Talk:List of Christmas carols

Jingle Bells

"Jingle Bells" is not a Christmas song/carol. It has no references to Christmas in it. It's like "Frosty The Snowman," "Winter Wonderland," and "Let It Snow." Sure it's standard to sing them around the holidays, but they don't have anything to do with Christmas. So why is "Jingle Bells" listed? I know this has been discussed before, but it seems as though no resolution was found. Removing "Jingle Bells" isn't controversial, but due diligence. Mr. C.C.^{Hey yo!}_{I didn't do it!} 03:37, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

The question, really, is whether this is intended to be a list of Christmas Carols, or a list of Christmas Songs. "Carol" has a rather specific musicological definition -- which has changed over different musical epochs. If this is to be a list of Carols, then a lot of material will need to be eliminated (E.g., most of the cradle songs.)

If, OTOH, it is a list of Christmas Songs, then both traditional and popular songs utilized for the holiday should be fair game. (And that would make it a more useful list.) You could have a list of all Christmas Songs, and asterisk those which are actually Carols, with an appropriate footnote.

In re Jingle Bells, that the lyrics contain no Christmas references does not negate the fact that it has become, for all intents and purposes, a Christmas tradition -- and has been for well over a century. True, it may possibly have been written for Thanksgiving (although it doesn't contain any Thanksgiving references, either), but the fact is, few people sing "Jingle Bells" for Thanksgiving -- or, for that matter, for Halloween, Independence Day, Arbor Day, or any other holiday -- they sing it for Christmas.

Applying your criterion is problematic, in other ways. It would preclude the inclusion of any instrumental music written for Christmas (Carol of the Bells).

It would preclude inclusion of a whole subgenre of songs considered traditional for Christmas: (Good King Wenceslas; Deck the Hall; The Holly and the Ivy; Here We Come A-caroling; etc). None of these very popular traditional holiday songs mention word one about Christmas.

And what about tunes that weren't written as Christmas tunes originally, but had Christmas lyrics added, sometimes years or even centuries later? (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing).

Jingle Bells has not only become a Christmas song, it's an iconic Christmas song. If a film-maker or playwright wants to suggest Christmas in a scene, they have only to have someone hum the first 3 or 4 bars of "Jingle Bells" -- sometimes the first three notes are enough -- and 99% of the audience will be thinking of Christmas trees and flying reindeer.

But in the end, it depends on whether the intent is for this to be a useful list, or one that's only informative to a very specific cult of stodgy academics -- who probably don't need it anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.253 (talk) 22:44, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Jingle Bells is an American Popular Song. Baller McGee (talk) 22:26, 7 December 2022 (UTC)

Definition of Carols listed intro

I have added the following, for the intro which I think gives a definition on what is listed here and on the consensus reached some years ago. It is fully cited with Wikipedia:Reliable sources. If anyone has any better cited sources, then please feel free to contribute.

This is a list of Christmas carols that is organized by the carol’s country and/or language of origin. The operational definition of what constitutes a Christmas carol and therefore inclusion on this list is as follows.

Christmas carols (or Noëls as they are sometimes referred to, especially for carols of French origin), are a subset within the category of Christmas music. Other subsets of this music that are often erroneously conflated with Christmas carols consist of popular Christmas songs (also referred to as Christmas anthems), Christmas novelty songs, Winter/solstice songs, New year carols (also referred to as Wassails), Annunciation carols, Advent carols and Epiphany carols. The lyrics and melody determine the genre of a musical composition, and while all subsets of Christmas music may be traditionally sung at Christmas and/or during the Christmas holiday season, not all forms of Christmas music are carols. The difference between a carol and a popular song is that a carol is a festive song, oratorio, or hymn that correspond with the Liturgical calendar, frequently performed by carollers or a choir, and that is often religious and/or spiritual but not necessarily connected with church worship, while a popular song can be festive but is generally secular in nature and is usually performed by a solo artist, duet, trio or a band. Another difference between Christmas carols and other subsets such as popular Christmas songs, Christmas novelty songs and winter/solstice songs is that, while carols are written for non-profit to spread a message of hope and unity between family and friends, other forms of music associated with Christmas tend to reflect the composer's personal experiences, often target children, and they are commercialized for entertainment purposes, with the goal to make a profit. Traditional Christmas carols celebrate the Christian events of the nativity and the Holy Family and as a result many carols were composed as lullabies for the infant Jesus, examples of which include Silent Night, The Rocking Carol, Tàladh Chrìosda (Christ's lullaby), Suantraí na Maighdine (The Virgin's Lullaby) and Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night).

While other subsets of carols are religious in nature (such as Passiontide carols, and Easter carols), with some forming part of Christmas music (such as Annunciation carols, Advent carols, and Epiphany carols), none of them are Christmas carols. However, some Annunciation carols and Advent carols are often miscategorised as Christmas carols. Examples of Annunciation carols consist of Angelus ad virginem, Ave Maria, gratia plena, Gabriel's Message, and The Cherry-Tree Carol, while examples of Advent carols include Adam lay ybounden, Lo! He comes with clouds descending, Lo, how a rose e'er blooming, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and The truth sent from above. Similarly carols unrelated to the birth of Jesus such as Good King Wenceslas (a carol for St. Stephen's Day) and Epiphany carols are often unwittingly incorporated into Christmas carols due to the celebration of Twelve Days of Christmas which ranges from the 25 December to 5 January or Christmastide which ranges from the 24 December to 5 January. As a result, many misconstrued Christmas carols can be related to St Stephen's Day (26 December), St John's Day (27 December), Feast of Holy Innocents (28 December), St Sylvester's Day (31 December), and the Epiphany (also known as little/old Christmas, and/or Three Kings Day). Examples of Epiphany carols include As with Gladness Men of Old, We Three Kings, The Shepard's Farewell, and The Three Kings.

Further confusion is engendered with the application of the term 'carol' in reference to New Year's carols, as carols are religious and related to the birth of Jesus, while New Year's carols are performed for a generally secular celebration, Twelfth Night (a festival not too dissimilar to Yule), that coincides with the eve of Epiphany and includes some songs that have no religious reference at all, such as Deck the Halls and The Twelve Days of Christmas. However, these subset of songs (also referred to as Wassails) were performed during Wassailing, where groups of people would go house-to-house singing and wishing good health to the occupier in exchange of an alcoholic beverage of the same name, Wassail. Another group of singers, that did have some authority from local governance to perform, known as "Waits", sang as part of "Watchnight" which is New Year's Eve. Examples of other New Year's carols often conflated as Christmas carols consist of A New Year Carol, Here We Come A-wassailing, Gloucestershire Wassail, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and What Cheer?. Other songs that are not grouped with New Year's carols nor make any specific reference to the nativity or the Holy Family, but are falsely considered to be Christmas carols include Ding Dong Merrily on High (about bells and angels), and O Christmas Tree (which is a mistranslation from its German original, O Tannenbaum, meaning Fir tree).

In recent years, the term 'carol' has become even more distorted and complicated to identify, due in part to the global marketing success by the United States of portraying Christmas within conditions many northern parts of the U.S. may encounter, such as a cold wintery climate with snow, frost, and/or ice. While Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere occurs in Winter, Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere takes places in the Summer. Winter/solstice songs misconstrued as Christmas carols usually reflect the weather conditions and experiences of specific regions within the Northern Hemisphere, while also making no reference to Christmas. Examples of Winter/solstice songs include Jingle Bells (written for Thanksgiving), Frosty the Snowman, Suzy Snowflake, and Once Upon a Wintertime. Additionally, the successful marketing by U.S. companies, combining music with created characters that targeted children for financial reward has contributed to the erroneous conflation of novelty Christmas songs with Christmas Carols. Examples of novelty Christmas songs include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Here Comes Santa Claus, Jolly Old St. Nicholas and You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

This list will focus upon Christmas Carols in its traditional definition as specified and cited above. This list is not exhaustive.

References

37.18.134.184 (talk) 16:19, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

This needs work to avoid personal opinions being presented in Wikipedia's voice, for example "that are often erroneously conflated with", "are often miscategorised as", "are often unwittingly incorporated", "but are falsely considered", "become even more distorted", "songs misconstrued as" and "contributed to the erroneous conflation".

Words do change their meaning with time, and given that millions of people evidently do use the term "Christmas carol" in a broader way than is defined here, it is not acceptable to use Wikipedia's editorial voice to call those people "erroneous", or their preferred usage "distorted". The way to go is to explain the various usages, broad and narrow, but to set limits on the scope of the article, by defining the type of items that will go into it. Agreed limits are indeed needed if the article is not to turn into List of Christmas music. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:33, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

I understand what you are saying but these terms are used in the citations utilized. How would you go about it? 37.18.134.184 (talk) 16:32, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

If they really do say exactly that, the expressions should be attributed clearly to the sources, and not presented as advocacy. The attributions are difficult to check as you mostly don't give full references. Could you please add page numbers to all of the citations, and post here a very short snippet (just a few words, to avoid copyright issues) of each of the seven examples I've queried above?

I can check the sourcing of one of your examples, specifically "Other songs that ... are falsely considered to be Christmas carols include Ding Dong Merrily on High". You reference that to Gant's Christmas Carols (2014) but without giving a page number. But Gant explicitly does consider that to be a Christmas carol (it's one of the carols he specifically discusses). On page 124 he says that the music was an old folk tune, originally nothing to do with Christmas. But its publication in the Cambridge Carol Book (1924), with new words by George Ratcliffe Woodward "places it smack in the middle of our Christmas Carol repertoire as if it had been there all its life, where it has stayed ever since." How did you conclude that Gant supports the statement that you added?

Your new lead should, I think, be reverted while these queries are addressed. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:54, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Ok, First of all, try to keep this Wikipedia guideline in mind before writing. From what I understand from your complaint, you are not happy with the use of some words, particularly how the term Christmas carol is defined here, as it does not represent your personal opinion. Wikipedia is not about personal opinion., nor is Wikipedia responsible for its content. If you wish to be active and add to the article by providing a Reliable Source that states, as you write, that millions of people view it as such, then that is what you should do. But to remove cited material is not permissible, unless of course a consensus can be reached, as .Wikipedia does not censor. The term Christmas carol as defined here is supported by the citations I have provided from people who are authorities in the field. I would not go to any Wikipedia medical or legal articles and change the definitions of terms as used by the professionals in those fields, because they don't represent how I believe other people understand those terms.

You go on to complain that I don't give a page number for some of the citations, but I do give the section or chapter of where I attained the information, which is compliant with Wikipedia's guidelines on [sources|citing sources]. You request snippets from all the sources that I have provided, arguing it is difficult for you to review these sources. If I was to acquiesce to that, it would constitute a clear violation of [violations|Wikipedia's copyright policy]. However, all is not lost and you do have avenues to carry out your review. For one, you may attend to your local library in person or online, if that is possible, and view the books, if they have them. Another avenue is reviewing the books online through Google books and/or other online depositories, or alternatively, on websites where the books are sold, there is often a "look inside" option, which will enable you to read the first parts of the book. Most of the citations I have provided are paraphrases from the prefaces of books that define what a Christmas carol is; (and is not), this is entirely appropriate, considering that this article is about a List of Christmas Carols, and not about specific carols/songs. However, not all the citations provided are books, some are websites and news agencies' articles and are freely available online for your convenience, including archived copies, linked in the citation. I would also point out that the citations are quite diverse, as they are not from one specific place nor year (some citations are European, others are from the U.S., some are from the 1900s, and some are from the 2000s).

You go on to provide a snippet of Ding Dong Merrily on High" from Gant's Christmas Carols (2014) and question how I can conclude that Gant supports the statement that I added. Gant writes this, but then goes on to criticise the song (for example, defining the lyrics as 'illogical'), and in his final sentence of his appraisal of the song he writes "It might not go in your carol service, but it should be fun at the party afterwards", which is hardly an endorsement of the song as a Christmas carol. To understand the reason for the citation, try to look at the preface of his book, rather than the chapters. Articles related to specific songs have their own relevant Wikipedia articles where a thorough review of those songs can occur. This article focuses on primarily on what constitutes a Christmas carol. I have not cherrypicked specific pages to push an agenda.

