Perhaps it’s me. Perhaps it’s because I’m not of the Catholic faith. Perhaps it ‘gets to others too’!

I just don’t know….. But I am almost certain that Quasimodo (or Charles Laughton re-incarnated) lives in the bell tower of my local church.

You see the phenomenon occurs several times every day. It begins just before 7am. Repeats itself at around 8am, then again at 9am. Then it all ‘goes down’ again at about 7.50pm.

Yes you may well ask ‘WHAT’…. Well it’s that ‘electronic Quasimodo’ that is let loose by my local priest as he call’s his parishioners to the various services – mass, matins, vespers and the like. Now that in itself doesn’t bother me at all…. But why, oh WHY does the bell (there’s only one) have to toll SIXTY TWO TIMES for every call to service???? So can you just imagine... for the times when ‘the call’ goes out, the result is like this:
6.55am – 62 tolls
7am – clock chimes 7 times.
7.30am – clock chimes 7 times plus one ‘little one’.
8am - clock chimes 8 times.
8.15am(?) – another 62 tolls.
8.30am – clock chimes 8 times plus one ‘little one’.
8.55am – another 62 tolls.
9am – clock chimes 9 times.
9.30am – clock chimes 9 times plus one ‘little one’.

This is then repeated in the evening!

The village boasts just 1020 souls and as such is small. Everyone lives within sight of the church. No one can miss hearing the bell tolling. So why sixty two tolls ?
Is it the same everywhere else? Or is it just here’ and is there any reason WHY it stops after sixty two? I mean to say, in times gone by, the poor priest would have ended up ‘paper thin’ if he had to tug that bell rope so much – wouldn’t he?

I suppose I’m used to the joy of hearing the church bells ringing out the ‘changes’ every Sunday morning back in the UK. Such a peaceful sound….

Find the English bells here!

Don't worry. In the old times proably the priest was the better fed off person in the village ;-P

And the altar boy rang the bell

I haven't counted them but they do ring for awhile. I love hearing them, especially at the end, as they slow and fade. The next town down the road rings theirs too, but the mountain bounces the sound around so I can't hear a distinct bell ringing, only a long beautiful wavering tone.

The year I was transferred to the states I missed hearing them so much. There all I heard was the constant hum and hiss of an ethanol plant, the air brakes and diesel engines of trucks hauling away the ethanol.

No Carole, it's not because you are not of the Catholic faith. I am, and it gets to me too.

I've never counted the chimes for mass at my parish church, but I'd be willing to wager that it'd be close to 62. This happens at 7AM, Noon and 5PM. Sunday mass has a special series of chimes that drives me crazy: one big bell, then two small ones repeated over and over and over again.

During the day the bells chime every fifteen minutes, beginning at 7AM and ending at 12:45AM. Each time, they chime the number of the hour and then the quarter hours. Yup, that's right, 12:45 is my most unfavorite time of the day. 1PM is so lovely because there is only one chime and it seems like a special treat after hearing 15 chimes a quarter of an hour earlier!

I've heard that the bells used to go on all night but the poor people living on the tiny piazzetta begged the priest to turn them off at night. This summer the system went haywire and they rang a few nights. I was a bit cranky that week.

We live fairly close to the church so there's no escaping the bells, even with all the windows and shutters closed. At first I thought it was quaint but now it just makes me more aware of the passing of time, and as I am not getting any younger, that makes me a bit resentful!

Okay, end of rant. Thanks Carole, for the opportunity to get that off my chest.

I love the sound of Church bells and other bells ringing. Also, I love the sound of the trains winding along the rive down the hill from my house - the echo of the horns as well. Sure beats the sounds of speeding trucks and Jake brakes (engine brake).

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
I love the sound of Church bells and other bells ringing. Also, I love the sound of the trains winding along the rive down the hill from my house - the echo of the horns as well.

For several years, I had an apartment in suburban Philadelphia that was right on the train tracks. It was used by commuter trains (SEPTA) and larger Amtrak trains. I loved the sounds of the different train whistles. There was also a bell on the Limited that rang ding-ding-ding as it went by. That didn't bother me at all and neither did the roar of the faster trains. (I actually liked it.) For a couple of years I lived in Nebraska, and one of the few (precious few) things I liked about it was the sound of the coal trains headed to and from Wyoming.

When I was a child, we had a beach house and I loved the sound of the foghorns. I think that of all the sounds I remember from my child, that would be the most evocative.

I have lived in many other places with bells, even ones that rang every fifteen minutes. One year in college my dorm room was exactly opposite the chapel's steeple. I loved it!

