The Making of "Merry"

“If I could work my will…every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding.”  

           

Ebenezer Scrooge

In 1843 Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, and it was around this time that the Christmas traditions that are known and cherished began.  Up until that time people would wish one another “Happy Christmas”, a greeting that Queen Elizabeth seems to prefer today.  But with the publication of Dickens’ book, the word merry began to take up a new meaning of “joyful, jolly, cheerful, and gay” ("gay" has changed in meaning itself), and in some cases intoxicated.  It still had a bit of a bawdy reputation.  All the new Christmas traditions and the use of this word in the instantly popular Dickens cemented the change of meaning for merry.

Prior to Victorian times, the word had less stellar implications.  In Middle English it had wider meaning:  “pleasant-sounding”; “pleasant-tasting”; “fine” weather; “handsome” dress.  In the 14th century, a merry-man was the companion or follower of a knight or outlaw.  (Remember Robin Hood and his Merry Men?)  A merry-bout was slang for an occasion of sexual intercourse circa 1780, or a drinking session (presumably and hopefully ending in intercourse).  Merry-begot meant illegitimate or a bastard in 1785. 

There have been many phrases using merry since the 1300s, when one would make merry (and it still means partying!)  Merry England, which meant more along the lines of prosperous in 1400, is now commonly used mockingly.  The merry month of May in the 1560s meant pleasant.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887) was a British poet who wrote a very popular Christmas carol still sung today:

God rest you merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,

Was born upon this day,

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy!

For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,

Was born on Christmas Day.

It is important to note the punctuation in this song.  Merry is not an adjective describing gentlemen.  Rather it is wishing for God to allow the gentlemen to be content, as in “rest easy” or “rest assured”.  This is further stressed by the next line, "Let nothing you dismay."

Dickens was referring to the song when he wrote A Christmas Carol, and quotes it, in part, in the book.  Little did he realize he was legitimizing a phrase that would be used over 150 years later.

“I am as merry as a school-boy.  A Merry Christmas to everybody!”    

       

Ebenezer Scrooge

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Good Vibrations

Once in a while my husband and I try to weird each other out by renting offbeat DVDs.  Usually we like them; sometimes we love them.  Genghis Blues was one we really loved.  The documentary is about a blind Creole blues musician’s sojourn to Tuva, where he competed in a national throat singing contest.    Recently I heard a clip of throat singing on the radio, which got me thinking about it again…

Throat singing is a where a singer manipulates the vibrations created by air coming from the lungs and through the vocal cords to create a melody.  By finessing the pharynx, larynx, then mouth, a voice can be amplified and made resonant, which allows a singer to construct more than one pitch at a time.  This involves controlling the vocal apparati, including the jaws and lips.  There are different methods to achieve various pitches, and many many styles of throat singing.

Mongolia is considered the most significant location of throat singing today.  Southern Siberia has, in addition to the Tuva, the Altai Republic and the state of Khakassi which perform a type of throat singing called khai; in Altai this is used mostly for epic poetry performance.  In the extreme northeast of Russia lies the Chukchi Peninsula whose people have a form of throat singing.  The oral poetry of Kazakhstan and the Uzbek area of Karakalpakstan sometimes includes it.  The Bashkirs of Bashkortostan had a form that almost died out.  There are prayers and ceremonies in Tibetan Buddhism that involve their form of chanting, a sub-genre of throat singing.

The Ainu of Japan had a form of throat singing which  was sung until the last practitioner died in 1976, although there are recordings available.  In this style two women faced each other, formed a tube with their hands, and chanted into one of their mouths, the recipient using her vocal tract to modulate the sound.

Ainu women

Related to the Ainu form is the Inuit.  Once a form of entertainment among Inuit women while their men were off hunting, it was considered more a game than a type of music.  Involving at least two people, the women used each others’ mouths to resonate, sometimes while swaying in a kind of dance.  Men occasionally engaged in this as well. 

                            Inuit throat singing

Tuvan throat singing has become the most well-known of all.  Once the domain of male herders, its history goes back to the mists of time, it has been associated by anthropologists with their ancient pastoral and animistic beliefs that see spirituality in sound as well as other natural objects.  An attempt to mimic nature’s sounds is thought to be the basis of Tuvan throat singing.  With the wide open spaces of their landscape sound travels well, thus location is a serious factor in Tuvan throat singing.


                                        Tuvan throat singing

While it seems that throat singing has been most popular in the coldest regions of the northern hemispheres, there are a couple of known variations further south.  In South Africa the Xhosa women have a style called eefing. 

