Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Silent Night Holy Night The Story of the Christmas Truce by Stephen Wunderli Silent Night Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce by Stephen Wunderli. The History of Christmas Epilogue: Time Was, Is Now. My twelve day look at the History of Christmas is over. Obviously, there are many other significant entries I could have made and you might be wondering why I chose what I did and left out other seemingly more important features of this wondrous holiday. I included what is here because these articles contain a connecting thread that I feel is significant in the celebration of the Christmas season. That thread is the awe and wonder and even the spiritual fulfillment that the human race has experienced over the years from the dawn of mankind up to and including our own time. I chose to express my history in the form of conversations and letters. I’ve always felt a more personal approach to history allows it to be embraced, appreciated, and more easily understood by the majority of people. Call it my ‘style,’ if you will. Hopefully, it didn’t detract from your enjoyment. Some may wonder why I did not include the nativity, or as it is called. the Christmas Story. Although it has produced an awe and wonder of its own, it has done so at the expense of the true history of the holidays. While I have nothing against the Christian expression of Christmas as the birth of the Christ child, you have to agree that much of the story has simply been tacked on to a season of joy that predated Christ’s birth by thousands of years. Had the Christian church been willing to join in the age-old celebration and embrace the traditions of the past, I would have included it. But the honest truth is the church has tried to capture the wonder of the season and pass it off as its own. It has “Christianized” many of the traditions and stories that started elsewhere and claimed their expression of them as holy and righteous. Then it has turned around and vehemently attacked the original traditions claiming them heretical and labeling them as pagan evils in the eyes of God. No one knows the date of Christ’s birth. The Bible is mute on the issue, just as it doesn’t suggest anywhere that the birth of Jesus should be celebrated. But since the story tells us that shepherds were tending their flocks outside at night it stands to reason that the birth month would have been in October or March. During the bitter cold of December in Palestine, it is highly doubtful that Jewish shepherds would have been outside with their charges. What I’ve tried to show above all else is that Christmas has been and always will be many things to many people. It is as complicated as the love it engenders. It’s a time for joy, peace and happiness. Yet, at the same time, it is a period of high stress and depression for many. The truth is – the wonders of the season are most evident in homes where the holiday is celebrated as both a secular and spiritual festival. The celebration of the season has always been somewhat commercial, more secular than sacred. Merchants from the beginning of time have profited from its merriment. Yet, without doubt, there has always been a touch of the sacred, whether by myth or miracle, that has always been included in the festivity. Thank for stopping by and reading. I wish you all the best in the New Year. Short Bibliography : 4,000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages by Earl W. Count, Alice Lawson Count, and Dan Wakefield. Silent Night Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce by Stephen Wunderli. The original German lyrics of the song Stille Nacht were written by Austrian priest Josef Mohr. The original melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber, although the version of the melody that is usually sung today, does differ slightly from the original. Particularly noteable is the fact "Silent Night" was sung by French, British, and German troops during the Christmas Truce of 1914 as it was one of the few carols that soldiers on both sides knew. Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright; Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child. Holy Infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night! Holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from Heaven afar, Heavenly Hosts sing Alleluia, Christ the Saviour is born. Christ the Saviour is born. Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy Holy Face With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at Thy Birth. Jesus, Lord, at Thy Birth. CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. 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The news behind the events; the news mainstream media isn't reporting: The most complete book I know of, summarizing the relevant background and foreground intersecting upon the events of September 11. -- Barry Zwicker, Vision TV Insight. The third of three books written about the Christmas Day Truce of WWI. For the full story see this entry. The second of three books about World War I's Christmas Day Truce. For the full story see this entry. One of three books about the impromptu WWI Christmas Day Truce. Here's the story: GLW: The soldiers' Xmas truce http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/480/480p21.htm BY PHIL SHANNON It was the war that was supposed ``to be over by Christmas''. It very nearly was. A. This little play, Wallace Shawn's monologue of 112 pages, rocked me when I first encountered it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival sometime in the mid '90s. Perhaps I'll add some commentary later, but for now, try these links: A reading. In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. An acclaimed introduction for young readers to the poem, World War II, and war generally. According to reviews I've read, be prepared to question your understanding of "freedom." Consider which freedom is the most valuable: to speak freely or to feed your family. For example, in dealing with enemies (say, Pol Pot, or Maoist China). The long-awaited primary-source companion to A People's History of the United States. For this new book, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies -- speeches, letters, poems, songs, memoirs, protests -- from our rich history of resistance. Here, in their own. I saw Chalmers Johnson in the film Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire, in which he spoke compellingly concerning the processes by which American foreign policy has elevated American reach and power to global proportions. So. Noam Chomsky]]>" dc:creator="Patrick" dc:date="2004-06-30T10:22:02-08:00" /> --> A recommendation gleaned from the chomskychat forum on ZNet. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera this film features Daniel Day Lewis, Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin, the two women in their breakout performances. This was not a simple adaptation by any means. Kundera's text. Recall that Parecon (Participatory Economics) represents one option to Capitalism now that Communism is dead. Anarcho-Syndicalism is a second option. The full text of this book is available online, here. Epic (944 pages!) novel set in Victorian England. Reads well, and more quickly than one might expect with such a chunky volume. Unlike other somewhat revisionist time-pieces, everyone here regardless of gender or class comes off somewhat doltish, though victimhood. Snow's epic recounting of months spent with China's Red Army during the Civil War.