Christmas Songs That Weren’t for Christmas

In the Medieval Era, people celebrated Christmas by going to church and listening to the choir sing about the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, we celebrate Christmas by shopping at malls and listening to our favorite holiday songs about fairy tale characters, family reunions, love, and very little about the birth of Jesus Christ. Certain characteristics persist, but things have changed between then and now; music tastes have evolved, and Christmas has culturally surpassed the nativity of Christ in importance. As Christmas music continues to evolve from the traditional carols to a more secular, diverse pool of music styles and themes, certain music non-Christmas songs have been rebranded into modern-day holiday favorites.

Musicians between the 18th and 20th centuries produced some of the earliest songs and tunes that still remain relevant to the public today. However, many of the songs from this time period that we now associate with Christmas were not actually intended for Christmas. In 1741, English composer George Frideric Handel completed what would become his most celebrated piece—the choral masterpiece Messiah. It spans over two and a half hours and tells the story of Jesus Christ through his birth, his death, and his resurrection. In modern times, the work has become a holiday favorite and is performed annually at the Lincoln Center around Christmas time. As it has now become a Christmas tradition for churches and concert halls to perform the Messiah, it may be shocking for some to learn that it was not originally intended for Christmas. Instead, it was an Easter tradition, later branded also as Christmas music after the 1900s—a marketing strategy due to its popularity. Around the 1960s, it became almost exclusively Christmas music.

Likewise, in 1850, the famous tune “Jingle Bells” was written in Medford, Massachusetts, by songwriter James Lord Pierpont; it was later published in 1857 under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh.” As much as it is now one of the most recognizable Christmas songs, it was originally composed for Thanksgiving, around when the town’s annual sleigh races were held. It was later associated with Christmas largely after the 1900s when a local choir included the song in its Christmas repertoire.

It’s hard to picture Jingle Bells, which has made its appearance in so many cultural references and inspired countless Christmas music, as a Thanksgiving song, just like how it is difficult to imagine associating the Messiah with Easter rather than Christmas. It is even more surprising that even a certain famous carol that is regularly performed during Christmas was actually a recreation of secular music.

The Christmas carol “What Child Is This?” remains a frequently played hymn in Christmas church services. Its lyrics were written in 1871 by William Chatterton Dix and communicate the inner thoughts of a visiting shepherd during Jesus’s birth. The melody, however, was borrowed from the English folk song “Greensleeves,” which has existed since the late 1500s and has no relation to Christmas. The original text of Greensleeves was about a man expressing his unrequited love to Lady Greensleeves. Its melody has a certain charm that brings the listener to the 16th-century countryside, with a serenity and ease surrounding the air. Many people tend to confuse the two, thinking that “What Child Is This” is equivalent to “Greensleeves”, while the fact is that the former is simply the latter rewritten with a Christmas-themed text.

There are, of course, modern examples of Christmas music having no apparent association with the Christmas theme. “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” is a classic Christmas song, but the lyrics have no mention of any Christmas-related themes. In fact, the song was written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and songwriter Jule Styne during the summer of 1945, when the two were living in the middle of a heatwave in California and were wishing for cooler weather. The song depicts a couple saying goodbye to each other during a snowy day. It is a song about winter and love, yet we tend to correlate it with Christmas. 

Most of these decisions were made consciously, therefore raising the question: why? It is possible to say that we wanted to bring more of the music that we love to the Christmas season to fulfill our Christmas fantasies: we associated “Let it Snow” with Christmas music because we wanted a White Christmas, we sang Jingle Bells during Christmas time because it is fun and light-hearted like how Christmas should be, and we performed the Messiah during Christmas because people love it and want to hear it during their favorite holiday. The creation of Christmas music lifts our spirits during the season and makes us look forward to this time of the year.