This list of Christmas carols is organized by country, language or culture of origin. Originally, a "

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

" referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

centre on the theme of

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

or the

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

. The demarcation of what constitutes a Christmas Carol to that of Christmas Popular Song can often be blurred as they are sung by groups of people going house to house during the Christmas season, and some view Christmas carols to be only religious in nature and consider Christmas songs to be secular. Many traditional Christmas carols focus on the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, while others celebrate the

Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

that range from 25 December to 5 January or

Christmastide Christmastide is a season of the liturgical year in most Christian churches. In some, Christmastide is identical to Twelvetide. For the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Anglican Church and Methodist Church, Christmastide begins on 24 December ...

which ranges from 24 December to 5 January. As a result, many Christmas Carols can be related to St Stephen's Day (26 December), St John's Day (27 December), Feast of Holy Innocents (28 December), St Sylvester's Day (31 December), and the Epiphany. Examples of this are "

We Three Kings "We Three Kings", original title "Three Kings of Orient", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopki ...

" (an Epiphany song), and "

Good King Wenceslas "Good King Wenceslas" is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king who goes on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the Second Day of Christmas). During th ...

" (a carol for St. Stephen's Day). Nonetheless, some other categories of Christmas music, both religious and secular have become associated with the Christmas season even though the lyrics may not specifically refer to Christmas – for example, " Deck the Halls" (no religious references) and " O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" (an Advent chant). Other Christmas music sung by carolers focus on more secular Christmas themes, and winter carols and novelty Christmas songs often refer to winter scenes, family gatherings, and Santa Claus ("

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed t ...

", "

O Christmas Tree "" (; "O fir tree", English: O Christmas Tree) is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree. History The modern lyrics were written in 1824 ...

", " Home for the Holidays", " Jolly Old Saint Nicholas", "

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante. It was written after the success of A ...

", "

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

", etc.).

Afrikaans

American

Arabic

Canadian

Catalan

Chinese

The English titles are taken from the '' Hymns of Universal Praise'' and the ''

Chinese New Hymnal ''The Chinese New Hymnal'' () was published in the early 1980s and is the main hymnal used by the Protestant churches registered through the TSPM in present-day China. History ''The Chinese New Hymnal'' was begun being edited in the 1980 ...

''.

Croatian

Czech

Danish

The list is based primarily on carols and hymns mentioned in the Song Book for the Danish Folk High School. Where possible, a carol title is linked to its (Danish) Wikipedia entry, where the carol can be heard. Otherwise, a carol title has been linked to its entry at the Danish Hymn Book Online. Carolling, i.e. dancing around, is practised - probably unintentionally - in Danish Christmas tradition, when a Christmas party join hands forming a chain around the family Christmas tree and walk, dance or run around the Christmas tree depending on the Christmas carol or song sung.

Dutch

English

Estonian

Filipino

Finnish

French

Galician

German

Greek

Hungarian

Indonesian

Irish

Italian

Latin

Malaysian

Norwegian

Occitan

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Scottish

Spanish

Swedish

Ukrainian

Welsh

References

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Christmas carols Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

Carols