Here Are Some of the Most Ancient Christmas Carols

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is singing carols with my family. Nowadays, we tend to think of many of our carols as being extremely old and traditional. After all, as I discuss in this article I wrote about the history of Santa Claus, even the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”—arguably one of the least traditional Christmas songs—is over seventy years old. Nonetheless, most of the songs we know today are actually relatively young compared to some of the other songs that have been sung historically. Few of the songs we know today were composed before the nineteenth century.

Here I have collected a few of my favorite extremely old Christmas songs, some of which date all the way back to the Middle Ages. I have gathered songs from places as diverse as the Byzantine Empire, late medieval Spain, Renaissance Finland and Sweden, and Early Modern England. All of these songs were composed before the nineteenth century and nearly all of them were originally composed in languages other than English. Enjoy!

The “Byzantine Carol”

The “Byzantine Carol,” or “Ἄναρχος Θεὸς καταβέβηκεν,” is a Greek Christmas carol in Byzantine Greek associated with the city of Kotyora on the Black Sea (modern-day Ordu, Turkey). The lyrics of the song have been dated based on linguistic evidence to around the eleventh century AD. It is thought to be the oldest known Greek Christmas carol to which both the lyrics and melody have survived. Here are the lyrics in the original Byzantine Greek:

Ἄναρχος Θεὸς καταβέβηκεν καὶ ἐν τῇ Παρθένῳ κατώκησεν,
ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρερου-ἐρουρεμ, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Βασιλεὺς τῶν ὅλων καὶ Κύριος, ἦλθες τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἀναπλάσασθαι,
ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρερου-ἐρουρεμ, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Γηγενεῖς σκιρτᾶτε καὶ χαίρετε, τάξεις τῶν ἀγγέλων εὐφραίνονται,
ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρερου-ἐρουρεμ, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Δεῦτε ἐν σπηλαίῳ κατείδομεν, κείμενον ἐν φάτνῃ, τὸν Κύριον,
ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρερουρεμ, Χαῖρε Δέσποινα.

Ἐξ ἀνατολῶν μάγοι ἔρχονται δῶρα προσκομίζουσιν ἄξια,
ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρεμ-ἐρουρερουρεμ, Χαῖρε Δέσποινα.

Ἤκουσεν Ἡρώδης τὸ μήνυμα κι ὅλος ἐταράχθη ὁ δόλιος,
τεριριριρεμ-τεριριριρεμ-τεμ καὶ ἀνανες, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Θεόδρομον ἄστρον θεώμενοι, μάγοι τῶν Περσῶν ἐξεκίνησαν,
τεριριριρεμ-τεριριριρεμ-τεμ καὶ ἀνανες, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Κάκωσιν προστάξας ὁ τύραννος, τῆς Ραχήλ τὰ τέκνα κατέσφαξεν,
τεριριριρεμ-τεριριριρεμ-τεμ καὶ ἀνανες, Χαῖρε Ἄχραντε.

Here is a YouTube video with a modern performance of the carol in Greek:

You may notice a few similarities between this song and some of the ancient Greek songs I included in this article I wrote back in October.

“Orientis Partibus”

“Orientis Partibus,” also known as “The Song of the Ass,” is a song from France that is believed to date to around the late twelfth century AD or thereabouts. It is attested in Edgerton Manuscript 2615, which was produced in Beauvais, France at some point in around the second quarter of the thirteenth century, most likely between c. 1227 and c. 1234.

“Orientis Partibus” was originally written for performance as part of the so-called “Feast of the Ass,” which took place every year on January 14th in celebration of the flight of Joseph, Mary, and their infant son Jesus into Egypt. In recent years, the song has been translated into English and used as a Christmas carol. The melody of the song has also been reused as the melody for the more familiar modern Christmas carol “The Friendly Beasts,” the words to which were written in around 1920 by Robert Davis.

The original version of “Orientis Partibus” is in two different languages. The stanzas of the song are in Latin, but the refrain is in French. Here is the first stanza of the song in the original Latin and the French refrain:

“Orientis partibus
adventavit Asinus
pulcher et fortissimus
sarcinis aptissimus.”

“Hez, Sire Asnes, car chantez,
belle bouche rechignez,
vous aurez du foin assez
et de l’avoine a plantez.”

Here is a YouTube video with a modern performance of the song in the original Latin and French by New London Consort:

“Stella Splendens”

“Stella Splendens” is a hymn to the Virgin Mary in Latin that was composed in Spain in around the fourteenth century AD. It is first attested in the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, a handwritten manuscript that was produced in around 1399 in the monastery of Montserrat in Barcelona, Spain containing many Late Medieval Spanish songs in Latin.

Although it is not technically a “Christmas carol” in the modern sense, “Stella Splendens” nonetheless deals with themes relevant to the Christmas season (namely, the Virgin Mary) and is the sort of song you could imagine being performed at Christmastime. Here are the lyrics of the song in Latin:

“Stella Splendens in Monte
Ut solis radium
Miraculis Serrato
Exaudi populum”

“Concurrunt universi
Gaudentes populi,
Divites et egeni,
Grandes et parvuli,
Ipsum ingrediuntur
Ut Cernunt oculi
Et inde revertuntuntur
Gratiis repleti.”

