The Origin of the Christmas Carol

The dance of the angels in Botticelli’s famous picture of the Nativity has been said to refer to the tradition that Angels dance in a circle of joy. The idea of dances in Heaven has, indeed, existed from very early days.

It may be a surprise to some to find that the word Carol is derived from the old French Carole (means a circle), which was “the name given by the Troubadours to a dance in which the performers moved slowly in a circle, holding hands and singing as they went.” There is an old carol in Cornwall which alludes to a heavenly dance, an idea which goes back to the very earliest ages of Christianity. The carol, in fact, is a Christian version of the Greek Chorus.
That the Angels dance is an old belief, and is constantly set forth by the old Italian masters, including Fra Angelico.


In this holy dance, Christ is the chorus leader, the Tenth or Perfect Number, who sings to all the nine choirs of Angels in turn, while they sing back to Him their chants of praise in antiphone (the response which one side of the choir makes to the other in a chant; alternate chanting or signing).


The early Christians allowed mystical dances in their churches, as we know by tradition. But abuses crept in, and gradually they had to be abolished; only surviving here and there. The part of the church called the choir (derived from chorus) is an historical witness to the fact. The cosmic mystery of creation is signified by this dance, which is constantly alluded to by the early Christian Fathers, who call it the “Cosmic Mystery of the Church.” But a still more ancient origin is indicated in an early Christian apocryphal gospel incorporated with the Acts of John, called the Hymn of Jesus. It states that the Apostles, holding hands, with Our Lord in the midst, circled slowly round Him singing a hymn; that this elect enclosure protected the Church from the outer world, and that within this mystic circle the Holy Office proceeds, the neophytes, or new-born, personifying the “Sophia” (or church), and the Hierophantes or Initiator representing Christ. The words of Our Lord, “I piped unto you, and ye would not dance,” are supposed to refer to this mystery. This is the earliest Passion Play, or Mystery Dance of the Passion, also the first and original Carol, and it symbolizes the sacramental union of the human with the Divine (G.R.S. Mead, “The Quest”, Oct., 1910).
Dancing, Ancient and Modern (Ethel Lucy Urlin, pg. 42)

Also See:
The Spiritual Significance of Numbers
Mystical Revelation by Botticelli (Article on the symbolism of Sandro Botticelli's painting: 'Mystical Nativity' - first painting in this post)