The (eventually) Catholic humanist Joost van den Vondel (fascinating guy in a fascinating time and place) wrote the eight-verse original lyrics for his play "Gijsbrecht van Aemstel", here clipped to a more manageable four verses:
O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen,
hoe kan Herodes 't licht verdragen,
dat in uw duisternisse blinkt
en wordt gevierd en aangebeden?
Zijn hoogmoed luistert naar geen reden,
hoe schel die in zijn oren klinkt.
In Bethlehem en op den akker,
hij maakt de geest van Rachel wakker,
die waren gaat door beemd en wei.
Wat kan de blinde staatzucht brouwen,
wanneer ze raast uit misvertrouwen!
Ze wekt een stad- en land- geschrei.
Zo velt de zeis de korenaren,
zo schudt een bui de groene blaren,
dus Rachel haar liev’ kinders derft.
Ziet ze ze in 't bloed versmoren,
aleer ze nauw'lijks zijn geboren,
en zoveel zwaarden rood geverfd.
Bedrukte Rachel, kort dit waren:
uw kinders sterven martelaren
en eerstelingen van het zaad,
dat uit uw bloed begint te groeien
en heerlijk tot Gods eer zal bloeien
en door geen tirannie vergaat.
O Christmas night, more beautiful than the days,
how can Herod endure the light,
that shines in your darkness
and is celebrated and worshipped?
His pride listens to no reason,
how shrill it sounds in his ears.
In Bethlehem and in (surrounding) field(s),
he awakens Rachel's ghost,
who wends through meadow and pasture.
What can blind state power brew,
while raging in mistrust!
She awakens a cry in the city and country.
As the scythe fells ears of grain,
as a storm shakes green leaves down (from a tree),
Oh, ugh, I forgot about Substack comments' indifference toward different returns (which my attempted edit didn't fix). I didn't mean to leave you with one big slab o' Dutch. The carol verses are 6-line stanzas, as I thought would be obvious, but isn't :-/
thank you though! I'd never heard of this carol and now I'm thinking that this carol and other carols that touch on the same story (like the Coventry Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBs-IoQvhBI) would make good ghost stories, too.…
I love the Coventry carol! It's a childhood favorite of mine, and shares much with van den Vondel's "O Kerstnacht," being from a similar time period, having a similar sweet-sour sonority.
"O Kerstnacht" makes the anti-authoritarianism of decrying the slaughter of innocents explicit, naming "state-lust" (staatzucht) as an evil, and insisting on a time when Rachel's children will bloom again, imperishable to tyranny. Rachel is no longer just a name in Jeremiah's prophecy (Matthew 2:18), but a ghost, and, where children are slaughtered, she will haunt you!
The Coventry carol was revived Christmas of 1940, when the BBC recorded such choristers who could still be mustered after the Nazis bombed Coventry singing the Coventry carol in the ruins of the bombed-out cathedral as the Empire's Christmas greeting. I just found this half-hour radio documentary on the Coventry carol's history, and now I think I've got something in my eye...
wow loved this. Judas wandering around NY, thinking how everyone has it wrong. I love stories about supposed "evildoers" whom we find out are human beings, just like the rest of us!
Love a good Christmas story...can't believe Jesus knew Judas would get hung up on tipping but he is the Son of God (but wouldn't he know Judas would get mad about it? Theology!)
My favorite is November's (didn't get a chance to say so at the time), but this one's also quite good.
I've gotten to know a Dutch Christmas carol that's also a ghost story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP65mily0ao
The (eventually) Catholic humanist Joost van den Vondel (fascinating guy in a fascinating time and place) wrote the eight-verse original lyrics for his play "Gijsbrecht van Aemstel", here clipped to a more manageable four verses:
O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen,
hoe kan Herodes 't licht verdragen,
dat in uw duisternisse blinkt
en wordt gevierd en aangebeden?
Zijn hoogmoed luistert naar geen reden,
hoe schel die in zijn oren klinkt.
In Bethlehem en op den akker,
hij maakt de geest van Rachel wakker,
die waren gaat door beemd en wei.
Wat kan de blinde staatzucht brouwen,
wanneer ze raast uit misvertrouwen!
Ze wekt een stad- en land- geschrei.
Zo velt de zeis de korenaren,
zo schudt een bui de groene blaren,
dus Rachel haar liev’ kinders derft.
Ziet ze ze in 't bloed versmoren,
aleer ze nauw'lijks zijn geboren,
en zoveel zwaarden rood geverfd.
Bedrukte Rachel, kort dit waren:
uw kinders sterven martelaren
en eerstelingen van het zaad,
dat uit uw bloed begint te groeien
en heerlijk tot Gods eer zal bloeien
en door geen tirannie vergaat.
O Christmas night, more beautiful than the days,
how can Herod endure the light,
that shines in your darkness
and is celebrated and worshipped?
His pride listens to no reason,
how shrill it sounds in his ears.
In Bethlehem and in (surrounding) field(s),
he awakens Rachel's ghost,
who wends through meadow and pasture.
What can blind state power brew,
while raging in mistrust!
She awakens a cry in the city and country.
As the scythe fells ears of grain,
as a storm shakes green leaves down (from a tree),
so is Rachel bereft of her dear children.
She sees them smothered in blood,
before they’re hardly born,
and so many swords painted red.
Stricken Rachel, these (your sorrows) were short:
your children die martyrs
and firstfruits of the seed
that begins to grow from your blood,
and will blossom gloriously to God's honor,
and perish by no tyranny.
Oh, ugh, I forgot about Substack comments' indifference toward different returns (which my attempted edit didn't fix). I didn't mean to leave you with one big slab o' Dutch. The carol verses are 6-line stanzas, as I thought would be obvious, but isn't :-/
thank you though! I'd never heard of this carol and now I'm thinking that this carol and other carols that touch on the same story (like the Coventry Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBs-IoQvhBI) would make good ghost stories, too.…
I love the Coventry carol! It's a childhood favorite of mine, and shares much with van den Vondel's "O Kerstnacht," being from a similar time period, having a similar sweet-sour sonority.
"O Kerstnacht" makes the anti-authoritarianism of decrying the slaughter of innocents explicit, naming "state-lust" (staatzucht) as an evil, and insisting on a time when Rachel's children will bloom again, imperishable to tyranny. Rachel is no longer just a name in Jeremiah's prophecy (Matthew 2:18), but a ghost, and, where children are slaughtered, she will haunt you!
The Coventry carol was revived Christmas of 1940, when the BBC recorded such choristers who could still be mustered after the Nazis bombed Coventry singing the Coventry carol in the ruins of the bombed-out cathedral as the Empire's Christmas greeting. I just found this half-hour radio documentary on the Coventry carol's history, and now I think I've got something in my eye...
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m000cl39
wow loved this. Judas wandering around NY, thinking how everyone has it wrong. I love stories about supposed "evildoers" whom we find out are human beings, just like the rest of us!
Love a good Christmas story...can't believe Jesus knew Judas would get hung up on tipping but he is the Son of God (but wouldn't he know Judas would get mad about it? Theology!)
this one is really neat. i’ve been grateful for these this year, cheers to you.
Holy smoke (really!)!!! You really ended the year with a banger, didn't you?! Outstanding, absolutely outstanding! <3