"Home Alone" Song Has Roots In Ukraine, Russia Bombed City Of Composer

The song, adapted by Ukrainian composer Leontovych in the early 20th century, was originally titled Shchedryk and was based on a local folk melody.

26 Dec 2025, 07:20 · NDTV

New Delhi:

Carol of the Bells, the iconic Christmas song from Home Alone, is in the spotlight, not for the festive cheer but for Russian forces destroying the Ukrainian city where its composer, Mykola Leontovych, once lived.

Heard in the 1990 film after Kevin McCallister declared, “This is my house, I have to defend it,” the song has its roots in Ukraine, where Russian forces have reduced the composer's hometown to rubble.

The song, adapted by Ukrainian composer Leontovych in the early 20th century, was originally titled Shchedryk and was based on a local folk melody. Its creator lived in Pokrovsk, a city now at the centre of heavy fighting.

The song, heard prominently in the film during McCallister's preparations to fight off intruders, became a symbol of Ukrainian resolve long before it became a seasonal staple abroad.

“It was never just a Christmas song, but a Ukrainian cultural message to the world, a greeting card of the nation's deep-rooted spirituality and resilience in the face of threat. The same threat our nation is fighting today,” Leontovych biographer Larysa Semenko told Politico.

Leontovych taught music and led a choir in Pokrovsk while establishing himself as a composer. In the years around World War I, Shchedryk became linked to Ukraine's push for independence from Russian control. A brief Ukrainian government even dispatched a choir across Europe in 1922 to promote the song and the cause, leading to international acclaim.

Author Anatoliy Paladiychuk said, “Shchedryk, which was a hit and always played as an encore, enchanted Europe and America, and helped Ukrainians to declare their nation and state to the world.”

Leontovych later became a target. Following the Bolsheviks' return during the Russian Civil War, he was assassinated by Soviet agents in 1921, an operation that remained concealed until the 1990s.

“Just like they do in occupied territories of Ukraine now, Russian authorities saw a threat in Ukrainian culture.” She added, “That was the start of great terror against Ukrainian freedom fighters, politicians and educators. Leontovych was one of many who were killed,” Semenko told Politico.

More than a century later, Pokrovsk is seeing another battle. Ukrainian troops say they have regained parts of the city, contradicting Russia's claim of occupation. The fighting sits in Donbas, a region Moscow says must be seized entirely before the conflict ends.

Ukraine's top commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated in a Telegram update on December 13, “Our active operations in the Pokrovsko-Myrnoрrad agglomeration area continue. In Pokrovsk itself, in the past few weeks, we were able to regain control of about 16 square kilometers in the northern part of the city.” He pledged further resistance, declaring, “We continue to destroy the enemy.”

As negotiations surface, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said around 30% of Donbas could become a demilitarised zone in exchange for peace, though Moscow has not responded. Kyiv maintains it is defending its independence, the same ambition that once propelled Shchedryk across Europe.

For many Ukrainians, the parallels with the film are unmistakable.

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