Germany has given us many of the customs we now call our own. In England, we find the custom of caroling, visiting the sick and lonely to spread Christmas cheer. Listen to England's most often sung carol. Here in America, a most important part of Christmas is the acting out of the story of Jesus birth. All over our land, children in churches and schools are doing as these children are tonight.
Shepherds then enter and kneel at manger.
Our country is one of great variety. Our people have different ancestries, different customs, and different ways to express their universal joy over the birth of Christ. Because of the great suffering of the American Negro, his music is especially touching and, at Christmas, especially joyous. Many of England's early colonists settled in the land-locked valleys of the Appalachian mountains. Here they preserved much of the speech and many of the songs of old England.