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Culture
文艺版块
Holiday history
节日的历史
The poem that imagined modern Christmas
构想出现代圣诞节的诗歌
“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” turns 200 this year.
“那是圣诞节前夜”，到今年，这首诗的历史就满200年了。
It is one of the most famous poems in the English language—almost as famous as Christmas itself.
这是最著名的英语诗歌之一，几乎和圣诞节一样著名。
A single word is enough to get going: “’Twas”.
只说一个词就够了：那是（'Twas）。（注：'twas为it was在古英语中的缩写。）
You know the rest, or probably quite a bit of it.
你知道后半句是什么，可能还知道后面的其他句子。
Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St Nicholas”, better known by its first line, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”, was published on December 23rd 1823 and has been cherished ever since.
克莱门特·克拉克·摩尔的《圣尼古拉斯的来访》，最出名的就是首句“那是圣诞节前夜”。这首诗于1823年12月23日发表，自那以后就深受人们的喜爱。
Yet the poem is not just a jolly bit of festive verse.
然而，这首诗不仅仅是一首欢快的节日应景诗。
It imagined the details that have given modern Christmas its shape and character.
诗中的想象更是赋予了现代圣诞节的形与神。
W. H. Auden, a poet, wrote in 1939 that “poetry makes nothing happen”.
诗人威斯坦·休·奥登在1939年写道：“诗歌不会让任何事发生”。
“A Visit from St Nicholas” is an unlikely exception.
但《圣尼古拉斯的来访》却是一个出人意料的例外。
Eight reindeer, with names like Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen?
八只名叫猛冲者、舞蹈者、腾跃者和雌狐的驯鹿（怎么会成真呢）？
That comes from Moore’s poem.
这些驯鹿就来自摩尔的诗歌。
St Nick coming on Christmas Eve, and not on December 6th, his saint’s day?
而且圣尼古拉斯在圣诞前夜来访，而不是在他的圣徒日12月6日来访？
The poem cemented the shift.
这首诗永久地改变了圣诞节的日期。
But perhaps most important of all, the poem helped transform an unruly winter festival for adults into a peaceful domestic holiday focused on gift-giving and oriented towards children.
但也许最重要的是，这首诗把一个混乱无序的属于成年人的冬季节日，变成了一个其乐融融的家庭节日，节日的重点变成了赠送礼物，而且主要面向儿童。
“A Visit from St Nicholas” tamed Christmas.
《圣尼古拉斯的来访》驯服了圣诞节。
The poem has global reach today, but it was first published in the small town of Troy, New York, in the Sentinel.
这首诗如今已经在全球范围内流传，但它最初发表于纽约州特洛伊小镇的《哨兵报》。
In early December, on a cold, rainy Saturday, Troy honoured its most famous export at its annual holiday festival.
今年12月初，在一个冷雨绵绵的星期六，特洛伊镇在一年一度的节日上庆祝了它最著名的文化出口产品。
In the shadow of a towering pillar dedicated to Trojans who served in the civil war, a troupe of amateur actors staged a charmingly cheesy skit dramatising the poem’s composition, with the help of an elf, a magical mouse, two reindeer and Santa.
镇上有一根高耸的柱子，为纪念在南北战争中作战的特洛伊居民而建，在这根柱子下面，一群业余演员伴着一个精灵、一只神奇的老鼠、两只驯鹿和圣诞老人，上演了一出俗套但可爱的滑稽短剧，将诗歌的内容表演了出来。
That evening, Patrick Madden, Troy’s mayor, decked out in a top hat and a black cape, performed a recitation.
那天晚上，特洛伊镇长帕特里克·马登头戴大礼帽，身披黑色斗篷，表演了一场诗朗诵。
The poem’s extraordinary fame is something of an accident, as are its ties to Troy.
这首诗是在偶然间获得了如雷贯耳的名声，它也是在偶然间与特洛伊镇产生了联系。
It was first published anonymously, but 21 years later its author revealed himself.
诗歌最初是匿名发表的，但21年后，作者揭露了自己的身份。
He was not a Trojan but a wealthy Manhattanite.
