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On Christmas Eve in 1818 a blizzard stranded the tiny village of Oberndorf nestled in the Austrian Mountains. that same day the people of St. Nickolas church found their organ broken. Priest and organist began com-posing a song that could be sung without an organ, yet beautiful enough to express their Christmas joy. All day and night they worked,and at midnight the gentle carol 'Silent Night' was born. The pure clear tones echoed through the hills, and the world has been captured by the beauty of that simple song ever since.
A letter from a friend Maxine, told how she and her husband stood on the snowy mountain above the village of Oberndorf, Austria on Christmas Eve 1988. Both the village choir and band were garbed in Austrian costumes, and their music of Christmas hymns echoed across the valley and mountains. Then they ended with 'Silent Night 'I don't believe there was a dry eye in the crowd of over 2,ooo visitors', she said.