When was the first Christmas carol?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
What\u2019s the difference between a Christmas carol and a hymn?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Carol singing: When did the Christmas tradition begin?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
The composers behind your favourite carols\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
What does No\u00ebl<\/i> mean, and what\u2019s the difference between No\u00ebl<\/i> and Nowell?<\/h2>\n
No\u00ebl is French for Christmas, deriving from the Latin word natalis<\/i>. No\u00ebl is the French spelling, while Nowell is the English spelling, which is why the carol is known as both \u2018The First Nowell\u2019 and \u2018The First Noel\u2019<\/p>\n
What are the lyrics to \u2018The First Nowell\u2019?<\/h2>\n
The first Nowell the angel did say\nWas to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;\nIn fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,\nOn a cold winter\u2019s night that was so deep:<\/p>\n
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,<\/i>Born is the King of Israel.<\/i><\/p>\n
They looked up and saw a star,\nShining in the east, beyond them far:\nAnd to the earth it gave great light,\nAnd so it continued both day and night:<\/p>\n
And by the light of that same star,\nThree Wise Men came from country far;\nTo seek for a King was their intent,\nAnd to follow the star whersoever it went:<\/p>\n
This star drew nigh to the north-west;\nO\u2019er Bethlehem it took its rest;\nAnd there it did both stop and stay\nRight over the place where Jesus lay:<\/p>\n
Then entered in those Wise Men three,\nFull reverently upon their knee,\nAnd offered there in his presence,\nTheir\u00a0gold\u00a0and\u00a0myrrh\u00a0and\u00a0frankincense:<\/p>\n
Then let us all with one\u00a0accord\nSing praises to our heavenly Lord\nThat hath made heaven and earth of\u00a0nought,\nAnd with his blood mankind hath bought:<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Find more\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/tag\/christmas-carol-lyrics\/"\">lyrics to your favourite Christmas carols here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/six-best-unknown-carols\/"\">Six of the best\u2026 unknown carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-best-ancient-christmas-carols\/"\">Five of the best ancient Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-best-modern-christmas-carols\/"\">Five of the best modern Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/25-greatest-christmas-carols-all-time\/"\">The 25 greatest Christmas carols of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BBC Music Magazine Published: Sunday, 05 December 2021 at 12:00 am Cornish in origin \u2018The First Noel\u2019 carol is thought to date to around the 15th century. It was first published in 1823 Carols Ancient and Modern, and tells the story of the first Christmas. Today it is usually sung to a tune by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7646,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell.jpg",1882,1255,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-first-nowell.jpg",1882,1255,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Sunday, 05 December 2021 at 12:00 am Cornish in origin \u2018The First Noel\u2019 carol is thought to date to around the 15th century. It was first published in 1823 Carols Ancient and Modern, and tells the story of the first Christmas. Today it is usually sung to a tune by…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/7645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}