Editing Christmas carol (section)

==Early examples==
{{listen|type=music
|filename=U.S. Army Band - This Endris Night.ogg
|title=15th-century English Christmas carol
|description="[[This Endris Night]]", discovered by Thomas Wright in 1847.<ref>Thomas Wright, ''Songs and Carols Now First Printed, From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century'' (London: [[Percy Society]], 1847)</ref> Performed by the U.S. Army Band Chorus.
}}
Antiquarians in the 19th-century rediscovered early carols in museums. According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9020427/carol|title=Carol – music|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> about 500 have been found. Some are wassailing songs, some are religious songs in English, some are in Latin, and some are "[[Macaronic language|macaronic]]" — a mixture of English and Latin. Since most people did not understand Latin, the implication is that these songs were composed for church choristers, or perhaps for an educated audience at the Royal courts. The most famous survival of these early macaronic carols is "The Boar's Head". The tradition of singing carols outside of church services early in the 19th century is best illustrated by [[Thomas Hardy]]'s novel ''[[Under the Greenwood Tree]]'' (1872). In England and other countries, such as Poland (kolęda), Romania ([[colindă]]) and Bulgaria ([[koledari]]), there is a tradition of Christmas caroling (earlier known as [[wassailing]]), in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing carols at each, for which they are often rewarded with gifts, money, mince pies, or a glass of an appropriate beverage. Money collected in this way is now normally given to charity.

Singing carols in church was instituted on Christmas Eve 1880 in [[Truro Cathedral]], Cornwall, (see article on [[Nine Lessons and Carols]]), and now seen in churches all over the world.<ref>{{cite news|title=Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2005/12/16/faith_nine_lessons_feature.shtml|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=16 December 2005}}</ref> The songs that were chosen for singing in church omitted the wassailing carols, and the words "hymn" and "carol" were used almost interchangeably. Shortly before, in 1878, the [[Salvation Army]], under Charles Fry, instituted the idea of playing carols at Christmas, using a [[brass band]]. Carols can be sung by individual singers, but are also often sung by larger groups, including professionally trained choirs. Most churches have special services at which carols are sung, generally combined with readings from scripture about the birth of Christ; this is often based on the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at [[King's College, Cambridge]].