Madlamini of Madlamini and Her Witchdoctors

On the island of Sardinia there is the canto de tenore, practiced by groups of four male singers, each with his own part. Traditionally one voice imitates the sound of the wind, another a sheep bleating, and a third a cow lowing.  The fourth enters with a vocal piece.  This sounds somewhat like a round (think “row, row, row your boat”) but with varying entry points for the different voices.  Each village has their own particular style which identifies them.  Today the canto a tenore is performed only by men, but women once performed it as well.   In 2005, the canto a tenore was classed as an intangible world heritage by UNESCO.

                                            Canto de Tenore


Most of us can and do hum.  In fact, humming is now touted as therapeutic,  most importantly slowing down heart rates and lowering blood pressure.  All the types of throat singing listed here must really be healthy, which is interesting when you consider some of these areas are known for the longevity of their natives.  Nothing enhances life like good vibes....

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A Logophile's Escape

I’m sick, I’m tired, and I’m fed up.  The traffic!  The crowds!  The incessant, repetitive, holiday songs!  The schlock!  I need a vacation!

Where’s a logophile to go?  Someplace unusual…someplace memorable…someplace I can one-up my friends with when they brag about their holiday celebrations.

Well, the choices are the following:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwillllantysiliogogogoch.  This Welsh village on the isle of Anglesey is known as having the longest place name in Europe.  It means, “St. Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio by the red cave.”  Unfortunately it is a contrived name formulated for publicity purposes in the 1860s.  It achieved its original intention of being the longest name of any railway station in the United Kingdom.

Although we can count 58 letters in English, the Welsh count 51, since “ch”, “ng”, and “ll” count as single letters.  It is commonly referred to as Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll in Wales.  Two other places in Great Britain have tried to outdo it, again for publicity purposes, but have received little recognition.  They are Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiad- trienusyrhafnauole, which in 2004 made the attempt to convert to this name from Llanfynydd.  (The name is a reference to the protests of building a wind farm nearby, and means “a quiet beautiful village; a historic place with rare kite under threat from wretched blades.”)  The other is a station on the Fairbourne Railway, called Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollôn- penrhynareurdraethceredigion.  This means “the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan Bay”.  I guess we could do the “long place names” tour of the British Isles.

A more exotic location would be Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­

pukakapiki­maunga- horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.  It is listed in the Guinness World Records in all of its 85-letter glory.  It means, “the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who traveled about, played his nose flute to his loved one.”  How romantic!  I wonder if my husband would learn the nose flute while we were there, so he could serenade me…

At 85 letters it is certainly long, but I prefer its even longer forms: "Taumata­whakatangihanga­ koauau­o­tamatea­ure­haea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu" has 92 letters.  The most complete version has 105 letters: Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu.  This longest version means, “The hill of the flute playing by Tamatea, who was blown hither from afar, had a slit penis, grazed his knees climbing mountains, fell on the earth, and encircled the land – to his beloved.”   Wow!  What a guy, slit penis and all!

Speaking of which…the place with the longest name in Australia is Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill, which means “where the devil urinates” in the Aboriginal language, Pitjantjatjara.  I’ll pass on this one.

Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill

I thought my hometown had the longest name for a city – El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula – better known as Los Angeles, L.A., or El Lay.  (Meaning, “The town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the Little Portion”, porciuncula from the Italian word for a small portion of land.)  But I was wrong.  The city with the longest name is also known by its diminutive, Bangkok.  Like L.A. it considers itself a city of angels.  But its name is composed of 163 letters: Krung­thep­maha­nakorn­amorn­ratana­kosin­mahintar­ayutthay­ amaha­dilok­phop­noppa­ratrajathani­burirom­udom­rajaniwes­mahasat­harn­amorn­phimarn­avatarn­sathit­sakkattiya­visanukamprasit.  Roughly translated it means, “The great city of angels, the supreme unconquerable land of the great immortal divinity, Indra, the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity (Vishnu) given by Indra and created by the god of crafting (Visnukarma)."  

"El Lay"

Now that’s a mouthful!  I was in Bangkok for about 36 hours once during a stopover.  What impressed me the most was how smoggy and choked with traffic it was.  Kind of like L.A.  So much for cities of angels.

Bangkok

Given my love of watermelon, it might be appropriate to go to South Africa, perhaps to Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein, 44 letters meaning “the spring where two buffaloes were cleanly killed with a single shot.”  This is a farm roughly 124 miles west of Pretoria.  But more importantly, I may be able to find a copy there of the wildewaatlemoenkonfytkompetisiebeoordelaarshandleiding, which is the “wild watermelon jam competition judge’s manual”.  What a unique edition to add to my cookbook library!

Decisions, decisions.  Of course, since L.A. is right up there among long place names, I could just stay home and spend my money on a new Scrabble  or Upwords board and some tasty comestibles…

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Giving giving gifts...

