When Christmas is Drawing Near

Christmas Carols Explained, #14

We remain in Sweden for our 14th stroll through Christmastown. “När det lider mot jul” (When Christmas is Drawing Near) is more about the season, the run-up, and the hype for Christmas than the day itself. I was probably in my early 20s when I really started to appreciate the season at large and not just the single day of presents and food at the end of it. One very special day in twenty-five is still good, but twenty-five days (and beyond) is better.

When I lived in Spain (2003-2005) I got introduced to Día De Los Reyes (January 6th) which is better-known in the English-speaking world as the Day of Epiphany. Turns out the 12 Days of Christmas actually start on Dec. 25 and end on Jan. 6, at which point the traditional Three Kings roll up with more presents than just Santa Claus.

(I still remember my friend Antonio saying they didn’t give a crap about Santa in Spain, the Three Kings were straight out of the Bible, that made them better. He’s not wrong…)

Anyway, if you’re a Decemberphile like me, you dig big on any excuse to stretch the season and revel in all of it. I’m also a Thanksgiving Nationalist so we don’t start the festivities until the turkey carcass is in the Crock-Pot, but once we kick off, it’s all hands on deck.

Jeanna Oterdahl is the original poet of this particular piece. I ran the Swedish lyrics through an AI translator and it gave me this:

A star shines with wonderfully gentle light
In the east, in the sky, she stands
She has shone over the world’s unrest and strife
For nearly two thousand years When the day grows dark and the snow falls white
Then she glides closer, then she comes here
And then you know that Christmas is soon For Christmas is wonderful for big and small
It is joy and the sweetest peace
It is gifts and Christmas tree and ring dance too
It is happiness endlessly gentle
It is light, everyone’s eyes then shine their brightest
And the stars twinkle the most
And where the light is, there is Christmas

Sounds good, I like it. So here’s another song for the roster.