In the USA, you hear a mix of traditionally religious songs like “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, secular but traditional pre-mass media carols like “Jingle Bells”, and then quite a lot of material that originates from the 1940s – 1960s, and a lesser amount of more modern songs like the unavoidable “All I want for Christmas is You”.

What’s it like in your country? Are there any songs that are very unique to your country that are consistently popular through the years?

11 comments

  1. Some popular traditional Christmas songs include:

    [Nu tändas tusen juleljus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_t%C3%A4ndas_tusen_juleljus) (“Now a thousand Christmas candles are lit”). A Christmas Hymn apparently somewhat popular in other Nordic countries. Written in 1898.

    [Gläns över sjö och strand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl%C3%A4ns_%C3%B6ver_sj%C3%B6_och_strand) (“Shine across lake and shore”). Christmas hymn. A poem by Viktor Rydberg set to music by Alice Tegnér. Not explicitly a Christmas song, but often associated with Christmas. Written in 1891/1893.

    [Nu är det Jul igen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_%C3%A4r_det_jul_igen) (“Now it’s Christmas again”). A folk song with unknown origin used when dancing around the Christmas tree.

    [Jul, jul, strålande jul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jul,_jul,_str%C3%A5lande_jul) (“Christmas, Christmas, shining Christmas”) written in 1921.

    I believe every single Swedish artist have made a Christmas album featuring one or more of these ones.

  2. Many Italian Christmas songs have a religious background, the one that comes most to mind is ‘Tu scendi dalle stelle’ (You come down from the stars). [This](https://youtu.be/VkzY9uOOvcw) is a version sung by a choir.

    It is also often performed on the zampogna, a kind of Italian bagpipe. [This](https://youtu.be/jrVuv_-a46M).

    Then there is also ‘Astro del ciel’ (Star of the sky), which is on the notes of ‘Stille nacht’ (or ‘Silent Night’ in English), but has a completely different lyric. [This](https://youtu.be/72HM3t56IL4).

  3. [Narodi nam se](https://youtu.be/hpeG0ixCko0) (He was born unto us) and [Svim na Zemlji mir, veselje](https://youtu.be/ooMwNxgvjKA) (To all on Earth peace and joy) come to mind. I know they’re pretty old, but I couldn’t really find out just how old they are. The former apparently has its roots in the Middle Ages, but I couldn’t find a source.

    Oh and [U to vrijeme godišta](https://youtu.be/17fwOsHw7Wk) (In that time of year) is another good one. Apparently it originates from an 11th century Latin hymn from France, but who knows how true that is.

    There are definitely more than just this, but these three are probably the most well known.

  4. I’m glad you asked; we have a lot!

    God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen — 17th century

    The First Noel — 18th century or earlier

    O Come, O Come Emmanuel — John Mason Neale, 19th century, translated from the Latin *O Antiphons* sung during Advent

    The Coventry Carol — Medieval

    Here We Come A-Wassailing — 19th century, though possibly older

    I Saw Three Ships — 17th century

    Good King Wencelaus — John Mason Neale, 19th century

    Hark! the Herald Angels Sing — Charles Wesley, 18th century

    We Wish You a Merry Christmas — Early 20th century, though probably older

    In the Bleak Midwinter — Christina Rossetti, 19th century

    The Boar’s Head Carol — 15th century

    The Holly and the Ivy — 18th century, possibly earlier

    The tradition of carols dates back to Hymns of the Nativity, written in Greek or Latin and sung in the early Church once the festival of the Nativity had become a major festival. These continued to be written and sung in England throughout the Middle Ages, both in churches and at feasts or during Mummer’s Plays. Some, like Adam Lay Ybounden, are connected to minstrels and bards, and may have been sung during Mystery Plays or other revels. After the Puritan ban on Christmas was ended, Christmas carols returned to the forefront with the Restoration of Charles II in the 1660’s and then the Evangelical Revival of the 1730’s and onwards, with more carols being written in English than ever. The 19th century saw both new carols as well as translations of traditional ones, such as those by John Mason Neale, priest and antiquarian. This went hand-in-hand with a revival of Christmas festivities.

  5. So they have to originate from my country and not be a translation of a German hymn? Then I say that we have some old dancing games that are played during Christmas and Midsummer. We also have a lot of classical Christmas songs that were written around 1850-1930, probably some of the traditional song games too (but they have no author or date). For example “gläns över sjö och strand”, nu tändas tusen juleljus”.

