Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
Here’s a little shchedrivka for you

Here’s a little shchedrivka for you

Last updated on: December 21, 2024 at 5:51 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Here’s a little shchedrivka for you 2024-12-21T17:51:18-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The old center of Kyiv in winter, prior to arrival of the Russian “peacekeeping operation”. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I had not realized until a couple of years ago that the “Carol of the Bells” stems from Ukraine. If I did ever know it before, I had forgotten: “The Ukrainian Choir Bringing New Meaning To A Classic Holiday Song”

Shchedryk (from the Ukrainian Щедрий вечiр [Shchedry Vechir], meaning “Bountiful Evening”) is a Ukrainian shchedrivka or New Year’s carol. In its original form, which has no connection to Christmas, the song is known in English as “The Little Swallow.” Arranged by the Ukrainian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist, teacher, and priest Mykola Leontovych in 1916, five years before he was murdered by a Soviet agent in 1921 while visiting his parents to celebrate Christmas. Married, with at least one child, he had turned forty-four years of age just a few weeks before.

Shchedryk tells the story of a swallow that flies into a home to sing of the wealth that will come to the family living in it with the following spring. The song was originally written to be sung on the night of 13 January, which is New Year’s Eve (Shchedry Vechir, or “Bountiful Evening”) in the Julian Calendar (December 31 in the Old Style). Students at Kyiv University were apparently the first to perform it. Following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz’s Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on 5 October 1921 — about nine months after Mykola Leontovych’s murder — Peter J. Wilhousky adapted Shchedryk as an English-language Christmas carol entitled “Carol of the Bells.” Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which are entirely independent of the original Ukrainian words to the song) in 1936, and it became very popular in the United States — and very strongly associated with Christmas.

A beautiful rendition of the piece, with Wilhousky’s lyrics, is “Carol of the Bells | The Tabernacle Choir.” It is my Christmas musical selection for this post.

The Kyiv Ukraine Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in happier times. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I feel inclined to share a little story — very slightly related to Christmas — that I’ve shared before. Some may have missed it.

Twenty or more years ago, I think, I was browsing a biography of the eminent British political philosopher and essayist Sir Isaiah Berlin, who died at the age of 87 in 1997. Sir Isaiah had a remarkable career that rather unexpectedly made him a celebrity. The famous British philosopher A. J. Ayer reported that, once, when he was introduced at a London party as “the cleverest man in England,” someone exclaimed, “Oh, so you must be Isaiah Berlin.” [1]

Isaiah Berlin spent the years of World War II in Washington, D.C., and New York City, where his charm and wit and erudition — and probably his Englishness, as well — gained him access into the most exalted circles of American academic and political life. And he used those contacts to garner information about American attitudes and intentions that he then quietly passed on to a very appreciative British prime minister, Winston Churchill, who was eager for anything he could glean about Britain’s vitally important allies in the United States. But Churchill had never actually met his highly valued source of American background information.

During roughly the same period, it happens that the prominent American songwriter Irving Berlin was also devoting a substantial portion of his talents to the support of the war effort — though, of course, in a very different way.

In early February 1944, Clementine Churchill told her husband that Irving Berlin was in London. She thought it might be appropriate, in view of the composer’s generous patriotic efforts, for her husband to greet Berlin, to shake his hand and thank him, and perhaps to pose for a quick photograph with him. To her surprise and puzzlement, however, her husband insisted that Berlin come to the prime minister’s official residence for a formal meal.

At the end of lunch, Churchill turned and said, “Now, Mr Berlin, tell us what in your opinion is the likelihood of my dear friend, the President, being re-elected for a fourth term.” Berlin, who spoke in a heavy Brooklyn accent, said he felt sure that Roosevelt’s great name would ensure him victory. He added for good measure, “But if he won’t stand [for re-election] again, I don’t think I’ll vote at all.”

“You mean,” asked Churchill, “that you think you’ll have a vote?”

“I sincerely hope so.”

Churchill muttered that it was a good sign of Anglo-American cooperation if the Professor had a vote in America. Churchill’s subsequent questions about the state and volume of war production in the States elicited only vague and noncommittal replies. Churchill, growing exasperated, asked Berlin when he thought the war would end. “Mr Prime Minister, I shall tell my children and grandchildren that Winston Churchill asked me that question.” By now thoroughly confused, Churchill asked what was the most important thing that Mr Berlin had written. He replied, “White Christmas.”

Sensing social disaster, Clementine Churchill said gently that they should all be grateful to Mr Berlin because he had been so generous. “Generous?” her husband growled, looking about him in consternation. By this time, Churchill’s secretary, Jock Colville, was gently kicking the Prime Minister under the table. “What are you kicking me for?” Churchill growled, and then turned his back on Berlin. Shortly thereafter the lunch broke up. Berlin returned to the hotel where he was staying with the producer Alexander Korda. He reported that it had been a puzzling lunch. He did not exactly seem to hit it off with the Prime Minister.[2]

Within a short while, when Churchill learned what had really happened, he roared with laughter at the misunderstanding and all was well. In fact, as the story got around, it cemented Isaiah Berlin’s reputation as a man to be taken seriously far beyond the exalted academic enclave of All Souls, Oxford.

[1] Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin; A Life (New York: Metropolitan Books. 1998), 170.

[2] Ibid., 125-26.

I used this story in my “Editor’s Introduction: Perceptions and Expectations” for the FARMS Review of Books 11/1 (1999): v–x, in order to illustrate how powerfully our expectations of what we’ll see can influence what we actually do see. Of course, like everything else that I’ve written, that article was nothing but a tissue of vicious ad hominems and mean-spirited lies.

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

December 21, 2024

A report from Thursday and Friday

Next Post

December 22, 2024 For 23 December 2024

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"PL: "Let's hope he doesn't have your address..."I have to frankly confess that a few ..."

DanielPeterson

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"Let's hope he doesn't have your address..."

Phil Leaning

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"PL: "The layers are peeling back."He appears to be suffering under an odd but powerful ..."

DanielPeterson

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus feed the 5,000 with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Loaves and fish Figs and water Manna and honey Bread and wine