Botanist here - might be able to offer some insight into the mistletoe thing. So they are obligate hemiparasitic plants, they need to tap into the water supply of other species to survive, they cannot exist even as seedlings on their own. They make those stickly seeds so birds have to wipe them off - often onto the branch of their new host. Ps also maybe traditionally revered because they could 'magically' persist as green foliage through winter on an otherwise dormant deciduous host tree.
I read that it was revered by the druids because it was a plant that existed between two worlds...heaven and earth. Of course bracket fungi etc can also exist off the ground, but most fungi grow from the soil, or at least on wood that's mouldering on the ground. They'd have had their minds blown by Tillandsia. 😆
My husband has a white beard and visited Uganda a few years ago. The little children were in awe of him. They didn't respond when he asked if he looked like Santa Claus, but their eyes lit up when his South African friend asked if he looked like Father Christmas.
English loan words in Swahilli generally are just the english word followed by thi suffix i. My personal favorite is Roundabout, which, in Kenya at least, is a "keep lefti" .
Ive tried to understand the Nigerian version of English. Rather silly really because I still get tripped up by Australian and even US versions. Much as my mother, from east London in England struggled to understand her Lancashire neighbours back in the late 1940s and 50s when she moved north after marrying her handsome soldier during WWll. (He loved his beautiful WRAAF lady just as much). Ps. Shame I, a female, took after my handsome dad rather than my beautiful mother. 😂
@Xpian not 100% sure about the Ken vs Keen thing. It always seemed more of a social or economic thing. The bourgeois always went with the long e and the proletariat with the short. The KCs were saying Keenya all the way up to the mid 90s when we left and I suspect they still do. Our teachers from the UK basically broke on the same lines... the more pedestrian ones said Ken and the more... colourful... ones said Keen.
The naughty/nice thing reminds me of something I heard years ago. The “naughty” children originally meant poor, and Santa brought them coal because it was winter and cold and they had nothing. It was a gift they’d appreciate, not a punishment.
I play a lot of roleplaying games. You've got me wanting to create a group of mobsters named after Old Gregory Christmas and his sons. "Babycake is the worst of the lot; don't go messing about with Babycake!" Captain Christmas also gave me a giggle. :) Finally, you guys had never managed to catch my on an eggcorn previously - but "colly birds" finally did it! Thanks for yet another lesson!
I thought you guys were taking a 2-week break. Did I miss you saying it would be longer? Looking forward to your next episode. To you both, all the best and may you be blessed!
My favorite version of "Merry Christmas" in another language is from Hawaiian, "Meli Kalikamaka". "Happy Holidays" simply used to be a way to wish folks a happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, useful from mid-November to at least after Christmas. I'd love for Rob & Jess to discuss Krampus, the Grinch, and the other darker sides of Christmas!
In Canada, Thanksgiving is a harvest festival set at the beginning of autumn. Therefore the holidays season here does not include it. The holidays season begins with advent up to Christmas, also included is St-Nicholas on December 6th, the feast of St-Stephen’s on the 26th of December. On to New Year on the first of January and culminating on the 6th of January with the Epiphany. That is why it is properly said Happy Holidays not just Merry Christmas. Other traditions also have their high days at this period, which makes the inclusiveness of Happy Holidays for this season of good cheer all the more joyous.
When my son was little we would modify the lyrics of songs and rhymes to make him laugh such as Baa baa black sheep have you any crisps? We modified the 12 days of Christmas to include; 5 old things, 4 falling birds, 3 French men, 2 purple doves and a fartridge up a gum tree.
Great one! "Sinterklaas" is in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET when Santa knows and sings Sinterklaas Kapoentje to a little Dutch girl in the store. The mother apologizes that the girl doesn't know English, and she is amazed he knows both Dutch and the children's song.
I love "Good King Wenceslas" because of the message about helping those less fortunate. I've used it for an art project for the last several years. And it really isn't a Christmas song, it takes place on the Feast of Stephen of course! Great episode.
I'm so happy you include Joulupukki, the Christmas goat! I know he's a person, but I have a taxidermy Boc Balear goat, that has been adorned with sparkling silver stars and blue LED lights, to represent the colors of the Finnish flag, and he hangs in my entryway, (this past year he has also served as climbing support for a monstera adansonii plant) his name is also Joulupukki. I wish I could post pictures in the comments because he's cool and I would share his sparkly greatness with everyone. Despite being German, not Finns or Russians, we also celebrate gift-giving on Sylvester (nye for y'all Americans), but we tell our son that his no9dly highness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster slips in through the windows that night, usually when people are distracted by the fireworks and drunk on champagne, and leaves presents. So we do it Russian nerd style. Hyvää joulua!
The red Santa Claus dress is quite a new fashion in Finland. Joulupukki was originally dressed in a big dark fur coat, a remnant of the figure of Christmas Goat, originally wearing horns. It was a part of the tradition to circle around the village in groups of young people and demand treats and drink (usually christmas beer) during the holidays, even before christian time. A "trick or treat" tradition of sorts. Later Joulupukki started to bring gifts to children.
In Italy, when I was young (now I'm 60) Gesù bambino, aka baby Jesus, used to bring presents, nowadays it's Babbo Natale, Father Christmas, but the original tradition involved no presents around Christmas, it was just a religious holiday. Goog kids would receive small presents and sweets on January 6, Epiphany. They were brought by my favorite figure ever, la Befana, a very old woman flying on a broom that would get inside every house through the chimney, and leave sweets for good kids and lumps of coals for naughty ones.
I was taught in my music history class that a carol was originally a religious song written with the verse in the local language and a chorus in Latin intended to help people relate meaning to the Latin used in church. Originally they could be about anything religious, but the Christmas ones were those that stood the test of time, and that is why the oldest carols have choruses in Latin, like Angels We Have Heard On High and The Boar's Head Carol, etc.
i could listen to you guys for days on end! thank you for making my life richer, happy holidays to you and best wishes for 2025! keep up your amazing work! i just started watching this episode but i hope that you Jess will make Rob blush, cause that is always sooo funny!
Isn’t it funny how Brits say “happy Christmas” and us Americans use “merry Christmas” despite us perceiving “merry” as a word that sounds quite British.
Carol is also a nickname, or language deviation, for Charles. As in Carol O'Connor. There is also Carlos, Carl, Karl, Chick, Chuck, Charlie, Charlize, Chas, etc. from Charles.
In Finnish culture the Joulupukki always comes to visit using the door and NOT the chimney. And also he visits the family when they are awake and waiting for him. You anglos miss so much. And we celebrate the jewish Jesus by eating a roasted joulukinkku - yule ham! ;)
Love the video! You two are always a delight to watch and learn from. ♥️ Enjoy your first Christmas with your sweet baby Rosie, Rob! I will admit to a few happy tears for you and your wife when I read your newsletter yesterday. ❤
The only podcast that makes me audibly chuckle 😄 Merry Christmas Jess & Rob! Still hoping for a "slang" episode or two in the new year, especially Victorian.
At 12 minutes you point out about it being odd that Santa interferes with Christmas Day, being the birthday of Christ. As a professional Santa Claus, and more importantly, a St Nicholas, Father Christmas and Pere Noel, I often have children asking "Did you know Christmas is Jesus's birthday?" and I point out that Santa's work ends of Christmas Eve, that I'm a herald of the coming Christmas, and that "Christmas belongs not to Santa, but to Someone else altogether." and they look at me, and say "Jesus?" and I confirm it, with "He's my boss." which, because I'm a Rev. -- is actually true. Ho ho ho. Happy Advent. (LOL).
But of course, Christmas is not Jesus' birthday. He was born in the Spring. Christmas was just the day chosen to commemorate Jesus' birth - the feast day for Christ. Just like St. Patrick's Day is not St. Patrick's birthday. The idea of celebrating birthdays (or even keeping track of them) didn't start until many centuries later. December 25 was chosen because the pagan Romans were already used to celebrating that day as the Bacchanalia. This way, they could be persuaded to become Christian and still enjoy the holiday without the pagan practices. "New wine in old bottles."
@@PhilBagelsChrist prob born Sep/Oct & they think 4-6 BC, stuff they can work out from the census, the flocks still being outside & the duty rota served by John the Baptiser’s father ❤
At my school, we used to celebrate Christingles every year. It was a carol service and oranges with a candle stuck in the middle and little sweets stuck all around with cocktail sticks were given out to the children, to us, in fact.
Saint Nicklaus was probably Greek, though he lived in what is now Turkey. He was not a Turk, because the Turks did not arrive in Turkey for another thousand years.
