Ready, Set . . .

I sure hope readers haven’t been sneaking Christmas carols into Advent. That might be like wearing a hijab during Advent (why don’t those identifying with Muslims this season worry about offending the high church followers of the liturgical calendar?).

Here are a few reasons for not singing Christmas carols until Christmas (duh). To the logic that people are in mood because of the weather, here’s how to respond:

Apart from the obvious pandering to society’s commercialized view of the Christmas season, this atttitude is dangerous in equating worship (particularly liturgical worship) with “making people feel good.”

And don’t let the shoppers fool you into thinking it’s Christmas, because it isn’t:

Despite what Macy’s and Wal-Mart might say, Christmas doesn’t start until December 25 [or it’s vigil, in the Catholic Church], and in many churches runs past New Year’s Day [to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, in the Catholic Church]. So, during the four Sundays of Advent, (Christ Lutheran Church) will sing Advent hymns, not Christmas ones. The anticipation of those favorite carols is like a 5-year-old waiting for a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve.

Here’s the technical reason:

Advent’s true believers say the ancient tradtion is a season of preparation and anticipation, a sort of kinder and gentler version of Lent, the 40 days of prayer and penance leading up to Easter.

Advent has its own songs and traditions — including lighting the four candles of the Advent wreath — and musicians say it would be premature to sing Christmas songs about the birth of Christ before he’s actually born.

“It would be a bit like opening your Christmas presents before Christmas morning, like sneaking into the closet and ruining the surprise,” said Kathleen Pluth, a Catholic hymnwriter in Washington DC. “It’s a bit of a let down.”

Added Michael McCarthy, the music durector at Washington National Cathedral, “Would you sing ‘Happy Brithday’ before someone’s birthday? That’s basically it.”

So if these Advent songs are getting tired, maybe this one will get you through tonight (if you’re not watching the Chargers and the Raiders):

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me,
Won’t see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I’ve got a feeling
This year’s for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They’ve got cars
Big as bars
They’ve got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It’s no place for the old

When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on the corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells are ringing
Out for Christmas day

You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead
On a drip in that bed

You scum bag
You maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God
It’s our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells are ringing
Out for Christmas day

I could have been someone
Well, so could anyone
You took my dreams
From me when I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells are ringing
Out for Christmas day

God bless the Irish.

Image by DALIBRI