Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com.
Steve: And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Welcome back to the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.
Steve: It's day five, and I'm Steve Webb, your host.
Steve: I don't know about you on that side of the show, but on this side of the show, doing this podcast is really starting to get me into a Christmassy mood.
Steve: I wonder what's behind today's door.
Steve: Now, let's get it open here.
Steve: Zither Harp
Music: Joyful and triumphant
Music: Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem
Steve: Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself.
Steve: But carols really do get me into the Christmas spirit.
Steve: Actually, that's quite appropriate, as the word carol means
Steve: a dance or song of praise and joy.
Steve: So you can have carols about anything you want to praise.
Steve: In fact, the first carols weren't anything to do with Christmas.
Steve: They were pagan songs, sung at the ancient winter solstice festivals.
Steve: The early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas.
Steve: If you want to know how that happened, listen to the second Lifespring Advent calendar.
Steve: Anyway, they took over the pagan solstice celebrations
Steve: and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of their pagan ones.
Steve: Well, James, what more can you tell us?
James: The first recorded Christmas carol comes from the year 129,
James: when a Roman bishop said that a song called Angel's Hymn
James: should be sung at the Christmas services in Rome.
James: Most early carols were written and sung in Latin,
James: a language that ordinary people couldn't understand,
James: so they weren't very popular.
James: And during the Middle Ages,
James: Christmas songs started to be written in people's own languages.
James: One such carol was written in 1410, but only a very small fragment of it still exists.
James: It was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem.
James: Most carols from this time and the Elizabethan period were untrue stories, rather loosely based on the Christmas story,
James: and were seen more as an entertainment and were usually sung in people's homes rather than in churches.
James: They were far too common to be sung in churches.
James: Travelling singers or minstrels started singing these carols,
James: and the words were normally changed for local people wherever they were travelling.
James: One carol that changed like this over the years is I Saw Three Ships,
James: and there are very, very many different versions of the words from different parts of the world.
James: When the Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, came to power in England in 1647,
James: the singing and carols was banned, along with most other Christmas celebrations.
James: Some carols survived, but generally only as folk songs.
James: A renaissance in carol singing occurred during Victorian times,
James: when two Victorian gentlemen collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England.
James: Carols were then sung by official carol singers, known as waits.
James: They only sang on Christmas Eve, which was also known as Watch Night or Wait Night,
James: because of the shepherds who were watching and waiting with their sheep when the angels appeared to them.
James: Also at this time, many orchestras and choirs were being started in the cities of England,
James: and people wanted songs to sing, so carols and carol services became very popular.
James: Many new carols were also written
James: such as Good King Wenceslas
James: and if you'd like to know the true
James: and rather gruesome story
James: behind that particular carol
James: please visit whychristmas.com
James: and have a look in the customs section
James: I don't think it will be quite what you're expecting
James: I couldn't imagine Christmas without carols
James: I really enjoy the carols by candlelight service
James: every year in my church
James: and Christmas really officially starts in my house
James: when we listen to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
James: which is broadcast live on BBC Radio from King's College, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve afternoon.
Steve: So keep listening to the Lifespring Advent Calendar to hear some more stories behind the carols.
Steve: So that's day number five of the Lifespring Advent Calendar.
Steve: I hope you enjoyed it.
Steve: Today's music was Jill Parr singing O Come All Ye Faithful.
Steve: And of course, our theme music is Brian Duncan and the Neil Soul Band doing This Christmas.
Steve: Come on back tomorrow for day number six.
Music: This song brings out the reason to be sung no whole year through.
Music: Let this one gift last forever.
Music: In the love that I get from you, it never gets old.
Music: This Christmas.
Music: It's the love I need.
Music: And it's what I want.
Music: This Christmas.
Music: And it's what I want for you.
Music: The story is told.
Music: This Christmas.
Music: Of a newborn love.
Music: This Christmas.
Music: It's a bad thing.