You then recommend I revert these changes to the previous lead, which contained no citations, other than one, which I maintained here and which stated everything that is here and that you have disagreed with. I disagree with reverting to the old lead as to do so would contravene Wikipedia's guideline on Original Research. As the template on the top of this article reads, "Unsourced material may be challenged and removed." and therefore it would be completely justifiable to remove everything of that old lead, except that one cited sentence which, as I have pointed out, states everything the new lead states. As I have highlighted before, if you wish to be active, then by all means contribute and provide a Reliable Source, but do not expect to have your personal point of view dictate the article, as Wikipedia does not censor; also, remain civil with your dealings with other editors by maintaining good faith.

I have been trying to get editors from WikiProject Christmas, WikiProject Holidays, and WikiProject Christianity involved, as this comes under their control. Perhaps you might want to try to do this as well. If they get involved and there is a consensus to change it, I will of course agree. It will at least give us a chance to get a new consensus, so that we can move on.37.18.134.184 (talk) 12:00, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

I didn't revert immediately as you have clearly spent a lot of time on this, but your attempt to justify the use of Gant to support a position diametrically opposite to the one he specifically sets out in his book makes it pretty clear this is advocacy. Whether you intend that or not I don't know, but I do regret your immediate resorting to the assume good faith guideline as a means of pushing back on a challenge to the accuracy of your sourcing. Let me ask again: where exactly in Gant do you find that Ding Dong Merrily on High is "falsely considered" (your choice of words) to be a Christmas carol? If you now say that it's your interpretation of what he says, why did you say initially that "these terms are used in the citations utilized"? So far as I can tell, in this case that statement appears not to be accurate.

It's concerning that you decline to back up any of the expressions I queried by page number or by citing a snippet (which, contrary to what you say, is perfectly allowable provided that the snippets are small). Furthermore, it's quite incorrect to suggest that your text can't be reverted; it most certainly can if the sources you rely on do not support the statements you have made. If you are unable or unwilling to address the accuracy concerns I raised, it will be best to revert under the WP:BRD procedure, so that more discussion can take place here. Luckily you've already copied your entire text above, so that it's easily available.

I don't think we should take any position on the 'correct' definition of "Christmas carol", which seems to be what you're trying to do, as there is simply no such thing: different people use the term in different ways. What we should be discussing is solely what the inclusion criterion should be for this article. You're perfectly at liberty to suggest a restricted criterion, such as for example "religious song relating to the birth of Christ", if that is indeed what you intend, but four lengthy paragraphs of unclear advocacy don't meet that end. MichaelMaggs (talk) 13:20, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

As my wife leads preparations for our annual Christmas music program, I just want to thank everyone for all of the great musical options. As Stake Music Chair, she will communicate with the ten Ward Music Chairmen some of the best selections, such as "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." We always find the JOY of the season. AstroU (talk) 14:02, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

First and foremost, you need to stop making accusations and be civil. I pointed out the assume good faith guideline as you immediately jumped the gun and accussed me of making it all up. As I pointed out in my previous comment, the term you keep objecting to is seen in the preface of the book where I advised you to view. You are correct, I did spend many days reading and writing this article. How you can view Gant agrees with Ding Dong Merrily on High being a Christmas carol from the short introductory snippet you provided and at the same time ignore how he goes on to criticise it, which I provided in my last comments, is beyond belief, but I guess different folks for different strokes as the expression goes.

At no point have I suggested that this lead cannot be reverted. Please provide where I made this claim. Again you are jumping the gun and making inappropriate bad faith accusations, which is not acceptable. I am very much aware it could be reverted. What I pointed out is, that in the event of a revert of this new lead, to the old lead would result in Original Research, considering the old lead was uncited, except for one citation which supported what the new lead stated and as the template at the top of this article reads, "Unsourced material may be challenged and removed." and therefore it would be completely justifiable to remove anything of that old lead, except that one cited sentence.

