A Brief History
On July 1, 1980, Canada officially adopted “O Canada” as its national anthem. Dating back to 1880, “O Canada” became the informal national anthem of Canada in 1939. The English form of the lyrics have been amended several times, including in 2018, while the French words remained the same.
Digging Deeper
Other countries have well known stirring anthems, and we list a few for you to pick from as your favorite:
France, “La Marseillaise,” 1792.
Germany, ”Deutschland Über Alles,” 1922.
United Kingdom, “God Save the King (or Queen),” 1745.
United States, “Star-Spangled Banner,” written 1814, adopted 1931.
Recent events have thrust the Ukrainian national anthem into the spotlight, “Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished,” composed in 1992, with the stirring words added in 2003. Officially known as “State Anthem of Ukraine,” its commonly accepted title is apropos to the raging war with Russia.
Do you pick a favorite from our list or do you choose another great anthem?
Question for students (and subscribers): Do you believe every country should have a national anthem? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Anderson, Rob. The Fergamerican National Anthem: A Civics Story. Book Baby, 2021.
Harrison, Ted. O Canada. Kids Can Press, 2003.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Pymouss, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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