Well, as in the states, things are starting to definitely look Christmasy here. I have been having my students in my classes tell me about their Christmas traditions, which has been very interesting. But mostly, they celebrate the way we do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, spending time with family and exchanging gifts and mostly enjoying the company and traditional foods of the season.
Joyce, my German teacher, fellow English teacher and friend, has been asking me about certain Christmas songs and if I recognized them. I have to admit, there have been a couple of German ones that I truly did not recognize the tune of, and certainly not the words of. But then there are the ones that are the good ol' standards, but just sung with German words. And to be honest, many of our Christmas carols have Germanic roots.
Silent Night, Holy Night was originally written by an Austrian and sung in 1818 in a town near Salzburg. The first stanza is sung often enough in America in its original German, that you may recognize some of it:
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
This translates literally into
Silent night, holy night
All is sleeping, alone watches
Only the close, most holy couple.
Blessed boy in curly hair,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!
but was adapted into the English form we know of today in 1863 to make it rhyme and rhythmically singable. Other commonly sung carols that I have grown up with that have German origins include "Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming", "O Christmas Tree", "Still, Still, Still", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "O Come All Ye Faithful", and "O Come, Little Children". And of course there are the works of the German/Austrian talents of Handel and J.S. Bach. whose many tunes were used for carols and whose master works were often sung at this time of year.
But do Germans sing English Christmas songs? (Question of the day) The answer is: yes! When we were at the Kempten Christmas market, I noticed the music that was playing. They had a standard favorite of "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) ironically while I was near a stand that sold roasted chestnuts. They also had other songs you would here in America playing over the speaker system like "White Christmas". And although I did not know all the words, Joyce could sing in both German and English all the words to "O Christmas Tree". This Friday night, we will sing more songs together at my work Christmas party. It will be interesting to know if I will know any of the ones they sing, and if they might possibly sing them in English so I can join in. I really do miss my singing at this time of year, since even when I was taking a break I would sing in the Christmas services. In the meantime, I'll be happy to stick in my Christmas cd's that I brought from the states, hum along, and with all this snow around, well ... It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
The word for the day is Christmas carol: das Weihnachtslied (vi nachts leed - where the "vi" is a long "i" as in like and the ch of nachts is that cat coughing sound.)
The question for the day is "When does Santa come to Germany?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
