Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
“The First Noel” is one of the few surviving early Christmas standards that can genuinely be earmarked as a folk song. The word ‘noel.’ Noel–in English, ‘nowell’ or even ‘noelle’–is the modern spelling of the old French word ‘nouel.’ The derivation of this word probably comes from the earlier Latin term ‘natalis,’ relating to birth.
In England, “The First Noel” was sung each year by many peasants as they lit the Yule log. Therefore, this became the song that started the entire Christmas season. Especially for children, this carol meant the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year. Down through the ages, the tradition of the Yule log carried with it the music of this folk carol. Though its words and music were not written down, “The First Noel” survived.
Each winter a family would go out into the woods, cut down a huge tree, drag it back home, cut away its branches, and hollow out its core. They then filled the hole with oils, spices, and other sweet-smelling ingredients, and set the log in the fireplace. Kindling was sprinkled around the Yule log, and a daughter or a wife would light the fire with a splinter leftover from last year’s log. Families that burned a Yule log each year believed that good luck would befall their household
When those who embraced this custom became Christians, they adapted the Yule log to Christmas. Eventually, the timber came to symbolize the wood of the cross, and the sweet packing to represent the beautiful life Christ offered each Christian—His ultimate sacrifice on that cross. The log was brought into the home on Christmas Eve and was lit. It was hoped that the log would burn for the entire twelve days of Christmas, its embers dying January 6, the day the wise men arrived with their gifts for Jesus. If the log lasted that long, it was a sign that the household was blessed.