12/28/22
Merry Christmas!
I recently had a young lady ask me why we say “Merry Christmas” but say “Happy Easter.” I had never thought about it before. And, come to think of it, I couldn’t remember hearing anyone but the British say, “Happy Christmas.” So, I did some digging.
Wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” dates back at least to the time of Henry VIII, who used it in several letters. “Happy Christmas” was also used then and still is in the UK, especially by the upper classes. The difference between the two expressions seems to boil down to this: "Happy" is a word that describes an inner emotional condition, while "merry" describes behavior. Think about the difference between "merry-making" versus simply "being happy."
One of my favorite Christmas carols is “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” – notice where the comma is. I used to think “God Rest Ye'' was addressed to “Merry Gentlemen,” but it’s not – the phrase is “God Rest You Merry.” The carol dates back to the 1500s and a dictionary entry from 1530 cites “rest you merry” as a popular phrase used by common people to mean “remain or keep being glad or joyful.” It didn’t necessarily mean raucous or wild behavior — just joyful reveling. So, it could be paraphrased, “God keep you joyful, gentlemen!”
So wishing someone a “merry Christmas,” is to wish them a glad, joyous celebration of Christmas. In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit arrives late to work the day after Christmas, and, apologizing to Mr. Scrooge says, “I was making rather merry, yesterday, sir.”
I hope you’re “making rather merry” this Christmas, as well!
One of my favorite Christmas poems is “A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King [Charles I] in the Presence at Whitehall” by Robert Herrick (1591-1674). It’s better known as “What Sweeter Music.” I’ve shortened and updated it a bit.
What sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
. . .
Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honor to this day,
That sees December turn'd to May.
If we may ask the reason, say
The why and wherefore all things here
Seem like the springtime of the year?
Why?
Or smell like to a meadow new-shorn,
Thus on the sudden?
Come and see
The cause why things thus fragrant be:
'Tis He is born whose quickening birth
Gives life and luster public mirth
To heaven and the under-earth.
We see Him come, and know Him ours,
Who with His sunshine and His showers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The Darling of the world is come,
And fit it is we find a room
To welcome Him.
The nobler part
Of all the house here, is the heart.
Which we will give him; and bequeath
This holly and this ivy wreath,
To do him honor who's our King,
The Lord of all this reveling.
“The Lord of all this reveling.” I love that phrase. The coming of Christ into the world is certainly the reason for being glad and rejoicing — in short, for “making merry” — despite the best efforts of the Puritans and their descendants who frowned upon too much merriment. I guess they missed the words of the Prodigal son’s father in Luke 15:32 (NKJV), “It was right that we should make merry and be glad.” There are those times that call for “making merry” and Christmas is indeed one!
The most famous (and beautiful) musical setting of Herrick’s poem is undoubtedly the one by John Rutter. He also edited the poem slightly and updated the language. Here’s a link to a performance by the King’s College Choir. I offer it to you as my Christmas present:
King's College Cambridge 2008 #10 What Sweeter Music John Rutter
God rest you merry!
Pastor Terry,