“Shchedryk” – Carol of the Bells under shelling: why Pokrovsk became a symbol of Ukrainian Christmas

Shchedryk, shchedryk, shchedrivka, A swallow flew in, Began to chirp To call the master…

For Ukrainians, Pokrovsk is not just a point on the map of the east of the country. It is the place where the melody was born, which the whole world knows as Carol of the Bells. The Christmas classic, heard in American films and concert halls, has a specific origin — the Ukrainian “Shchedryk”, written here at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, this city is destroyed by war. It is in the Pokrovsk area that heavy fighting continues this Christmas, and the Ukrainian command publicly declares its intention to hold the direction despite the pressure of Russian troops. The history of music and the history of war unexpectedly converged in one geography.

The city where “Shchedryk” appeared

Composer Mykola Leontovych lived in Pokrovsk (then — the railway station Hryshyne) from 1904 to 1908. He taught at a music school, led a railway workers’ choir, wrote and reworked folk motifs.

It was here that “Shchedryk” was finally formed — a choral work based on a Ukrainian ritual song. In 1916, its premiere took place in Kyiv, which quickly made the composition recognizable far beyond the professional musical environment.

The music became not just a Christmas number. It turned into a cultural marker — a short, rhythmic, easily memorable piece carrying a Ukrainian intonation.

Music as diplomacy

After the revolutionary events and war, the Ukrainian government used culture as a tool for international recognition. In 1919, the national choir was sent on a European tour with a program in which Leontovych’s works played a key role.

Europe, and then Canada and the USA, heard “Shchedryk” in 1922 already performed by the Ukrainian National Choir. The state was not recognized then, but the music did what diplomacy could not: it made it clear that there is a separate Ukrainian culture with its own voice.

How “Shchedryk” became Carol of the Bells

In 1936, American composer Peter Wilhousky wrote English lyrics, adapting the melody for a radio production on NBC. Thus appeared the version known today as Carol of the Bells.

From this moment, the Ukrainian carol became part of the global Christmas canon. At the same time, the origin of the melody for the general audience turned out to be erased — a typical story of cultural borrowing of the 20th century.

The price the author paid

Leontovych did not live to see the worldwide success of his music. In January 1921, he was killed in the village of Markivka. A man who introduced himself as a Cheka officer asked to stay overnight and shot the composer and robbed the house at night.

Later, archival documents confirmed: the murder was committed by an agent of the Soviet special services. The composer was buried barefoot — his property was stolen. He was 44 years old.

Pokrovsk today

More than a hundred years later, the city where one of the world’s most famous Christmas melodies was formed again found itself at the epicenter of war. Pokrovsk — a destroyed industrial hub, a strategic direction, a front line.

Ukrainian military declare that the city will be defended. The symbolism is obvious: the place from which the Ukrainian Christmas song went to the world today resists the attempt to erase the very Ukrainian identity.

The story of “Shchedryk” is not nostalgia and not a beautiful legend. It is a reminder that culture and war often intersect, and melodies sometimes live longer than empires.

That is why Pokrovsk for Ukraine is more than geography. It is memory, music, and resistance, united in one name, which the world is talking about again today. In this context, it is important to remember that such stories continue to sound today — in the news, in music, and in the struggle for the right to be oneself, as regularly written by NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.