Tired of the holiday shopping crowds?  The traffic?  The endless miles of crap?  How about giving gifts that give – something that won’t end up in a closet or regifted?  There are many options available…

The Seva Foundation has a simple philosophy:  “To be fully human, we must translate our compassion and concern into useful service.”  Their programs, which cover a number of countries and cultures, focus on marginalized peoples, building communities, increasing sustainability, and working through partnerships.  Begun in 1978 by a group of concerned individuals, the foundation has helped people with a variety of health issues.

With their Gifts of Sight program, for instance, you can:  help a woman get eye care services for $25; restore sight to a blind person for $50; restore sight to a child for $100; or train a rural health care worker in techniques to prevent blindness.  Such incredible deals for making a positive impact on someone’s life!

There are many other opportunities within the organization, from supporting Native American wellness to purchasing items like gift cards and calendars.  Imagine the pleasure of receiving a card or email stating that someone’s sight has been restored in your honor!  Priceless…

My husband and I have given gifts from Heifer International in the past.  You can gift a flock of chicks, ducks, or geese for $20, or a camel for $850.  Or you can donate 10% of the cost of a gift and they will add it with other donations to total the final cost.  Great way to spread your wealth around! 

I know our donees were very pleased with knowing that someone was given bees, a hive, and beekeeping training in their names.  We felt really good about it ourselves.  Although a “Knitter’s Gift Basket” – a llama, an alpaca, a sheep, and an angora rabbit – costs $480, a share costs $48, something I’m considering…

There are lots of environmental and animal protection groups that have gift programs.  One great one is the National Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Green Gift collection.  You can save wildlife, promote clean energy, educate kids, revive oceans, or even sue a polluter, among other things.  For $50 you can make someone an otter keeper; for $35 you honor someone by defending whales from deadly sonar.  So many options…

This season is the time for love and generosity.  What better way to celebrate than sharing with people, critters, and nature?

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Rodents and Dinosaurs...

Winsor McCay

Long before there were rodents, there were dinosaurs.  Likewise, long before there was an animated rodent, there was an animated dinosaur.

Winsor McCay (1867-1934), the brilliant author of Little Nemo in Wonderland, among other comic strips, was also an early animator.  In 1906, McCay began performing in vaudeville in addition to writing and drawing his comic strips. Vaudeville was in its heyday, and McCay became a hit.  By 1911, he began presenting animated films on stage.  The first was an animation of Little Nemo in Slumberland composed of 4,000 drawings he drew himself.  He went on to make How a Mosquito Operates, this contained 6,000 drawings.  McCay’s fame spread through the nascent animation community.

But his biggest animated success was premiered at the Palace Theater in Chicago on February 8, 1914 – Gertie the Dinosaur.  Gertie was based on a brontosaurus skeleton from the American Museum of Natural History.  McCay's 10,000 drawings were photographed by Vitagraph Studios.  McCay himself then interacted with the animation.  Dressed in a tux and sporting a whip, McCay conducted something akin to a circus act by instructing Gertie to perform. 

Gertie swallowed a rock, played with a mastodon, drank a lake dry, and gobbled a real apple thrown to her by McCay (who actually palmed it).  When McCay scolded her, she began to cry.  Animation (and for that matter motion pictures) were quite new and audiences were mystified.  They thought there were tricks involved, and would even cry out protests of fakery.  In the long run, however, audiences became enthralled and McCay received much critical acclaim.

Long before cel animation was introduced, McCay drew thousands of frame on individual 6.5 x 8.5 inch sheets of rice paper.  Another artist drew the backgrounds onto each sheet.  McCay then developed techniques that became standard in the industry.  He also cycled drawings, reusing some instead of duplicating them.  He devised a type of key frame animation where rather than draw each frame sequentially, he drew the key positions, then filled in the frames in between.  This was called the “McCay Split System”.

Advertising poster for "Gertie".

But into every artist’s life, a little rain must fall.  McCay, who magnanimously shared his techniques, once showed a visitor posing as journalist the details of his process.  But that visitor was John Randolph Bray, who later produced the first animation in color.  Bray patented McCay’s procedures, then tried to sue McCay for using his own techniques.  But McCay triumphed and received royalties from Bray for some years.  Around 1915, a plagiarized version of Gertie was distributed and played for years.  It was identified as made by Bray Productions.

Stacks of "Gertie" drawings.

McCay's work in animation was groundbreaking.  He pushed the boundaries of this new art form with the use of naturalistic motion and characters with personality, trailblazing the way for animators who followed, including Walt Disney.  Compare McCay's work with Disney's "Steamboat Willie", the precursor to Mickey Mouse, produced fourteen years later.

Famous Warner Brothers animator Chuck Jones once said, “The two most important people in animation are Winsor McCay and Walt Disney.  I’m not sure who should go first.”

McCay at his desk.

Remember, Folks, McCay never received instruction in animation.  Instead, he wrote the book...

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A DVD of all of McCay’s films is available:  Animated Legend: Winsor McCay.

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