Whenever I hear the ringing of a bell, I remember the time I was growing up in Germany.
Whether you are a Christian or not, or you, the constant ringing of the bell will tell you the time or something important about to happen.
Why do church bells ring for so long?
The ringing of church bells for long means that you should hurry to church for some events.
Right from time, it has been with the church bells that people living far from churches are communicated current events in the church.
In this article, I will discuss more about this.
Why do church bells ring for so long?
When you hear the church bell ring for so long, it is either telling you it is time for church service to start or that a wedding has occurred.
The long bell ringing can also mean that a ceremony has ended.
If you have visited many European places, you must have heard the frequent ringing of bells.
You cannot miss the sound, be it the melodious sound of the huge cast bells of the cathedrals or the less imposing ding-dong bells of the parishes.
In the past time, the church bell served as a clock.
That was before the war started using a smartphone and having watches wrapped around our wrists.
The church bell used to wake people up in the morning.
Church bells tell them when to have lunch in the afternoon and when work ends for the day.
A church bell will tell you when someone is celebrating a wedding or when something sad like a death happens.
It was the quickest way of sending messages before cell phones became popular and when call cost was yet expensive.
The tradition of bell ringing is still with us today.
You may hear the church bell ring for fifteen minutes these days.
It will ring once at quarter past the hour, twice at half-past the hour, three times at quarter to the next hour, and four times when it is the full hour.
It will ring with a different tone when it rings the number of times representing the time.
After that, it will start all over again.
The Significance of Church Bell Ringing at Noon Time
There is a specific historical significance that most people do not know about the church bell tolling in the mid-day.
If you do not know the history of Europe very well, I will tell you about the Siege of Belgrade.
This is a military blockade that happened in 1456.
This was a siege mounted by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and his armies to crush the Kingdom of Hungary.
The Siege of Belgrade
The Siege laid on Belgrade raised a lot of dust in Europe.
It became worst in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople.
The Turks would have taken advantage of the fall of the fortress city of Belgrade because it was supposed to have weakened the defense of Europe.
This would have changed the history of the world.
1453 was a very difficult year for Hungary.
The country had no centralized kingship at that time.
Conflicts and disputes tore the Kingdom into shreds a year before the battle.
János Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania, was the leader of the most powerful faction in Hungary.
He fought a lot of battles against the Ottomans.
As soon as Constantinople failed and the invasion of the Turks was imminent, Hunyadi quickly extended olive branches to his enemies.
He united the Hungarians against the invaders.
Unfortunately, there was none of his former enemies was ready to help him fight the war.
This left Hunyadi with no choice but to fight alone against the Ottomans at Belgrade.
The siege resulted in a big battle.
In the battle, the camp of Ottoman was overrun when Hunyadi planned and led a sudden attack on them.
Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, sustained a serious injury in the battle.
This forced him to retreat.
The entire Turkish army had to retreat as well.
They gave up the invasion for the next 70 years.
In 1453 Hungary was in a difficult situation, as it had no strong centralized kingship.
The Kingdom had been torn by rivalries in the years preceding the battle.
The most powerful of these leaders was János Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania, who had previously fought many battles against the Ottomans.
Seeing the fall of Constantinople and the imminent invasion of the Turks, Hunyadi quickly tried to make peace with his enemies and united the Hungarians against the aggressor.
But none of his rivals was willing to assist him in the battle.
Thus, Hunyadi stood alone against the Ottomans at Belgrade.
The siege turned into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden attack that overran the Ottoman camp.
Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror received a severe wound during that battle that forced him to retreat.
The Turkish advance came to a halt that lasted for the next 70 years.
Commemorating the Victory Against the Turks
The thought in your mind must be, “what must be the connection between the Siege of Belgrade and the church bells ringing at noon?”
As history recorded, as the siege was on, Pope Callixtus III called for prayers among the Catholic kingdoms in Europe for the victory of Hungary.
He commanded that every church should toll its bell every day by noon to remind all the faithful about the prayer.
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What does it mean if church bells ring?
Many Christian denominations custom to ring church bells to remind their faithful of service time.
Tolling a bell signals either the beginning of a mass or a service in progress.
What does it mean when a church bell rings at night?
In Sweden, churches and chapels ring bells at night to indicate the time.
In most cases, it is rung every quarter of an hour.
Foreign visitors are most times surprised by the nightly ringing of bells.
Many people believe that the nightly ringing of bells disturbs people in their sleep.
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Do church bells ring as a warning?
Church bells in the olden days serve as a means of communication, warming people of the presence of invaders.
As time progressed, it was used to raise fire alarms in the town or village where the church was.
The ringers can skilfully clash or clang the bell in a quite customized way.
