Sculpture of the goddess Venus of Arles, late 1st century BCE.

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller", "rustic"^[1]) is a blanket term, typically used to refer to religious traditions which are polytheistic or indigenous.

Isis holding a sistrum and an oinochoe. (Roman artwork from the Hadrian period (117–138 CE).)

It is primarily used in a historical context, referring to Greco-Roman polytheism as well as the polytheistic traditions of Europe and North Africa before Christianization. In a wider sense, extended to contemporary religions, it includes most of the Eastern religions and the indigenous traditions of the Americas, Central Asia, Australia and Africa; as well as non-Abrahamic folk religion in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of Pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and the presence of a living mythology, which informs religious practice.

Ethnologists often avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism.

In the late 20th century, "Paganism", or "Neopaganism", became widely used in reference to adherents of various New Religious Movements including Wicca.^[2] As such, various modern scholars have begun to apply the term to three groups of separate faiths: Historical Polytheism (such as Celtic polytheism, Norse Paganism, and Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism also called Hellenismos), Folk/ethnic/Indigenous religions (such as Chinese folk religion and African traditional religion), and Neopaganism (such as Wicca and Germanic Neopaganism).

Etymology[link]

Reconstruction of the Parthenon, on the Acropolis of Athens, Greece.

The Parthenon in Nashville's Centennial Park is a full-scale copy of the original Greek Parthenon.

Pagan[link]

The term pagan is from the Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning "rural", "rustic" or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager."^[3] The semantic development of post-classical Latin paganus in the sense "non-Christian, heathen" is unclear. The dating of this sense is controversial, but the 4th century seems most plausible. An earlier example has been suggested in Tertullian De Corona Militis xi, "Apud hunc [sc. Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis," but here the word paganus may be interpreted in the sense "civilian" rather than "heathen". There are three main explanations of the development:

• (i) The older sense of classical Latin pāgānus is "of the country, rustic" (also as noun). It has been argued that the transferred use reflects the fact that the ancient idolatry lingered on in the rural villages and hamlets after Christianity had been accepted in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire;^[4] cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "Ex locorum agrestium compitis et pagis pagani vocantur." From its earliest beginnings, Christianity spread much more quickly in major urban areas (like Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage, Corinth, Rome) than in the countryside (in fact, the early church was almost entirely urban^{[citation needed]}), and soon the word for "country dweller" became synonymous with someone who was "not a Christian," giving rise to the modern meaning of "pagan." This may, in part, have had to do with the closeness to nature of rural people, who may have been more resistant to the new ideas of Christianity than those who lived in major urban centers and were cut off from the cycles of nature and the forms of spirituality associated with them. However, it may have also resulted from early Christian missionaries focusing their efforts within major population centers (e.g., St. Paul), rather than throughout an expansive, yet sparsely populated, countryside (hence, the Latin term suggesting "uneducated country folk") until a bit later on.
• (ii) The more common meaning of classical Latin pāgānus is "civilian, non-militant" (adjective and noun). Christians called themselves mīlitēs, "enrolled soldiers" of Christ, members of his militant church, and applied to non-Christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were "not enrolled in the army".^{[clarification needed]}
• (iii) The sense "heathen" arose from an interpretation of paganus as denoting a person who was outside a particular group or community, hence "not of the city" or "rural"; cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "ui alieni a civitate dei..pagani vocantur." See C. Mohrmann, Vigiliae Christianae 6 (1952) 9ff.

—Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)

The post-classical Latin paganismus gave rise to both paganism and to its synonym paynimry.^[5] Paynimry may be used of paganism, its practises, and pagans,^[6] as well as for the domain or realm of pagans.^[7]

"Peasant" is a cognate, via Old French paisent. ^[8][9]

In their origins, these usages derived from pagus, "province, countryside", cognate to Greek πάγος "rocky hill", and, even earlier, "something stuck in the ground", as a landmark: the Proto-Indo-European root *pag- means "fixed" and is also the source of the words page, pale (stake), and pole, as well as pact and peace.

While pagan is attested in English from the 14th century, there is no evidence that the term paganism was in use in English before the 17th century. The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of Paganism." The term was not a neologism, however, as paganismus was already used by Augustine.^[10]

Less than twenty years after the last vestiges of Paganism were crushed with great severity by the emperor Theodosius I^[11] Rome was seized by Alaric in 410. This led to murmuring that the gods of Paganism had taken greater care of the city than that of the Christian God, inspiring St Augustine to write The City of God, alternative title "De Civitate Dei contra Paganos: The City of God against the Pagans", in which he claimed that whilst the great 'city of Man' had fallen, Christians were ultimately citizens of the 'city of God.'^[12]

Heathen[link]

Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish" (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile woman" (translating the "Hellene" in Mark 7:26). This translation was probably influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of its similarity to the Greek ἐθνικός ethnikos, "gentile". It has even been suggested that Gothic haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ἔθνος ethnos.

Terminology[link]

Both "pagan" and "heathen" have historically been used as a pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to indicate a disbeliever in their religion; although in modern times it is not always used as a pejorative.^[13] "Paganism" frequently refers to the religions of classical antiquity, most notably Greek mythology or Roman religion; and can be used neutrally or admiringly by those who refer to those complexes of belief. However, until the rise of Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western civilization, "paganism" was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox beliefs falling outside the established political framework of the Christian Church.

Hypatia of Alexandria, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, a pagan killed by a Christian mob in March 415 CE.

"Pagan" came to be equated with a Christianized sense of "epicurean" to signify a person who is sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent, unconcerned with the future and uninterested in sophisticated religion. The word was usually used in this worldly and stereotypical sense, particularly among those who were drawing attention to what they perceived as being the limitations of Paganism. Thus G. K. Chesterton wrote: "The Pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else." In sharp contrast, Swinburne the poet would comment on this same theme: "Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death."^[14]

Christianity itself has been perceived at times as a form of polytheism by followers of the other Abrahamic religions^[15][16] because of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (which at first glance appears indistinguishable from Tritheism,^[17] though this is variously condemned as heresy or apostasy by the main Christian denominations) or the celebration of Pagan feast days^[18] and other practices – through a process described as "baptizing"^[19] or "christianization". Even between Christians there have been similar charges of idolatry levelled, especially by Protestants,^[20][21] towards the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches for their veneration of the saints and images.

Historical Paganism[link]

In the Christian perspective the term has been used historically to encompass all non–Abrahamic religions.^[22][23] The term pagan is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among monotheists,^[24] comparable to heathen and infidel. Words such as kafir (كافر) and mushrik (مشرك) are similarly used by Muslims. Peter Brown observes:

The adoption of paganus by Latin Christians as an all-embracing, pejorative term for polytheists represents an unforeseen and singularly long-lasting victory, within a religious group, of a word of Latin slang originally devoid of religious meaning. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church. Elsewhere, "Hellene " or "gentile" (ethnikos) remained the word for "pagan"; and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace.^[25]

Bronze Age to Early Iron Age[link]

• Religions of the Ancient Near East
  • Ancient Egyptian religion
  • Ancient Semitic religion
  • Mesopotamian religion
• reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion
• Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
  • historical Vedic religion

Classical Antiquity[link]

Ludwig Feuerbach (1833) defines "Paganism" (Heidentum) in the context of classical antiquity as "the unity of religion and politics, of spirit and nature, of god and man",^[26] qualified by the observation that "man" in the Pagan view is always defined by ethnicity, i.e. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Jew, etc., so that each Pagan tradition is also a national tradition. Feuerbach goes on to postulate that the emergence of monotheism and thus the end of the Pagan period was a development which naturally grew out of Hellenistic philosophy due to the contradiction inherent in the ethnic nature of Pagan tradition and the universality of human spirituality (Geist), finally resulting in the emergence of a religion with a universalist scope in the form of Christianity.^[27]

Late Antiquity[link]

The developments of Late Antiquity in the religious thought in the far-flung Roman Empire needs to be addressed separately, as this is the context in which Early Christianity itself developed as one of several monotheistic cults, and it was in this period that the concept of "pagan" developed in the first place. Christianity as it emerged out of Second Temple Judaism (or Hellenistic Judaism) stood in competition with other religions advocating "pagan monotheism", including Neoplatonism, Mithraism, Gnosticism, Manichaeanism, and the cult of Dionysus.^[28]

Dionysus in particular exhibits significant parallels with Christ, so that numerous scholars have concluded that the recasting of Jesus the wandering rabbi into the image of Christ the Logos, the divine saviour, reflects the cult of Dionysus directly. They point to the symbolism of wine and the importance it held in the mythology surrounding both Dionysus and Jesus Christ;^[29][30] Wick argues that the use of wine symbolism in the Gospel of John, including the story of the Marriage at Cana at which Jesus turns water into wine, was intended to show Jesus as superior to Dionysus.^[31] The scene in The Bacchae wherein Dionysus appears before King Pentheus on charges of claiming divinity is compared to the New Testament scene of Jesus being interrogated by Pontius Pilate.^[31][32][33]

For these reasons, it is difficult if not impossible to draw a clear line between "Christianity" and "Paganism" for the period of the 3rd to 4th centuries when Christianity was in its formative phase. Only with the emergence of Orthodox Christianity as reflected in the Apostle's Creed and the final decline of Hellenistic paganism by the 6th century does "Paganism" become a concept clearly distinct from Christianity.

