CJ Replay: Service of Lessons and Carols

One of the great traditions of the Christmas season is the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, sung by church choirs large and small” in every part of the English-speaking world. The model upon which this nativity event is based is the service which takes place annually on Christmas Eve at 3:00pm in the Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge, England. It has been a tradition at King’s since 1918, but the history of the service goes back to the late nineteenth century.

 

The service of nine lessons with carols interspersed started its swift rise as a favorite Christmas devotional service as soon as it was introduced in 1918 by Dean Eric Milner-White andOrganist Arthur H. Mannl at King’s College Chapel. The beauty of the service itself and the splendor of the singing of the King’s Choir led to its introduction, not only as a traditionalservice in the Church of England, but in Non-conformist chapels everywhere-and not only in England, but in English-speaking churches the world over. Its worldwide popularity was assured when, on Christmas Eve in 1928, the British Broadcasting Company first relayed it from King’s College Chapel. On December 23, 1954, a special taping of the entire service was prepared for television. Since 1963, a shorter version has been filmed periodically by the BBC. It is therefore not difficult to understand why the service has become an integral part of the Christmas season.