Watts’s hymns, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”).

In 1839 Mason published the first printed collection to feature “Joy to the World” and included a note saying the music was “from Handel.” By this he may have meant he “borrowed” a few sections from Handel’s
Messiah—but
the public at large came to believe Handel had composed the entire piece.

“Joy to the world! the Lord is come” could easily be taken as a reference to the Nativity, but there is no manger, no Mary, no wise men.

No—Watts had in mind a greater day. His hymn is about Christ coming back to claim this world as His own. In other words, it is about the
Second
Coming, when even the hills and valleys will be purified. The land will be freed from the curse placed on it after Adam’s fall from grace. People will sing and rejoice under the Lord’s reign, but the celebration won’t be confined to humankind. His joy will be for the whole world—rocks and all!

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him
.

R
EVELATION
22:3

The virgin Mary had a baby boy
,
The virgin Mary had a baby boy
,
The virgin Mary had a baby boy
,
And they say that His name is Jesus
.

T
he virgin birth is a major tenet of the Christian faith, so when French and Spanish settlers sailed for the New World, they took with them this first major indicator of Christ’s divinity.

Landing in the West Indies, they began to spread the word. A few of the more enlightened missionaries tapped into the rich musical traditions they found and adapted them as an effective way of teaching the Gospel, which may be why “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” has a calypso lilt to it.

A very simple retelling of the Nativity, “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” relies heavily on rhythm and repetition. It can be picked up very quickly and sung by any kind of voice. Its regular beat makes it an ideal accompaniment to the monotony of a hard day’s work.

From the work of those early missionaries there grew a tradition of
parang
, almost a West Indian version of carol singing. The
parrandero
would go from house to house singing praise songs, many of which they had learned working on plantations.

Edric Connor, a Trinidadian, took this song and others to London, where he carved out a career for himself as an actor and calypso singer. He put “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” into print, for possibly the first time, in 1945.

The great Harry Belafonte, sometimes known as “the king of Calypso,” recorded the song in 1958 and introduced it to the American audience.

Whether being sung in a field under a hot sun or in the more organized setting of a formal choir, “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” has a distinct advantage over other songs in that it can easily be repeated with no lack of joy until everyone has had the chance to sing. Which is, after all, what the Virgin’s Baby Boy was all about. He wasn’t for an elite few—He was a gift for everyone!

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her
.

L
UKE
1:38

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar–
Field and fountain, moor and mountain–
Following yonder star
.
O star of wonder, star of night
,
Star with royal beauty bright
,
Westward leading, still proceeding
,
Guide us to thy perfect light
.

J
ohn Henry Hopkins Jr. had two claims to fame: He delivered the eulogy for President Grant, and he wrote the Christmas classic “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”

Posterity gave him the nickname “Vermont’s Father Christmas.” Needless to say, he wasn’t actually Santa. He wasn’t even born in Vermont. The inaccuracies carried on in the title of his famous carol.

We know from the Bible that three gifts were given to the Christ child, but nowhere does it say there were three
givers
. Those visitors to the Nativity are described as “magi” or wise men. People simply assumed they must have been kings to give such lavish gifts.

Hopkins was a Pennsylvania clergyman. In 1857 he was a busy man—an author, designer of stained glass, and illustrator, with a parish to look after as well. But he wasn’t too busy for family.

Every year the Christmas holidays would be spent with relatives in Vermont. Hopkins was a favorite with his nephews and nieces, and he liked to entertain them. One year he had a special treat for them, a new song from the Gospel of Matthew. The children’s delight must have encouraged him enough to include the piece in a Christmas pageant for the New York seminary.

In 1863 the song appeared in Hopkins’s collection
Carols, Hymns, and Songs
. Two years later its increased fame merited a special illustrated publication of its own. Since then it has been sung around the world.

Hopkins may have been perpetuating a tradition that wasn’t strictly accurate—but it really didn’t matter. His song is one of worship and praise. It was a gift to the children of his family; it was a gift to the rest of us for many Christmases to come. It celebrates the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and the greatest gift the world has ever known—a Savior!

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh
.

M
ATTHEW
2:11