Mid-winter horns herald Christmas

On a chilly December morning, you might hear them: the mid-winter horns blowing lonely notes over the woods and countrysides of the Netherlands. It’s a tradition buried deep in folk history and one that survives still along the eastern Dutch and German borders.

The mid-winter horns are a tradition passed from father to son — and by no means an easy one. The horns are made from curved elder branches, cut lengthwise and hollowed out. They are then reattached to form a meter-long wooden horn — difficult to sound and harder still to make any kind of music.

Although some experienced horn blowers can blow a melody of about eight notes from the horns, music really isn’t the point.

Actually, the point is kind of buried in folk traditions. Some say the ancients thought time stopped in the winter and the horns brought promise that the sun would come again. At other times, the horns have been used for communication. In times of war, farmers might sound the horn to alert others to enemy advance. Smugglers even used horns to alert compatriots of the police.

But, today, the horns herald the coming of Christmas, from Advent to Dec. 26.