Part III: Carols and Churches. Hark! The congregations sing! скачать в хорошем качестве

Part III: Carols and Churches. Hark! The congregations sing!

In the previous episode of this series, we explored Christmas carols as folk music – songs that were shaped by communities, passed on by ear, and rooted in everyday life. In this episode, we turn to what happened next: how Christianity and the churches drew on those folk traditions, gradually bringing carols into worship, theology, and the rhythms of the liturgical year. What began outside the church walls was eventually drawn within them. Today, we are interested in what Christmas carols mean in this religious context – how they function in worship, how they are sung, and how they shape the experience of Christmas for congregations and choirs. To explore this, we hear from three guests: Alice Pettit, the Vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Ham; Margaret Haig, who runs the Orthodox Christian choir, Mosaic; and Mervi Mattilla, Service Manager at the Finnish Church in Rotherhithe. Together, they provide insight into the living role of carols in Christian worship today. We begin with Alice Pettit. Michael Owens spoke with Alice in the middle of Advent, so she was, understandably, quite busy at the time. Parts III to IV all now available on our Substack, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.