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The Art of Christmas Caroling

From Your Family to Theirs

By Marie-Helen Goyetche

The tradition of Christmas caroling has been around in North America for close to 200 years. Every year, groups of choirs, children in Boy and Girl Scouts, families, friends and neighbors get together to sing the spirit of Christmas and spread the Christmas joy.

Caroling is usually informal. No elaborate costumes, no decorations, just the voices singing (some trying harder than others) the spirit of the holidays with songs many people have heard throughout their lives.

Caroling is an easy and fun tradition to follow. There are basically two ways to go about caroling: a planned caroling session or an unplanned one.

With planned caroling, you'll have to decide where and what your group will sing and the route you'll take. You'll want to make copies of the music for everyone, too. And have a leader call ahead to various hospitals, legion halls or at retirement homes. Arrangements must be made ahead of time to coordinate with other carolers and to have a ready and waiting audience.

is to be spontaneous and get a group of people together and take your singing to the streets. Some communities invite their residents to show up at a designated park and have a standstill singing event.

"We simply decided one Christmas, 'Let's go caroling,'" says Lynn. "We assembled a few neighbors and their families. We went knocking door-to-door and sang Christmas carols. I don't remember anyone not wanting to listen!"

Is there a certain length of time your group should sing? A few hours are enough time for you to cover your repertoire, but if you have many children in your caroling group, your time might be reduced.

"We sang for several hours, but more often an hour or two," says Chas. "By then the youngest singers would get tired, and everybody would need something to 'wet their whistle' so we'd end up at somebody's house for hot tea and cookies and fruitcake."