…with bells of holly?

At around 16:15 (episode 3 of Haibane Renmei) the background song sounds awfully familiar.

Coincidental? No – the damn jingle bells in the background give it away. Jingle bells – I don’t think the reference could be any more blatant (to this Christmas atmosphere, not the actual song). Perhaps Christmas itself isn’t what is trying to be connoted, but I suspect dearly that there is a deeper meaning behind the “subtle” quasi-insertion of this song.

This four bar phrase is also the first section of a three-part BGM track, the last part being this:

And so this bit sounds a lot like (or is probably directly based off – a variation thereof – of Ailes Grises, one of the pieces in the Haibane Renmei soundtrack. Actually, I have yet to hear the actual piece being played in an episode, so I guess it’s perhaps a certain situational theme.

The bit of sheet music starts at around 1:07.

Anyway, going back to the Christmas carol, look at the lyrics (from Wiki):

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
‘Tis the season to be jolly,
…
Don we now our gay apparel,
…
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,
…
See the blazing Yule before us,
..
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
…
Follow me in merry measure,
…
While I tell of Yule tide treasure,
…
Fast away the old year passes,
…

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
…
Sing we joyous, all together,
…
Heedless of the wind and weather,
…

While trying to stay clear of the theology inscribed in Haibane Renmei’s subtext, I’m sure these rather obscured Christmas references and metaphors can say something about underlying (or overarching?) themes like…uh, the birth of Jesu something or other.