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What the Different Bell Rings Mean

Over the years, especially in recent times, there have been many questions as to what the diffent sounds our bell tower makes mean.  WIth bell towers falling out of use throughout our country less people are fimilar with the differnt sounds produced by a church bell tower.

Striking the Bell

At Cortland Christian Church, as of 2019, our bell will chime each hour from 9am to 6pm at the top of the hour.  First it will play the hourly chime and then it will strike the hour number.  Our bell does not strike at 1p or 2p at the moment due to an error in our system.  At each major hour, 9a, noon, 3p, and 6p, three hymns will play after the hourly strike is complete.  The hymns play based upon the season being celebrated in the church.

Swinging the Bell

Swinging the bell is done at the beginning of the church service.  It announces to the town the church is getting ready to start, come on in, everyone is welcome to attend.  We swing our bell roughly 30 minutes to 15 minutes be for the service.  It depends who is ringing it.  We like to have one of the children pull the rope.  Below is what a swinging bell sounds like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolling the Bell

The second most common bell sound that you will hear from our church is the toll.  It sounds similar to the hourly stike, but is much slower.  This is used for funerals in the church.  We typically toll the bell, play a funeral hymn, and toll the bell one more time about 15 minutes to the start of a funeral or when the funeral persession arrives at the church.  The number of tolls can mark a persons age who has passed or another significant number such as to mark multiple peopl'es passing at the same time.  A tolling bell can also mark anniversaries in the church.  We are nearing our 200th anniversary at Cortland Christian Church.  We also toll the bell at the request of the Ohio State Govenor and the President of the United States.  One such request is 9/11.  Our bell will toll at the impact of the first plane and then play the national anthem.  The video below shows what a toll sounds like.

Pealing the Bells

The final bell that you will hear at Cortland Christian Church is a bell peal.  Essentially this is all of the bells ringing at the same time in harmony.  The peal is used for very special services such as weddings, church anniversaries, installment of a new pastor, Christmas service, Christmas Day, Easter Service, etc.  The video below shows a peal of three bells.  Our system is a six bell peal.

Church Seasons

Ordinary Time - January 7th thru the day before Ash Wednesday.  Normal hymns will ring during this time

Lent - From Ash Wednesday thru Good Friday Lent seasonal hymns will ring.

Good Friday and Holy Saturday - The tower will play a more meditative set of the Lenten selections.

Easter - From Easter and thru the next Sunday or to the end of April a slection of Easter Hymns will ring.

Ordinary Time - Normal hymns resume after the Easter season with exception to partiotic holidays.

Thanksgiving - On Thanksgiving and the preceeding Sunday hymns of thanksgiving are rung.

Advent - The first Sunday in Advent thruDecember 23rd will ring Advent hymns.

Christmas - Christmas hymns will then play from Christmas Eve thru January 6th, Epiphany.

Other Info

One question that gets asked a lot is, "why on some days you can't hear the bells while on other days you can?" There are a variety of factors that contribute to how well the bells are heard.  When they were installed in the 1870's our bells could be heard for miles in each direction, but as trees have grown up, buildings have popped up, and traffic has increased the bells become muffled out.  Wind is a big factor.  The wind will either carry the sound or kill it depending upon its direction.  If there is hard snow on the ground the bell's ring will travel a greater distance.  Also if there is a lot of traffic, the traffic noise will drown out the bells.  Finally, psychology goes into whether you hear the bells or not.  Often, when you are use to hearing the same noise over and over again, at the same time, you may not hear it even though the sound is there.  It is when our bells ring at odd times, like for a special service or funeral, that people notice them and think, "hey, what's up with the bells?"  

We have recieved many phone calls from all over Cortland of people who love our church bells, and we enjoy hearing that you like them.  We hope that as they ring and carry the sound of hymns to you that you will take a moment and remember God and that you will be able to know what is happening at our church.  If you drive by and they are swinging feel free to stop in and join us in worship.  We look forward to ringing them for many years to come!