Angels Down In Our Midst! – Christmas Carols

Today, I really did feel the spirit of X’mas. Truly. Walking up the steps of the CSI Immanuel Church at Broadway, in Cochin, I was waiting for ‘yet another carol service’. But I was treated to an extraordinary performance. There could’ve easily been at least 600 people in the church, on the balcony and in the corridors… all listening to the wonderful rendition of X’mas carols.

The choir comprised senior and junior members. And the youngest was as young as 6 years! I found that the young ones sang without files or lyrics and that, too, without even forgetting a word!! There were Malayalam and English carols, interspersed with a couple of readings from the Bible relating to the divine birth of Christ.

Carols were not always Christian ones. The earliest carols, whose word meaning is ‘a song or dance of joy’, were sung by pagans dancing around stone circles during Winter Solstice and various seasons. The carols we sing in churches now are mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. But some of the famous ones like ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, are from earlier periods.

The carol service was extra special, as the choir, once the sermon was over, sang John Lennon’s So This Is Christmas, which was composed in 1971, as a protest song against the Vietnam War. The interesting thing is that this song, sung in a church during X’mas, has been adapted and sung by many pop and jazz singers since Lennon.

In the week leading up to X’mas, many churches in the city will host Carol Services. Walk into one, and enjoy.

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