The well-known Christmas carol that conjures up the defenders of Ukraine

Pokrovsk, in japanese Ukraine, is the birthplace of one of many world’s favourite Christmas carols, the Song of the Bells.

But this 12 months there are few indicators of Christmas within the metropolis. Just a dusting of snow on abandoned streets and skeletal buildings – and the fixed sound of heavy shelling.

Pokrovsk is Russia’s subsequent goal. His troops are actually lower than three kilometers from the town middle.

And it isn’t simply buildings and houses which are being destroyed. Ukraine additionally accuses Russia of attempting to erase its cultural identification, together with associations with the well-known Christmas track.

Most of the inhabitants of Pokrovsk has already fled. The fuel provide has been interrupted and plenty of properties are with out electrical energy and water. Those who stay, like Ihor, 59, come out solely to search out the naked requirements. He says it is like dwelling on a keg of gunpowder: You by no means know when or the place the following bomb will fall.

Oksana, 43, says she is just too scared to go away her residence, however goes out throughout a lull within the bombing to search out wooden and coal to maintain heat.

He tells me he hopes the Ukrainian army will be capable of maintain the town, however he thinks that is unlikely. Pokrovsk, he says, will most likely fall.

The metropolis is already ready for the worst. The statue of its well-known composer, Mykola Leontovych, has already been eliminated. The music college that bore his title now lies closed and empty.

Leontovych might not be well-known within the West. But the melody he composed is acquainted all through the world, together with his chime-like voice. Leontovych is assumed to have written the primary scores of the composition, based mostly on a Ukrainian folks track, whereas dwelling and dealing in Pokrovsk between 1904 and 1908.

In Ukraine it is called Shchedryk. In a lot of the world it grew to become often called Carol of the Bells, after the American composer Peter Wilhousky wrote the English lyrics for the track. The melody’s use within the Hollywood movie Home Alone helped enhance its recognition.

Viktoria Ametova calls it “a masterpiece – the signature track of Pokrovsk”. Until just lately, she additionally taught music within the metropolis, within the college that bore the title of Leontovych.

She has now been transferred to the relative security of Dnipro. It is right here that a lot of Pokrovsk’s former residents are nonetheless attempting to maintain the recollections of their outdated residence alive.

Under a recovered portrait of Leontovych, Viktoria watches thirteen-year-old Anna Hasych play the acquainted chords of the Christmas carol on the piano.

The Hasych household fled Pokrovsk this summer time. But they’re decided to not neglect the place they nonetheless name residence. Anna’s mom, Yulia, says she is blissful to see her daughters training Shchedryk. “We won’t neglect the historical past of our metropolis,” he says.

For Anna, the melody brings again recollections. “When I performed it at residence it sounded blissful. It jogged my memory of winter and Christmas,” he says. “Now for me it is extra of a tragic track as a result of it jogs my memory of residence and I actually wish to return.”

But for a Ukrainian army band, Shchedryk has develop into a track to encourage resistance. They additionally play it within the trenches, utilizing weapons as improvised devices.

They could also be musicians, however their commander jogs my memory that they’re troopers at the start. They all hung out on the entrance strains. Colonel Bohdan Zadorozhnyy, the band’s chief and conductor, says the track helps elevate the troopers’ spirits. “Those rhythms and beats cheer up the youngsters on the entrance strains and encourage them to battle,” he says.

Roman, 22, makes use of the shell of a rocket launcher, full of rice, to shake it vigorously in time to the music. Shchedryk, he says, is “the delight of our nation, he’s freedom, he’s in our souls, I get goosebumps from this track.”

Colonel Zadorozhnyy says Shchedryk proves that Ukraine is a civilized nation, now at struggle, preventing for its identification.

Pokrovsk might fall into Russian fingers. But its persons are doing every little thing they will to protect their tradition and identification.

The director of the Pokrovsk History Museum, Angelina Rozhkova, has already recovered and relocated most of its prized possessions to security, together with artifacts from Leontovych’s life in Pokrovsk.

Russia, he says, does not simply wish to conquer the territory of Ukraine: “it needs to destroy our tradition and every little thing that’s treasured to us.”

Angelina says the individuals of Pokrovsk perceive that maybe he won’t ever return, “however our coronary heart and soul don’t settle for it.” So they’re doing every little thing they will to protect the previous. The new motto is “conserving and saving equals successful”.

It’s laborious to say you are successful when your metropolis is destroyed. But its individuals, like Leontovych’s music, are demonstrating extraordinary resilience.

Leontovych’s life ended abruptly in 1921 when he was killed by a Soviet agent. Its composition had develop into an emblem of the battle for Ukrainian independence. It nonetheless is.

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous and Anastasiia Levchenko