Bells, The Christmas Symbol

Bells on Christmas

A long time ago, people were under the impression that they could use bells to scare away evil spirits. Bells were a hassle free form of noise-making. They could be easily made or obtained and everyone was aware of how to use them. Several people thought that as winter started, horrible spirits would come to hurt them. So at the time of the dark days after the hunt or the harvest, people would preoccupy themselves in ceremonies to keep horrible things from happening to them whilst they waited for warmer days and spring.

The custom of using sound makers like bells at these times escalated over into the celebration of Christmas. But people made noise to laud something happy, instead of making noise to shoo away evil things.

In several villages, there lies a church and most churches have a bell. Whenever something significant happened, such as reminiscing the birth of Jesus Christ, they would jingle the bell.

You will probably come across this line at Christmas: “Each time a bell chimes, an angel is granted his wings”. It’s a famous line from the cinema “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Over one hundred years ago, however, this was a very prevalent saying amongst kids.

During those days, kids believed that composing noise was just a portion of Christmas. And bells were a simple way to achieve that noise. Bells were relatively cheap musical instruments that people could take with them wassailing or caroling and almost every family had at least one, if not more. Bells also provided a cheery and bright sound and were tolerable to parents as proper tools to make noise and celebrate during Christmas.

Bells play a significant role in other areas of lauding Christmas. Some people probably visualize Santa’s reindeer with bells donned over them for decoration. Santa might also utilize bells to help look for the reindeer in the fog or snow or in the dark.

Bells also constantly had a place in Christmas songs. The popular Christmas hymn I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day started as a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the 19th century, 1860’s. The poem was essentially about the tragedy one experienced during the civil war. Christmas bells are reminisced in standard holiday songs such as Christmas Bells are ringing”, “Silver Bells” and “Jingle Bells.”Bellsemit a cheerful noise and are enjoyed in “ringing out the old, ringing in the new” every season, the same being done in the past.

Church Bells, have also traditionally been correlated with Christmas for a significant amount of time. In the Catholic and Anglican churches, the church day begins at sunset, hence any subsequent service is the very first service of the day. So a sermon on Christmas Eve after sunset is actually the first service of Christmas. In churches that possess a Bell or multiple Bells, they are frequently rung to cue the start of this service. In certain churches in the UK, it is customary that the largest bell in the church is jingled four times one hour prior to midnight and the nail the bells are rung in celebration at midnight.

Christmas is the sole time that mass is granted to be convening at midnight, in the Catholic Church. This is due to the fact that, in the early church, it was thought that Jesus was born at midnight, although there has never been any evidence of this. A lot of Churches conduct midnight sermons on Christmas Eve, although not every church will have a communion or mass as a portion of the sermon. In many Catholic countries such as Spain, France, and Italy, the midnight mass sermon is very essential and everybody tries to go to a service. It was very mod to go carol singing with tiny hand bells to execute the tune of the carol, in the Victorian times. Sometimes there would be only the bells with little to no singing. Ringing bells with hands or hand bell ringing is still prevalent today.

Christmas is the sole time that mass is granted to be convene at midnight, in the Catholic Church. This is due to the fact that, in the early church, it was thought that Jesus was born at midnight, although there has never been any evidence of this. A lot of Churches conduct midnight sermons on Christmas Eve, although not every church will have acommunion or mass as a portion of the sermon.In many Catholic countries such as Spain,France, and Italy, the midnight mass sermon is very essential and everybody tries to go to a service. It was very mod to go carol singing with tinyhand bells to execute the tune of the carol, in the Victorian times. Sometimes there would be only the bells with little to no singing. Ringing bells with hands or hand bell ringing is still prevalent today.