    Then we have some newer songs that have become popular like “julskinkan har rymt” (the Christmas ham have run away),” mer jul” (more Christmas), “tänd ett ljus” (light a candle) all from the 80ies and “mitt vinterland” (my winter land) from 2001.

  6. I’m not sure we have many unique Christmas songs, secular or even religious. We get most of them from some place or other. The Germans, the French, the Austrians, the English.

    I think Ere Zij God may be pretty unique though. Really the standard song to sing in churches at Christmas. First published in the 1850s. It’s essentially Luke 2:14 set to music and then you repeat everything a lot.

  7. [Gaudete](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSxg9Ij5r8) is a medieval Christmas hymn in Latin that is apparently quite popular in the UK, but it’s virtually unknown here in Finland where it originates. It is originally from the song collection Piae cantiones (“pious songs”) from 1582, but the hymns it contains are from medieval times when we were part of Sweden and before the protestant reformation.

  8. Most popular German-language Christmas carols are usually older than 100 years, often from the 19th century. There are partly adapted versions of the same carol for Catholics and Lutherans, or regional peculiarities.

    “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”, from probably 1599.

    https://youtu.be/u0bCqjlcgM4

    “Stille Nacht/Silent Night”, 1818, originally from Austria, there are numerous translations into other languages and is probably the best known song internationally.

    https://youtu.be/3BS9ohD1R5g

    “Alle Jahre wieder”, from 1842.

    https://youtu.be/qy1ZE6BW1ug

    “O du fröhliche” from 1816.

    https://youtu.be/zQniSvlm_p4

    “O Tannenbaum” from 1824

    https://youtu.be/poHhHc6B_sU

  9. [Kto wie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTP6adsEauQ) (2000) – I think it’s still popular (I hear this song on the radio every year). It’s also my favourite Christmas song that isn’t a carol. Sounds lovely.

    [Dzień jeden w roku](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWRRK-ws2Sk) (1976) – It always makes me feel nostalgic and sad. Maybe it’s because we sang this song at every Christmas party in primary school…

    [Świeć, gwiazdeczko, świeć](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfY50zEalz8&t=59s) (2001) – it’s a carol by unknown author (probably from XVIII) but the most popular is that children’s version.

    [Pada Śnieg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu6PhXdH2ms) (1989)

    [Ding Dong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh98pCzmYY) – tho, it’s pretty new (2016)

    I didn’t mention traditional carols 🤔 There’s a lot of it..

  10. Abouth the Christmas-ish songs from US I’d add “last christmass ” and Sinatra’s let it snow.

    ​

    About the carrols popular in Poland- let me check, but my guess is a few are german, but translated. 😛

    ​

    1. [“Lulajże, Jezuniu”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYjJaLoD-Y&ab_channel=SantaClausWasHere) propably from XVII, but the oldest text found is from 1705. It’s seen as most “Polish one” Chopin had used the melody in some of his works. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXw_59dnePA&ab_channel=MagdalenaWasylik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXw_59dnePA&ab_channel=MagdalenaWasylik) (btw the second link is performance by girl who was singing Anna in Frozen couple years after tat.
    2. [Dzisiaj w betlejem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnQ4_10Te-o&t=27s&ab_channel=danusia23) – text found printed in book from 1878
    3. [Przebieżeli do betlejem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ONIz9G7Rzk&ab_channel=PrawicowyInternet) – Also seems to be from XVII.
    4. [Cicha Noc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB2ruxdtWcA&ab_channel=MagdalenaWasylik) (silent night) – i think its “the german thing i was thinking about ;p)
    5. [“Mizerna cicha”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bybaPhF9w&ab_channel=MagdalenaWasylik)
    6. Gdy się chrystus rodzi – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA1Ie6PlMc8&ab_channel=MojaOjczyzna

    ​

    and many more, but i thing first 4 are mostly known.

  11. Christmas carols are called villancicos in Spanish and yeah, we have a bunch shared with other Spanish speaking countries: “los peces en el río”, “campana sobre campana”, “ay del chiquirritín”, “la Marimorena”, “hacia Belén va una burra”, “dime niño de quien eres”, “mi burrito sabanero” (this one is more modern, from the 60s or 70s by a Venezuelan composer), “arre borriquito”, those I can remember right now.

    Is Boney M Christmas song also popular elsewhere? It is a total classic in Spain

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like