他不是特洛伊人，而是一个富有的曼哈顿人。
Moore had never intended the poem to have an audience beyond his children, but a family friend sent the text to the Sentinel without his permission.
摩尔从没打算把这首歌给他孩子以外的人看，但一位朋友未经他的许可将这首诗寄给了《哨兵报》。
Moore decided to reveal his authorship by including the poem in his collected verse, published at his children’s insistence.
摩尔决定将这首诗收录在他的诗集中，并在孩子们的坚持要求下将诗集出版，从而揭示了他的作者身份。
Moore belonged to an upper-crust set known as the Knickerbockers, after a character in a novel by Washington Irving, his friend and fellow Christmas-booster.
摩尔是上流社会尼克博克家族的一员，“尼克博克”这个名称来自华盛顿·欧文小说中的一个角色，欧文也是摩尔的朋友，并且促进了圣诞节的形成。
“You can’t get much more elite than Clement Moore,” says Bruce Forbes, author of “Christmas: A Candid History”.
《圣诞节：一部坦率的历史》的作者布鲁斯·福布斯说：“你找不到比克莱门特·摩尔更精英的人了。”
Moore’s father was an Episcopal bishop who served as the president of Columbia College.
摩尔的父亲是一名圣公会主教，曾任哥伦比亚大学校长。
Moore was an expert on Hebrew and a professor at a seminary established on land he donated.
摩尔是希伯来语专家，也是一所神学院的教授，这所神学院的地盘也是他捐赠的。
His family estate, called “Chelsea” after the London district, gave the present Manhattan neighbourhood its name.
他的家族庄园名为“切尔西”，以伦敦的一个区命名，也是现在曼哈顿切尔西区的得名由来。
A war has been waged over authorship, with descendants of Henry Livingston junior, a writer and officer in the revolutionary war, claiming that he, not Moore, wrote “A Visit from St Nicholas”.
关于作者是谁还发生过一场论战，作家兼独立战争军官小亨利·利文斯顿的后代声称，《圣尼古拉斯的来访》的作者是利文斯顿，而不是摩尔。
Some scholars agree, but most do not.
一些学者同意这一说法，但大多数人不同意。
Pamela McColl, who has written a history of the poem, dismisses the claims of Livingston’s authorship as “a bunch of family folklore”.
帕梅拉·麦科尔就这首诗的历史渊源写过一本书，她驳斥了利文斯顿是作者的这一说法，称其不过是“家族传说”。
In Moore’s day, Christmas was not as commonly observed as it is today.
在摩尔身处的时代，人们并不像如今这样普遍都过圣诞节。
There is no mention of it in the Bible, and it is entangled with pagan heritage.
《圣经》中没有提到圣诞节，这个节日还与异教徒的传统纠缠不清。
Scholars think Christmas was initially celebrated in December in order to piggyback on pre-Christian festivals, including Saturnalia (a holiday that originated in ancient Rome, which featured, among other jocular customs, the crowning of a mock king and masters waiting on their slaves).
学者们认为，圣诞节最初被定在12月，目的是借用基督教出现之前的一些节日习俗来庆祝圣诞节，其中包括农神节(这是起源于古罗马的节日，有许多诙谐的习俗，比如为假国王加冕、主人侍候奴隶)。
Christmas did not easily shake its Saturnalian roots; it had a party-like atmosphere that makes Mardi Gras look tame.
圣诞节没有轻松地摆脱掉农神节的影响，这使其有一种派对般的气氛，马蒂·格拉斯狂欢节与之相比都显得温和许多。
Historically, on Twelfth Night in Britain, the poor could enter the houses of the rich and demand food, drink and sometimes even money in a ritual called “wassail”.
曾经，在第十二夜，英国的穷人可以进入富人的家中，要求富人给他们食物、饮料甚至金钱，这一仪式被称为“纵酒欢闹”。（注：第十二夜指圣诞节之后的第十二个夜晚，为主显节前夕。）
(To this day, officers in the British army serve the lower ranks a Christmas meal.)
(直到现在，英国军队的军官们还会为下级士兵提供圣诞大餐。)