Saint Nicholas was indeed Greek and lived in the Roman Empire. As far as we know he actually came from Patara (Lycia) and became the bishop of Myra. Much later the relics of his body were taken by Italian sailors to Bari in Italy where you can still visit them. He definitely was not Turkish since the Turks arrived centuries later to the place we now call Turkey.
Indeed, St Nicholas (AD 270-343) was a bishop in Anatolia in Bysants (current Antalya province in Turkey). There is a museum for him in the city Antalya; I visited it in August 1994.
I don't know how many know this, but I just learned this year that when the song says five golden rings, a "golden ring" is a kind of pheasant. So rather than one actual gift in the song, just a seventh kind of bird.
I’m late to the party, but I’ve always enjoyed the “traditional” carols as well. The Boar’s Head Carol is a particular favorite, as well as Jess’ suggestion of Good King Wenceslas. Thanks for this episode, you two! *I also loved Rob’s expression while Jess was mentioning the supposed link between xtianity and the 12 Days of Christmas. That was priceless! 😂
Talking about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" reminded me of joke in my collection. What if a Cajun had tried to do the things listed in the song? Notes: Andouille is a kind of pork sausage. It's made of smoked shoulder meat, which is stuffed into a casing with various spices and then smoked again. The "andouille" you may find in your local food market is not real Cajun andouille. They are usually a hot link that they borrowed the name for. LaPlace, Louisiana, a town on the Mississippi River, has been nicknamed "The Andouille Capital of the World". Bourbon Street is in New Orleans' oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter. It runs thirteen blocks from Canal to Esplanade Avenue. Bourbon Street is best known for its bars and strip clubs. A fais do-do (fay doe-doe) is a Cajun dance party. The name means "go to sleep", which is what Cajun mothers tell their children before leaving to attend one. "Do-do" is a cutesy way of saying "dormir" (sleep), and is used mostly when speaking to small children. It's like saying "beddy-bye". __________ Day 1: Dear Fontenot: Thanks for the bird in the pear tree. I fixed it last night with dirty rice. I don't think the pear tree will grow with all the heat in the summer. -Josephine Day 2: Dear Fontenot: Your letter said you sent two turtle doves, but all I got was two scrawny pigeons. Anyway, I mixed them with andouille and made some gumbo out of them. -Josephine Day 3: Dear Fontenot: Why couldn't you have sent me crawfish? I'm tired of eating those darned birds. I gave two of those prissy French chickens to Leonie over at Grand Bayou and fed the third one to my dog, Phydeaux. Leonie needed some sparring partners for her fighting rooster. -Josephine Day 4: Dear Fontenot: Good Lord! I told you no more %44#*^@ birds! these four "calling birds" were so noisy you could hear them all the way to Napoleonville. I used their necks for my crab traps, and fed the rest of them to the alligators. -Josephine Day 5: Dear Fontenot: You finally sent something useful. I like the golden rings. I hocked them at a pawn shop in Thibodaux and got enough money to fix the shaft on my shrimp boat, and then bought a round for the boys at Patin's in Labadie! Thanks! -Josephine Day 6: Dear Fontenot: You pig! You're back to the birds, you Cajun turkey! Poor Phydeaux is scared to death of the six geese. They peck the heck out of his snout. They are good at eating cockroaches, though. I may stuff one of them with oyster dressing on Christmas day. -Josephine Day 7: Dear Fontenot: I'm going to wring your fool neck next time I see you. Dumont, the mailman, is ready to kill you. The droppings from all those birds is stinking up his mail boat. He afraid someone will slip on that stuff and sue him. I let those seven swans loose to swim on the bayou and some duck hunters from Mississippi blasted them out of the water. Talk to you tomorrow. -Josephine Day 8: Dear Fontenot: Poor old Dumont had to make three trips with his mail boat to deliver the eight maids a' milking and their cows. One of the cows got spooked by the gators and almost tipped over the boat. I don't like those shiftless maids. I told them to get to work gutting fish and sweeping the house, but they say that isn't in their contract. They probably think they're too good to skin the nutrias I caught last night. -Josephine Day 9: Dear Fontenot: What you trying to do? Dumont had to borrow the Lutcher ferry to carry those jumping twits you call Lords a' leaping across the bayou. As soon as they got here, they wanted a tea break with crumpets. I don't know what that means, but I told them they got chicory coffee or nothing. Good Lord. What am I going to feed all these Bozos? They're too snooty for fried nutria, and the cows ate my turnip greens. -Josephine Day 10: Dear Fontenot: You have got to be out of your mind! If the mailman doesn't kill you, I will! Today he delivered ten half-naked floozies from Bourbon Street. They said they were "ladies dancing", but they don't act like ladies in front of the Limey twits. They almost left after one of them got bitten by a water moccasin over by the bayou. I had to butcher two of the cows to feed everyone and had to go buy a shopping cart load of toilet paper. The crowd ran me out, and the Sears catalog wasn't good enough for the noble behinds of those snooty "lords". -Josephine Day 11: Dear Fontenot: Cheerio and pip-pip. Your eleven pipers piping arrived today from the House of Blues, second-lining as they got off the boat. We fixed stuffed goose and beef jambalaya and had a fais-do-do. The new mailman was having a good time dancing with the floozies. He told me the old mailman, Dumont, jumped off the Sunshine Bridge today while screaming your name. If you get a mysterious ticking package in the mail sometime soon, don't open it. Or maybe you should. -Josephine Day 12: Dear Fontenot: I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm not your true love anymore. After the fais-do-do, I spent the night with Jacque, the head piper. We decided to open a restaurant and jazz club on the bayou. The floozies... pardon me. The "ladies dancing" will be the entertainment and the lords will be waiters and valet park the boats. Since the maids don't have any more cows to milk, I trained them to set my crab traps, watch my trotlines, and run my shrimping business. We will probably gross over million dollars next year. Merry Christmas! -Josephine
Haven't seen that Cajun 12 Days before...have many times heard a hilarious narration of an Irish version on radio though, which ends with the beleaguered gift recipient and his mother being driven crazy by the tumult caused by the gifts...
13:18 When I say Happy Holidays it's partially to say happy whatever holiday you celebrate but I started saying it more particularly as a way of including Christmas and New Year's Eve in one sentiment. I also think the controversy around saying Happy Holidays" is mostly just christians telling each other they should be offended. It's a one-sided, artificial controversy.
Thank you for this video. Happy Holidays etymology helped me today at work when it was used at my workplace and didn't rub me the wrong way. I love your back and forth with each other. It's very easy to watch. Happy Holidays!
In Dutch (and Flemish), Thunder is written "Donder" and Lightning is "Bliksem". Also, the 6th of December here in Belgium and the 5th in the Netherlands, the holiday is called "Sinterklaas", while Christmas itself is called "Kerstmis". Santa Claus/Father Christmas is just called "Kerstman".
So glad you mentioned the 5th of December, as I was sure that was St Nicholas's Day in Germany (in the 1950s at least). My dad's German secretary got us kids involved in her family's 5 December high-jinks. I remember being amazed that St Nicholas knew about my (then) naughtiest act of the year: doing acrobatics on the fourth-floor stairwell railing.
@@lizj5740December the 5th is actually Saint Nicolas Night. December 6th is Saint Nicolas Day. Just as December 24th is Christmas Night and December 25th Christmas Day.
As my middle name "Elwin" apparently means "befriended by elves" I have been using that "Elf on a shelf" for years now doing mischievous things about the house for my great- grand daughters. Especially stealing my candy.Lol😜 ⛄Happy Holidays to all 2024
Navidad does come from the Latin word for birth, but the modern Spanish word for birth is nacimiento. In the strictly modern sense, Navidad is more directly like the word Nativity in English.
While male reindeer do indeed shed their antlers annually, they don't necessarily all do so prior to Christmas. Depending on the weather, they may keep them well into January. In any event, some of Santa's reindeer are clearly male, and some are female. The word "vixen" means "female fox", which would most certainly be used for a female rather than a male. "Cupid" is the name for a male Roman god - the kid with the bow and arrows that make people fall in love. His Greek name was Eros. So Cupid the reindeer would most certainly be a male. Rudolf is obviously a male name. And I like to think that the reindeer, as listed in the poem, are given as mated pairs. Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner (or Dunder) and Blitzen (or Blixem) - so four males and four females. And if you buy into the idea that they can fly, you can certainly buy into the idea that the males might still have their antlers through Christmas Eve.
In Spain, gifts used to be delivered (and still are, to some extent) on January 6 by the Three Wise Men (Reyes Magos). December 25 and Father Christmas (Papá Noel) have been gaining ground for some time, mostly for children to have more time to enjoy their new toys before schools open back (usually on January 7)
Ded Moroz, btw, pronounced Dyed, not dead, is a modern adaptation of Santa Claus invented by the Soviets to draw attention away from the Christian Holiday of Christmas to the secular feast of New Year's. The name is found in old folk tales, but was originally just a personification of winter.
Only watched the first 24 minutes now, so maybe you will cover this later. But an elf, and even Santa himself, in Swedish, is tomte. Which is related to tomt, which means a farm, or a property of any kind. Basically a piece of land. A private house is on a tomt. And it has an elf, looking after the property, and punishing the owners if they don't take care of the property right. And the elf is the tomte. "The landy", or something like that. He is connected to the land, or the tomt, hence the name tomte. He watches over the place. A tiny creature, maybe three feet tall or less, dressed in gray. And he has very little patience with fools. We put out rice porridge to him on Christmas Eve, with butter on top. To avoid his wrath. And he eats it. I can see his footprints in the snow, and the porridge is gone. Funnily, he seems to have cat paws...
In modern Norwegian reindeer are just referred to as rein with that spelling. Same in singular and plural form. Santa is julenisse nisse is an elf who lives in the barn and must be kept happy with food etc. similar to a boggart in English folk tradition, these nisse can be helpful or mischievous.
Hello from Denmark. Santa is called *"julemanden"* (the yule man) in danish, but he is somehow existing in parallel with another bringer of gifts: *Julenissen* You can mention both as the bringer of christmas gifts, and people don't blink an eye. Julemanden lives on the North Pole (or Thule in Greenland) and has an army of helpers (nisser) The Nisse lives in the attic or the barn, and you're supposed to bring him some food - preferably porridge. I don't know what he's supposed to eat for the rest of the year. Poor fellow. The Nisse was originally a household god. The English translation can be gnome, goblin, hobgoblin or - like Santa's helper - elf.
And in Sweden it is Tomten or The Christmas Gnome a opposed the regular tomtar (plural for tomte) who take care of farm animals in the winter so you had better remember to leave a nice bowl of porridge (oatmeal) for them at Christmas. 🙂
@@gwjchris yes they love their grøt here too, as uasual in Norway with butter and cinnamon, to me as a Scot this is an horrifc way to treat porridge but they think I am crazy here with my salty grøt.
As a long-time Anglophile, I was well aware that it was "colly birds," not "calling birds." I don't dispute who is right and who is wrong on this. Interestingly, I still have a 1957 book published by Golden Press of New York, "My Christmas Treasury." It's a delightful book, by the way. It would make a good stocking stuffer for a young reader. On page 43 of my edition it is written "Four colly birds." So at least 67 years ago, that was normal in America. It's been corrupted since then and there's no use sugar (plum) coating it. So sing out loud at the next gathering, "Four COLLY birds." Don't spread the corruption. We need to respect our British brothers and sisters (to some extent). As for the 12 days, I've seen different mixtures of that, at least past the "Five gold rings!" [Five golden rings?]. You all feel free to research this further.
Love that sequined Santa hat! You two are so much fun to listen to and we learn so much as the same time. Wishing you both much mirth and look forward to seeing you in 2025.
FYI, Jess, the q in Mi'kmaq is silent: it's pronounced more like Mi'kmaw, and is sometimes spelt that way. Apparently the Mi'kmaq themselves pronounce it similarly to a Scottish ch. But thanks for telling us the caribou and reindeer are the same! I had no idea.
I am Australian, but when I was young I spent a year in Norway as an exchange student. They also have something similar to elves, called ‘nysse’ or ‘nyssen’. These are usually naughty and mostly play tricks on people. At best they are mischievous. At Christmas time, they have the job of delivering the Christmas presents. They are called “julenysse” or Christmas elves. I thought you might have spoken about them 🤔 For some reason, these “nysse” are usually dressed in red, like miniature santas 😮
Nisse/nysse/tomte/tonttu house-elves, leave offerings for them, or your sauna building might catch fire... One N for the barn, one for the house, one for the sauna building... None for the outhouse.
Nisser or tomtar (Swedish) weren’t necessarily naughty tricksters. Instead they cared for the farm as much as the humans there, but they demanded respect for their work, typically shown by leaving food out for them. If you didn’t, then bad things may start to happen.
When each of my children were, in turn, of older preteen years (8-11), I tried to include them in any December travels which were necessitated by my work back then. They rapidly cottoned on that kids received gifts on 5th Dec in Nederland, 24th in Bayern, 25th at home in Cymru, and on 6th January in Valencia. Somehow, they contrived to accompany me at the right time to meet Zwarte Piet, Knecht Ruprecht (but certainly NOT Krampus!), Siôn Corn, Papa Noël, Father Christmas, Olenzero, and/or Los Reyes Magos. Each of the six of them thought they'd discovered new ways of getting "Christmas boxes" (as my family calls them), which their older progeny had been too twp/stupid to have discovered. A blessed Yuletide to one and all.❤. Today, my grandsons are satisfied with Siôn Corn (🏴🇬🇧), Santa on a surfboard (🇦🇺), Baba Krismasi (🇰🇪), The Creation Baby Storyteller (Métis 🇨🇦), or in fact just about anyone - or even everyone!! 😂🎅 NADOLIG LLAWEN I CHWI OLL. 🤱
Nadolig llawen i ti hefyd! As I understand it, Siôn Corn is a relatively new introduction, dating from about the 1930s, when he appeared in a Welsh children’s book. He was not a representation of Father Christmas, but a completely different manifestation who lives up the chimney (his name means something like Johnny Chimney-pot.). It seems he is becoming more and more linked to Father Christmas and his Welsh name is often used to refer to his anglophone counterpart.
There's a town named Noel in the USA state of Missouri. The post office there receives many letters addressed to Santa Claus. The post office delivers them to a volunteer organization that looks through them for families that need help.
I always get confused in the Philippines because Christmas is Pasko and Easter is Pasko ng Pagkabuhay which would be literally Christmas Resurrection which sounds like the name of a sequel. It is confusing because Easter in French is Pâques which comes from the Latin Pascha so when my Filipino wife says Pasko to refer to Christmas it sounds to me like she is trying to say the Latin word for Easter.
This morning, as we do many mornings between Thanksgiving (USA) and Christmas, my little old Jack Russell Terrier and I went on our walk in Christmas regalia. I dress as Father Christmas (in a long vestment costume rather than a "suit") and he wears a red jacket with white fake fur collar.
Excellent and fun episode! Could you please, someday, take a look at "Green Grow the Rushes O"? Also 12 items in a similar format to the 12 days of Christmas.
Being a Partridge myself, I believe that the pear tree part of the song is a bastardisation of the French word for partridge (perdrix), as partridges are ground dwelling birds...
Number 1 and Number 2. Reminds me of French: "petit oiseau vert" and "petit oiseau brun".- German: Pipi und Aa. Maybe children's words could make a good topic for a future episode. Although usually there is a lot of family-specific language involved. Children's words for relations, animals, genitals, andi all sorts of things.
Where I live, there's a thing up in a pine tree that I thought is mistletoe. I took a picture, and someone said it's a squirrel's nest. So I posted it on iNat, and it turned out to be neither. It's Phytoplasma pini, also known as witch's broom.
Would love you to elaborate more on the Festive Word origins next year and include Fr Christmas'/Santa's/St Nicholas' helpers, e.g., Krampus, Belsnickel, Gwiazdor/Aniołek, Pere Fouettard, Zwarte Piet, to name just a few! As a child, I was always given a present from Poland's Gwiazdor ("StarMan", the equivalent of Germany's Weihnachtsmann) on December 6.
"Hail our dear ould friend Kris Kringle, Driving his reindeer across the sky. Don't stand underneath when they fly fly by." - Tom Lehrer, A Christmas Carol (no later than 1959)
I remember seeing a French carol "Le premier mois d'l'année" which was pretty similar. The first month was "une perdriole, qui va, qui vient, qui vole; une perdriole qui vole dans les bois" (a partridge which comes and goes and flies in the woods). The second month was "deux tourtourelles" (two turtle-doves). I don't remember the rest...
My gramma’s house is in South Albuquerque, NM, and I always connected “Santa” with the word for “saint”, except weirdly feminized. There are also tons of people around here with both German and Mexican descent, so when I was a kid, I pictured Santa Claus as an effeminate German patron saint of Chistmas.
Yeah, it’s always Santa-san, or Santa-san-tachi if you want to emphasize that there are many of them or he is with his entourage. I guess it can seem lonely when there is just one. メリー•クリスマス meh.leeee k(oo).r(ee).s(oo).mah.s(oo)! The joke is that it sounds like a slightly botched pronunciation of 苦しみます k(oo).r(oo).s(hee).m(ee).mah.s(oo) which means (I) suffer/go to pains in Japanese, as the holiday takes so much work . . . Reindeer and caribou are both tonakai in Japanese; there is no distinction. It is one of those Ainu-derived terms related to tuna in English. The connection is that they both dash (well run on iced-over rivers or swim) very fast. Mistletoe berries are used to make birdlime to trap birds who land on twigs covered with them. The British and American versions are different plants, with white berries I believe, and the one sacred to members of the Druid class was yet a different plant called the showy mistletoe which has yellow/gold berries and was supposed to have all-heal type properties or something. It’s drualas in Irish. Mistletoe was the only thing that could kill the otherwise invulnerable Viking god Baldur, the Celtic gods’ enemies. I suppose nothing on earth could kill him, but mistletoe growing out of trees is no plant on earth. Mistletoe and (pine) witches broom are different, but confusingly the dwarf mistletoe that grows where I am from can also cause witches broom. It is a problem on spruce trees. Pine is matsu in Japanese, but confusingly matsu as often as not refers rather to Japanese spruce trees, and even larch, but not the fir tree which was the original Christmas tree . . .
Oh, and mistletoe in Japanese is 宿り木 yadorigi which means conceiving woody plant. Because it is conceived out of a plant as if by magic. On-yadori is the Immaculate Conception, and as we recite at church “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary” “Seirei ni yotte yadori, Otome Maria kara umare” -- incidentally strawberry shortcake, the most popular Christmas cake here, originally caught on as apparently it symbolizes the Virgin Mary . . .
Am I the only one who finds it fascinating that so many cultures celebrate some variation of Christmas, even pre-christains? This time of the year clearly held importance to humanity for millenia.
Hardly surprising truth be told. Winter solstice Dec. 21st, old year/new year a mere 10d later Many pagans shared or had similar folk tales and, effectively the lore behind their celebrations. Plus Xtians purloined many pagan celebrations/festivals to convert them to Xtian orthodoxy; It was either that or watch their followers make merry outside the watchful eye of the church.
Yes, the original Europeans who were later lumped together under the label of "pagan" had many pre-christian winter holidays, and many of their cultures still exist.
In french mistletoe is called "gui" from the latin "viscum" meaning glue, trough the german influence wiscu, then gwy and guy. Mistletoe forms ball-shaped bushes in trees because it is a parasitic plant having specialised roots able of penetrating the host tree from which they draw water and nutriments. Joyeux Noël Jess and Rob 🎄🎁!
I've never heard Nice biscuits pronounced to rhyme with mice, but always to rhyme with peace (or like the French town) "Good King Wenceslas" isn't really a Christmas carol; more a Boxing Day carol - as it references St Stephen's day, the 26th of December.
I looked up Nice Biscuits. Amazon sells them here in the U.S. ! Tesco brand, no less. You can't get more authentic than that. So I ordered some and got them the next day. Boffo!
I made a Christmas playlist last year. It included the song "Dear God" by XTC. My brother asked why that song was on a Christmas playlist as it didn't strike him as particularly festive... until i pointed out that the music video contains Andy Partridge in a pear tree.
Relating to Christkind : Over in Slovakia this particular element of Christmas tradition is called _Ježiško_ ("Little Jesus"), and there is a service to write Little Jesus mail, as you do. One time it was mispelled as _Ježisko_ ("Giant Hedgehog") on the envelope, which became a bit of a meme.
I grew up kind of Catholic but accepting of nice people in general, nothing strict. My mom told us that happy holidays, which we did in the '60s too, was to include New Year's. Now, I use it to include other holidays as well.
My mother didnt approve of new year because it was pagan. Over the years her religious fervour diminished, thank goodness, and she died a happy atheist who sat up to see the new year in like everyone else.
Happy Holidays was a popular song back in the 40's so I doubt a lot of "political correctness" was involved. I think because of necessity of travel Christmas celebrations had to be over a period of time not just one day. It really depended on where you lived and what your religious background how "merry" and protracted your celebration was. I do not wish anyone Merry Christmas until the week before and then up until new years.
My dad’s family is Catholic. My dad used to refer to us as “submarine Catholics” because he only made us go to church @ Christmas & Easter. So we only “surfaced” twice a year.
That's it. Being nice to people. I don't understand why people can't just get to grips with that concept. If you feel threatened by Happy Holidays it says more about your insecurities than anything else ..
It's funny, but I always said "Merry Christmas" as an atheist, mostly because everyone I know is either Christian or comes from a Christian background. But then the religious right came out against that supposed "War on Christmas" - one of the silliest of the silly things they say - and I kept wanting to say "Happy Holidays" in reaction to that. But then, I suppose that's what they wanted, huh? The whole point was to manufacture another fake 'controversy'? And they _love_ to feel persecuted, even as they're busy persecuting everyone else. I suppose I wouldn't mind 'persecuting' them that way, but I don't want to give them the satisfaction. :) So I say "Merry Christmas" unless I suspect someone would prefer "Happy Holidays." Admittedly, every atheist I know celebrates Christmas. It's not religious for _us,_ but it's still a family-friendly holiday.
A little note: Ded Moroz is Grandfather Frost. He also has Snegurochka as a sidekick. She's his granddaughter, and the name means something like Snowelina (cf. Thumbelina Dyuimovochka, where dyuim is an inch). They usually come together to the kids' feasts on New Year, not Christmas. Great episode, as always! 👏 🎅
Botanist here - might be able to offer some insight into the mistletoe thing. So they are obligate hemiparasitic plants, they need to tap into the water supply of other species to survive, they cannot exist even as seedlings on their own. They make those stickly seeds so birds have to wipe them off - often onto the branch of their new host.
Ps also maybe traditionally revered because they could 'magically' persist as green foliage through winter on an otherwise dormant deciduous host tree.
I read that it was revered by the druids because it was a plant that existed between two worlds...heaven and earth. Of course bracket fungi etc can also exist off the ground, but most fungi grow from the soil, or at least on wood that's mouldering on the ground. They'd have had their minds blown by Tillandsia. 😆
@@MattWhite-vh6xh The Druid priestess cuts the sacred mistletoe in the opera "Norma" and sings the exquisite aria "Casta Diva" to the moon.
My husband has a white beard and visited Uganda a few years ago. The little children were in awe of him. They didn't respond when he asked if he looked like Santa Claus, but their eyes lit up when his South African friend asked if he looked like Father Christmas.
English loan words in Swahilli generally are just the english word followed by thi suffix i.
My personal favorite is Roundabout, which, in Kenya at least, is a "keep lefti" .
Ive tried to understand the Nigerian version of English. Rather silly really because I still get tripped up by Australian and even US versions.
Much as my mother, from east London in England struggled to understand her Lancashire neighbours back in the late 1940s and 50s when she moved north after marrying her handsome soldier during WWll. (He loved his beautiful WRAAF lady just as much).
Ps. Shame I, a female, took after my handsome dad rather than my beautiful mother. 😂
Also, the plural for nouns in Kenya is vi-, so the plural of that kind of traffic thing or a road sign is vipilefti
I certainly may have misspelled this.
Glorious!
@Xpian not 100% sure about the Ken vs Keen thing.
It always seemed more of a social or economic thing. The bourgeois always went with the long e and the proletariat with the short. The KCs were saying Keenya all the way up to the mid 90s when we left and I suspect they still do.
Our teachers from the UK basically broke on the same lines... the more pedestrian ones said Ken and the more... colourful... ones said Keen.
The naughty/nice thing reminds me of something I heard years ago. The “naughty” children originally meant poor, and Santa brought them coal because it was winter and cold and they had nothing. It was a gift they’d appreciate, not a punishment.
That’s a nicer version ❤
Thank you, Rob and Jess, for this wonderful series.
It's our absolute pleasure. And thank you for your continued generosity!
I play a lot of roleplaying games. You've got me wanting to create a group of mobsters named after Old Gregory Christmas and his sons. "Babycake is the worst of the lot; don't go messing about with Babycake!"
Captain Christmas also gave me a giggle. :)
Finally, you guys had never managed to catch my on an eggcorn previously - but "colly birds" finally did it! Thanks for yet another lesson!
I thought you guys were taking a 2-week break. Did I miss you saying it would be longer? Looking forward to your next episode. To you both, all the best and may you be blessed!
My favorite version of "Merry Christmas" in another language is from Hawaiian, "Meli Kalikamaka".
"Happy Holidays" simply used to be a way to wish folks a happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, useful from mid-November to at least after Christmas.
I'd love for Rob & Jess to discuss Krampus, the Grinch, and the other darker sides of Christmas!
In Canada, Thanksgiving is a harvest festival set at the beginning of autumn. Therefore the holidays season here does not include it.
The holidays season begins with advent up to Christmas, also included is St-Nicholas on December 6th, the feast of St-Stephen’s on the 26th of December. On to New Year on the first of January and culminating on the 6th of January with the Epiphany. That is why it is properly said Happy Holidays not just Merry Christmas. Other traditions also have their high days at this period, which makes the inclusiveness of Happy Holidays for this season of good cheer all the more joyous.
Interestingly the Christkind(l) is (while technically Baby Jesus) usually depicted as a female adult angel. 🤷♀️
You two are a delight! Merry Christmas!
When my son was little we would modify the lyrics of songs and rhymes to make him laugh such as Baa baa black sheep have you any crisps? We modified the 12 days of Christmas to include; 5 old things, 4 falling birds, 3 French men, 2 purple doves and a fartridge up a gum tree.
Thanks Rob and Jess. Wishing you both a lovely Christmas! 🎅
And to you to!
@@WordsUnravelled Merry Christmas to both of you, and Mr. Grumpy.
Too... Grrr! 😊@@WordsUnravelled
Though, and to you, two, too.
@@DanielMasmanian Ah, I see a missed opportunity.
"Though, and to you two, too, on TH-cam."
Great one! "Sinterklaas" is in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET when Santa knows and sings Sinterklaas Kapoentje to a little Dutch girl in the store. The mother apologizes that the girl doesn't know English, and she is amazed he knows both Dutch and the children's song.
I love "Good King Wenceslas" because of the message about helping those less fortunate. I've used it for an art project for the last several years. And it really isn't a Christmas song, it takes place on the Feast of Stephen of course! Great episode.
I'm so happy you include Joulupukki, the Christmas goat! I know he's a person, but I have a taxidermy Boc Balear goat, that has been adorned with sparkling silver stars and blue LED lights, to represent the colors of the Finnish flag, and he hangs in my entryway, (this past year he has also served as climbing support for a monstera adansonii plant) his name is also Joulupukki. I wish I could post pictures in the comments because he's cool and I would share his sparkly greatness with everyone.
Despite being German, not Finns or Russians, we also celebrate gift-giving on Sylvester (nye for y'all Americans), but we tell our son that his no9dly highness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster slips in through the windows that night, usually when people are distracted by the fireworks and drunk on champagne, and leaves presents. So we do it Russian nerd style.
Hyvää joulua!
Oh no Rob pronounce puk-ki as "pookie"
The red Santa Claus dress is quite a new fashion in Finland. Joulupukki was originally dressed in a big dark fur coat, a remnant of the figure of Christmas Goat, originally wearing horns. It was a part of the tradition to circle around the village in groups of young people and demand treats and drink (usually christmas beer) during the holidays, even before christian time. A "trick or treat" tradition of sorts. Later Joulupukki started to bring gifts to children.
In Italy, when I was young (now I'm 60) Gesù bambino, aka baby Jesus, used to bring presents, nowadays it's Babbo Natale, Father Christmas, but the original tradition involved no presents around Christmas, it was just a religious holiday. Goog kids would receive small presents and sweets on January 6, Epiphany. They were brought by my favorite figure ever, la Befana, a very old woman flying on a broom that would get inside every house through the chimney, and leave sweets for good kids and lumps of coals for naughty ones.
I was taught in my music history class that a carol was originally a religious song written with the verse in the local language and a chorus in Latin intended to help people relate meaning to the Latin used in church. Originally they could be about anything religious, but the Christmas ones were those that stood the test of time, and that is why the oldest carols have choruses in Latin, like Angels We Have Heard On High and The Boar's Head Carol, etc.
i could listen to you guys for days on end! thank you for making my life richer, happy holidays to you and best wishes for 2025! keep up your amazing work! i just started watching this episode but i hope that you Jess will make Rob blush, cause that is always sooo funny!
Isn’t it funny how Brits say “happy Christmas” and us Americans use “merry Christmas” despite us perceiving “merry” as a word that sounds quite British.
Carol is also a nickname, or language deviation, for Charles. As in Carol O'Connor. There is also Carlos, Carl, Karl, Chick, Chuck, Charlie, Charlize, Chas, etc. from Charles.
and Karol Wotyla
Karolina Protsenko ;) ❤
In Finnish culture the Joulupukki always comes to visit using the door and NOT the chimney. And also he visits the family when they are awake and waiting for him. You anglos miss so much.
And we celebrate the jewish Jesus by eating a roasted joulukinkku - yule ham! ;)
Love the video! You two are always a delight to watch and learn from. ♥️
Enjoy your first Christmas with your sweet baby Rosie, Rob! I will admit to a few happy tears for you and your wife when I read your newsletter yesterday. ❤
The only podcast that makes me audibly chuckle 😄 Merry Christmas Jess & Rob! Still hoping for a "slang" episode or two in the new year, especially Victorian.
At 12 minutes you point out about it being odd that Santa interferes with Christmas Day, being the birthday of Christ.
As a professional Santa Claus, and more importantly, a St Nicholas, Father Christmas and Pere Noel, I often have children asking "Did you know Christmas is Jesus's birthday?" and I point out that Santa's work ends of Christmas Eve, that I'm a herald of the coming Christmas, and that "Christmas belongs not to Santa, but to Someone else altogether." and they look at me, and say "Jesus?" and I confirm it, with "He's my boss." which, because I'm a Rev. -- is actually true.
Ho ho ho. Happy Advent. (LOL).
But of course, Christmas is not Jesus' birthday. He was born in the Spring. Christmas was just the day chosen to commemorate Jesus' birth - the feast day for Christ. Just like St. Patrick's Day is not St. Patrick's birthday. The idea of celebrating birthdays (or even keeping track of them) didn't start until many centuries later.
December 25 was chosen because the pagan Romans were already used to celebrating that day as the Bacchanalia. This way, they could be persuaded to become Christian and still enjoy the holiday without the pagan practices. "New wine in old bottles."
@@PhilBagelsChrist prob born Sep/Oct & they think 4-6 BC, stuff they can work out from the census, the flocks still being outside & the duty rota served by John the Baptiser’s father ❤
that is so beautiful
At my school, we used to celebrate Christingles every year. It was a carol service and oranges with a candle stuck in the middle and little sweets stuck all around with cocktail sticks were given out to the children, to us, in fact.
Saint Nicklaus was probably Greek, though he lived in what is now Turkey. He was not a Turk, because the Turks did not arrive in Turkey for another thousand years.
Istanbul, not Constantinople.
It's nobody's business but the Turks.
@@Scott_Forsell He wasn't from Constantinople though, he was from Myra which is present day Demre in Antalya province.
Saint Nicholas was indeed Greek and lived in the Roman Empire. As far as we know he actually came from Patara (Lycia) and became the bishop of Myra. Much later the relics of his body were taken by Italian sailors to Bari in Italy where you can still visit them.
He definitely was not Turkish since the Turks arrived centuries later to the place we now call Turkey.
It's all Greek to me@@Scott_Forsell
Indeed, St Nicholas (AD 270-343) was a bishop in Anatolia in Bysants (current Antalya province in Turkey). There is a museum for him in the city Antalya; I visited it in August 1994.
The only podcast I’ve ever actually listened to is yours! I look forward to every episode. Have a great Christmas and holiday season!
Warmest wishes and congratulations, Rob! Christmas came early for you! 👨🏻🍼🍼
In urdu we say يومِ عيسى (Yaoom e Esaa) literally meaning "day of christ"
You two are like a good cup of coffee in the morning. 😊
0:28 "Yule love this Christmas episode"
I see what you did there 😉Clever 🎄😁
So look forward to your podcasts! Thank you and have a joyous holiday!!
Thank you so much for your generosity and support, Elizabeth!
Thanks!
Wow, thank you, Coach Karl! The generosity is very much appreciated.
R & J
I don't know how many know this, but I just learned this year that when the song says five golden rings, a "golden ring" is a kind of pheasant. So rather than one actual gift in the song, just a seventh kind of bird.
Thank you for this series, it's so very enjoyable, relaxing, and... pleasant! And, of course, educational too. God jul!
I’m late to the party, but I’ve always enjoyed the “traditional” carols as well. The Boar’s Head Carol is a particular favorite, as well as Jess’ suggestion of Good King Wenceslas.
Thanks for this episode, you two!
*I also loved Rob’s expression while Jess was mentioning the supposed link between xtianity and the 12 Days of Christmas. That was priceless! 😂
Talking about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" reminded me of joke in my collection. What if a Cajun had tried to do the things listed in the song?
Notes: Andouille is a kind of pork sausage. It's made of smoked shoulder meat, which is stuffed into a casing with various spices and then smoked again. The "andouille" you may find in your local food market is not real Cajun andouille. They are usually a hot link that they borrowed the name for. LaPlace, Louisiana, a town on the Mississippi River, has been nicknamed "The Andouille Capital of the World". Bourbon Street is in New Orleans' oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter. It runs thirteen blocks from Canal to Esplanade Avenue. Bourbon Street is best known for its bars and strip clubs. A fais do-do (fay doe-doe) is a Cajun dance party. The name means "go to sleep", which is what Cajun mothers tell their children before leaving to attend one. "Do-do" is a cutesy way of saying "dormir" (sleep), and is used mostly when speaking to small children. It's like saying "beddy-bye".
__________
Day 1: Dear Fontenot: Thanks for the bird in the pear tree. I fixed it last night with dirty rice. I don't think the pear tree will grow with all the heat in the summer. -Josephine
Day 2: Dear Fontenot: Your letter said you sent two turtle doves, but all I got was two scrawny pigeons. Anyway, I mixed them with andouille and made some gumbo out of them. -Josephine
Day 3: Dear Fontenot: Why couldn't you have sent me crawfish? I'm tired of eating those darned birds. I gave two of those prissy French chickens to Leonie over at Grand Bayou and fed the third one to my dog, Phydeaux. Leonie needed some sparring partners for her fighting rooster. -Josephine
Day 4: Dear Fontenot: Good Lord! I told you no more %44#*^@ birds! these four "calling birds" were so noisy you could hear them all the way to Napoleonville. I used their necks for my crab traps, and fed the rest of them to the alligators. -Josephine
Day 5: Dear Fontenot: You finally sent something useful. I like the golden rings. I hocked them at a pawn shop in Thibodaux and got enough money to fix the shaft on my shrimp boat, and then bought a round for the boys at Patin's in Labadie! Thanks! -Josephine
Day 6: Dear Fontenot: You pig! You're back to the birds, you Cajun turkey! Poor Phydeaux is scared to death of the six geese. They peck the heck out of his snout. They are good at eating cockroaches, though. I may stuff one of them with oyster dressing on Christmas day. -Josephine
Day 7: Dear Fontenot: I'm going to wring your fool neck next time I see you. Dumont, the mailman, is ready to kill you. The droppings from all those birds is stinking up his mail boat. He afraid someone will slip on that stuff and sue him. I let those seven swans loose to swim on the bayou and some duck hunters from Mississippi blasted them out of the water. Talk to you tomorrow. -Josephine
Day 8: Dear Fontenot: Poor old Dumont had to make three trips with his mail boat to deliver the eight maids a' milking and their cows. One of the cows got spooked by the gators and almost tipped over the boat. I don't like those shiftless maids. I told them to get to work gutting fish and sweeping the house, but they say that isn't in their contract. They probably think they're too good to skin the nutrias I caught last night. -Josephine
Day 9: Dear Fontenot: What you trying to do? Dumont had to borrow the Lutcher ferry to carry those jumping twits you call Lords a' leaping across the bayou. As soon as they got here, they wanted a tea break with crumpets. I don't know what that means, but I told them they got chicory coffee or nothing. Good Lord. What am I going to feed all these Bozos? They're too snooty for fried nutria, and the cows ate my turnip greens. -Josephine
Day 10: Dear Fontenot: You have got to be out of your mind! If the mailman doesn't kill you, I will! Today he delivered ten half-naked floozies from Bourbon Street. They said they were "ladies dancing", but they don't act like ladies in front of the Limey twits. They almost left after one of them got bitten by a water moccasin over by the bayou. I had to butcher two of the cows to feed everyone and had to go buy a shopping cart load of toilet paper. The crowd ran me out, and the Sears catalog wasn't good enough for the noble behinds of those snooty "lords". -Josephine
Day 11: Dear Fontenot: Cheerio and pip-pip. Your eleven pipers piping arrived today from the House of Blues, second-lining as they got off the boat. We fixed stuffed goose and beef jambalaya and had a fais-do-do. The new mailman was having a good time dancing with the floozies. He told me the old mailman, Dumont, jumped off the Sunshine Bridge today while screaming your name. If you get a mysterious ticking package in the mail sometime soon, don't open it. Or maybe you should. -Josephine
Day 12: Dear Fontenot: I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm not your true love anymore. After the fais-do-do, I spent the night with Jacque, the head piper. We decided to open a restaurant and jazz club on the bayou. The floozies... pardon me. The "ladies dancing" will be the entertainment and the lords will be waiters and valet park the boats. Since the maids don't have any more cows to milk, I trained them to set my crab traps, watch my trotlines, and run my shrimping business. We will probably gross over million dollars next year. Merry Christmas! -Josephine
Haven't seen that Cajun 12 Days before...have many times heard a hilarious narration of an Irish version on radio though, which ends with the beleaguered gift recipient and his mother being driven crazy by the tumult caused by the gifts...
Mais weh!
😂
Feeling unheard, having a hot summer Aussie Christmas 🫣☀️🎅
And humid and rainy (in Brizzy).
Santa in a singlet in a surfboard!
@@marymactavish "in" a surfboard?
As a South African, I hear you! We just got out of a heatwave, but now we have thunder and lightning, which are Donder en Bliksem in Afrikaans.
@@SusanPearce_H 'i' & 'o' are next to each other on qwerty ;)
13:18
When I say Happy Holidays it's partially to say happy whatever holiday you celebrate but I started saying it more particularly as a way of including Christmas and New Year's Eve in one sentiment.
I also think the controversy around saying Happy Holidays" is mostly just christians telling each other they should be offended. It's a one-sided, artificial controversy.
That's what it has been here for a very long time. Long before it became political.
Another great episode. Merry (or Happy) Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, and Happy Festivus!
Thank you for this video. Happy Holidays etymology helped me today at work when it was used at my workplace and didn't rub me the wrong way.
I love your back and forth with each other. It's very easy to watch.
Happy Holidays!
Why is Jess the cutest thing on Earth?
42% Elf
I like Jess's choices for carols, and I like to sing all the verses. I've been to masses that sang only the first three verses, ignoring myrrh.
In Dutch (and Flemish), Thunder is written "Donder" and Lightning is "Bliksem". Also, the 6th of December here in Belgium and the 5th in the Netherlands, the holiday is called "Sinterklaas", while Christmas itself is called "Kerstmis". Santa Claus/Father Christmas is just called "Kerstman".
So glad you mentioned the 5th of December, as I was sure that was St Nicholas's Day in Germany (in the 1950s at least). My dad's German secretary got us kids involved in her family's 5 December high-jinks. I remember being amazed that St Nicholas knew about my (then) naughtiest act of the year: doing acrobatics on the fourth-floor stairwell railing.
@@lizj5740December the 5th is actually Saint Nicolas Night. December 6th is Saint Nicolas Day. Just as December 24th is Christmas Night and December 25th Christmas Day.
As my middle name "Elwin" apparently means "befriended by elves" I have been using that "Elf on a shelf" for years now doing mischievous things about the house for my great- grand daughters. Especially stealing my candy.Lol😜
⛄Happy Holidays to all 2024
Navidad does come from the Latin word for birth, but the modern Spanish word for birth is nacimiento. In the strictly modern sense, Navidad is more directly like the word Nativity in English.
While male reindeer do indeed shed their antlers annually, they don't necessarily all do so prior to Christmas. Depending on the weather, they may keep them well into January. In any event, some of Santa's reindeer are clearly male, and some are female. The word "vixen" means "female fox", which would most certainly be used for a female rather than a male. "Cupid" is the name for a male Roman god - the kid with the bow and arrows that make people fall in love. His Greek name was Eros. So Cupid the reindeer would most certainly be a male. Rudolf is obviously a male name. And I like to think that the reindeer, as listed in the poem, are given as mated pairs. Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner (or Dunder) and Blitzen (or Blixem) - so four males and four females. And if you buy into the idea that they can fly, you can certainly buy into the idea that the males might still have their antlers through Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas And thanks for all the linguistic joys over the past year
Another very entertaining and informative episode of Words Unravelled. I love this channel.
