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Christmas songs
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1. Christmas songs
This content is being developed.

2. Christmas songs
The content here is that of some Christmas songs.

3. Song: What child is this?
The song "What child is this" was written in 1865 in England by William Chatterton Dix, during a personal spiritual revival while recovering from a severe illness. It was not published until 1871.

Note: Fort Dix is named for General Adams Dix from the War of 1812.
 
Who is speaking in the song?
What do sheep say at Christmas?
Merry Christmas! Happy Holy Days!

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4. Verse 1
What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.

5. The year without a summer: 1816

The year 1816: "year without a summer", "poverty year", "eighteen hundred and froze to death". Due to April 1815 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora. There was an immediate impact on world weather and on Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo two months later (abnormal wet weather making it hard to maneuver troops in battle).
  • April 24: 74 degrees. 30 hours later 21 degrees.
  • June 6: 6 inches of snow, 18 inches of snow on the ground in Cabot, VT.
  • June: Temperatures from 101 degrees to 30 degrees.
  • August: Hard frost in NH.
Many events thereafter, such as songs and books, reflected some of those experiences.

There were major food shortages in the northern hemisphere. New England:

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6. Song: Angels from the realms of glory
James Montgomery, a revolutionary converted to Christianity, wrote "Angels from the realms of glory" on Christmas Eve, 1816.

Angels, from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation's story,
Now proclaim Messiah's birth:
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
This was the year without a summer, a cold long year and a half.

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7. Song: Silent night
Psalms 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. [kjv]
αινειτε αυτον εν ηχω σαλπιγγος αινειτε αυτον εν ψαλτηριω και κιθαρα [lxx]

Christmas Eve in 1818, in a little village in Austria, in a snowstorm, the organ was broken.

The ancient Greek word "κιθαρα""stringed instrument".
Winters were still cold and snowy from the "Year without a summer" in 1816. That's snow joke! So a song was composed to be played on a guitar, written in German as "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht".

[Sound of Music, Over hill, over dale, Neander valley, Praise to the Lord]

This Geek word is the source of the English word "guitar" through Spanish through Arabic through Latin through Greek. In the Bible, the word means a string instrument, which can be a harp, lyre or other instrument.




Information sign More: Song: Praise to the Lord
Information sign More: Song: Silent night

8. Verse 1
Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm, All is bright
Round yon virgin, Mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

9. Song: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The song "God rest ye merry gentlemen" was written in England in 1833 by William Sandys.
  • "rest" means "keep" or "maintain" as in "not moving" or "resting". Rest assured!
  • "merry" meant "strong" as in "good health" or "good spirit".
Meaning: God keep you strong and in good spirits, gentlemen. Why? Because "Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas Day".

In 1843, Charles Dickens, wrote the novel "A Christmas Carol" (Scrooge, Tiny Tim, etc.), evoking nostalgia from some 30 years before.

10. Verse 1
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray

Oh tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

11. Song: Angels we have heard on high
The song "Angels we have heard on high" came from a French carol from about 1850. Songwriter: Sufjan Stevens

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains

Gloria, in excelsis Deo
Gloria, in excelsis Deo


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12. End of page

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