Comment On The Imagery And Symbolism Of A Selection of Christmas Carols.

Christmas is the celebration of one of the most important feasts in Christianity, that of the nativity of Christ. Christmas carols are traditional hymns and songs, which are sung in churches at this time of year. Many of these contain a lot of imagery and symbolism, which is used to express Christian doctrines. Images and symbols have been used for a long time to express the non-physical world, such as spirits and angels.¹ In the development of Christianity, imagery and symbolism have been used to try and express theological ideas in a contemporary way. This essay will look at three Christmas carols, and how the imagery and symbolism in them can be understood.

The first carol I shall discuss is Down In Yon Forest, from The Oxford Book of Christmas Carols. The author of this carol is unknown, but it comes from a village in Derbyshire.² The first verse contains the image of a hall, which is described as being covered in purple and pall. The colour purple is often linked with ideas of royalty. It was the colour worn by Roman Emperors. In this carol purple symbolises the Divine Kingship of Christ. Pall is defined as being a cloth spread over a coffin, hearse or tomb, which is usually purple or black.³ The use of the word pall in this carol symbolises the death of Christ. The linking of royalty and death symbolises the doctrine of the second coming. Christ has to die before he will come back in glory as the king of heaven. Alternatively it may suggest that Christ will only come into his full kingship through his death. For Christ kingship is not about wealth and glory, but about ultimate sacrifice for his people. The idea of Christ as king can only be fully understood when considered with the view of Christ on the cross.

The second verse goes on to describe a bed that is in the hall. This bed is covered in scarlet. The use of the phrase “scarlet so red” symbolises the idea of Christ’s suffering and death. Red is often used to symbolise blood and the crucifixion. The third verse contains the image of Mary kneeling beside the bed. This image can symbolise two things. Firstly it brings to mind, Mary kneeling by the crib in the traditional nativity scene and worshipping the Christ child. Secondly, it seems to reflect the crucifixion story in the gospel of John, where Mary is stood at the foot of the cross whilst Christ dies.⁴

The fourth verse describes there being a flood, flowing under the bed. The flood is half water and half blood. This refers to John’s Gospel, when the soldier pierces Christ’s side and blood and water flow out⁵. This image is also used during the Christian celebration of the mass, when water and wine are mixed together. By using this image the carol is referring both to the verse form John’s gospel and the Christian celebration of mass.

The fourth verse begins with mention of a thorn growing at the foot of the bed. This is symbolic of the crown of thorns that Christ worn at the crucifixion. The thorn tree also symbolises the legend of the Glastonbury thorn. According to the legend after

the crucifixion Joseph of Arimathea put Christ’s body in his tomb and then came to England, with the Holy Grail. On a hill near Glastonbury Tor, Joseph thrust his staff into the ground. It then grew into a thorn tree, which only flowers at Christmas time⁶. The reference in the carol to the thorn tree blossoming since Christ’s birth is also probably a reference to the Glastonbury thorn.

The last verse has the image of the moon shining brightly to mark the Saviour’s birth. The birth of Christ is often associated with images of light. This reflects the idea in John’s gospel of Christ being a light to the world. The idea of light been connected with Christ may also come from St. Bridget of Sweden. She lived in the fourteenth centaury and had a vision of the Christ radiating light. The account of this vision had a large impact on the way that Christ was then represented⁷.

This carol places a large emphasis on what the future role of Christ will be i.e. crucifixion and salvation. This gives the carol an overall high Christological viewpoint. It sees the story of Jesus as Gods everlasting and eternal word. However it also reflects a Christology from below by emphasising the human suffering of Christ.

The second carol that I shall look at is Away In A Manger. This carol, in contrast to the previous one, concentrates on the nativity scene. In the first line, the image of the Christ child having no proper bed to sleep in is used. This is a reference to a statement that Jesus is recorded as saying in the Gospels of Matthew⁸ and Luke⁹, that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

The second image used in the first verse is that of the stars looking down at Jesus. This is symbolical of two things. Firstly the image of stars shining in a brightly lit sky, suggests the idea of light coming to the world. This could be a reference to Isaiah 9:10, which predicts how the people who have been in darkness will see a great light, and that a new light will dawn in the world. This bright light coming into the world is the Christ Child. Secondly, the fact that the stars are actively involved in looking down, suggests that the stars may represent the angelic host. This emphasises the specialness of the Christ child as the whole of creation, both earthly and heavenly, is coming to worship him.

The second verse begins by mentioning the cattle. Animals are not mentioned in the gospel accounts but come from the prophecies of Isaiah 1:3 and Habakkuk 3:2. The animals symbolise the whole of creation being ready to welcome and worship Christ. The animals can also be seen as pointing back to the perfect situation that existed with Adam and the animals in the Garden of Eden.

In the next line the Christ Child has woken up, but does not cry like a normal baby. There has been great debate over Christ’s childhood. In this carol, Christ is seen, as being an abnormal child, by not crying when woken up. This image of the Christ child acting in a perfect way emphasises his divinity and points to his perfect and sinless nature. However it detracts from the image of Christ as also being fully human.

The next line of this verse jumps to a completely different viewpoint. Here the modern singer/reader is portrayed as asking Christ to look down on them from above. This presents the idea of Christ being in heaven after his ascension. Again this emphasises the divine part of Christ and not the human.

The last verse contains the idea that Christ had a completely sinless childhood, and was always perfect and well behaved. Modern children are then encouraged to try and live up to this ideal image of how children should behave.

