We just learned about the Christmas carol The First Noel.
Another famous Christmas carol is Angels We Have Heard on High.
This song started out as a French Christmas carol called "Les Anges dans nos campagnes" which means "The angels in our countryside" taht was written in 1843.
In 1862 a church leader in England named James Chadwich wrote them in English, and the music that goes with it came from an old French tune called "Gloria".
The chorus of this song is "Gloria in excelsis Deo", and it is Latin for "Glory to God in the Highest" which comes from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible.
Lyrics:
Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be? Which inspire your heavenly songs?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
(from: wikipedia - angels we have heard on high)
Pentatonix - Angels We Have Heard on High - Pentatonix
Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Christianity in the New World