Your Daily Dose of Christmas!

It’s Day 2! I generally try to not be this late in the day with this feature, but sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces. Anyway:

“Carol of the Bells” isn’t really my favorite bit of Christmas music, though I do find myself warming to it more over the last few years. I think for a while it got overplayed when I was younger…I strongly remember it figuring in Christmas commercial after commercial after commercial, to the point of distraction.

But this year I learned something new: “Carol of the Bells” is of Ukrainian origin. The composer and lyricist–Mykola Leontovych and Peter J. Wilhousky–were both Ukrainian or of Ukrainian descent, and the melody is based on a Ukrainian folk chant. Since I am in full support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in this time of war, I therefore share what might be one of the most famous pieces of Ukrainian music ever written.

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