Let the bells ring out to welcome 2017!
Ringing bells is a tradition so ancient that for millennia they have heralded news and celebration. Bells are so common that we nearly take them for granted.
It wasn't always so.
Bells once had jobs so important that entire cities depended on their voice to organize the hours, including calls to rise, work, worship, and retire.
In fact, according to bellringing.org, bells were often invested with a certain awe. In pastoral medieval settings, humans did not make loud sounds. Only the great rumbling and cracking of the sky, evoked goosebumps. So the mighty voice of a bell was thrilling and it had great power to command the faithful and put fear into enemies.
China is usually credited with founding the first bells around 3000 to 2000 BC. Early bells were mostly ceramic, but by 1000 BC, China had perfected bronze bells which were used for matters great and small — on dog collars and in sacred ceremony.
The largest bell in existence today is probably the Tsar Bell, on display on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow. This bronze mammoth is 20 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter, weighing more about 445,000 pounds. It is the third and largest Tsar bell, but has never been rung or suspended.
Tsar Bells have had a rough history with fire. The first bell was completed in 1600 and lasted more than 100 years, but was destroyed by fire in the mid-17th century. A second, larger bell was cast in 1655 but was destroyed by fire in 1701. The current bell was cast in 1737 just before another Kremlin fire threatened to destroy it. It fell into its 33-foot deep casting pit as the fire ate away the bell supports. It was raised in 1836 and placed on a stone pedestal where it remains today.104.txt
