The type of song style associated with Christmas is a carol. Christmas carols are festive songs, often religious, traditionally sung during the Christmas season and frequently centered on the Nativity, celebration, or seasonal customs.
The word “carol” originally referred to a song accompanied by dancing or communal celebration, rather than exclusively to Christmas music. Over time, especially in English-speaking countries, the term became strongly linked with seasonal songs performed in churches, homes, schools, and by groups singing from house to house.
Many familiar carols became popular through 19th-century revivals of Christmas customs. Examples include “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Silent Night,” which was first performed in Austria in 1818. Not every Christmas song is technically a carol: “Jingle Bells,” for example, is a secular winter song that became associated with Christmas, while “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is more precisely an Advent hymn. In everyday language, however, “carol” is the standard answer for a Christmas-related song style.