It is inescapable this time of year so we may as well embrace it and talk about it here.
But what I really want to share is something that I have only just recently learned - "Carol of the Bells" is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called "Shchedryk".
Here is a video by Ukrainian musician and translator Helena Androsova / Eileen where she sings the original chant in both English and Ukrainian:
But what I really want to share is something that I have only just recently learned - "Carol of the Bells" is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called "Shchedryk".
Here is a video by Ukrainian musician and translator Helena Androsova / Eileen where she sings the original chant in both English and Ukrainian:
"Shchedryk" (Ukrainian: Щедрик, from Щедрий вечiр, "Bountiful Evening") is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year's song, known in English as "The Little Swallow". It was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916, and tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of wealth that will come with the following spring. "Shchedryk" was originally sung on the night of January 13, New Year's Eve in the Julian Calendar (December 31 Old Style), which is Shchedry Vechir.