Christmas carols: test your knowledge!

I wrote this one many years ago when a friend asked me to come up with some party games for her Christmas open house. Here are the titles of fourteen familiar Christmas carols, which have been obfuscated by means of a plethora of arcane verbiage and tortuous circumlocution. See how many you can decipher:

1. Palestinian municipality of unimpressive size

2. Seraphic beings originating from a celestial location

3. I espied a trio of seagoing vessels

4. Somewhere sort of distant, in a feedbox

5. Spruce up the gathering place with bunches of seasonal greenery

6. Depart, and proclaim the news from an elevated location

7. May the Supreme Deity maintain you in a condition of jollity, good fellows

8. It occurred at twelve a.m. under a sky full of stars

9. Unbounded joviality to the inhabitants of this planet

10. Total absence of nocturnal noise

11. I speculate in astonishment while perambulating aimlessly

12. On a particular occasion in a village associated with a prominent Hebrew monarch

13. The time from December 25 to January 5

14. Seasonal musical composition for hollow metal objects, typically having the shape of an inverted cup widening at the lip, that sound a clear musical note when struck, typically by means of a clapper inside

❆    ❆    ❆    ❆    ❆

ANSWERS: 1. O Little Town of Bethlehem; 2. Angels from the Realms of Glory; 3. I Saw Three Ships; 4. Away in a Manger; 5. Deck the Hall; 6. Go, Tell It on the Mountain; 7. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen; 8. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; 9. Joy to the World; 10. Silent Night; 11. I Wonder as I Wander; 12. Once in Royal David’s City; 13. The Twelve Days of Christmas; 14. Carol of the Bells

SCORING:
12 – 14 correct: Not bad, but let’s face it — it was a pretty easy quiz
8 – 11 correct: You really should go Christmas caroling more often
4 – 7 correct: Obviously not a music lover
fewer than 4 correct: Ebenezer Scrooge, pre-conversion

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 23rd, 2018 at 8:33 am and is filed under circus of life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

22 Responses to Christmas carols: test your knowledge!

  1. Ubi Dubium says:
    December 23, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    I nailed them all, no sweat. But then I’m a choral singer, and these were the easy ones. I know an awful lot of obscure carols.

    Liked by 1 person

    • bluebird of bitterness says:
      December 23, 2018 at 4:01 pm

      I was a church music director for many years, and Christmas Eve was by far our biggest musical extravaganza of the year, so there aren’t very many Christmas songs that I haven’t heard. I deliberately stuck with the more familiar ones here to keep the quiz manageable. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  2. tidalscribe says:
    December 23, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    12!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Lucinda E Clarke says:
    December 23, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    I only got 12 as I’d never heard of two of them. Good though – the quiz I mean

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Christmas Carols From B.O.B. | sparksfromacombustiblemind says:
    December 23, 2018 at 3:06 pm

    […] https://bluebirdofbitterness.com/2018/12/23/christmas-carols-test-your-knowledge/ […]

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Melanie B Cee says:
    December 23, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    Hee hee, I got ’em ALL right. And reblogged this besides. Plus added a little something to my post. thanks B.O.B.

    https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2018/12/23/christmas-carols-from-b-o-b/

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Loquitur Veritatem says:
    December 23, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    A classic, and always welcome (once a year). Have you considered adding “diminutive prepubescent male percussionist”?

    Liked by 1 person

  7. LordBeariOfBow says:
    December 23, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    I scored 0! Which really isn’t surprising 👿
    Any prize for that ?

    Liked by 3 people

  8. mindful webworker says:
    December 23, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    Milady, Son, and I took your great and fun little quiz. Easy going 1-10. Only Son knew Three Ships, but that counts for the team. None of us knew 11, or 12, although Milady and I sort-of thought we recognized the name of 12.

    Mom has an ancient book of Christmas carols I used to try to play on the piano as a kid. And sometimes still do. The book opens readily to certain familiar pages. Many others are carols I never knew, learned, or heard of. Funny, that.

    Songs like Good King Wenceles were just was not on my playlist.

    But I liked the Pogo versions.

    ♫ Good King Sauerkraut look out
    On his feets uneven
    Beware the snoo lay ’round about
    All kerchoo achievin’ … ♬

    Liked by 3 people

  9. patriciaruthsusan says:
    December 24, 2018 at 1:24 am

    That was fun but I found I was rusty. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2019. 🙂 — Suzanne

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Name These Carols – that little voice says:
    December 24, 2018 at 7:42 am

    […] DECEMBER 23, 2018 ~ MELANIE B CEE Reblogged from https://bluebirdofbitterness.com/2018/12/23/christmas-carols-test-your-knowledge/ […]

    Liked by 1 person

  11. V.M.Sang says:
    December 24, 2018 at 8:50 am

    I got all but 2, and those I’ve not heard of. I wonder as I wander and Carol of the bells are new to me.

    Liked by 1 person

%d bloggers like this: