Every Christmas large choirs gather in different parts of Japan to bring to life the legendary Ode To Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. But why?

After all, the Ninth is not exactly associated with Christmas traditionally.

In this video above posted by BBC News, Yukata Sado, the conductor of this 10,000-person choir, notes that this tradition began from the time of the First World War. The irony of the origin cannot be missed.

For, it was German prisoners of war who were heard singing the Ninth Symphony in captivity. The Germans and Japanese were enemies in the First World War. Since then, Sado says, the vibrant symphony has empowered Japanese people through good times and the bad.

And listening to Ode To Joy is a way of remembering the year gone by.