The customary Christmas rush has been known to take the “jolly” out of the holiday. People are too busy to relax to the sounds of Christmas—sleigh bells ringing, children laughing, Christmas carols.

Christmas carols are suspected to have been around for more than 1500 years, said William Studwell, professor and principal cataloger at Founders Memorial Library.

However, according to encyclopedias, the true Christmas carols—the lighter, more informal songs—originated in 13th century Italy.

These songs became popular among the Franciscan monks when St. Francis of Assisi sang songs in honor of the baby Jesus.

Studwell said carols became more popular and people danced to them around the 16th century.

“The word carol comes from the Latin word chorus, which means to dance,” Studwell said.

Songs such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Adeste Fideles,” also known as “O Come All Ye Faithful,” were written in the 1700’s.

However, the custom of going outside and carolling disappeared from the 1640’s to the 1800’s because of the change in society, Studwell said.

The ever-popular Christmas carol “Silent Night” was written in 1818 by Josef Mohr, parish priest of Oberndorf in Austrian Tyrol.

On Christmas Eve, Mohr wrote the first three stanzas of “Silent Night” as a surprise to his parishoners. He was afraid they would be disappointed when they discovered the organ had broken.

For music, Mohr went to Franz Gruber, teacher and church organist.

Within a few hours, the song was completed and performed by the two and accompanied by guitar at the midnight mass.

As time went on, Christmas carols became more modern and less religious.

“The last religious song written is ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’ written in 1962,” Studwell said.