Today it dawned on my that one of my favorite Christmas carols, Carol of the Bells, is not actually about Jesus. That made me slightly distressed. And sad.
So, I decided to reread the lyrics. Sure enough. Not one word about Jesus. But at the end of the lyrics I read this:
Carol of the Bells, also known as the Ukrainian Carol, was adapted from Shchedryk by Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921), which was first performed in December 1916 by students at Kiev University. The original Ukrainian song is based on an old Slavic legend that every bell in the world rang in honour of Jesus on the night of his birth.
While I seriously doubt all the bells ranged - even if there were bells waaaay back then - its a nice thought.
So. No longer distressed. Or sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment