Sorry for the late-ish post. The past week has been really busy. I had my government class on Friday, right after which we went to a boutique to sell stuff. We got home around six and crashed. Saturday I slept in and then had to clean up all the stuff from the boutique. Then we had a party for our church's youth group.
Sunday we went to just second service (and go there late, to boot) and then straight to a Nutcracker performance. When we finally got home we cleaned up a little and watched the Packer game. I was too tired after that to write a post, so... Here we are!!
I picked two carols for today: Good Christian Men Rejoice and O Christmas Tree.
Good Christian Men Rejoice was originally in German with some Latin phrases. The words may have been written by Heinrich Seuse, a Dominican monk, but nobody's sure. Today in German there are two versions: the Catholic one, which has German and Latin; and the Protestant one, which doesn't have any Latin, only German.
The most well known English version of this song was translated by John Mason Neale, who lived from 1818 to 1866. The literal translation of the German lyrics is actually quite different. (In the first verse, the italics are the Latin phrases.)
German/Latin version:
In dulci jubilo,
nun singet und seid froh!
Unsers Herzens Wonne
leit in præsepio
und leuchtet als die Sonne
matris in gemio
Alpha es et O.
Alpha es et O.
Literal translation from German:
In sweet rejoicing
Now sing and be glad!
Our heart's delight
Lead in the manger
And shines as the sun
His mother's lap
Art alpha and omega
Art alpha and omega
English version:
Good Christian men rejoice
With heart and soul and voice!
Give ye heed to what we say
Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before Him bow
And He is in the manger now
Christ is born today!
Christ is born today!
See the Catholic version here, an English version here, and an alternate literal translation (they add some words/phrases to make it flow a little better) here - just scroll down a bit.
The second carol is O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum). A Tannenbaum is a fir tree or Christmas tree. In modern German the word Fichten is used for Christmas tree, Tannen was used for a long time and is why the 'O Tannenbaum' songs of today use Tannen.
The first known lyrics date back to 1550, but the best known ones were written in 1824 by a organist named Ernst Anschütz. There are at least a dozen English translations.
German version:
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur
Zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Literal translation from German:
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How loyal are your needles!
You're green not only
In the summertime,
No, also in winter when it snows.
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How loyal are your needles!
English version:
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How lovely are thy branches
Your boughs so green in summertime
Stay bravely green in wintertime
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How lovely are thy branches
See the German version here, an English version here, and the rest of the German/literal translation English lyrics here.
If you're curious, I pulled most of my information from here. Or search for a Christmas carol and then 'in German' on Youtube. There are a bunch out there. ;) I would also suggest checking out my friend Jessica's post over at TAJ about Silent Night, another very famous German Christmas carol.
Now for our quote of the week... John 1:14!
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.Thanks for reading, and I hope you're having a wonderful time of year!! I'll be back next week with a hopefully more-on-time post. :)
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