The Powerful Messages of Christmas Carols

The Powerful Messages of Christmas Carols | Intellectual Takeout
"...A more profound discussion can arise from the lyrics in the first verse of Silent Night: “Round yon virgin, mother and child.”
By one interpretation these words could refer to two people—“mother and child” – but on a deeper level they can also be seen as a description of Mary and the divine nature of Jesus’ conception:  Mary herself was both “mother and child.”
Christmas carols also often contain sentiments that reveal their historical context.
For example, O Holy Night was written in 1847 as the abolitionist movement was growing, and in the third verse proclaims: “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.”
Other carols are biographical in nature.
Good King Wenceslas is based upon a historical figure that ruled Bohemia in the tenth century and conveys how this virtuous ruler risked a bitter winter storm to rescue an impoverished peasant.
The king was accompanied on his mission by a young servant who begins to succumb to the elements:  “Sire, the night is darker now/and the wind blows stronger./Fails, my heart, I know not how, I can go no longer.”
The good king tells his servant to proceed in the snowy ground by stepping into his footsteps:  “Mark my footsteps, my good page;/tread thou in them boldly./Thou shalt find the winter’s rage/ freeze thy blood less coldly.”
The imagery is clear:  
The king is lifting his servant’s burden by breaking a path for him.
On one hand, the carol presents a lesson on caring for the poor; however, on a higher plane it hearkens to another King who will help us on life’s journey if we tread in His footsteps.
Another carol influenced by biographical events is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
After losing his wife in a tragic accident in 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow fell into a deep despair.
His journal entries on Christmas Day that year and the next expressed his profound sadness: “How inexplicably sad are all holidays,” and “A ‘merry Christmas’ say the children, but there is no more for me.”
Then in 1863, Longfellow’s son was seriously wounded during a Civil War battle.
That year, his journal is altogether silent on Christmas day.
However, on December 24, 1864, Longfellow wrote a poem that stirs the heart.
Set to music in 1872, his words describe the intense despondency that had consumed him for years:  “And in despair I bowed my head./There is no ‘peace on earth’ I said./For hate is storm and mocks the song/of peace on earth, goodwill to men...”