Month: December 2010

Who Wrote Auld Lang Syne and What does it Mean?

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Many people believe that the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote the song sung in many English-speaking countries on New Year’s Eve. Although Burns added to the song we sing today, he was not responsible for the original content. Instead, it is a version of an old ballad that Burns reworked to create the song we attempt to sing today. The phrase Auld Lang Syne also appears in the work of other poets who wrote before Burns.

Despite its popularity on New Year’s Eve, few people know the words to the song, or what they really mean. The phrase Auld Lang Syne means literally old long ago. In other words, it refers to days gone by. Although there are other verses, on New Year’s Eve in the U.S. typically the first verse and the chorus are sung, though often incorrectly. You can use the translation from the World Burns Club to impress your family at midnight. Verse one of the original song reads: 

Should old acquaintances be forgot

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

 

Translation:

Should old acquaintances be forgotten

And never remembered

Should old acquaintance be forgotten

For old long ago

 

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

 

Translation:

For old long ago, my dear

For old long ago

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet

For old long ago

 

The Legend of the Christmas Stocking

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The legend of the Christmas stocking is a tale of a kind nobleman who lost all his money. He had three daughters and was worried that he could not provide them with dowries, which means wealth that a woman’s family would give to her husband before marriage. St. Nicholas heard about the nobleman’s problem and arrived at his house on Christmas night. While there, he noticed that the daughters had left their stockings over the fireplace to dry. St. Nicholas decided to fill the daughter’s stockings with gold so the daughters each had enough money to get married. It is said that they and the nobleman lived happily ever after. Though the truth of the tale cannot be proven, versions of it have been told all over the world.

Children throughout the globe hang Christmas stockings or leave out their shoes in the hope that St. Nicholas will bring them gifts on Christmas Eve. In France, shoes are put out for him to fill with treats. In Holland, children fill their shoes with hay for the horse of Sintirklass. He leaves gifts to thank the children for their kindness. Italian children have a slightly different tradition. They leave their shoes out the night before Epiphany, January 5 so the good witch will fill their shoes with treats.

Christmas stockings in America appeared in the nineteenth century, when Clement Moore wrote the famous poem “The Night Before Christmas.” That poem represented the first time stockings were hung near a chimney. Today stockings can be hung almost anywhere in American homes and often bear the name of the stocking’s owner so Santa will know where to put the goodies. Although children in the past received gifts of candy and fruit in their stockings, today’s American children may find other gifts such as toys left for them.    

 

The History of the Candy Cane

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The original candy canes were not shaped like the ones we know today. Instead, they were simply hard sugar sticks that were straight and their only color was white. The first evidence of the candy cane shape we have now developed in the seventeenth century. In 1670, the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany bent the candy in the form of a shepherd’s staff and gave it out to children during long Christmas services. The canes at this point were still completely white.

The canes also became popular as decorations on Christmas trees throughout Europe. Americans eventually started decorating their trees with the white candy canes in the mid-nineteenth century.

It is unknown exactly who decided to put the first stripes on a candy cane, but the striped candy cane appeared after 1900. Candy makers started to include the peppermint and wintergreen flavors around the same time. Candy cane production got a boost in the 1950’s when a machine was invented to make them.

Though there is no direct historical evidence to support these claims, many Christians have given symbolic meaning to the candy cane. Some believe that its shape represents the “J” in Jesus’ name. Others believe it symbolizes a shepherd’s crook and shows how Jesus watches over his flock of believers.

The colors of the candy cane are thought by some to be symbolic also. It is believed by some people that the white of the candy cane represents the Jesus’ innocence. The red stripes are said to represent Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

 

The Jewish Reform Movement

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Although the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox divisions of Judaism are currently used to describe Jews in Israel as well as in the U.S., the terms originated as a result of American reforms. Jewish reformers led by Rabbi Isaac Wise stressed worship over theology and rejected long-held traditions such as dietary laws. In contrast, Orthodox and Conservative Jews continued traditional practices, but Conservatives allowed some traditions to change after a while. American Jews like Isaac Wise wanted to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment in society and also to emphasize their similarities with Protestant and Enlightment ideas. Out of these efforts grew a reform movement with a special American identity.

Historically, Jews experienced discrimination in mainstream American society regardless of their contributions. In the novel Son of a Smaller Hero, storeowner Samuel Panofsky describes the past relationship between Jews and Anglos. “We [Jews] discovered cures and it didn’t help and we made for them philosophies and they chased us away and we invented so they’d take the invention and deport the inventor…” American Jewish reformers realized that Jews were making the difficulties they encountered in the dominant society worse by clinging to outdated traditions. The Jewish reform movement was partly an attempt to give Jewish people more acceptance into mainstream society. Reform Jewish worship services began to copy those of Protestants. English (rather than Hebrew) and music were introduced and sometimes services were held on Sunday instead of Saturday, the traditional Jewish Sabbath. By no longer insisting on some of the traditions that made their religion stand out from Protestantism, Jewish reformers hoped to lessen anti-Jewish feelings.

Protestants and Jews clearly shared more beliefs than, for example, Muslims and Protestants shared. Although Jews did not accept the New Testament as God’s word or Jesus as the son of God like Protestants did, the two religions had much in common. Both accepted the Old Testament as the word of the same God and sought to live by the Ten Commandments. The Jewish reform movement was based on the shared beliefs of both religions. Their relation with American Protestants helped Reform Jews to create a uniquely American movement.

In addition to sharing certain religious beliefs, Protestants and Jews also adopted nineteenth century Enlightenment ideas. Protestants valued reason and so did Jews. The equal rights promised by Enlightenment thinker Thomas Jefferson were especially significant for Jews who had a history of persecution. By using reason, reform Jews changed religious laws and rituals that were outdated. Thanks to Enlightenment concepts, Jewish reformers could assure themselves that even religion could be changed.