Ethnic religions of pre-Christian Europe[link]

(as opposed to Abrahamic religion)

• Celtic polytheism
• Germanic paganism
• Slavic paganism
• Baltic paganism
• Finnic paganism
• Vainakh paganism

Pagan survivals in folklore[link]

In addition, folklore that is not any longer perceived as holding any religious significance can in some instances be traced to pre-Christian or pre-Islamic origins. In Europe, this is particularly the case with the various customs of Carnival or Fasnacht and the Yule traditions surrounding Santa Claus/Sinterklaas. By contrast, the Christmas tree in spite of frequent association with Thor's Oak cannot be shown to be an innovation predating the Early Modern period.

Early Modern period[link]

Interest in pagan traditions was revived in the Renaissance, at first in Renaissance magic as a revival of Greco-Roman magic. In the 17th century, description of paganism turned from the theological aspect to the ethnological, and a religion began to be understood as part of the ethnic identity of a people, and the study of the religions of "primitive" peoples triggered questions as to the ultimate historical origin of religion. Thus, Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc saw the pagan religions of Africa of his day as relicts that were in principle capable of shedding light on the historical Paganism of Classical Antiquity.^[34]

Romanticism[link]

Paganism re-surfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th century Romanticism, in particular in the context of the literary Celtic and Viking revivals, which portrayed historical Celtic and Germanic polytheists as noble savages.

The 19th century also saw much scholarly interest in the reconstruction of pagan mythology from folklore or fairy tales. This was notably attempted by the Brothers Grimm, especially Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology, and Elias Lönnrot with the compilation of the Kalevala. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian Alexander Afanasyev, the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and the Englishman Joseph Jacobs.^[35]

Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity coincided with the rise of Romantic nationalism and the rise of the nation state in the context of the 1848 revolutions, leading to the creation of national epics and national myths for the various newly formed states. Pagan or folkloristic topics were also common in the Musical nationalism of the period.

Contemporary Paganism[link]

Romuvan priestess conducting a ceremony in Lithuania. Romuva is the Neopagan revival of the ethnic religion of the Lithuanians and the Balts.

Pagan handfasting ceremony at Avebury (Beltane 2005).

Contemporary Paganism, or Neopaganism, includes reconstructed religions such as Hellenic polytheism, Slavic neopaganism (i.e. Slavianstvo, including Rodnovery), Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, or Germanic religious reconstructionism, as well as modern eclectic traditions such as Discordianism, Wicca and its many offshoots.

Many of the "revivals", Wicca and Neo-druidism in particular, have their roots in 19th century Romanticism and retain noticeable elements of occultism or theosophy that were current then, setting them apart from historical rural (paganus) folk religion.

The hammer Mjöllnir is one of the primary symbols of Germanic Neopaganism. Pendants of the Mjöllnir are commonly worn amongst Germanic Neopagans.

Neopaganism in the United States accounts for roughly a third of all contemporary Pagans worldwide, and for some 0.2% of US population, figuring as the sixth largest non-Christian denomination in the US, after Judaism (1.4%), Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), Hinduism (0.3%) and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).^[36]

In Iceland, the members of Ásatrúarfélagið account for 0.4% of the total population,^[37] which is just over a thousand people. In Lithuania, many people practice Romuva, a revived version of the pre-Christian religion of that country. Lithuania was among the last areas of Europe to be Christianized.

