Canada is so quietly proud. They have much to be proud about, including their delightful national anthem.
Having attended a lot of ice hockey games in the USA, I have come to recognize and appreciate the national anthems of the USA and Canada. Of course, the US national anthem has had lots of criticism and has caused a considerable confusion because of some of the seldom-used words it contains. Still, it often brings tears to my own eyes when I hear it.
I have never been to Canada, but I do have strong feelings for the Canadian people, their culture and the two languages of the country. Various icons of the Canadian country are easily identified as Canadian. The maple leaf flag is clearly one of the most familiar, as familiar as the bald eagle is to citizens of the USA. The “Mounties”, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, can only be Canadian in nature.
As for audible icons, Oh Canada is number one. The music to the Canadian national anthem was written by Calixa Lavallee in 1880. Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier wrote the original French words. The English equivalent was penned by Robert Stanley Weir twenty-eight years later. The song became Canada’s national anthem in 1980, one century after having been sung and loved by Canadians for so long.
The first verse, which is usually the only verse used at hockey games, reminds the author of the first verse of America, the Beautiful. Although that song is intended to laud the praises of the United States of America, it applies to Canada as well. The first stanza of Oh Canada extols the freedom and glory of Canada. It expresses the heartfelt love of the Canadian for his homeland. It is truly an uplifting song for a noble and beautiful people.
Let us remember our neighbors to the north on July 1 each year. That is the Canadian birthday, so to speak. They call it Dominion Day.
This article is online at:
http://www.authspot.com/Journals/Oh-Canada.137911
Please look it up there as well.
