John Larrysson Column: A Christmas Song Explained
文章日期:2013年12月23日

In school, year after year I have seen and heard Hong Kong children singing Christmas songs they have memorised. Then I ask them what some of the words mean and they don't know. It is almost as bad as when I was singing o Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, in school with only the briefest understanding that it was a German song about a Christmas tree. So this year I will explain a Christmas song.

audio 1

The song We Wish You a Merry Christmas is a few hundred years old. The original meaning was that the singers would assemble outside the house of a very rich person and demand food and drink. Specifically they wanted figgy pudding, an older variation of Christmas pudding. The tradition is similar to giving red packets at Chinese New Year. A gift is provided in exchange for good wishes.

Some of the words are older and not in common use. Good tidings means good news; in the song it specifically means the news about Christmas. Your kin is your family; usually including uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins.

audio 2

Christmas or figgy pudding is an older traditional English Christmas food. The main ingredient might be dried figs, raisins, prunes or other fruit. Christmas puddings of different sorts have a history in England going back hundreds of years, but they are less popular these days. They are dark, made of dried fruit, fat, sugar and alcohol. They are often aged for weeks to allow the flavour to become very rich. I have seen a local Hong Kong restaurant that advertised Christmas pudding, but unfortunately only served an ordinary pudding at Christmas time. A Christmas pudding is a specific historic type of pudding.

There are different variations reflecting local British dialects in different centuries. I have a fairly standard version here.

Chorus:

 

We wish you a Merry Christmas

 

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Good tidings we bring for you and your kin,

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now bring us some figgy pudding

Now bring us some figgy pudding

Now bring us some figgy pudding

and bring some out here.

 

Repeat the chorus:

 

For we all like figgy pudding

 

For we all like figgy pudding

For we all like figgy pudding

so bring some out here.

 

Repeat the chorus:

 

And we won't go until we've got some

 

And we won't go until we've got some

And we won't go until we've got some

so bring some out here.

 

Repeat the chorus: (Until you get some figgy pudding)

There are many audio versions available online, so I will not be singing it. When you teach this song, or sing it with children, tell them what it means.

audio 3

by John Larrysson

[email protected]

A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for more than a decade.