“Principes et magnates
Ex stirpe regia,
Saeculi potestates
Obtenta venia
Peccaminum proclamant
Tundentes pectora
Poplite flexo clamant
Hic: Ave Maria.”

“Praelati et barones,
Comites incliti,
Religiosi omnes
Atque presbyteri
Milites, mercatores,
Cives marinari,
Burgenses, piscatores
Premiatur ibi.”

“Rustici aratores
Nec non notarii,
Advocati, scultores,
Cuncti ligni fabri,
Sartores et sutores
Nec non lanitici,
Artefices et omnes
Gratulantur ibi.”

“Reginae, comitissae,
Illustres dominae,
Potentes et ancillae,
Juvenes parvulae,
Virgines et antiquae
Pariter viduae,
Conscendunt et hunc montem
Et religiosae.”

“Coetus hi aggregantur
Hic ut exhibeant
Vota, regratiantur
Ut ipsa et reddant
Aulam istam ditantes
Hoc cuncti videant
Jocalibus ornantes
Soluti redeant.”

“Cuncti ergo precantes
Sexus utriusque,
Mentes nostras mundantes
Oremus devote:
Virginem Gloriosam,
Matrem Clementiae
In coelis gratiosam
Sentiamus vere.”

Here is a YouTube video with a modern performance of the song in the original Latin by the Oni Wytars Ensemble:

My favorite rendition of “Stella Splendens” is probably the version by Psalteria. Unfortunately, the only video of it I can find on YouTube has Crusader imagery in it and an intolerant warning at the end to Muslims to “be afraid” because “the day will come.” I really like Psalteria’s version of the song, though, so I am going to include that video here. Just be aware that I do not in any way endorse the intolerant ideas expressed by the creator of this video and I am only posting this here because I like the music:

“Personent Hodie”

“Personent Hodie” is a Christmas carol from the Late Middle Ages. The melody of the song comes from a twelfth-century hymn to Saint Nicholas with the incipit “Intonent hodie voces ecclesie.” The lyrics were probably written in around the early sixteenth century

“Personent Hodie” was first printed in the Piae Cantiones, a collection of seventy-four Finnish and Swedish sacred songs compiled by the Finnish priest Jaakko Suomalainen (lived c. 1540 – c. 1588) originally published in 1581. Here is the original Latin text of the song from the Piae Cantiones:

“Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de vir, vir, vir (2x)
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.”

“In mundo nascitur,
pannis involvitur
praesepi ponitur
stabulo brutorum,
rector supernorum.
Perdidit, dit, dit,(2x)
perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.”

“Magi tres venerunt,
munera offerunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
stellulam sequendo,
ipsum adorando,
aurum, thus, thus, thus,(2x)
aurum, thus, et myrrham ei offerendo.”

“Omnes clericuli,
pariter pueri,
cantent ut angeli:
advenisti mundo,
laudes tibi fundo.
Ideo, o, o, (2x)
ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.”

Here is a YouTube video with a modern performance of the song by The Columba Minstrels in the original Latin using modern instruments:

The “Boar’s Head Carol”

The “Boar’s Head Carol” is an English Christmas carol first attested in the early sixteenth century. The version of the song that is most often performed today is first attested in the book Christmasse Carolles, published in London in 1521 by the printer Wynkyn de Worde. The song is partly in English and partly in Latin.

The “Boar’s Head Carol” references the rather grisly Early Modern aristocratic Christmas tradition of serving a severed boar’s head for Christmas dinner. Interestingly, as I discuss in much greater depth in this article I wrote earlier this month, the boar’s head tradition is one of the very few modern Christmas traditions that can genuinely be traced back to pre-Christian paganism. Here are the lyrics of the song as it is best known today:

“The boar’s head in hand bear I,
Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary.
And I pray you, my masters, be merry
Quot estis in convivio.”

CHORUS
“Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino”

“The boar’s head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck’d with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico.”

CHORUS

“Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the King of Bliss;
Which on this day to be servèd is
In Reginensi atrio.”

Here is a YouTube video with a modern performance of the “Boar’s Head Carol” by The King’s Singers:

“Ríu Ríu Chíu”

“Ríu Ríu Chíu” is Spanish villancico that is first attested in the Cancionero de Upsala, a collection of mostly anonymous Spanish songs originally published in 1556 in Venice. Although the song was probably not originally written as a Christmas carol, it deals with themes relevant to Christmas and has become used in recent years as a Christmas carol. Here are the lyrics in the original Spanish:

“Riu, riu, chiu
la guarda ribera
Dios guardó el lobo
de nuestra cordera
Dios guardó el lobo
de nuestra cordera.”

“El lobo rabioso
la quiso morder
Mas Dios Poderoso
la supo defender
Quizo la hacer que
no pudiese pecar
Ni aun original
esta virgen no tuviera.
Riu, riu, chiu.”

