At this point I think we are all well aware of what cultural syncretism is, right? Some traditions just merge with others and wind up morphing into something utterly and completely different. Halloween, for instance, used to be a sacred Celtic festivity. Now it is a child-centered celebration. Somewhere along the way the religious aspect of that festival simply got eroded, then watered down and eventually lost. And this is not a unique case. Up until recently Carnival was inseparable from the observance of Lent. Now it is celebrated by people who don't even know the word Lent. For better or worse, Christmas is no exception to this phenomenon. As the holiday evolved alongside other midwinter festivities, Christmas adopted a few (let's say) "secular" elements that, quite ironically, now define the season.
If you think about it for a second, you'll soon realize that the most obvious symbols of present day Christmas are not Christian at all: The Christmas tree, the yule log, the wassail, the festive wreaths and the mistletoe, they all have pagan origins. And some of the most popular Christmas songs today don't even mention Christ (Jingle Bells, All I Want for Christmas is You, Last Christmas, White Christmas, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, etc.). Nevertheless, I suspect that the one element that best exemplifies this phenomenon is Santa Claus.
Indeed. We have come to accept Santa as the very emblem of Christmas. Yet, he's not exactly a Christian figure.
The official origin of his legend is most definitely religious. It harkens back to Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Greek bishop of Myra (in present day Turkey) who used to give presents to children at Christmas. Somehow his fame transcended the confines of the Byzantine empire and eventually reached Central Europe. In Germany he was known as Sankt Nikolaus. The Dutch, though, preferred to call him Sinterklaas, which is a dialectal adaptation of Saint Nicholas. When Dutch migrants moved to America (remember New York's first name was New Amsterdam) they took the tradition with them and it was on American soil where things started to change. The name Sinterklaas became Santa Claus, which is fair enough. But then the proverbial wheels came off the wagon. All of a sudden Santa had a small army of helpers dressed up as elves. He somehow set up home in the North Pole and acquired a little herd of eight flying reindeer. Then the marketing operatives stepped in. Around 1870 cartoonist Thomas Nast established the bright red suit and in 1939 Robert L. May, who worked for a department store, invented the ninth reinder: my dear namesake Rudolph.
It can be argued that there are many other traditions which converge to form the modern celebration of Christmas. We know, for example, that Odin, the Norse god, used to lead a ghostly procession across the sky on his eight-legged horse called Sleipnir. We also know that the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which celebrated the Winter Solstice, entailed the exchange of gifts. The extent to which these pagan traditions exerted an influence on our holiday season cannot be easily determined, but it should not be dismissed.
Anyhow, if I am writing about the history of Christmas it is because, in an interesting way, the fates of once-sacred traditions mirror what actually happens to most languages.
Typically, a language originates in mysterious ways (the beginnings of Proto-Indoeuropean are lost to the mists of prehistory). Then it branches off into dialects which, over time, become languages in their own right. Inevitably, contact with other cultures brings about a series of transformations to grammar, syntax and vocabulary so that, a thousand years after its first babblings, a language has changed beyond recognition. If you managed somehow to travel back to the 10th century you would not understand a single word of the language spoken in England. You don't believe me? Listen to some Old English in this short clip and then be honest with yourself. To modern English speakers the original tongue is utterly incomprehensible. The words that you are reading right now are the result of myriad factors, some homegrown some quite alien. In my view, nothing explains this process more succinctly that the title which linguist John McWhorter chose for his 2009 book: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue.
But I digress...
I was supposed to discuss Christmas. How is this all relevant to you? Well, I think it's eye-opening to realize what a rich tapestry of influences a language can be. It can help you understand change and even human nature. Everyone of us is the end result of a trillion factors. Don't you think?
Anyway, if it is vocabulary that you are interested in here you have some idioms that we owe to Christmas:
- To light up like a Christmas tree (to be very happy)
- Like the turkeys voting for Christmas (to go against one's interests)
- To be like a kid at Christmas (to be extremely excited)
- Don't be a Scrooge / a Grinch (to be a killjoy at Christmas)
Except for the last one (which only makes sense at this time of year), you can use those expressions all year long. And if you're not in the mood to learn idioms, you might appreciate this epic rendition of the famous Carol of the Bells, another great Christmas song that, of course, did not originate as such.
It was written by Mikola Leontovych, a Ukranian composer, over one hundred years ago. The original lyrics dealt with the celebration of New Year, but an American musician of Ukranian heritage chose to reimagine the melody as a Christmas carol and wrote new lyrics to suit the holiday season. Now this hauntingly beautiful song is something of a classic. There are countless versions on the internet. I hope you enjoy this one.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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