I have taking no such position of defining the correct definition of Christmas carol. I have followed the sources but you discredit those sources because you disagree with them. You have mentioned an inclusion criteria in your comment and previously to that comment you had said that you "Agreed limits are indeed needed if the article is not to turn into List of Christmas music", however, you have made no suggestions on how to do this (which I had requested from you) and seem to be quite pleased to have the article run into disrepair and accept any song (as long as people believe it) to be included, so that every song from Popular Christmas songs, Winter Songs, to Novelty Christmas songs are included. That is not been co-operative. I do believe a "religious song relating to the birth of Christ" should be a primary inclusion criteria as all 18 sources I have provided quite clearly state this. I understand that the four paragraphs is a bit bulky and this may be reduced to a bullet pointed list.

I am happy others have now participated in the debate and I hope more will join in. I will of course, as I pointed out in my previous comment, abide by any consensus reached by those editors on any such changes to the lead, but based on your previous comments, I don't think you will. Am I correct in my assessment? 37.18.134.184 (talk) 14:45, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

If we're both discussing this in good faith we ought to be able to make progress entirely on the merits without imputing bad intentions on either side. You, as I understand it, take the view that a primary inclusion criteria should be "religious song relating to the birth of Christ", and my position is that you have written a lead which reflects and advocates for that view. That doesn't mean you are acting contrary to good faith, or that you are intentionally advocating, merely that that is my reading of what you have written. There is no lack of good faith on my part, either, in asking to dig into some of the apparently-pointed terms you have used, and asking where they came from.

(Please ignore this paragaph if you like, as it's a peripheral issue assuming that we can agree on the steps to take, as suggested below). I've read the entirety of Gant's 15 page preface, an excellent essay discussing the history of Christmas carols and the various meanings that have been attributed to the term over the centuries. I'm unable to find any reference in it at all to Ding Dong Merrily on High. If I have missed it, I will be the first to apologise, but it absolutely does not seem accurate to cite Gant in support of the statement that that carol is "falsely considered" to be a Christmas carol, especially when your argument was that that term is "used in the citations utilized". That single issue does suggest a need to check out some of the other citations. On the basis of my continuing concerns, I'm using the WP:BRD process to revert the lead to its previous form, of course without prejudice to a discussion of your text on this page. I agree that the existing lead is not good, and urgently needs improvement, but I'm afraid I'm unconvinced that your added paragraphs are a long-term improvement.

I take absolutely no stance on what the inclusion criterion should be, other than that it should be consensus-based (in short supply here, I know) and that it should preferably be short and easy for potential editors to understand. There have been many discussions of inclusion criteria on this very page, going back to 2008, and you have yourself participated. You have vigorously taken one side of the discussion, and Walter Görlitz (currently blocked) has even more vigorously taken an opposing view. The multiple discussions that have taken place over the years have not resulted in any clear consensus as to what the inclusion criterion should be, and now would be a good time to settle this once and for all.

Your suggestion is certainly an option, but as I am sure you know there are wider definitions that ought equally to be discussed, such as the OED definition of "a religious song or popular hymn, typically of a joyful or lively character, which is traditionally sung at Christmas". What I'd like to see now is the collection of a list of possible 'definitions' that could form the basis of the inclusion criterion. When a suitable list of possibilities has been curated, then we should ask a wide range of editors to express their opinions on each. This could be by way of a formal RFC if needed, but before going that far it would be preferable to settle on the question or questions that are to be asked.

Here are some suggestions for possible inclusion in the list for discussion. We don't need to argue for or against any at this stage, simply collect them:

• "a religious song relating to the birth of Christ"
• [OED]: "a religious song or popular hymn, typically of a joyful or lively character, which is traditionally sung at Christmas"
• [Merriam Webster]: "a song sung during the Christmas season"
• "a Christmas song on a religious theme"
• "a song collected in a [or in perhaps more than one] printed Christmas carol collection"

I hope that helps as a plan for a way forward. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:18, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

Excellent analysis; sounds great to me. I'll be interested in CAROLS .!. -_- AstroU (talk) 00:41, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I have been unavailable until today. There's really a simpler solution than arguing about what does and does not constitute a carol: we simply move this article to a different title. While I agree with MichaelMaggs' suggestions, it's also very simple to change the location of this article to something "list of Christmas carols and songs". Walter Görlitz (talk) 05:55, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

And if we keep it at this title, we should use what current sources commonly call a carol could be included, whether it meets a traditional definition of one or not. Walter Görlitz (talk) 05:57, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

I support changing the title of the article to "List of Christmas Songs" (see my original rationale in the discussion of "Jingle Bells, above). This would accomplish at least three things:

1) It would stop (most of) the endless bickering over what constitutes a "carol" as opposed to a "song";

2) It would result in a list that is far more useful to the general public, whereas a list of strictly carols would be primarily useful to a small subset of academics and fanatics;

3) You cuold have the best of both worlds -- a list of Christmas songs would necessarily include the carols, and carols on the list could be indicated by an asterisk or other appropriate flag.

