Steve's Writing: It’s Not About Christmas…Or is it? (a Steve Orr Lectionary Reflection)

Thursday, December 29, 2022

It’s Not About Christmas…Or is it? (a Steve Orr Lectionary Reflection)

The coolest song of the season has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

Do you know “White Winter Hymnal?” It’s a catchy little tune sung in a round. It’s been out in the world, so to speak, since Fleet Foxes released it in 2008. It’s the creation of Robin Pecknold, that band’s songwriter and vocalist. But, it really took off when Pentatonix added it to its 2014 album, That’s Christmas to Me. Now, it saturates the airways at Christmastime. It’s likely you’ve seen a YouTube video of it. Starting in autumn and peaking on Christmas Eve, it gets 96 million plays on Spotify alone.

There’s something weird, though: “White Winter Hymnal” isn't about Christmas, or even about winter per se. And that’s just one weird thing about the song—there’s also the lyrics:

“I was following the pack,

all swallowed in their coats

with scarves of red tied round their throats

to keep their little heads from falling in the snow,

and I turned round and there you go,

and Michael you would fall

and turn the white snow red as strawberries in summertime.”

What in the world does “turn the white snow red as strawberries” mean? And with lyrics like that, why is this song so popular at Christmastime? Before I share the answer with you, let me pose a different question to you: Why do we sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” I ask because the answer is the same for both songs. Yes, the latter song does reference Christmas, and it is also sung in a nontraditional way. But what does it actually have to do with Christmas? Here are those lyrics, in case your memory needs refreshing:

“On the twelfth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me:

12 Drummers Drumming

11 Pipers Piping

10 Lords a Leaping

9 Ladies Dancing

8 Maids a Milking

7 Swans a Swimming

6 Geese a Laying

5 Gold Rings

4 Calling Birds

3 French Hens

2 Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.”

Sure, those lyrics are not as strange as the ending lyrics to “White Winter Hymnal,” but what do they mean? Well, the Internet is full of what people think they mean. In fact, so full of potential meanings, I feel comfortable saying no one really knows.

And that brings us back to “White Winter Hymnal.” Lots of people have weighed in on what the lyrics mean. But none of them actually know. In fact, the song’s creator says it doesn’t really have a meaning, that it never had a meaning. He says he wrote it in about 20 minutes with the goal of having something that would be fun to sing in a round while doing dishes.

So why do we sing these two songs? We sing them because the singing of them brings us joy. And nothing could be more appropriate for the season. Speaking of the season, I am writing this on December 27th, the third day of Christmas. We celebrate the 12 days of Christmas not because Christmas is coming, but because Christmas has arrived. We sing and laugh, party and feast from December 25th through January 5th (Twelfth Night) because we are filled with joy.

And the songs we sing, just for the joy of it, are the perfect songs for the season. Whether they mean anything or not.

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PHOTO (from an excellent video by VOGELCHAN made for the Fleet Foxes version of White Winter Hymnal):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGYd4-fxgNY

BONUS CONTENT

Watch the Pentatonix video of White Winter Hymnal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o10drRI3VQ0

More about Robin Pecknold and the creation of White Winter Hymnal:

https://www.news-herald.com/2021/12/23/red-snow-a-most-unexpected-modern-standard-for-the-holidays/amp/

An early video made to Fleet Foxes singing their song (and an interesting live-action take on the “red snow”):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPY32znj9U4

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