On December 24, 1914, in the trenches of War, in Belgium, the guns stopped firing. A spontaneous truce occured, and German and British soldiers joined each other in the no man’s land to trade food, pictures, play soccer, and sing. In the morning, they went back to their guns, and the war ground on.
If you’d like to read more about it, there’s an excellent Wikipedia article for it.
I high school the first time I heard John McCutcheon’s Christmas In The Trenches. It made my eyes well up the, and it still does. I have a copy of the radio show I heard it on. The quality isn’t the best, but it’s live, and that adds a bit. You can try it here.
I feel like it was a significant moment in human history, however short, be sure to listen to all of the words.
Did you see Joyeux Noel? It was nominated for an oscar this year, and tells a story of that Christmas:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0424205/
It’s a great film.
not yet, but it’ll probably hit my netflix list soon. 🙂