Why is Christmas surrounded by songs?
René Breuel. Photo CNE
Christian Life
Music is powerful. It is part of the human communication. This is why music plays such an important role during the Christmas season.
I’ve always been intrigued by some movies’ ability to take us along a character’s journey. For instance, a man meets a woman; they instantly dislike each other… until they fall in love. Or a talentless character receives a word of encouragement from a mentor and, after some practice, is revealed to be a true genius. And the audience buys it.
How do we become convinced that someone has really changed? There may be several cinematic techniques, but one that has caught my eye is using music to communicate the passage of time. A song of transition sets the scene for a montage, where several short scenes show characters growing and changing.
Inner transformation
In Film Music: A Very Short Introduction, Kathryn Kalinak writes,
[Film music] is characterised by its power to define meaning and express emotion: [it] guides our response to the images and connects us with them... Film music can also create and resonate emotion between the screen and the audience. When we recognise an emotion attributed to characters or events, we become more invested in them. In a sense, the film feels more immediate, more real.
Returning to the previous examples, the couple that so disliked each other is seen talking, walking, and dancing while a romantic hit plays, and the audience is ready for a believable kiss and a happily-ever-after ending.
Or we may be convinced that Rocky Balboa is a drunk loser. Still, after we see him practising in the gym and trotting up the city hall stairs with that tan-tan-tan-taaan song in the background, we know a champion is in the making.
Christmas narratives
Music can communicate the passage of time. Furthermore, it communicates the emotional enlargement necessary for a character’s inner transformation.
This may be one reason why Christmas narratives constantly erupt into song. For instance, Zechariah bursts into singing when he and his aged wife become parents of their son, John the Baptist: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel because He has come to his people and redeemed them” (Luke 1:68).
Similarly, a choir of angels chants from the sky when Jesus is born: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, peace to those on whom his favour rests” (Luke 2:14).
The old Simeon also sings when he holds baby Jesus in the temple: “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:29-30a).
World-changing event
Almost no Christmas story passes without a song to crown the transition of a new era.
At our time, we also have a cultural repertoire of Christmas songs. By now, you may have become tired of hearing Mariah Carey sing “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
But the most meaningful Christmas song is much grander than “Jingle Bells” or “Let It Snow”. It is Mary’s Magnificat. In it, a teenage girl emerges exultant as the mother of the Messiah: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” (Luke 1:46-47).
Mary’s song reminds us that Christmas isn’t a sentimental holiday. It is a world-changing event.
[God] has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53)
Mary doesn’t dwell on seasonal sentimentalities. She knows that the stake of the world order depends on the Person growing in her womb. So, she is not afraid to charge her song with rhetoric so world-shattering that it would be censored by dictatorships such as the late Soviet Union.
Mary knew her Son would change the course of history. Who knows if it ever crossed her mind that He would also change the personal trajectories of those who would let Him grow in them, too?
When Jesus sets the tune of our lives, we experience an inner transformation worthy of a rousing song.
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