The Little Drummer Boy as a Call to Vocations and Evangelization

We are all familiar with the popular Christmas tune ‘Little Drummer Boy’ It is a catchy simple song for the old and young alike. However, could this carol be interpreted as a possible call for Evangelization?

The Little Drummer boy is a ubiquitous Christmas classic, with many different versions by various artists, I won’t mention the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet. However, could there be more to this song than meets the eye?

To begin with, let’s look at the song ‘as is’ On a basic level it tells of the little drummer boy approaching the Christmas Crib. He was told to come see Jesus and give gifts to our Lord and Saviour. But he is poor too and has nothing to give. So, he offers to play Jesus a tune on his drums and the Virgin Mary deems it acceptable. The animals nodded along with the tune and then Jesus smiled at the Little Drummer Boy.

Isn’t that lovely? The little boy and his drum pleasing Jesus with his drums on the first Christmas. However, this song may be saying more than its face value. Firstly, we have the call. The drummer boy is called to visit Jesus

Come they told me

He didn’t say ‘I decided to go’ he said ‘they told me’ He was summoned or called to Jesus. The only people in the song are the Drummer Boy and the Holy family. So ‘They’ are everyone in the Crib and he was Called to them. We could also say that the initial ‘Rum, pum pum pum’ was the initial stages of a vocation beating in his heart.

Then the drummer boy talks to Jesus directly. He relates to him as being

A poor boy too

This is symbolic of the rejection of the material world required by vocations and a life dedicated to God. When he looks at Jesus he can relate to his message of poverty. He doesn’t feel pity, however he does feel a commonality with Jesus. He feels courage in this moment and realises the saviour is divine yet similar in human form. He gets brave and offers a tune on his drum. In this section the ‘Rum, pum pum pum’ is the drummer boy feeling fear and then feeling brave when in the presence of Jesus.

The drum represents his vocation or his voice, he is using the gifts he has to please the Lord. The Virgin Mary gives him her approval and then the animals nod along. However, these are no ordinary animals; there is an Ox and a Lamb. The Ox is representative of Judaism and the Lamb represents Christianity; and what are they doing? They are keeping time with the beat of the Drummer Boy’s tune. The Drummer Boys tune isn’t just a random ‘Rum, pum pum pum’ it is the message of Jesus.

The Virgin Mary’s approval gave him more confidence, and his tune grew stronger, both Judaism and Christianity kept time in agreement with his message and then Jesus approved.

The Little Drummer boy finishes with the repetition

Me and my drum

This is the Drummer Boy accepting his vocation, and continuing humbly playing his drum, or spreading the word of God. It is a quiet and humble acceptance of a vocation and a call for evangelization. This is also emphasised as every point up to this he called it

My drum

It was a little separate from him, there was a distance, but at the end it was

Me and My drum

This could be seen as an acceptance of his vocation and recognizing that his drum wasn’t just something he possessed or an idea, it as part of him. Part of his essence. It represents his Call, his Vocation. And off he goes with his Drum spreading the message of God.

And there you have it. There may be more to ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ than meets the eye. As well as being a catching lovely Christmas carol, it is also a call to vocations and evangelization.