Church bell
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A church bell is a bell in a Christian church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but are also rung on special occasions such as a wedding, or a funeral service. In certain Christian traditions, such as Catholicism and Lutheranism, church bells signify to people both inside and outside of the church that a particular part of the service (such as the recitation of the Lord's Prayer or consecration of Holy Communion) has been reached.<ref name="Church Words: Origins and Meanings">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Weedon2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The ringing of church bells thrice a day occurs in congregations of certain Christian denominations as a call to prayer, reminding the faithful to pray the Lord's Prayer or the Angelus Domini.<ref name=Dryer/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The traditional European church bell (see cutaway drawing) used in Christian churches worldwide consists of a cup-shaped metal resonator with a pivoted clapper hanging inside which strikes the sides when the bell is swung. It is hung within a steeple or belltower of a church or religious building,<ref name="AdatoJudy">Template:Cite book</ref> so the sound can reach a wide area. Such bells are either fixed in position ("hung dead") or hung from a pivoted beam (the "headstock") so they can swing to and fro. A rope hangs from a lever or wheel attached to the headstock, and when the bell ringer pulls on the rope the bell swings back and forth and the clapper hits the inside, sounding the bell. Bells that are hung dead are normally sounded by hitting the sound bow with a hammer or occasionally by a rope which pulls the internal clapper against the bell.
A church may have a single bell, or a collection of bells which are tuned to a common scale. They may be stationary and chimed, rung randomly by swinging through a small arc, or swung through a full circle to enable the high degree of control of English change ringing.
Before modern communications, church bells were a common way to call the community together for all purposes, both sacred and secular. In some Christian traditions bell ringing was believed to drive out demons.<ref name="Booth2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cohen1990">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Lewis2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
Uses and traditionsEdit
Call to prayerEdit
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Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts and Indians, use a breviary such as the Agpeya and Shehimo to pray the canonical hours seven times a day while facing in the eastward direction; church bells are tolled, especially in monasteries, to mark these seven fixed prayer times.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Amherst1906">Template:Cite book</ref>
In Christianity, some churches ring their church bells from belltowers three times a day, at 9 am, noon and 3 pm to summon the Christian faithful to recite the Lord's Prayer;<ref name=Dryer>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Honig>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the injunction to pray the Lord's prayer thrice daily was given in Didache 8, 2 f.,<ref name=KF>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Beckwith>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Standing>Template:Cite book</ref> which, in turn, was influenced by the Jewish practice of praying thrice daily found in the Old Testament, specifically in Template:Bibleverse, which suggests "morning and evening plus at noon", and Template:Bibleverse, in which the prophet Daniel prays thrice a day.<ref name="KF"/><ref name="Beckwith"/><ref name=White>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=CCC>Template:Cite book</ref> The early Christians thus came to pray the Lord's Prayer at 9 am, noon and 3 pm.<ref name="Beckwith2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
Many Catholic Christian churches ring their bells thrice a day, at 6 am, noon, and 6 pm to call the faithful to recite the Angelus, a prayer recited in honour of the Incarnation of God.<ref name=Anderson>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Anglican>Template:Cite book</ref>
Some Protestant Christian Churches ring church bells during the congregational recitation of the Lord's Prayer, after the sermon, in order to alert those who are unable to be present to "unite themselves in spirit with the congregation".<ref name=Protestant>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Reformed>Template:Cite book</ref>
In many historic Christian Churches, church bells are also rung on All Hallows' Eve,<ref name="Bannatyne1998">Template:Cite book</ref> as well as during the processions of Candlemas and Palm Sunday;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the only time of the Christian Year when church bells are not rung include Maundy Thursday through the Easter Vigil.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Christian tradition of the ringing of church bells from a belltower is analogous to the Islamic tradition of the adhan from a minaret.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Call to worshipEdit
Most Christian denominations ring church bells to call the faithful to worship, signalling the start of a Mass or service of worship.<ref name="Protestant"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the United Kingdom predominantly in the Anglican church, there is a strong tradition of change ringing on full-circle tower bells for about half an hour before a service. This originated from the early 17th century when bell ringers found that swinging a bell through a large arc gave more control over the time between successive strikes of the clapper. This culminated in ringing bells through a full circle, which let ringers easily produce different striking sequences; known as changes.
Exorcism of demonsEdit
In Christianity, the ringing of church bells is traditionally believed to drive out demons and other unclean spirits.<ref name="Booth2014"/><ref name="Fanthorpe2002"/><ref name="Lewis2001"/> Inscriptions on church bells relating to this purpose of church bells, as well as the purpose of serving as a call to prayer and worship, were customary, for example "the sound of this bell vanquishes tempests, repels demons, and summons men".<ref name="Cohen1990"/> Some churches have several bells with the justification that "the more bells a church had, the more loudly they rang, and the greater the distance over which they could be heard, the less likely it was that evil forces would trouble the parish."<ref name="Fanthorpe2002">Template:Cite book</ref>
Funeral and memorial ringingEdit
The ringing of a church bell in the English tradition to announce a death is called a death knell. The pattern of striking depended on the person who had died; for example in the counties of Kent and Surrey in England it was customary to ring three times three strokes for a man and three times two for a woman, with a varying usage for children.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The age of the deceased was then rung out. In small settlements this could effectively identify who had just died.<ref name="B Walters pp156-160">H B Walters, The Church bells of England. published 1912 and republished 1977 by Oxford University Press. pp156-160</ref>
There were three occasions surrounding a death when bells could be rung. There was the "Passing Bell" to warn of impending death, the second the Death Knell to announce the death, and the last was the "Lych Bell", or "Corpse Bell" which was rung at the funeral as the procession approached the church.<ref name="B Walters pp156-160"/> This latter is known today as the Funeral toll.
A more modern tradition where there are full-circle bells is to use "half-muffles" when sounding one bell as a tolled bell, or all the bells in change-ringing. This means a leather muffle is placed on the clapper of each bell so that there is a loud "open" strike followed by a muffled strike, which has a very sonorous and mournful effect. The tradition in the United Kingdom is that bells are only fully muffled for the death of a sovereign. A slight variant on this rule occurred in 2015 when the bones of Richard III of England were interred in Leicester Cathedral 532 years after his death.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref>
Sanctus bellsEdit
The term "Sanctus bell" traditionally referred to a bell suspended in a bell-cot at the apex of the nave roof, over the chancel arch, or hung in the church tower, in medieval churches. This bell has been rung at the singing of the Sanctus and again at the elevation of the consecrated elements, to indicate to those not present in the building that the moment of consecration had been reached. The practice and the term remain in common use in many Traditional Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches.<ref name="Weedon2022"/>
Within the body of a church the function of a sanctus bell can also be performed by a small hand bell or set of such bells (called altar bells) rung shortly before the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and again when the consecrated elements are shown to the people.<ref>General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 150</ref> Sacring rings or "Gloria wheels" are commonly used in Catholic churches in Spain and its former colonies for this purpose.<ref>Herrera, Matthew D. (2005). Sanctus Bells. Their History and Use in the Catholic Church Template:Webarchive. Adoremus Bulletin. Retrieved on November 11, 2014.</ref>
Orthodox ChurchEdit
In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is a long and complex history of bell ringing, with particular bells being rung in particular ways to signify different parts of the divine services, Funeral tolls, etc. This custom is particularly sophisticated in the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian bells are usually stationary, and are sounded by pulling on a rope that is attached to the clapper so that it will strike the inside of the bell.Template:Citation needed
Victory CelebrationEdit
Template:Refimprove section The noon church bell tolling in Europe has a specific historical significance that has its roots in the Siege of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár at the time)by the Ottomans in 1456. Initially, the bell ringing was intended as a call to prayer for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade. However, because in many European countries the news of victory arrived before the order for prayer, the ringing of the church bells was believed to be in celebration of the victory. As a result, the significance of noon bell ringing is now a commemoration of John Hunyadi's victory against the Turks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}
Other usesEdit
Clock chimesEdit
Some churches have a clock chime which uses a turret clock to broadcast the time by striking the hours and sometimes the quarters. A well-known musical striking pattern is the Westminster Quarters. This is only done when the bells are stationary, and the clock mechanism actuates hammers striking on the outside of the sound-bows of the bells. In the cases of bells which are normally swung for other ringing, there is a manual lock-out mechanism which prevents the hammers from operating whilst the bells are being rung.
WarningEdit
In World War II in Great Britain, all church bells were silenced, to ring only to inform of an invasion by enemy troops.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However this ban was lifted temporarily in 1942 by order of Winston Churchill. Starting with Easter Sunday, April 25, 1943, the Control of Noise (Defence) (No. 2) Order, 1943, allowed that church bells could be rung to summon worshippers to church on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day.<ref>Template:Hansard</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On May 27, 1943, all restrictions were removed.<ref>Template:Hansard</ref>
In the 2021 German floods it was reported that church bells were rung to warn inhabitants of coming floods.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Beyenburg in Wuppertal the last friar of Steinhaus Abbey rang the storm bells after other systems failed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some church bells are being used in England for similar purposes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Design and ringing techniqueEdit
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Christian church bells have the form of a cup-shaped cast metal resonator with a flared thickened rim, and a pivoted clapper hanging from its centre inside. It is usually mounted high in a bell tower on top of the church, so it can be heard by the surrounding community. The bell is suspended from a headstock which can swing on bearings. A rope is tied to a wheel or lever on the headstock, and hangs down to the bell ringer. To ring the bell, the ringer pulls on the rope, swinging the bell. The motion causes the clapper to strike the inside of the bell rim as it swings, thereby sounding the bell. Some bells have full-circle wheels, which is used to swing the bell through a larger arc, such as in the United Kingdom where full- circle ringing is practised.
Bells which are not swung are "chimed", which means they are struck by an external hammer, or by a rope attached to the internal clapper, which is the tradition in Russia.
Blessing of bellsEdit
In some churches, bells are often blessed before they are hung.
In the Roman Catholic Church the name Baptism of Bells has been given to the ceremonial blessing of church bells, at least in France, since the eleventh century. It is derived from the washing of the bell with holy water by the bishop, before he anoints it with the "oil of the infirm" without and with chrism within; a fuming censer is placed under it and the bishop prays that these sacramentals of the Church may, at the sound of the bell, put the demons to flight, protect from storms, and call the faithful to prayer.Template:Citation needed
HistoryEdit
Before the introduction of church bells into the Christian Church, different methods were used to call the worshippers: playing trumpets, hitting semantrons (wooden planks), shouting, or using a courier.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> In AD 604, Pope Sabinian officially sanctioned the usage of bells.<ref name="Roger J. Smith 1997">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These tintinnabula were made from forged metal and did not have large dimensions.<ref name=":0" /> Larger bells were made at the end of the 7th and during the 8th century by casting metal originating from Campania. The bells consequently took the name of campana and nola from the eponymous city in the region.<ref name=":0" /> This would explain the attribution of the origin of church bells to Paulinus of Nola in AD 400.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Roger J. Smith 1997" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By the early Middle Ages, church bells became common in Europe, wrung singly (cymbalum) or in tuned sets (cymbalum).<ref name="CE">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
They were first common in northern Europe, quadrangular sheet-metal bells, reflecting Celtic influence, especially that of Irish missionaries.<ref name="CE" /> Before the use of church bells, Greek monasteries would ring a flat metal plate (see semantron) to announce services.<ref name="CE" /> The signa and campanae used to announce services before Irish influence may have been flat plates like the semantron rather than bells.<ref name="CE" /> The oldest surviving circle of bells in Great Britain is housed in St Lawrence Church, Ipswich.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As bells became more numerous, they were hung sets called cymbala (related to both chimes and cymbals) and played with a hammer.<ref name="GroveCymbalum">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Images "usually show from four and eight bells", but also as many as 15.<ref name="GroveCymbalum"/><ref>The Hunterian Psalter shows a grouping of 15, played by two people. File:Kind David tuning harp while musicians play bells, detail from Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 229 (U.3.2), folio 21V.jpg</ref>
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In literatureEdit
The evocative sound of church bells has inspired many writers, both in poetry and prose. One example is an early poem by the English poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon entitled simply, Template:Ws<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She returned to the subject towards the end of her life in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839 with Template:Ws, a poetical illustration to a picture by J. Franklin.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Cite book</ref> How Soft the Music of those Village Bells.
