Drummer Boy

My mom really loved Christmas. She would decorate the house, making sure to place a mini-creche set in each bedroom. She would lay out the ornaments on the dining room table to get ready for all of us kids to help decorate the tree. There were a few ornaments, such as her peach that only she would put on the tree. She also liked the holiday specials, and in particular some of the kid ones, which she enjoyed watching with us. One of her favorite television specials was "The Little Drummer Boy." 

The main household creche set, placed in the living room, was comprised of Hummel figurines. My mom collected Hummels, and she would pull out one from her shelves, and place it with the creche, that was a figurine of a drummer boy. 

Hummel figurine 
of Drummer Boy
Source: E-bay 

One reason I think she liked the drummer boy is that it featured a little boy; having given birth to eight boys, particularly since the first seven of her ten children were boys, boys were all around her. She was, before the term has become popularized, a "boy mom."  Her favorite "Peanuts" character was not Charlie Brown, Linus or Schroeder, but Pig Pen. Everyone could recognize Pigpen for he has a cloud of dust following him. The Drummer Boy held a special place in her heart, and I think this will explain why.

What we know as the Little Drummer Boy was actually first written as the Carol of the Drum, in 1941 by Katherine Kennicott Davis, and was first recorded by the Von Trapp family singers in 1951, yes, that Von Trapp family. Oddly, inspiration for Davis came when she was trying to take a nap. It was a popular song for several years, At some point the name was changed, and Davis did not care for the retitled song, calling it "cutie cute." The song's main success came with an arrangement by Perry Simeon in 1959. The song was further popularized by the 1968 by the stop motion (animated film technique) movie. This is what I most often recall, but I am sure the song was on one of the Christmas records (vinyl in millennial lingo) she had. 

This story, of course, is not in the bible, and really did not exist until near the mid-20th century with the carol and later with that television special. The story is like much of our traditions, embedded with myth, which help bind us to a common culture. Joseph Campbell has written about myth and how it binds and ties culture and symbols. He wrote (https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-four-functions-of-myth):

The mystical (or metaphysical) function inspires in the individual a sense of awe and gratitude in relation to the mystery dimension of the universe. 

The cosmological function presents an image of the universe that links local knowledge and individual experience to that mystery dimension. 

• The sociological function validates, supports, and imprints on the individual the norms of that society.

• The psychological (or pedagogical) function serves to guide each individual through the stages of life, within the context of that culture.

 Drums, and music at large often play to our myths, as help form a shared culture. No one really knows why Davis chose a drummer, but a Hark broadcast, which you can find (with perhaps a bit of scrolling)

here, suggests it is related to the drummers common in Civil War and other war times, when the instruments were used to guide movements in battle. My wife's 5th great grandfather, Simeon, was a drum major for part of his service in the Revolutionary War. We should recall that in the era of the Revolutionary and Civil wars there was not recorded sound (perhaps a tough idea for the I-generation to recognize), so music heard was from a performance. Music is important to our culture and it plays apart of bonding a group together. One hundred years people still relied on live music, and probably explains why my grandfather (b 1887) learned varied instruments. Drummers, and musicians during the Civil War were viewed as having the values of piety and patriotism, per Hark. However, this is conjecture, but I suspect the use of drummer boy is more related to the fact that drums were and are often used to announce an event. When watching a band in a parade, the drums, while not first, are always playing, while the wind instruments take a break. 

Little Drummer Boy in Television Special
Source: Google Images

The little drummer boy is used to announce the birth of Christ. In the television special the boy is an orphan, with little to offer Christ. He has no frankincense, gold or myrrh. He has only himself and a drum (well a lamb). And here is where his gift to Jesus is offered from the depths of his heart. He asks if he may play his drum for him (Christ), and tin the next verse comes the answer, "Mary nodded."  Then, as Hark says, here is he kicker "He smiled at me" and the Hark guest goes on to say "Isn't that what every Christian soul longs for--to be smiled at by Jesus."  The host of hark then quotes a Jesuit priest who once said, "Behold the one beholding you and smiling." 

The Little Drummer Boy in the television show had a hardened heart due to the death of his parents, his heart became filled with joy, and he smiled, upon playing for the Christ child. Given what happened in Madison this past Monday, we all could do with a more joy. Even in the most difficult of times Christ still smiles on us.

It is an orphaned peasant who shows that the best gifts are those that we have within ourselves. I think that is why my mom liked the Little Drummer Boy. My wife most cherishes the ornaments our kids made for her when they were young, as they came from their hands and heart. Christmas is primarily a time to recognize that Christ was born to give us himself. Culturally this is recognized through gift giving to others. My mom, like most moms, give much of themselves to their children, and perhaps this is why she so much liked Christmas. The little drummer boy understood that level of giving, although it took a heart melted by the smile of the incarnate baby to realize it.