On Christmas day, I wanted to share a story that I came across a few days ago – and it moved me immensely.
Brought to popularity this year by Sainsbury’s, this advertisement was made in partnership with the Royal British Legion commemorating the events of the Christmas Day truce in 1914. It is especially poignant due to the fact that this year marks the centenary of the First World War
It is said that in a historic display of humanity, at around midnight on Christmas eve in 1914, German and Allied armies began to sing ‘Silent Night’ and the original ‘Stille Nacht’ from opposite sides of the battlefield.
Nobody knows what really happened that night or in the day that followed but it is believed that the soldiers belonging to these two enemy nations met in no-man’s land to play football and exchange whatever little they carried as gifts.
If an act of such compassion on a battlefield does not inspire us to be more humane – I don’t know what could. Of course I was interested in the history behind this famous truce and on seeing the story behind this advert, was touched even more.
Happy Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!