When the World Stole a Survival Song

We like to pretend art is harmless. Decorative. Seasonal. Something to hum while shopping or to soundtrack a family movie night. That illusion collapses the moment you understand where Shchedryk came from.

In this episode of Max Marten Chats, Max dismantles the comforting myth surrounding Carol of the Bells and exposes it for what it really is: a Ukrainian survival song, born under existential threat, repackaged by the West into festive background noise while the culture that created it was repeatedly erased, invaded, and silenced.

This isn't a Christmas episode. Christmas is already over. And once again, the message risks being lost.

Shchedryk wasn't written for celebration. It was written to survive winter, hunger, empire, and extinction. Its relentless four-note insistence was never meant to soothe; it was meant to demand an answer from a world that preferred not to look too closely.

Max traces the song’s journey from ancient Ukrainian New Year ritual, through Mykola Leontovych’s quiet cultural resistance, to its weaponisation as cultural diplomacy after World War I and finally to its transformation into an Americanised carol stripped of Ukraine, agriculture, gratitude, and urgency.

Along the way, this episode asks uncomfortable questions:

• What happens when global popularity doesn’t protect a culture, but replaces it?
• When repetition without context becomes a form of erasure?
• When art survives, but the nation behind it is treated as expendable?

As Ukraine fights once again for its existence, this episode argues that listening is no longer neutral, and that remembering correctly is a political act.

If you’ve ever heard Carol of the Bells, you’ve already heard Ukraine asking to be seen. The question is whether you were taught to listen.

That’s it for this episode...

Referenced performances and materials:

https://dievturi.lv/app/#/english - Max's faith - Dievturība (Latvian 'neo pagan' belief system)

https://youtu.be/x3YO0a2I4CU?si=WjkVJ5z6tP3BUJUL - Carol of the Bells, St Olaf Choir.

https://youtu.be/4OUJLYLtqSs?si=1wbBcu_2WPW7GJo5 - Carol of the Bells – André Rieu, Anna Reker & 400 Brass Players

St Olaf Version Copyright Credit:

Music: Mykola Leontovych, arr. Peter J. Wilhousky

Words: Peter J. Wilhousky

© 1936 Carl Fischer, Inc.

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