Salām, Solh, Paix, Nabáda, Shalom, Kamignokawôgan

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man's-land between the lines.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers' threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers' essential humanity endured.

During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destroy the Christmas spirit.

This appears on History.com the website of the History Channel. The Christmas Truce of 1914 took place during World War I.

What speaks the loudest, however, is not the absence of fighting, but the ability of the soldiers to see each other simply as fellow human beings sans ideologies.

It is something we should all strive for. Every day. To see past the differences in each of us to focus on the similarities. The humanity of us.

Because regardless of who our gods are, what culture we are from, what our sexuality is, what race we are, what gender ... we are, at the basest level, all the same.

A joyful and peaceful Christmas to all of us.

Salām – Arabic

Solh – Farsi

Paix – French

Nabáda – Somali

Shalom – Hebrew

Kamignokawôgan – Abenaki

Paz – Spanish

Hépíng – Mandarin, Putonghua

Pyonghwa – Korean

Heiwa – Japanese

Síocháin – Irish

Pace – Italian

Friede – German

Sulh - Dari

śānti – Hindi

Peace – English

The Advertiser Democrat Editorial Board