In Spain, gifts used to be delivered (and still are, to some extent) on January 6 by the Three Wise Men (Reyes Magos). December 25 and Father Christmas (Papá Noel) have been gaining ground for some time, mostly for children to have more time to enjoy their new toys before schools open back (usually on January 7)
Ded Moroz, btw, pronounced Dyed, not dead, is a modern adaptation of Santa Claus invented by the Soviets to draw attention away from the Christian Holiday of Christmas to the secular feast of New Year's. The name is found in old folk tales, but was originally just a personification of winter.
Only watched the first 24 minutes now, so maybe you will cover this later. But an elf, and even Santa himself, in Swedish, is tomte. Which is related to tomt, which means a farm, or a property of any kind. Basically a piece of land. A private house is on a tomt. And it has an elf, looking after the property, and punishing the owners if they don't take care of the property right. And the elf is the tomte. "The landy", or something like that. He is connected to the land, or the tomt, hence the name tomte. He watches over the place. A tiny creature, maybe three feet tall or less, dressed in gray. And he has very little patience with fools. We put out rice porridge to him on Christmas Eve, with butter on top. To avoid his wrath. And he eats it. I can see his footprints in the snow, and the porridge is gone. Funnily, he seems to have cat paws...
In modern Norwegian reindeer are just referred to as rein with that spelling. Same in singular and plural form. Santa is julenisse nisse is an elf who lives in the barn and must be kept happy with food etc. similar to a boggart in English folk tradition, these nisse can be helpful or mischievous.
Hello from Denmark.
Santa is called *"julemanden"* (the yule man) in danish, but he is somehow existing in parallel with another bringer of gifts: *Julenissen*
You can mention both as the bringer of christmas gifts, and people don't blink an eye.
Julemanden lives on the North Pole (or Thule in Greenland) and has an army of helpers (nisser)
The Nisse lives in the attic or the barn, and you're supposed to bring him some food - preferably porridge. I don't know what he's supposed to eat for the rest of the year. Poor fellow.
The Nisse was originally a household god.
The English translation can be gnome, goblin, hobgoblin or - like Santa's helper - elf.
And in Sweden it is Tomten or The Christmas Gnome a opposed the regular tomtar (plural for tomte) who take care of farm animals in the winter so you had better remember to leave a nice bowl of porridge (oatmeal) for them at Christmas. 🙂
@@gwjchris yes they love their grøt here too, as uasual in Norway with butter and cinnamon, to me as a Scot this is an horrifc way to treat porridge but they think I am crazy here with my salty grøt.
As a long-time Anglophile, I was well aware that it was "colly birds," not "calling birds." I don't dispute who is right and who is wrong on this.
Interestingly, I still have a 1957 book published by Golden Press of New York, "My Christmas Treasury." It's a delightful book, by the way. It would make a good stocking stuffer for a young reader.
On page 43 of my edition it is written "Four colly birds." So at least 67 years ago, that was normal in America. It's been corrupted since then and there's no use sugar (plum) coating it. So sing out loud at the next gathering, "Four COLLY birds." Don't spread the corruption. We need to respect our British brothers and sisters (to some extent).
As for the 12 days, I've seen different mixtures of that, at least past the "Five gold rings!" [Five golden rings?]. You all feel free to research this further.
Love that sequined Santa hat! You two are so much fun to listen to and we learn so much as the same time. Wishing you both much mirth and look forward to seeing you in 2025.
Thank you for the Festive Warning! How thoughtful ❤💚
FYI, Jess, the q in Mi'kmaq is silent: it's pronounced more like Mi'kmaw, and is sometimes spelt that way. Apparently the Mi'kmaq themselves pronounce it similarly to a Scottish ch. But thanks for telling us the caribou and reindeer are the same! I had no idea.
I am Australian, but when I was young I spent a year in Norway as an exchange student. They also have something similar to elves, called ‘nysse’ or ‘nyssen’. These are usually naughty and mostly play tricks on people. At best they are mischievous. At Christmas time, they have the job of delivering the Christmas presents. They are called “julenysse” or Christmas elves. I thought you might have spoken about them 🤔 For some reason, these “nysse” are usually dressed in red, like miniature santas 😮
Nisse/nysse/tomte/tonttu house-elves, leave offerings for them, or your sauna building might catch fire... One N for the barn, one for the house, one for the sauna building... None for the outhouse.
Dressed in cheap grey linen/wool, older depictions
Nisser or tomtar (Swedish) weren’t necessarily naughty tricksters. Instead they cared for the farm as much as the humans there, but they demanded respect for their work, typically shown by leaving food out for them. If you didn’t, then bad things may start to happen.
When is the new episode coming! I can’t wait anymore! 😬
When each of my children were, in turn, of older preteen years (8-11), I tried to include them in any December travels which were necessitated by my work back then. They rapidly cottoned on that kids received gifts on 5th Dec in Nederland, 24th in Bayern, 25th at home in Cymru, and on 6th January in Valencia. Somehow, they contrived to accompany me at the right time to meet Zwarte Piet, Knecht Ruprecht (but certainly NOT Krampus!), Siôn Corn, Papa Noël, Father Christmas, Olenzero, and/or Los Reyes Magos. Each of the six of them thought they'd discovered new ways of getting "Christmas boxes" (as my family calls them), which their older progeny had been too twp/stupid to have discovered. A blessed Yuletide to one and all.❤. Today, my grandsons are satisfied with Siôn Corn (🏴🇬🇧), Santa on a surfboard (🇦🇺), Baba Krismasi (🇰🇪), The Creation Baby Storyteller (Métis 🇨🇦), or in fact just about anyone - or even everyone!! 😂🎅 NADOLIG LLAWEN I CHWI OLL. 🤱
Soon Corn and Olenzero are new ones to me.
Nadolig llawen i ti hefyd!
As I understand it, Siôn Corn is a relatively new introduction, dating from about the 1930s, when he appeared in a Welsh children’s book. He was not a representation of Father Christmas, but a completely different manifestation who lives up the chimney (his name means something like Johnny Chimney-pot.). It seems he is becoming more and more linked to Father Christmas and his Welsh name is often used to refer to his anglophone counterpart.
When you cover Grinch next year, please include Noel, because I'm too lazy to google it and you two make the explanations really fun 😊 Thank you!
There's a town named Noel in the USA state of Missouri. The post office there receives many letters addressed to Santa Claus. The post office delivers them to a volunteer organization that looks through them for families that need help.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you guys,I've learned a lot watching you this past year,hope to see more next year!🎉🎉🎉
This is the only podcast I’m passionate about
Thank you for your wonderful programs! Merry Christmas!
I think DEVO wrote the most inclusive song for the season, Merry Something to You.
Wishing you both the merriest of Christmases! Thanks for spreading good cheer throughout the land. 🎉😊
I always get confused in the Philippines because Christmas is Pasko and Easter is Pasko ng Pagkabuhay which would be literally Christmas Resurrection which sounds like the name of a sequel. It is confusing because Easter in French is Pâques which comes from the Latin Pascha so when my Filipino wife says Pasko to refer to Christmas it sounds to me like she is trying to say the Latin word for Easter.
the best gift is the etymological routes we learned along the way
This morning, as we do many mornings between Thanksgiving (USA) and Christmas, my little old Jack Russell Terrier and I went on our walk in Christmas regalia. I dress as Father Christmas (in a long vestment costume rather than a "suit") and he wears a red jacket with white fake fur collar.
Excellent and fun episode! Could you please, someday, take a look at "Green Grow the Rushes O"? Also 12 items in a similar format to the 12 days of Christmas.
Try 'Mudcat' for explanation.
Another great video Merry Christmas to you both!🎄
I just dressed as the Yule Goat for a Yule party last weekend! Was crowned a Regent of Winter😁
Being a Partridge myself, I believe that the pear tree part of the song is a bastardisation of the French word for partridge (perdrix), as partridges are ground dwelling birds...
A partridge in a partridge? That would be the dullest turducken ever.
@@wbertie2604 That's like Russian dolls in my family...
To go along with the elves, there should be some zwölves.
"The Elves have left the building"
Your podcast is always interesting and fun. :) Enjoy your holidays!
