Christmas Carols: Uncover the Hidden Stories Behind Your Favorite Festive Melodies

• Silent Night, composed in 1818 by Father Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber in Oberndorf, Austria, was famously sung during the WWI Christmas truce.
• O Holy Night, a 19th-century French carol, was initially banned as 'theatrical'; translated by abolitionist John Sullivan Dwight, it became the first song played on radio in 1906.
• What Child Is This? was penned in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix during a spiritual awakening following a severe illness and depression.
• The authorship of Away In A Manger is debated, once attributed to Martin Luther, but now believed to have American roots.
• The Little Drummer Boy, written in 1941 by Katherine K. Davis as 'The Carol of the Drum,' required legal intervention for her to receive due composer credit.

Why It Matters: Beloved Christmas carols carry fascinating hidden histories, from wartime truces to personal awakenings.