GERMANY (WJTV) – When you’re used to seeing nothing but pine covered rolling hills or flat Delta land and no buildings more than a couple of hundred years old, then pretty much everywhere you look in Europe, you’re going to see something unusual.

For instance, we saw one cathedral that was rebuilt a thousand years ago, and the older part that’s even older is still there. Churches that have decorated everything in their sanctuaries from the windows to the ceilings to anything that is paintable or carve-able. 

Something that I found odd isn’t anything we saw, but something we heard; Bells. In every city and village, bells. Not that church bells and carillon bells are unusual, but we don’t have them ringing all the time here like they do in Europe. The first place I noticed them enough to reach for my camera and record them was in the town of Edam in the district of North Holland in The Netherlands. 

When you take a tour of these old European cities, more than likely you are going to have to walk where ever you go because the streets are so old and narrow. Modern cars in a lot of cases can’t even get down them, much less a tour bus. 

As we were walking through Edam these bells started ringing. There was a church up ahead, so I assumed they were coming from the church. Maybe, maybe not. But they just kept ringing. My first thought was, if this happens a lot here, I’m glad I don’t live in this neighborhood. And come to find out, many newcomers to villages in The Netherlands do complain about the bells going off all the time. At least I saw something about that in Google. 

It wasn’t just the small villages or small churches. For instance, the bells in the Cologne Cathedral in Germany started ringing while we were there. I figured they were chiming the time. But after about 14 or 15 o’clock, I figured it was for something else.

Googling again, church bells are rung to call worshipers to service, but it wasn’t that. Not these in particular perhaps, but bells are also rung to call people to prayer. Three times a day was the normal frequency. Religious holidays are another good reason to strike up the bells. 

And then there are another reasons that they ring church bells in Europe at odd times and on odd days. For instance, on March 3, 2022, all the church bells in Europe rang out in united support of Ukraine when the invasion started. Some bells in some towns ring in memory of battles that took place in those towns in wars from the World Wars all the way back to the middle ages.

The pealing bells of Europe are there to call us to something, remind us to do something, or remember something. Or as a celebration that life is good and we are still alive to perhaps a personal meaning known only to the hearer. And they ring and peal and chime the time, as well as the times of our lives.