Number 1 and Number 2. Reminds me of French: "petit oiseau vert" and "petit oiseau brun".- German: Pipi und Aa. Maybe children's words could make a good topic for a future episode. Although usually there is a lot of family-specific language involved. Children's words for relations, animals, genitals, andi all sorts of things.
Love your sweater, Rob.
Where I live, there's a thing up in a pine tree that I thought is mistletoe. I took a picture, and someone said it's a squirrel's nest. So I posted it on iNat, and it turned out to be neither. It's Phytoplasma pini, also known as witch's broom.
Happy xmas you two, thanks for all the wonderful wordness this year!
Cute hat, Jesse! 😂😊
Would love you to elaborate more on the Festive Word origins next year and include Fr Christmas'/Santa's/St Nicholas' helpers, e.g., Krampus, Belsnickel, Gwiazdor/Aniołek, Pere Fouettard, Zwarte Piet, to name just a few! As a child, I was always given a present from Poland's Gwiazdor ("StarMan", the equivalent of Germany's Weihnachtsmann) on December 6.
This one a pure banger - will be forwarding to friends
"Hail our dear ould friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly fly by." - Tom Lehrer, A Christmas Carol (no later than 1959)
I remember seeing a French carol "Le premier mois d'l'année" which was pretty similar. The first month was "une perdriole, qui va, qui vient, qui vole; une perdriole qui vole dans les bois" (a partridge which comes and goes and flies in the woods). The second month was "deux tourtourelles" (two turtle-doves). I don't remember the rest...
I live in Tokyo and so my kids are basically Scottish seasoned Japanese, and can confirm that the only name they ever use for him is Santa-san.
My gramma’s house is in South Albuquerque, NM, and I always connected “Santa” with the word for “saint”, except weirdly feminized. There are also tons of people around here with both German and Mexican descent, so when I was a kid, I pictured Santa Claus as an effeminate German patron saint of Chistmas.
Yeah, it’s always Santa-san, or Santa-san-tachi if you want to emphasize that there are many of them or he is with his entourage. I guess it can seem lonely when there is just one.
メリー•クリスマス meh.leeee k(oo).r(ee).s(oo).mah.s(oo)! The joke is that it sounds like a slightly botched pronunciation of 苦しみます k(oo).r(oo).s(hee).m(ee).mah.s(oo) which means (I) suffer/go to pains in Japanese, as the holiday takes so much work . . .
Reindeer and caribou are both tonakai in Japanese; there is no distinction. It is one of those Ainu-derived terms related to tuna in English. The connection is that they both dash (well run on iced-over rivers or swim) very fast.
Mistletoe berries are used to make birdlime to trap birds who land on twigs covered with them. The British and American versions are different plants, with white berries I believe, and the one sacred to members of the Druid class was yet a different plant called the showy mistletoe which has yellow/gold berries and was supposed to have all-heal type properties or something. It’s drualas in Irish. Mistletoe was the only thing that could kill the otherwise invulnerable Viking god Baldur, the Celtic gods’ enemies. I suppose nothing on earth could kill him, but mistletoe growing out of trees is no plant on earth. Mistletoe and (pine) witches broom are different, but confusingly the dwarf mistletoe that grows where I am from can also cause witches broom. It is a problem on spruce trees. Pine is matsu in Japanese, but confusingly matsu as often as not refers rather to Japanese spruce trees, and even larch, but not the fir tree which was the original Christmas tree . . .
Oh, and mistletoe in Japanese is 宿り木 yadorigi which means conceiving woody plant. Because it is conceived out of a plant as if by magic. On-yadori is the Immaculate Conception, and as we recite at church “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary” “Seirei ni yotte yadori, Otome Maria kara umare” -- incidentally strawberry shortcake, the most popular Christmas cake here, originally caught on as apparently it symbolizes the Virgin Mary . . .
Given how much KFC is associated with Christmas in Japan, I am surprised Colonel Sanders hasn’t become some sort of gift giving figure.
Thank you for this etymological Christmas gift! 🎄
Just what I wanted. 🎁
I wish you both a jolly rest of the year. ❤
Nice biscuits are named after Nice in France (and should be pronounced that way).
You guys are so fun
Am I the only one who finds it fascinating that so many cultures celebrate some variation of Christmas, even pre-christains? This time of the year clearly held importance to humanity for millenia.
Hardly surprising truth be told. Winter solstice Dec. 21st, old year/new year a mere 10d later
Many pagans shared or had similar folk tales and, effectively the lore behind their celebrations. Plus Xtians purloined many pagan celebrations/festivals to convert them to Xtian orthodoxy; It was either that or watch their followers make merry outside the watchful eye of the church.
Yes, the original Europeans who were later lumped together under the label of "pagan" had many pre-christian winter holidays, and many of their cultures still exist.
Wonderful.
Thank you both for much merriment.
Your podcast makes me feel all warm and Christmassy.
In french mistletoe is called "gui" from the latin "viscum" meaning glue, trough the german influence wiscu, then gwy and guy.
Mistletoe forms ball-shaped bushes in trees because it is a parasitic plant having specialised roots able of penetrating the host tree from which they draw water and nutriments.
Joyeux Noël Jess and Rob 🎄🎁!
I've never heard Nice biscuits pronounced to rhyme with mice, but always to rhyme with peace (or like the French town)
"Good King Wenceslas" isn't really a Christmas carol; more a Boxing Day carol - as it references St Stephen's day, the 26th of December.
They were always nice as mice when I was a kid (1970s)
I looked up Nice Biscuits. Amazon sells them here in the U.S. ! Tesco brand, no less. You can't get more authentic than that. So I ordered some and got them the next day. Boffo!
Shout out to Iceland’s Jólakötturin, the giant monstrous yule cat who comes to eat anyone who does not receive clothing at Christmas!
As a kid hiking in the woods I was startled by a partridge taking "flight" as I passed by. The fluttering of its wings did sound like a huge fart.
I made a Christmas playlist last year. It included the song "Dear God" by XTC. My brother asked why that song was on a Christmas playlist as it didn't strike him as particularly festive... until i pointed out that the music video contains Andy Partridge in a pear tree.
Relating to Christkind : Over in Slovakia this particular element of Christmas tradition is called _Ježiško_ ("Little Jesus"), and there is a service to write Little Jesus mail, as you do. One time it was mispelled as _Ježisko_ ("Giant Hedgehog") on the envelope, which became a bit of a meme.
I grew up kind of Catholic but accepting of nice people in general, nothing strict. My mom told us that happy holidays, which we did in the '60s too, was to include New Year's. Now, I use it to include other holidays as well.
My mother didnt approve of new year because it was pagan. Over the years her religious fervour diminished, thank goodness, and she died a happy atheist who sat up to see the new year in like everyone else.
Happy Holidays was a popular song back in the 40's so I doubt a lot of "political correctness" was involved. I think because of necessity of travel Christmas celebrations had to be over a period of time not just one day. It really depended on where you lived and what your religious background how "merry" and protracted your celebration was. I do not wish anyone Merry Christmas until the week before and then up until new years.
My dad’s family is Catholic. My dad used to refer to us as “submarine Catholics” because he only made us go to church @ Christmas & Easter. So we only “surfaced” twice a year.
That's it. Being nice to people. I don't understand why people can't just get to grips with that concept.
If you feel threatened by Happy Holidays it says more about your insecurities than anything else ..
It's funny, but I always said "Merry Christmas" as an atheist, mostly because everyone I know is either Christian or comes from a Christian background. But then the religious right came out against that supposed "War on Christmas" - one of the silliest of the silly things they say - and I kept wanting to say "Happy Holidays" in reaction to that.
But then, I suppose that's what they wanted, huh? The whole point was to manufacture another fake 'controversy'? And they _love_ to feel persecuted, even as they're busy persecuting everyone else. I suppose I wouldn't mind 'persecuting' them that way, but I don't want to give them the satisfaction. :)
So I say "Merry Christmas" unless I suspect someone would prefer "Happy Holidays." Admittedly, every atheist I know celebrates Christmas. It's not religious for _us,_ but it's still a family-friendly holiday.
“Zany hodgepodge of cultural traditions” - writes down for later use…
Decorations crafted from straw
A little note: Ded Moroz is Grandfather Frost. He also has Snegurochka as a sidekick. She's his granddaughter, and the name means something like Snowelina (cf. Thumbelina Dyuimovochka, where dyuim is an inch). They usually come together to the kids' feasts on New Year, not Christmas.
Great episode, as always! 👏 🎅
My favorite thing about Ded Moroz is how he often was depicted to have a rocket ship in the USSR.