There's just something about these particular bells. They don't have the deep full sound of other bells I've heard or like that of the bells in the link Carole provided. They're actually kind of thin and shrill. The cathedral here actually has some very nice big bells that make a very pleasant sound.

Right now they've got some scaffolding up the belltower. Maybe tonight I'll climb up and sabotage the bells.

Nick, it was not the altar boy. Parishes paid a person (the "campanaro") to ring the bells. Occasionally this role was taken by the priest's maid (the "perpetua").

My granny has a nighboring church. About 1 yars ago the old priest retired and a new one arrived. The old priest rang soberly, except at the main masses on Sunday morning (10;30 and 11;30 am). The ring he used all the other times was not particularly loud, especially for the early morning masses.
When the new priest arrived, he started ringing very loudly at 6;45 am, and always used the loudest and longest ring (the one that the former priest only used for the main Sunday masses). Plus he started the habit of also ringing the hours.
After a few weeks the people in the neighborhood (very crowded residential area in the center of Sesto San Giovanni) started to complain: he was waking people up every morning, earlier than desired, especially on Sundays, and was also waking up small children during their naps. At first he refused to stop all of that bell ringing: first the members of the parish complained after mass, and he just explained that the bells were the symbol of the community; later came letters of the non members of the parish (the non believers), and he used the occasion to ask them to come to church; finally a petition was signed by hundreds of members and non members of the parish and snet to the priest as well as to the local papers and the "sindaco".
Now he's back to playing soberly. But a the time my father and I wanted to reply by sabotaging the speakers so that when he tried to play the bells, the system would broadcast either James Brown's "Sex Machine" or the "International".

quote:

I love the sound of Church bells and other bells ringing.

You obviously don't live near a church Gil.

I'm sure you couldn't complain about church bells here, but I'm sure people would complain if you played rock music as loud.
So early in the morning too! Get some ear plugs Carole!

We have our plethora of church bells - love 'em! - but we also have the tower at the top of the town, the remains of the medieval fortress that secured - or tried to - the town. As a matter of fact, part of its medieval wall forms our back fence. Anyway, the tower has a bell that tolls the hour and half hour. For some unknown reason, and none of the locals can explain it, come the hour, the bell tolls at two minutes to the hour, then, again, at two minutes past. Our theory is that the two minutes-early tolling is to warn you to get a move on, and the two minutes-late tolling is to tell you to forget it - you're too late.

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
I love the sound of Church bells and other bells ringing. Also, I love the sound of the trains winding along the rive down the hill from my house - the echo of the horns as well. Sure beats the sounds of speeding trucks and Jake brakes (engine brake).

Argh, those are the worst! I lived 4 years by I-15 between LA and Vegas. There was a steep descent (or ascent, depending) right by our apartment. 24/7 that's all you could hear, inside or out, jake brakes descending and wide open throttle diesels coming up the hill. No wonder I volunteered for Korea!

quote:

Originally posted by AliceTwain:
But a the time my father and I wanted to reply by sabotaging the speakers so that when he tried to play the bells, the system would broadcast either James Brown's "Sex Machine" or the "International".

Oh, Alice, don't give me any ideas!

This is a sore point with me. You see, we live across the street from a nunnery. While this sounds all terribly quaint, it's really no fun - particularly as our street has very weird acoustics and you can even hear people coughing on the street down below (we're on the 4th floor).

Anyway, those nuns get up at 5.30 am every morning to sing hymns. They go on for hours. During the summer I wore earplugs to sleep through it - it was loud! And they ring their bell (which for some really really weird reason plays Big Ben) every quarter of an hour all through the bloody day and night!

Like AliceTwain and her dad the BF and I have been thinking of all kinds of ways to get the message across. We were thinking either thrash metal or punk at 2am - but I'm sure that "Sex Machine" by James Brown would work well too.

quote:

Anyway, those nuns get up at 5.30 am every morning to sing hymns. They go on for hours. During the summer I wore earplugs to sleep through it - it was loud! And they ring their bell (which for some really really weird reason plays Big Ben) every quarter of an hour all through the bloody day and night!

Poor you

quote:

You obviously don't live near a church Gil.

I have lived by churches and wouldn't hesitate to live near one in the future. On the other hand I wouldn't want to live extremely close to one of the sirens they have in a country fire department like my brother used to. About a week after he got married he rented an apartment and unknown to he and his bride there was one of those gigantic, many horsepower, sirens about 10 to 15 feet from their bedroom window!!!! Funny when you think about it thirty years later.

Ugh- you're conjuring up bad memories. "Alarm Red" sirens, doning gas masks, diving into ditches.