Chants - their pagan beginnings

Classical Antiquity

The Bible doesn’t specifically use the word “chant”, but it does include many songs and passages intended for repetitive and communal recitation. For example, Kyrie eleison and Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty 

However, such phrases appeared long after non-Abrahamic chants such as the Ancient Greek hymn to the god Zeus, the Roman prayer from the Carmen Arvale to the Lares and Mars, and several others.

Middle Ages

Throughout this period, Christians, as well as Jews and Muslims, continued to write verses for singing and chanting. It's quite likely that adherents of pagan religions also developed new chants too. However, the powerful Christianisation of Europe purged many of the written pagan texts, and few survive today.

We are aware of Hórr ok Baldr, Sva bjóða þér - a Norse galdr (spell) which was repeatedly sung to invoke nature spirits and gods, charms from the German Merseburg Incantations; Baltic Dainas (songs); and Gaelic charms for healing and protection.

1997 and beyond

A new (fictional) chant, Wingardium Leviosa, is introduced in the first Harry Potter story (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 1997), where Professor Flitwick teaches first-year students how to levitate objects. Other spells in the series include Expecto Patronum (from the Latin expecto: “I await” or “I expect”, and patronum: “protector” or “guardian”), which conjures a magical guardian.

Please try it and let me know if it works for you.

So?

Today, while most people intuitively assume chants are practiced by the main religions, we mustn't forget that chants were initially for ancient deities, and often associated with magic.

What's in a name?

The word “chant” gave rise to magical terms like “to enchant” and “enchanted”, which have evolved to carry a positive, almost delightful meaning — as in ‘the audience was enchanted by her singing’. Similarly, the concept of a magical “charm” lives on in phrases like ‘a charming blend of old and new’. And the word “magic”, once tied closely to the occult, has softened into something wonderful and uplifting, as in ‘the audience was magically enchanted by her charming blend of old and new songs’.

In Christianity, the word "chant" stems from the 12th century French chant and the Latin cantus (song, singing). It's still the term used for short and unmetrical passages, such as a psalm or canticle.

Chants differ from hymns in their structure, musicality and purpose. Hymns are typically more melodic and structured, often with four-part harmony and a faster harmonic rhythm, while chants are simpler, repetitive vocaliaations, sometimes with a limited melodic range.

Chants tend to be used in high-church traditions for meditation and prayer. In evangelical Hillsong-style churches with contemporary charismatic rock'n'roll, their meditative and prayerful songs can be as soft and slow as chants. However, rather than being called "chants", they are referred to as "worship choruses", "refrains", "bridges", "prayer songs", "soaking songs"... and no doubt new terms will be invented before this webpage is uploaded.

Whatever the name, the objective of the song is to focus the mind and connect with God.

See other Pagan items adopted by Christianity.