There are a number of Pagan authors who have examined the relation of the 20th-century movements of polytheistic revival with historical polytheism on one hand and contemporary traditions of indigenous folk religion on the other. Isaac Bonewits introduces a terminology to make this distinction,^[38]

• Paleopaganism: A retronym coined to contrast with "Neopaganism", "original polytheistic, nature-centered faiths", such as the pre-Hellenistic Greek and pre-imperial Roman religion, pre-Migration period Germanic paganism as described by Tacitus, or Celtic polytheism as described by Julius Caesar. Among extant "major religions", Bonewits would count as Paleopagan Hinduism as it stood prior to the Islamic invasions of India, Shintoism and Taoism.
• Mesopaganism: A group, which is, or has been, significantly influenced by monotheistic, dualistic, or nontheistic worldviews, but has been able to maintain an independence of religious practices. This group includes aboriginal Americans as well as Australian aborigines, Viking Age Norse paganism and New Age spirituality. Influences include: Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and the many Afro-Diasporic faiths like Haitian Vodou, Santería and Espiritu religion. Isaac Bonewits includes British Traditional Wicca in this subdivision.
• Neopaganism: A movement by modern people to revive nature-worshipping, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition may include groups such as Neo-druidism and Wicca at the other.

Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick in their A History of Pagan Europe (1995) classify "pagan religions" as characterized by the following traits:

• polytheism: Pagan religions recognise a plurality of divine beings, which may or may not be considered aspects of an underlying unity (the soft and hard polytheism distinction)
• "nature-based": Pagan religions have a concept of the divinity of Nature, which they view as a manifestation of the divine, not as the "fallen" creation found in Dualistic cosmology.
• "sacred feminine": Pagan religions recognize "the female divine principle", identified as "the Goddess" (as opposed to individual goddesses) besides or in place of the male divine principle as expressed in the Abrahamic God.^[39]

In modern times, "Heathen" and "Heathenry" are increasingly used to refer to those branches of Paganism inspired by the pre-Christian religions of the Germanic, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon peoples. (Ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/subdivisions/heathenry_1.shtml)

Demographics[link]

Paganism has been previously defined broadly, to encompass many or most of the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic religions.

The term has also been used more narrowly,^[40][41][42] however, to refer only to religions outside the very large group of so-called Axial Age faiths that encompass both the Abrahamic religions and the chief Indian religions. Under this narrower definition, which differs from that historically used by many^[43][44] (though by no means all^[45][46]) Christians and other Westerners, contemporary Paganism is a smaller and more marginal numerical phenomenon. According to Encyclopædia Britannica estimates (as of 2005), adherents of Chinese folk religion account for some 6.3% of world population, and adherents of tribal religions ("ethnoreligionists") for another 4.0%. The number of adherents of neopaganism is insignificant in comparison, amounting to 0.02% of world population at the most, or some 0.4% of the "ethnoreligious" population.

See also[link]

• Animism
• Folk religion
• Ethnic religion
• List of Pagans
• Myth and ritual
• Neopaganism
• Polytheism
• Barbarian
• Kafir

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Robert, P. & Scott, N., (1995) "A History of Pagan Europe". New York, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-7607-1210-7.
• York, Michael Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion NYU Press (2003), ISBN 0-8147-9708-3.

Look up pagan or heathen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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Pagan Altar is a doom metal band from England.

Biography[link]

Pagan Altar was formed in 1976 by Alan and Terry Jones Alongside Witchfinder General, they are one of the few NWOBHM bands to play doom metal.^[1]

Their gigs are characterised by moody, epic and heavy music interpreted with highly visual stage aspect which accented their interest for occult themes. Pagan Altar's only release from that era was independent, self-released, self-titled cassette which was in later years bootlegged. Despite no label interest in the late 70's and early 80's, the timelessness of their music kept Pagan Altar's music alive over two decades. .It was finally officially re-released on Oracle Records in 1998 and titled "Volume 1".

Mid-first decade of the 21st century, the group had reformed to re-record an album of material written, but never released during their original tenure as a band. That album, "Lords of Hypocrisy", has been met with an incredible reception from fans of doom both old and new, this was followed by a third full length, named "Mythical and Magical"

Pagan Altar are back on the road after 5 years to record their new album "Never Quite Dead" with there very own purpose built recording studio for the album in Terry's back garden. With new members behind Alan and Terry to form the backbone of the Pagan Altar live sound. Joining them is Vince Hempstead on Guitars, Dean Alexander on drums and their latest edition, William Gallagher on Bass.

Line-up[link]

• Terry Jones - vocals
• Alan Jones - guitar
• Vince Hempstead - guitar
• Dean Alexander - Drums
• William Gallagher - Bass guitar

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Volume 1 CD (1998)
• The Lords Of Hypocrisy CD (2004)
• Mythical & Magical CD (2006)

• Never Quite Dead CD (2012)

EP[link]

• The Time Lord (2004) and re released special edition (2012)

SINGLES[link]

• "Pagan Altar/Jex Thoth, Split single" (2007)
• "Pagan Altar/Mirror of Deception, Split single" (2011)

Demo[link]

• Pagan Altar (1982)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pagan Altar's official website
• Official Myspace

"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé (aka The Velvet Fog), and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.

"I saw a spiral pad on his piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled. "They started, "Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos.' Bob (Wells, co-writer) didn't think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics."

The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. At Cole's behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Nat King Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49,^[1] while Cole's original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.^[2] Mel Tormé recorded the song himself in 1954, and again in 1961, 1966 and 1992.

The Nat King Cole recordings[link]

First recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, June 14, 1946. Label credit: The King Cole Trio (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist; Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist). Not issued until 1989, when it was (accidentally) included on the various-artists compilation Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1935–1954) Rhino R1 70637(LP) / R2 70637(CD).

Second recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, August 19, 1946. First record issue. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist, Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist; Charlie Grean, conductor of 4 string players, a harpist and a drummer) Lacquer disc master #981. Issued November 1946 as Capitol 311 (78rpm). This is featured on a CD called The Holiday Album, which has 1940s Christmas songs recorded by Cole and Bing Crosby. In 2005 Capitol restored and re-released it for the 25 bit re-mastered Cole album "The Christmas Song", which also contains tracks from his 1960 and 1963 holiday albums.

Third recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, August 24, 1953. This was the song,s first magnetic tape recording. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Actual artists: Nat King Cole, vocal; Nelson Riddle, orchestra conductor) Master #11726, take 11. Issued November 1953 as the "new" Capitol 90036(78rpm) / F90036(45rpm) (Capitol first issued 90036 in 1950 with the second recording). Correct label credit issued on October 18, 1954 as Capitol 2955(78rpm) / F2955(45rpm). Label credit: Nat "King" Cole with Orchestra Conducted by Nelson Riddle. This recording is available on the 1990 CD Cole, Christmas and Kids, as well as the various-artists compilation Casey Kasem Presents All Time Christmas Favorites. It was also included, along with both 1946 recordings, on the 1991 Mosaic Records box set The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio.

Fourth recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City, March 30, 1961. This rendition, the first recorded in stereo, is widely played on radio stations during the Christmas season, and is probably the most famous version of this song. Label credit: Nat King Cole (Nat King Cole, vocal; Charles Grean and Pete Rugolo, orchestration; Ralph Carmichael, orchestra conductor). The instrumental arrangement is nearly identical with the 1953 version, but the vocals are much deeper and more focused. Originally done for The Nat King Cole Story (a 1961 LP devoted to stereo re-recordings of Cole's earlier hits), this recording was later appended to a reissue of Cole's 1960 holiday album The Magic of Christmas. Retitled The Christmas Song, the album was issued in 1963 as Capitol W-1967(mono) / SW-1967(stereo) and today is in print on compact disc. This recording of "The Christmas Song" is also available on numerous compilation albums. Some are Capitol pop standards Christmas compilations while others are broader-based. It's available on WCBS-FM's Ultimate Christmas Album Volume 3, for example.

There were several covers of Nat Cole's original record in the 1940s. The first of these was said to be by Dick Haymes on the Decca label, but his was released first – not recorded first. The first cover of "The Christmas Song" was performed by pop tenor and bandleader Eddy Howard on Majestic. Howard was a big Cole fan, and also covered Nat's versions of "I Want to Thank Your Folks" and "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons", among others.

Selective list of notable recordings[link]

	"The Christmas Song" by CeCe Peniston noicon Peniston recorded the composition for the Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas compilation in 1996.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"The Christmas Song" has been covered by numerous artists from a wide variety of genres, including:

