A Visit from St. Nicholas (Twas the Night Before Christmas)

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Om den klassiska juldikten ”A Visit from St. Nicholas ” (mer känd numer som ”’Twas the Night Before Christmas”

Dikten ”A Visit from St. Nicholas ” (mer känd numer som ”’Twas the Night Before Christmas”, ursprungligen publicerad anonymt 1823 och senare tillskriven Clement Clarke Moore, har haft en betydande inverkan på vår moderna uppfattning om jultomten och julfirandet. I dikten beskrivs en vänlig och rundlagd tomte som anländer på natten före jul, färdas i en släde dragen av åtta renar och delar ut gåvor till barn genom skorstenen. Denna skildring har bidragit till att forma den bild av tomten som vi känner idag.

Diktens inflytande sträcker sig bortom litteraturen och har påverkat konst, reklam och populärkultur. Illustratören Haddon Sundblom hämtade inspiration från Moores beskrivning när han skapade de ikoniska Coca-Cola-reklamerna på 1930-talet, där tomten framställs som en glad och rödklädd figur. Dessa bilder har ytterligare förstärkt den moderna bilden av jultomten och spridit den globalt.

I Sverige har dikten också haft inflytande på vår jultradition. Den amerikanska jultomten, delvis formad av Moores dikt, blandades med den nordiska tomtegubben och bidrog till den jultomte vi känner idag. Konstnärer som Jenny Nyström spelade en viktig roll i denna utveckling genom sina illustrationer som kombinerade element från båda traditionerna.

Genom att lyssna på två julstinna skäggiga bibliotekarier får du en djupare förståelse för hur ”’Twas the Night Before Christmas” har påverkat och format våra jultraditioner och föreställningar om jultomten. Vi utforskar diktens ursprung, dess spridning och dess bestående inverkan på julfirandet världen över.

Den klassiska juldikten A Visit from St. Nicholas (Twas the Night Before Christmas)

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
”Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” o