The 19th century French composer Adolphe Charles Adam wrote more than fifty ballets and operas. Most are unremembered. But no one looks past Adam’s O Holy Night, the single most cherished solo number of the season. In France it’s known simply as Cantique de Noel, or the Christmas Song. An American pastor, John S. Dwight, wrote the English words that… Read more »
The typical nativity scene includes Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, and Magi – not to mention a cow, a few sheep, and perhaps a humble-looking donkey. One prominent character in the original Christmas accounts, however, never makes the cut. That would be King Herod. Or as he liked to call himself, Herod the Great. The man who ruled Israel for almost… Read more »
When you think about, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In is a rather unusual Christmas carol. There are no boats in the accounts of Jesus’ birth. The Jews of Bible times, in fact, were generally terrified of open water. Only fishermen routinely set sail, and that was on the comparatively placid lake called the Sea of Galilee. One… Read more »
Which Christmas carol has the distinction of being written in its entirety on Christmas Eve? That would be Silent Night, which sprang from a musical 911 call at St. Nicholas’ Church in Oberndorf, Austria, in 1818. On December 22 assistant priest Josef Mohr learned that the organ made no noise at all. It was indeed going to be a silent night. … Read more »
As 2020 draws to a close, people everywhere are hungry for good news. Here are some happy news stories that have managed to stay under the radar this year: Giant pandas and manatees were taken off the endangered species list in 2020, and tigers are rebounding in the wild for the first time in more than a century.Some 800,000 volunteers in India… Read more »
Which traditional Christmas carol is not really a carol at all? That would be Joy to the World. This 1719 song, which is based on Psalm 98, makes no reference to the standard images of Christmas and was originally intended to be sung year-round. But that dramatic phrase in the first verse – “The Lord is come!” – quickly made it a… Read more »
Father Gregory Boyle directs Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, arguably the world’s most successful ministry to the members of inner city gangs. He is inundated by opportunities to speak around the country. It’s no surprise that he sometimes falls back on the same compelling stories. A few summers ago, Boyle was asked to present the keynote for a gathering of… Read more »
Who knew that a seven-inch tall owl could become a national symbol of resilience? The lumberjacks who felled the 72-foot Norway spruce destined to become this year’s iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas tree somehow overlooked the presence of a northern saw-whet owl, one of the world’s tiniest avian predators. The tree had been carefully wrapped and transported by truck almost 200 miles from… Read more »
His name was Tisquantum and he was a member of the Pawtuxet tribe of coastal Massachusetts. The English colonists, who got to know him well, could never pronounce his name correctly. They called him Squanto. It’s safe to say that apart from him we wouldn’t be celebrating a Pilgrim-themed Thanksgiving today. Historians assure us that the familiar story of the… Read more »
This year marks the 400th anniversary of one of America’s most famous founding stories. Between September 16 and November 9, 1620, the Mayflower completed a perilous 66-day voyage from Plymouth, England to the shores of Cape Cod. Along the way the small vessel and its 102 crew members and passengers battled violent North Atlantic storms. On one occasion a… Read more »
