The Philately is dedicating its Christmas stamps this year to four popular Christmas carols. The painter and draughtsman Oskar Weiss depicted these as colourful illustrations. “Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming” (value: CHF 0.85) is a beloved Advent hymn dating back to the 16th century, the tune of which was found in the oldest Palatine hymn book, the “Speyerer Gesangbuch” of 1599. Translated into more than 300 languages and dialects, “Silent Night, Holy Night” (value: CHF 1.00) is the world’s most well-known Christmas carol. Since it was first recorded in 1905, it has been the most widely sold across the globe.
“Oh, how joyfully” (value: CHF 1.40) also ranks among the most popular Christmas carols. Johannes Daniel Falk (1768–1826) wrote the first of the three verses. After losing four of his seven children to typhoid fever, he founded an orphanage for abandoned children in Weimar. This song was one he dedicated to those children in 1816. Musicologists date the melody of “Come, All Ye Shepherds” (value: CHF 1.90) back to 1700. The carol continues the long tradition of shepherd songs that focus on the proclamation of the birth of Jesus by the angels to the shepherds and their journey to the stable at Bethlehem.

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