Christmas Star Geo-Art
This series is being published in conjunction with the Farewell to Fall 2025 Community Celebration Event on Dec. 20. This cache will not be found at the published coordinates but the final coordinates can be worked out quite easily.
Christmas Bells
The Interesting Tradition of Christmas Bells & Bell-Ringing
Christmas bells are everywhere; in our towns, holiday songs, and favorite movies.
‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Silver Bells’, and ‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’ – we all happily sing along to these popular carols each year.
But do you ever think about the history of Christmas bells, and how they became such a key part of our festive celebrations? It’s thought that bell-ringing in Winter stems from the Pagan tradition of scaring away evil spirits with noisemakers. The tradition of Christmas bells has evolved hugely since then, and it’s now a sign of celebration and coming together.
Although how we use and perceive bells may have changed over time, some things have stayed the same. Bell-ringing has always been a part of winter since ancient times began. It wasn’t long after that bells came to symbolize celebration and holidays, and this tradition has been with us ever since.
History of Christmas Bells
Although difficult to know for sure, the first use of bells in wintertime may have been Pagan winter celebrations. Noisemakers were originally used to scare away evil spirits at the night, and some of these noisemakers were bells. The dark motive behind ringing bells in winter was quickly forgotten, and people began ringing bells for the fun of it. Eventually, the festive bell-ringing was introduced into celebrations and announcements – such as the beginning of a church service.
Bells are and have always been used as a form of communication. Before the internet or any form of modern communication, bells made it easy to quickly inform towns and villages of news without needing a town crier. They would announce the start of ceremonies, an important person’s arrival, or the death or wedding of people.
Mligs uligb-ulfi urugvvm klrmg hrc sfmwivw ulfigvvm; dvhg hvevmgb-hrc gsrigb-ulfi klrmg hvevm sfmwivw vrtsgb.