Christmas Carols in Two Tongues
“It required an attentive ear to notice that the singing was in two languages at once,” said a reporter in The New York Times when he gave a vivid description of the Christmas service conducted in the First Chinese Church in New York City on the Sunday following Christmas Day, in 1946. Children took a very prominent part, especially in the rendering of Christmas music.
The building was decorated in the traditional fashion. Both the United States flag and that of the Chinese were displayed, and between them was a white banner with “red cut-out characters saying ‘Merry Christmas’ in Chinese.” Various Christmas exercises were rendered, and then a speaker emphasized the fact that Christmas belongs to everybody.
Together they sang, “The First Noel” and “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.”
Before the service closed the “two stars of the program, small brothers,” sang the lovely hymn attributed to Martin Luther:
“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.”
“It was a big day for these Chinese children and their parents,” commented the reporter. For many visitors, also, it was a time of happiness. The joyful strains of Christmas music make human hearts glad wherever the story of the Christ Child is told.