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Just in time for the Christmas season we dug up our Charisma Classics time capsule and one of the treasures inside is the song that has been sung around the world! We discovered a video of “Silent Night” sung by children’s choirs from five continents around the world in their native languages.
The story behind the song which has been dubbed the best known song of all time, started on Christmas Eve in 1818. Josef Mohr the assistant pastor at St. Nicholas’ church in Salzburg, Austria looked upon the snow-covered village and pondered on the night the angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah. The meditation reminded him of a poem he had written about Jesus and the angel declaring the coming of the king to the shepherds.
He quickly found the poem and brought it to composer Franz Xaver Gruber who composed the melody for the song the very same day. That night the Christmas carol was first sung on Christmas Even in Oberndorf, Austria.
Since that moment, “Silent Night” has been translated in 200 languages around the world. Every year as church congregations come together to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ we sit and reflect on the holy night that the seed of a virgin came into this world to redeem us and bring us back to the Father.
The hit Christmas carol hasn’t died down. People from around the world still visit the memorial chapel built in 1937 on the same spot the church it was first sung in was located.
Watch the video to hear about the unique history behind the song and cozy up with some hot chocolate as the children’s choirs sing in their native languages to the song first sung on Dec. 24, 1818. {eoa}
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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
