Carols

Carols are festive songs of popular religious celebration, most strongly associated with Christmas, descended from medieval dance-songs in which a refrain alternated with stanzas. The English carol tradition flourished in the fifteenth century, lapsed under Puritan rule, and was revived by nineteenth-century collectors and by the service of Nine Lessons and Carols instituted at King's College, Cambridge, in 1918. Carols are sung by choirs, congregations and door-to-door wassailers, in settings ranging from unaccompanied polyphony to folk guitar and brass. Their repertoire joins medieval survivals such as the Coventry Carol with composed standards and regional folk carols.