“Este que es nascido
es El Gran Monarca
Cristo Patriarca
de carne vestido
Ha nos redimido
con se hacer chiquito
Aunque era infinito
finito se hiciera.
Riu, riu, chiu.”

“Este viene a dar
a los muertos vida
Y viene a reparar
de todos la caida
Es la luz del dia
aqueste Moçuelo
Este es el Cordero
que San Juan dijera.
Riu, riu, chiu.”

“Yo vi mil Garzones
que andavan cantando
Por aqui volando
haciendo mil sones
Diciendo a gascones
Gloria sea en el Cielo
Y paz en el suelo
pues Jesus nasciera.
Riu, riu, chiu.”

“Pues que ya tenemos
lo que deseamos
Todos juntos vamos
presentes llevemos
Todos le daremos
nuestra voluntad
Pues a se igualar
con nosotros viniera.
Riu, riu, chiu.”

Here is a YouTube video of a modern performance of the song in the original Spanish by Ensemble Obsidienne:

“Gaudete”

The song “Gaudete” is a Christmas carol originally composed in Latin in around the sixteenth century. The song first appears in print in the Piae Cantiones from 1581. Here is the original Latin text of the song from the Piae Cantiones:

“Gaudete, gaudete!
Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine,
gaudete!”

“Tempus adest gratiæ
Hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina lætitiæ
Devote reddamus.”

“Deus homo factus est
Natura mirante,
Mundus renovatus est
A Christo regnante.”

“Ezechielis porta
Clausa pertransitur,
Unde lux est orta
Salus invenitur.”

“Ergo nostra contio
Psallat iam in lustro;
Benedicat Domino:
Salus Regi nostro.”

Here is a YouTube video with a modern a capella performance of the song by The King’s Singers:

Here is a YouTube video with another, slightly more modernized performance of the song by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in the original Latin using modern instruments (including drums!):

“Adeste Fideles”

The song “Adeste Fideles” is perhaps the oldest Christmas song that is still widely sung today in the English-speaking world. The song was originally written in Latin at some point in the late seventeenth century or early eighteenth century. The earliest surviving version of the song in print with the complete lyrics and musical notation comes from John Francis Wade’s Cantus Diversi, published in 1751. Here is the full text of the song in Latin as it was published in Wade’s Cantus Diversi:

“Adeste fideles læti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte
Regem angelorum:
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.”

“Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine
Gestant puellæ viscera
Deum verum, genitum non factum.
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.”

“Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum;
Cantet nunc aula cælestium,
Gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo,
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.”

“Ergo qui natus die hodierna.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Patris æterni Verbum caro factum.
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.”

Here is a video on YouTube with a modern performance of the song in the original Latin by Luciano Pavarotti in 1978 at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Montréal:

Here is another modern version of the song by the Irish singer Enya:

The version of the song that most people in the English-speaking world know today is an English translation of the original Latin song that was produced in 1841 by the English Catholic priest Frederick Oakley titled “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” In its English translation, “Adeste Fideles” remains one of the most popular Christmas carols today. Here are the lyrics to Frederick Oakley’s well-known English translation of the song:

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.”

“God of God, light of light,
Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
True God, begotten, not created:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.”

“Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.”

“Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.”

Here is a traditional choir performance of “O Come All Ye Faithful” in English:

“God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”

The song “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” is an English Christmas carol that originated in around the middle of the eighteenth-century. It is first attested in a broadsheet titled Three New Christmas Carols, which was printed in London sometime around 1760. The full lyrics to an early version of the song printed in The Beauties of the Magazines, and Other Periodical Works, Selected for a Series of Years in 1775 are as follows:

“God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas-day
To save poor souls from Satan’s power,
Which long time had gone astray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.”

“From God that is our Father
The blessed angels came
Unto some certain shepherds,
With tidings of the same;
That he was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.”

“Now when they came to Bethlehem,
Where our sweet Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay.
The blessed Virgin kneeling down
Unto the Lord did pray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.”

“With sudden joy and gladness,
The shepherds were beguil’d,
To see the Babe of Israel
Before his mother mild.
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice each mother’s child.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.”

“Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place
Like we true loving brethren,
Each other to embrace,
For the merry time of Christmas
Is coming on a-pace.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.”

Interestingly, in the version of this song that I learned growing up, the incipit was “God rest ye merry, gentlemen,” rather than “God rest you merry, gentlemen.” It turns out, though, that this is an example of false archaism and that all the earliest attested version of the song have “God rest you merry” as the first line. Furthermore, ye is actually the nominative form of the pronoun, meaning it would actually be grammatically incorrect to say “God rest ye merry.”

Here is a traditional choir version of “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” by the Bach Choir:

Here is a very modernized a capella rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” by the American music group Pentatonix:

Conclusion

I hope you all have enjoyed the music I have shared here. If you have any other extremely old Christmas songs that you think I should have included here, feel free to mention them in the comment below and I may add them to the list.

If you celebrate Christmas in any form, then I hope you have a very merry Christmas this year and in all the years to come. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, then happy holidays and best wishes to you all the same.