TIS the season! Looking at the man on the right, you can practically hear his tra-la-las as he seems to sing with a lot more enthusiasm than his colleague beside him. The men are employees of Blair’s Engineering Works in Govan, seen taking part in a Christmas carol service in 1953.
Blair’s, founded in 1838, was known for producing steel machinery, 20-tonne iron castings and having an extensive copper-work shop. Not quite a traditional venue for carolling.
Yet the very first carols were actually designed to be accessible to, and sung by, ordinary people, rather than choirs in churches. Christmas songs had historically been in Latin – a language most people couldn’t understand – but St Francis of Assisi organised Christmas plays where the choruses were in people’s native language.
The tradition then spread across Europe, and soon carols were popular in many homes around the continent. When Oliver Cromwell and the puritans came to power in 1647 they put a stop to celebrations and carol singing, but some people carried on in secret.
Yet it took until the Victorian era for carols to come back into vogue, as orchestras and choirs began to look for music to sing at Christmas. The custom of carolling in the street also became popular, returning the songs to their roots in the community. So this Christmas, you will have no excuse for not joining in – carols are for everyone.
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