Jingle Bells was written for a minstrel show

Jingle Bells is not a Christmas song

I asked a clerk at a local store why there was no Christmas music this year. The young African American man began telling me that he could not deal with the rotating songs during hsi shift. 

He then asked I knew about the pagan roots of the December 25 holiday and proceeded to tell me that Jingle Bells was originally written about African slaves in America.

Jingle Bells was not written as a Christmas song, and it was not about slavery but it was written with African Americans in mind.

Dashing through the snow

In a one-horse open sleigh

Over the fields we go

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bob-tail ring

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to ride and sing

A sleighing song tonight.

chorus:

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way,

Oh what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh, O

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way,

Oh what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle Bells was not about slave collars

There is a belief that the song refers to the iron collars that were placed around the necks of some enslaved Africans. Bells were added so that if they escaped dogs would hear them and capture them.

Along with other inhuman methods to control slaves, the iron collars with bells were brutal. However, no one should make matters worse by stating as fact what is false. Jingle Bells has nothing to do with American slavery. Please read on for details.

A day or two ago

I thought I’d take a ride

And soon Miss Fanny Bright

Was seated by my side;

The horse was lean and lank

Misfortune seemed his lot,

We got into a drifted bank

And there we got upsot.

Jingle Bells originally had a different name

Jingle Bells debuted in 1850 in Medford, Massachusetts. The author of the tune was James Lord Pierpoint, who published the song in 1857 under the name of One Horse Open Sleigh.

Hey, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh, hey

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh

Jingle Bells was written for a minstrel show

The song was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder, and a second version came out in 1898. New England and Massachusetts history reveal that slavery in that region was abolished before Jingle Bells was officially recorded.

Here is a probability, but there are no facts to back this up. Slave owners in the Antebellum South may have misused the song lyrics regarding runaways, however, James Lord Pierpoint did not write the lyrics with slaves in mind.

There is evidence that he penned the song about the fun of sleigh riding in the snow for a minstrel show where White people wear Black face. Jingle Bells was sung as an irony about African Americans riding sleighs.

A day or two ago

The story I must tell

I went out on the snow

And on my back I fell

A gent was riding by

In a one-horse open sleigh

He laughed as there I sprawling lie

But quickly drove away

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh, hey

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh