An integral part of Christmas celebrations. Not only are bells often found as decorations, and feature in many Christmas carols such as Jingle Bells and Silver Bells, their appealing sound is also used to create a distinctly festive atmosphere.
The use of bells in wintertime goes back thousands of years. Ancient pagans used bells to drive away evil spirits and, as such, were used in winter celebrations. In the Middle Ages, bells were a highly effective way to spread a message quickly and communicate both joyful and sorrowful news to a large number of people. Church bells were rung both to bring in Christmas morning and call worshippers to service.
By the Victorian era, the bells were believed to chime in Spirit of Christmas, as we find in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Bells still have a ritual function today. Many churches still ring their church bell on Christmas Day, and some churches ring altar, or Sanctus, bells during the Gloria sung at Christmas Midnight Mass.
In the Alsace region, a girl representing the Christ Child, or Christkind, wears a crown of gold paper and a white gown. She holds a silver bell in one hand, and in the other a plate of sweetmeats. Similarly, in some regions of Germany a bell is rung to let the children know that the Christkind has placed their presents under their tree, in much the same way that the sound of sleigh bells is used to indicate that Father Christmas has been.
It is believed that the first person to use a large church bell to call people to service was Bishop Paulinus of Nola (431 A.D.) in Campania. The Latin name for bell is, in fact, campana, named after Campania, as it was Campanian metal that was commonly used to make such bells. And while campana, and its diminutive campanula, was used for large bells, smaller bells were called nola, after the city.
In English, the word bell comes from the Middle English belle, related to the Anglo-Saxon bellan "to bellow" and cognate with the Old Norse bjalla "bell," from bylja, "to resound."
As a name, Bell(e) also has the advantage of being associated with the French belle "beautiful." There are many names that contain "bel" including Annabel, Belinda, Bellona, Bellatrix, Belphoebe, Isabel and Maribel.
As far as translations go, very few have the streamlined sound of Bell (cloche or glocke don't do much for me). However, the Dutch use bel, and the Norwegian's bjelle, while the Finnish have kello.
