Christmas Carols Explained

As Carols are sometimes centuries old, they are full of weird, old-timey words so we have Angels being harked, Halls being decked and Yuletide Carol's being trolled which we sing along with anyway but the meanings have been lost so i asked a lexicographer what the heck are we singing about each December?   

Before anyone ever jingled any bells they Carol'd which was to dance in a circle holding hands and singing and one of the most confusing carols is Deck The Halls which mentions 'Deck the halls with boughs of holly (Fa la la la la la la la), Troll the ancient Yuletide carol (Fa la la la la la la la)' and
deck means to covering something, the halls are the rooms of your home and a bough of Holly is a branch snipped from a Holly tree although decorate your rooms with tree branches isn't quite so lyrically elegant. To Troll is to sing in a full, rousing voice and Yuletide is an olde word for Christmas.
 
We Wish you Merry Christmas mentions 'Good tidings we bring to you and your kin' which means Good news (Good tidings) and your kin is family while the Figgy pudding which you ask to be bought some of (rather rudely i always thought) is a type of dessert consisting of a steamed cake that contains brandy, dried fruits, and spices aka a Christmas Pudding which confusingly doesn't have a single fig in it.

'We Three Kings' recalls the biblical journey of the Three Kings, Wise Men or Magi and amongst the presents they are bearing are Frankincense which is a sweet smelling tree resin used as incense, Myrhh which is a tree resin also used as incense and Gold although personally i reckon a Playstation or an iphone would have been better received.

'Hark the Herald Angel Sings' is to listen intently (Hark) to the Angels singing and the Bells on Bobtail in 'Jingle Bells' is a horse which has had its tail cut short (Bobbed) and it's owners made up for it by attaching bells although i'm sure Bob would prefer his tail if he was asked.

The Round yon virgin in 'Silent Night' is simply saying all is calm and bright around the yonder (yon) Virgin, the sentence was simply truncated when it was translated from the original German to make it fit properly and the line 'Long lay the world in sin and error pining' in 'O Holy Night' means a World full of sin and error pining (yearning for something), in this case a liddle baby Jesus.

Wassail is a toast of warm wine in Old Norse and means 'Be Well' and Wassailing is the act of being given a warm Christmas drink after all that Caroling in the cold winter and toasting the giver (Wassailing) for their generosity

As for the Classic Most Wonderful Time Of The Year with it's holiday greetings and gay happy meetings when friends come to call, gay may mean something different today but back then it was the old word for Happy so Andy Williams isn't saying what you think he is and neither is Fred Flintstone who in the theme tune is having a gay old time although he did spend a lot of time with Barney Rubble but let's not go there.