• Aaliyah
• Trace Adkins
• Christina Aguilera (#18 in US, #22 in Canada)
• Clay Aiken
• Herb Alpert
• Thomas Anders
• India.Arie and Stevie Wonder (winner of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2003)
• Aska
• Babyface
• Tony Bennett
• Polly Bergen (who sang the song on the December 14, 1957 airing of her NBC variety show, The Polly Bergen Show)^[3]
• Justin Bieber and Usher (#58 in US, #59 in Canada)
• Michael Bolton
• Toni Braxton
• Garth Brooks
• James Brown
• Les Brown and his Orchestra (with Doris Day on lead vocal)
• Michael Bublé (his version, bearing close similarities to Celine Dion's recording of the song, reached #6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in December 2003.)
• Kenny Burrell
• The Canadian Brass (from their 1985 Christmas album A Canadian Brass Christmas)
• The Carpenters (from their 1978 Christmas album Christmas Portrait)
• Celtic Woman
• Charice
• Chicago
• Christmas Who? (a SpongeBob Christmas special. SpongeBob and Patrick in a Christmas song sing as a lyric "...chestnuts roasting and burns in the third degree" before the ending of their song.)
• Charlotte Church
• Rosemary Clooney
• Natalie Cole
• Bing Crosby
• Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass (1970)
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Doris Day (from her 1964 Christmas album The Doris Day Christmas Album)
• Gavin DeGraw
• Celine Dion
• Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (voiced by Olivia Olson on the album Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites)
• Bob Dylan
• Gloria Estefan
• Connie Francis
• Aretha Franklin
• Judy Garland, who sang the song in a duet with its composer, Mel Torme, on a Christmas-themed episode of her television show in December 1963.
• Amy Grant (from her 1983 Christmas album A Christmas Album)
• Josh Groban (from his 2007 holiday album, Noël)
• Robert Goulet
• Hampton String Quartet
• Eddie Higgins
• Hootie and the Blowfish
• Whitney Houston
• Ramon "RJ" Jacinto (from his 1988 Christmas album Pasko Na Naman)
• The Jackson 5
• Alan Jackson (from his 2007 Christmas album Let It Be Christmas)
• Joni James (from her 1956 Merry Christmas from Joni). Joni's version alters the lyric: "I'm offering this simple phrase, for kids from one to ninety-two" to "... kids from one to ninety-one".
• Al Jarreau
• Joe
• Wynonna Judd
• Peggy Lee
• Damien Leith (from a special limited Christmas edition of his 2007 album Where We Land)
• The Lettermen
• Lovedrug
• Aimee Mann (from her 2006 album One More Drifter in the Snow)
• Johnny Mathis
• Martina McBride
• Reba McEntire
• Brian McKnight
• *NSYNC
• Ricky Nelson (on the episode of TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet titled "A Busy Christmas")
• Aaron Neville
• New Kids on the Block
• Des O'Connor (from a Tesco Christmas advert)
• Alexander O'Neal
• Olivia Olson (from a 2010 Christmas album Phineas and Ferb: Holiday Favourites)
• The Partridge Family (from their 1971 Christmas album A Partridge Family Christmas Card)
• Les Paul
• CeCe Peniston (from the 1996 Christmas album Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas)
• LeAnn Rimes (on her first holiday album What a Wonderful World)
• Raven-Symoné
• Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (from their 1963 Christmas album Christmas with The Miracles)
• Linda Ronstadt (from her 2000 Christmas album A Merry Little Christmas)
• SWV
• Diane Schuur (nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female in 1990)
• Neil Sedaka (from his 2008 first-ever holiday album, The Miracle of Christmas)
• Jessica Simpson
• Frank Sinatra (including two recordings: a virtual duet with Nat King Cole, and an actual duet with Bing Crosby)
• Tom Smith (of the Editors) and Agnes Obel (on the 2011 Smith and Burrows album, Funny Looking Angels)
• George Strait
• Donna Summer
• Demi Lovato
• The Supremes (remained unreleased until their 1965 Christmas album, Merry Christmas, was re-released in 1999 with additional tracks)
• Kim Taeyeon (of the South Korean pop group Girls' Generation)
• Take 6
• James Taylor
• Team Rocket (voiced by Rachael Lillis, Eric Stewart and Maddie Blaustein on the album Pokémon Christmas Bash)
• The Temptations
• Mel Tormé – recorded by the writer four times (1954, 1961, 1966 and finally in 1992 as part of his album "Christmas Songs")
• Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
• Luther Vandross
• Andy Williams
• Stevie Wonder (from his 1967 Christmas album Someday at Christmas)
• Dwight Yoakam
• Ascap entry for song showing numerous other covers

Parodies[link]

• The title of The Simpsons episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is a parody of the song.
• Bob Rivers parodied the song with his 2000 album, and the title track from said album, "Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire".
• Stan Freberg's "Green Chri$tma$" includes several snippets of holiday songs. One segment begins with a sincere-sounding "Chestnuts roasting..." and quickly segués into a mock 1950s radio or TV ad, for a brand of chestnuts, being described as if they were toothpaste or cigarettes.
• Twisted Sister parodied the song in his 2006 album A Twisted Christmas.

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Mark Evanier on Tormé and "The Christmas Song"