I say go for it; change the title.

74.95.43.253 (talk) 23:42, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

That too would be unnecessarily restrictive. It is clearly a list of Christmas carols and songs and so there is no reason to have the title be something other than "list of Christmas carols and songs". Walter Görlitz (talk) 00:28, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

I agree with you. The title should change to list of Christmas songs whereby they could be broken up into different categories of type of songs as opposed to Nationalities 79.154.45.248 (talk) 14:16, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The above advent chant is neither a carol nor strictly Christmas. Should it really be on this list and should this list be linked from it? Martin of Sheffield (talk) 12:48, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

Not seeing a mention on the page that it is a carol (although it is also listed as a Christmas carol in the categories). I removed the addition on its page until it is determined if it is a carol or not. Others here may know if it is used as a carol. Thanks for questioning the edit. Randy Kryn (talk) 13:53, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

The version of 02:15, 2 December 2006 by EdGl characterised it as a carol and added the category. All references to it being a carol were stripped out at 20:56, 4 January 2007 by an IP user, but one who clearly knew haw to edit properly and who was cognisant with liturgical matters. I'm going to be WP:BOLD and both remove the category and the mention in this article. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 14:27, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

It's included in Carols for Choirs (volume 2) so David Willcocks, at least, considered it a carol; but indeed it's for Advent rather than Christmas. On balance, I'd have given it a pass, but since you've already removed it, let's go with that. Angusta (talk) 14:38, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

The article O Come, O Come, Emmanuel says it's "also often classed as a Christmas carol" and cites three sources, just to point out, but it really doesn't matter to me what the outcome of this is. But I do appreciate the ping, Martin of Sheffield ~EdGl talk 02:18, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Since the sourcing and category have been added to the article I've put back the 'See also' link to this page. Randy Kryn (talk) 03:01, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

The phrase "also often classed as a Christmas carol" and associated examples were added after this discussion started. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 07:23, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Seems an "approved" carol now, so the listing should probably be returned. Interestingly, there are many carols listed at Category:Christmas carols which have not been placed on this list. Looks like a project for a Christmas-minded soul (not me, bah, humbug. well, maybe I can do a couple). Randy Kryn (talk) 12:47, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

"Approved" by whom? It is and Advent Hymn, not Christmas, not a carol. Have a look at Matland, J A Fuller, ed. (1904). Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: MacMillan. p. 471ff. Retrieved 6 December 2022.

CAROL. The history of this word presents a remarkable parallel to that of the kindred term Ballad. Both originally implied dancing : both are now used simply to denote a kind of song. In old French, Carole signified a peculiar kind of dance in a ring. This dance gave its name to the song by which it was accompanied  : and so the word passed, in one or both of these senses, into most of the languages of Western Europe.

In the English of Chaucer carolling is some- times dancing and sometimes singing. In modern usage a carol may be defined as a kind of popular song appropriated to some special season of the ecclesiastical or natural year. There are, or were, Welsh summer carols, and winter carols  ; there are also Easter carols  ; but the only species which remains in general use, and requires a more detailed examination, is the Christmas carol.

Christmas carols then are songs or ballads to be used during the Christmas season, in reference to the festival, under one or other of its aspects.

Merging the English lists

OK. Here's why I did what I did. All the other lists are defined by language, except English. Since there is huge crossover in music between the USA and the UK, it made sense to merge them and keep the format consistent. Serendi^podous 18:51, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Scottish

The heading "Scottish" really ought too be "Gaelic". There are three languages natively spoken in Scotland: Gaelic, Scots and Scottish English. Do others agree? Martin of Sheffield (talk) 20:32, 30 December 2023 (UTC)