Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined again by Lydia Tomkiw, a senior reporter at the Financial Times, for a special holiday episode. Lydia shares the origins behind "Shchedryk," the 1916 Ukrainian New Year's song which has since been adapted into the well-known English Christmas song, "Carol of the Bells." Tomkiw explains the (often unknown) context of murder, political tumult, and oppression in Ukraine at the time of the song's composition, and she and the co-hosts make parallels between the experience of Ukrainians then and today amidst their country's war with Russia.

Show notes: "As war rages at home, Ukrainian choir heads to Carnegie Hall to celebrate 100 years of ‘Carol of the Bells’" by Lydia Tomkiw and Emily Johnson; "Toll of the Bells" by Lydia Tomkiw; Celebrating 100 Years of Carol of the Bells. Sign up for The Eastern Front's biweekly newsletter here.