Go Caroling Day Date in the current year: December 20, 2024

A Christmas carol is a song or hymn that focuses on the theme of Christmas and is traditionally sung during the winter holiday season. Although the tradition of caroling is closely associated with Christianity, its roots can be traced back to pagan celebrations of the winter solstice that featured ritual songs.

The first known records of Christmas hymns date back to 4th-century Rome, but they were purely liturgical. The first songs that were somewhat close to what we call Christmas carols were written by Adam of Saint Victor, a French monk, in the 12th century. He was the first person to derive music from popular songs for Christmas hymns.

Christmas carols as we know them today, i.e. popular Christmas songs in people’s native languages rather than in Latin, developed in 13-th century Germany, France, and Italy under the influence of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is also credited with setting up the first ever Nativity scene. The first Christmas carols in English are dated 1426.

The European Reformation helped Christmas carols gain prominence because Lutheran churches welcomed music. However, this couldn’t be said about all Protestants; Puritans, for example, did not welcome carols or any other festive Christmas traditions.

The popular appeal of carols was widened and cemented thanks to composers seeking to revive the tradition and the publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century. The tradition continued into the modern day, and today carols are an integral part of the Christmas season.

The first Go Caroling Day was celebrated on December 19, 2001, but its date has since been moved to December 20 to bring it closer to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere — the day when “true” winter begins. In addition, it’s less than a week before Christmas, so this is indeed the perfect day to brush up your caroling skills in time for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.

How can you celebrate Go Caroling Day? Well, the obvious answer is by going caroling! Learn and rehearse several carols and then go and spread holiday cheer among the people around you. Invite your friends and your family to tag along if you don’t want to sing solo. Who knows, maybe even some strangers will want to join in on the fun!

However, we understand that this option isn’t for everyone because not all people have a good singing voice and love to be the center of attention, so here are a few other ideas on how to observe Go Caroling Day. You can throw a caroling party, sign up for a singing lesson to improve your caroling skills, watch a movie or TV show that features caroling (Love, Actually is a classic; if you want to watch something newer, check out Netflix’s Dash & Lily), learn interesting facts about carols, watch caroling videos on YouTube or TikTok, and spread the word about the holiday on social media using the hashtag #GoCarolingDay.