Overall Away In A Manger is a carol with a very high Christology concentrating completely, on the divine nature of Christ. By doing this it loses sight of the humanness of Christ. It also expresses a Christology from above, by emphasing the closeness of Christ to God.

The third carol I shall consider is Angels, From The Realms of Glory. This carol was written during the nineteenth century by James Montgomery¹⁰. It takes a view of the nativity that covers all of time and creation.

The first verse begins with the image of angels proclaiming Christ’s birth to the entire world. This symbolises the Christian idea that, salvation through Christ is for all people not just the Old Testament idea of God’s people. The first verse refers to the angels as being present at creation. This suggests salvation covers all time as well as all people. According to Pelican the nature of the belief of the church means they have to use ideas of cosmos and space to get across how important Jesus is.¹¹ It may also symbolise the start of a new era. Jesus is created by a new act of creation, and this can be seen as God intervening in history from outside of history.¹²

The second verse refers to the shepherds. These are mentioned in the nativity account given in Luke 2:8-18. In Christian literature and art the shepherds have come to be seen as representatives of all levels of society.

The second verse goes on to use the phrase “God with man is now residing”. This is an image of the duel nature of Christ. At the council of Nicea in 325, the church declared Christ to be of the same substance as the Father. The image of God with man is reflecting that doctrine and emphasing the special and duel nature of Christ.

The second verse also uses the image of light. The light is described as the infant light. This suggests that the light is coming from the Christ child himself. This could be a reference to passages in Isaiah and John’s gospel which talk about a great light coming and Christ being the light of the world. It could also refer to the ideas stemming from the visions of St. Bridget of Sweden. The vision of Bridget was widely taken up by Christian artists and may have influenced the author of this carol.

The third verse calls on the sages to leave their work and to come and see the Christ child. This image is showing that Christ is more important than anything else, and that everybody needs to come and worship him including wise men and kings. Christ is the greatest King of all Kings. Again the image of light is used as a beam coming out from the Christ child. This beam is then calling all to come and worship him.

The next line uses the title ‘desire of nations’ to refer to Christ. This is a reference to the prophet Haggai¹³. In Haggai’s prophecy the coming of the Desire of Nations is linked with there being great upheaval in all the nations followed by a time of great glory for the Lord. The birth of Christ is therefore seen as the start of a new age in history.

The third verse begins by continuing the idea that this is a great moment in history. It uses the image of all the saints of past history watching and praying for the great revelation of God to occur. The third verse then goes on to describe God as descending into his Temple. This may be a reference to when Jesus refers to the temple being rebuilt in three days, meaning his resurrection in the gospel of Matthew.¹⁴ In this case God descending into his temple is referring to the incarnation.

The fourth verse begins by emphasing the view of Christ as being a small and helpless child. It then goes on to look to what the future will be, with Christ reigning with God the Father in Heaven. The next line refers to how Christ will gather all nations to him. This could be a reference to the Jewish view of the Messiah. The Jews believed that the Messiah will gather all the twelve tribes together, and bring back all those from the Diaspora. The final line refers to a prophecy from Isaiah 45:23. By talking of how every knee shall bow down, it is making the point that Christ is the supreme being. Everybody else, no matter how important they may be on earth, has to worship Christ and except his divine kingship.

This carol overall presents a view of Christology from above. It sees the nativity of Christ as part of God's plan throughout all time and history. It has a high view of Christ emphasing his divinity and authority.

It can be seen that Christmas carols use imagery and symbolism to express important Christian doctrines. They also use ideas from the Gospel accounts of the nativity to tell the Christmas story in a contemporary way. They can be written from many Christological viewpoints. However, a lot of Carols tend to have a high Christological view, emphasing the divinity of Christ. This means that in some cases the humanity of Christ may be lost. However, using imagery and symbolism is a good way to express complex theological ideas to the majority of people.

Bibliography

Cranfield, C.E.B The Apostles Creed a Faith to Live By (Edinburgh: T and T Clark 1993)

Finaldi G. The Image of Christ (London: National Gallery Ltd 2000)

Oxford University Press (eds.) The Oxford Christmas Carol Book (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 1988)

Pearsall, J and Trumble, B. The Oxford English Reference Dictionary (Oxford and New York: OUP 1996)

Pelikan J. Jesus Through the Centuries His Place in the History of Culture. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press 1999)

Readers Digest (eds.) Folk Lore, Myths and Legends Of Britain (Great Britian: Readers Digest 1973)

(decided not to include this bit )

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer may seem at first glance to have very little Christian symbolism in it. However a more detailed analysis of it can reveal some quite surprising links. The main character, Rudolph himself, can be seen as a symbol of Christ. His nose is red and red is symbolic of Christ’s blood and shows the human nature of Christ. However, Rudolph acts to guide Santa, and this suggests that he is acting like the divine spirit who guides people in their daily lives. Therefore, the character of Rudolph combines both the divine and human natures of Christ in one body. This idea of Rudolph as representing Christ is reinforced by the fact the other reindeer mock Rudolph and call him names. In this way they can be seen to be acting like the soldiers at the crucifixion, who mocked Christ at his crucifixion. The fact that later the Reindeer recognise Rudolph’s greatness, reflects the roman centurion who declared at the moment of Christ’s death that this was the Son of God. So although on the surface this song appears to be a modern secular song, when looked at more closely many parallels can be seen with the Christian story.