Advent has always been my favorite time of year. Not only does it lead up to the festival of Christmas, but my birthday falls right around half way through. What’s more, I grew up in snowy Central New York—that’s the barren hinterlands of Upstate, for those in the city so nice they named it twice—and if I didn’t get a White Christmas, the Great Lakes were good for a storm around my birthday so there’d at least be a good beginning to the winter.
Advent is far from an untouched subject around these parts, so I’m clearly not alone.
Your OT Advent Calendar this year will be musical. We’ll talk about diamond-in-the-rough traditional tunes just waiting for renewed popularity, crimes against Christmas, the silly songs and the songs that have become modern traditions. We’ll also talk about the notion of true Christmas Carols, those which address the twelve days festival beginning on Christmas itself, including not just the one day-counting song but another.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Today’s tune is “Put the Lights on the Tree,” by Sufjan Stevens.
Someone has been conspicuously absent from the scene so far, yes? For a number of reasons, there are a great many songs associated with Christmas which make no mention of Jesus or even the religious aspects of the holiday. This is not a recent phenomenon, either. Nor is an expression of a more secular, less religious society.
The reality is that this time of year is gravid with symbolism and meaning, some of which is expressed in religious observance, and some of which we now encounter as tradition or folk belief. History is what we choose to remember; tradition is what we refuse to forget, and the various strands entwine.
Thus, particularly in the high latitudes, one often finds a clustering of traditions around Midwinter Night, when the year has darkened to its full and light returns. Light has always been, if less so in the modern age, a valuable resource. It is still a source of life and safety and security.
Sufjan Stevens is a Bowie-esque musical chameleon. From plaintive banjo-driven folk to widescreen brass and strings to electronic music he follows his own muse wherever she will take him.
His “Put the Lights on the Tree,” from his Songs for Christmas compilation, is a personal favorite.
Put the lights on the tree
Put the ribbon on the wreath
>And call your grandma on the phone
If she’s living all aloneTell her Jesus Christ is here
Tell her she has none to fear
If she’s crying on the phone
Tell her you are coming home
The lyric fits the tone set by “White Christmas,” sentimentality for hearth and home. Celebration in anticipation of Christmas Day with an equal mixture of familial responsibility. Lyrically, it’s a short and simple song, but it encapsulates the Christmas Spirit with a quick nod to the Reason for the Season, as well.
