Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas, or Happy New Year?
Last night, after the Candle Service, several people exchanged the following greeting as they were leaving:
’Yoi o-toshi o’ (if your system displays Japanese, 「良いお年を」)
Listening to this, I couldn’t help wondering why, since it was Christmas Eve, they didn’t say ‘Merry Christmas’, which is commonly used even by people who don’t speak much English. ‘Yoi o-toshi o’ is usually translated as ‘Happy New Year’ but it is said only in the closing days of the old year, never at the beginning of the new one. It expresses the wish that the next year will be a good one for the other person.
Of course, they said ‘Yoi o-toshi o’ last night to those they didn’t expect to see again before the New Year, not to people they expected to see again today or next Sunday. In addition to our usual congregation, we had quite a few members of Miyazaki’s ‘Messiah Group’ to sing with us and for us. They practise throughout the year and perform Handel’s ‘Messiah’ a few weeks before Christmas each year. One of them turned out to be one of my ex-students from the 1970s. (She said ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’ when she left.)
This morning, the greeting at the end of the sermon was ‘Christmas Omedetoh Gozaimasu’. This expression can only be used when Christmas has actually come, not before.
I hope you will read more of this blog before the New Year, but in case you don’t, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ll probably write more about New Year greetings when the time comes.
’Yoi o-toshi o’ (if your system displays Japanese, 「良いお年を」)
Listening to this, I couldn’t help wondering why, since it was Christmas Eve, they didn’t say ‘Merry Christmas’, which is commonly used even by people who don’t speak much English. ‘Yoi o-toshi o’ is usually translated as ‘Happy New Year’ but it is said only in the closing days of the old year, never at the beginning of the new one. It expresses the wish that the next year will be a good one for the other person.
Of course, they said ‘Yoi o-toshi o’ last night to those they didn’t expect to see again before the New Year, not to people they expected to see again today or next Sunday. In addition to our usual congregation, we had quite a few members of Miyazaki’s ‘Messiah Group’ to sing with us and for us. They practise throughout the year and perform Handel’s ‘Messiah’ a few weeks before Christmas each year. One of them turned out to be one of my ex-students from the 1970s. (She said ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’ when she left.)
This morning, the greeting at the end of the sermon was ‘Christmas Omedetoh Gozaimasu’. This expression can only be used when Christmas has actually come, not before.
I hope you will read more of this blog before the New Year, but in case you don’t, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ll probably write more about New Year greetings when the time comes.