Today, I want to talk about the song “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day”. I'm sure you've heard the song. And you've also probably noticed that it doesn't quite have the happy tone that a lot of other songs do.
Originally a Poem
The words for that song were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the famous poet. And he actually wrote it on Christmas Day, 1863. What led him to write such a sad song?
Well, two years before he lost his wife of 18 years in an accidental fire in which she was burned to death. This was also about the same time that the American Civil War was cranking up. And I can't imagine that that was a very happy time either.
Fast forward to 1863. His son decides to enlist in the Union Army and didn't even tell his father. Longfellow eventually finds out and of course, as a father, he was definitely worried about his son’s safety. It turns out it was with good reason. In November of 1863, his son was severely wounded in battle. But he did return home.
Christmas Day, 1863
On Christmas Day, 1863, Longfellow is sitting there imagining those Christmas days past when you would hear the church bells ringing in celebration. He likely did not really want to hear them that day with his wife gone for two years, he son severley wounded, and the Civil War raging on. It just didn't seem to make sense.
He ultimately wrote seven verses. A couple of those, ones you don't generally hear, are very specific about the Civil War. I recommend you look it up online and read all of those verses because there's some really powerful imagery in it.
Ultimately, he was trying to grapple with it, and reconcile the happiness typically associated with the holiday with the sadness and despair all around him.
Many Still Struggle
There are others who are dealing with this even today. You may see people who don't seem to really get into the spirit of holidays or just don't seem to be happy about things.
One thing you don't want to do is say, “Come on, Scrooge, lighten up, enjoy the holidays!” Because you don't know what they're dealing with inside. It could be a past trauma or memory that Christmas triggers.
What we can do is we go about and celebrate the holiday the best that we can. Show our enjoyment of it. Hopefully some of that good cheer will lift the spirits of those who are really struggling.
But just make sure that you don't needle or press people into enjoying the holiday.
Because, for some, it's a tough thing to do and it's best to really be supportive of people in any which way that they're coming to this holiday.
Let's not make it worse for them, let's try to make things better.
We NEED Christmas. Have a great day.
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