How much do you know about Jingle Bells?

Christmas day is just around the corner! Every year around this time, people from all over the world immerse in the joy and happiness of Christmas holiday. There are many symbols of this festival, the Christmas gifts, the Santa Claus, the Christmas trees, and of course the Christmas songs! Listen to the Chinese Christmas songs “Jingle Bells” and “Wish You a Merry Christmas” in mandarin lyrics. 

Probably the “Jingle Bells” is the most well-known and popular Christmas song all over the world. But how much do you really know about it? Today, we will take you a journey to the history of Christmas “Jingle Bells.”

Wiki says that the most well-known American song on Christmas "Jingle Bells" was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and was published under the name "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. Despite the fact that the song is now mostly associated with the Christmas and holiday season, it was actually originally written and sung for American Thanksgiving.

It is not quite sure where and when James Lord Pierpont originally wrote the song "One Horse Open Sleigh" that would later become known as "Jingle Bells", but it is said that the song was inspired by the a small town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century.

The composer James Lord Pierpont had a rather unusual life. He was born in Medford, Massachusetts in 1822 and died in Winter Haven, Florida in 1893. He came from a strict New England Unitarian family who were against slavery. People say that he wrote a winter song for his father's Sunday school class for Thanksgiving and it proved so popular that it was sung again at Christmas time. At first, the song was called "A Merry Little Jingle", which is known nowadays as the “Jingle Bells”.

“Jingle Bells” is also a pop Christmas song in China. And the Chinese version serves a good resource to learn Chinese online. Try to follow the tune and you will improve your Chinese while having fun!