Controversies about noiseEdit
Template:See also The sound of church bells is capable of causing noise that interrupts or prevents people from sleeping. A 2013 study from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich found that "an estimated 2.5-3.5 percent of the population in the Canton of Zurich experiences at least one additional awakening per night due to church bell noise." It concluded that "the number of awakenings could be reduced by more than 99 percent by, for example, suspending church bell ringing between midnight and 06 h in the morning", or by "about 75 percent (...) by reducing the sound-pressure levels of bells by 5 dB."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In the Netherlands there have been lawsuits about church bell noise pollution experienced by nearby residents.<ref name="RTL Nieuws">Template:Cite news</ref> The complaints are usually, but not always, raised by new local residents (or tourists who spend the night in the neighbourhood<ref name="Bruinisse">Template:Cite news</ref>) who are not used to the noise at night or during the day.<ref name="Bruinisse"/>
Image galleryEdit
- Lullusglocke.jpg
Lullusglocke, cast in 1038, in monastery of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse, Germany
- Kraków, Dzwon Zygmunta - fotopolska.eu (227571).jpg
Sigismund Bell in Kraków, Poland, cast in 1520 by Hans Beham
- Pummerin Stephansdom Vienna July 2008 (14).JPG
Pummerin in Stephansdom, Vienna
- Tsar Kolokol with humans for perspective.JPG
Tsar Bell in Moscow, Russia, the heaviest existing bell in the world (over 196 tons)
- St Xaviers church peyad Belgium bell.jpg
Belgian-made bell of St. Xavier's Church, Peyad, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
- Church bell of the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew at Dallas.jpg
Bell in the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, Dallas, Texas
- CathedralCologneBell.jpg
Bell in Cologne Cathedral
- Suomenlinna Church bell.jpg
Bell in Suomenlinna Church
- 16 21 2668 san miguel.jpg
Bell for San Miguel Mission
- Ipatios monastery Kostroma 19.jpg
Ringing the bells at Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, Russia.
- Bells in the tower - geograph.org.uk - 1369287.jpg
Ring of eight bells in the tower of St Michael and All Angels' parish church, Blewbury, Oxfordshire
- Cloche dans l'église Saint-Jacques de Tournai (DSCF8555).jpg
Bell in the Saint-Jacques church of Tournai
- Church bells of Ulm Minster (2019).jpg
Church bells of Ulm Minster seen from above (2019)
See alsoEdit
- Bellfounding
- Bolognese bell ringing art
- Campanology
- Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
- Change ringing
- Handbells
- Loudspeakers in mosques
- Ring of bells
- Russian Orthodox bell ringing
- Veronese bellringing art
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Commons category-inline
- Animation of English Full-circle church bell ringing
- Video of English full circle-ringing, 8 bells half muffled and one bell tolling
- Video of English full circle-ringing, 8 bells ringing "open"
- Sound of Bells - An Investigation into their tuning
- Research and Identification of Valuable Bells of the Historic and Culture Heritage of Bulgaria and Development of Audio and Video Archive with Advanced Technologies
- Bell-Ringing Central
- Old archive image of church bells in Chatham, Kent, England, ca.1900
- All Saints Bell Tower
