Translating ‘Silent Night’

“Silent Night” is one of the most loved Christmas carols, but imagine translating it into Tagalog and singing it.

That was the way I began a lecture at the University of Santo Tomas for interior design students of various schools.  The organizers, the Council of Interior Design Educators, wanted a talk linking Filipino culture to Christmas.

From the Internet I found two Tagalog translations of that song. Try humming one version now: “Tahimik na gabi/Banal na gabi/Lahat ay kalmado/lahat maliwanag/Sa Birheng Ina at kanyang Anak…”

A bit tough?  Try this version:

“Natanaw na/Sa Silangan/Ang Talang Patnubay/Nang gabing katahimikan/Ang Sanggol sa lupa’y isilang/Ng Birheng matimtiman/Sa hamak na sabsaban.”

Better, right? But note how the silent night is deemphasized in favor of a guiding star, presumably for the three kings.

Somehow, a literal translation of “Silent Night,” sung in Tagalog, doesn’t seem as “Christmasy,” and the reason is that there is a disconnect between the spirit of the song and a Filipino Christmas. Note how Filipino Christmas carols are almost always lively, more around the genre of “Jingle Bells.” Thus, a Filipino Christmas carol about a silent night seems almost strange.

Really, the only truly solemn Filipino Christmas carol I can think of is “Mapayapang Daigdig,” composed by Felipe de Leon and Lucio San Pedro. There was a reason for the song’s somber mood: It was composed right at the end of World War II.

(I can’t help but think that song should make a comeback this year, as we try to tone down our celebrations of Christmas to express solidarity with the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” It’s also the birth centennial of Lucio San Pedro, which is passing almost unnoticed except for a concert last week at the Tanghalang Pasigueño.)

Christmas makes for a fascinating study on culture and cultural change. We think of Christmas mainly as a Christian observance, but its origins are actually pagan, tied more to a celebration of the transition from an old year to a new one, from winter to spring. As Christmas spread across the world through western missionaries, it took on many forms. Our own  Pasko  is an example, derived from the Spanish  Pascua  which is actually Easter. The Spanish word for Christmas is “Navidad,” but we never say “Maligayang  Navidad.”

Easter, too, is supposed to be the main Christian feast, but in the Philippines, it’s Christmas that has become primary, most probably because it is a time for families to come together. The gift-giving for loved ones has always been important but these days selecting and giving gifts have become an ordeal, pushed by both crass commercialism and obligations to assorted people, loved and not so loved.

Traffic gridlock and endless “Meri  Krismas” solicitations aside, we do have warm, and noisy, Christmases that don’t quite fall in place with “Silent Night.”

Styrofoam snowmen

I often hear people saying Christmas is mainly for the children. I agree. Christmas is a season to create memories of family and friends that children can carry through life. Those memories will be deeply associated with the sensory bombardment that they get during Christmas: sights and sounds and smells and tastes, and touch.

My own memories of Christmas are associated with gifts under real pine Christmas trees, apples (with cinnamon scents) and oranges and English Christmas carols about Santa Claus and reindeer dashing through the snow.

Wonderful as those memories are, I do think we need to change our ideas about Christmas in our homes, making it more Filipino. It’s not just about nationalism but also about aesthetics. Those styrofoam snowmen in front of people’s homes always tempt me to ring their doorbells to tell the owners that the snowmen are melting in the heat.

It’s even sadder seeing those  capiz  parol  (lanterns) now reconfigured into Santa Claus and reindeer.

I’m not against western ornaments, or Santa Claus figurines in  barong, that I see as contrived. But we do need to tap into Christmas to promote an appreciation of things, and values, Filipino.

Tin soldiers

One more example to make my point. Last weekend I was at Marco Polo Cebu, one of my favorite hotels (dating back to its Plaza days). This time around, I was with a Dutch couple who I had convinced to take a side trip through Cebu and to stay at the hotel.

When we got to the hotel we were greeted by the sight of giant toy soldiers everywhere, with some of the staff also dressed to look like soldiers (well, sort of, because the uniforms looked like those in children’s schools). It wasn’t until we’d settled in and were sitting in the lobby when the toy soldiers finally made sense.  This happened when a staff member came into the lobby dressed as a ballerina.

“Nutcracker Suite!” I proclaimed to my Dutch friends. But they still looked confused, and I had to explain that it’s an American thing—Christmases associated with performances to Tchaikovsky’s ballet.

The Nutcracker Suite-Christmas connection isn’t strong in the Netherlands, and is even less known even among the most Americanized Filipinos. There were so many other Filipino themes that could have been used to make the decor, and ambience, more resonant. The toy soldiers came through as cold—cold as in, well, tin. A  belen  with a Filipino motif would have been so much warmer, more like a Filipino Christmas.

Our Christmas decorations speak of us as a people and I’m afraid that for now, the snowmen reflect a people in search of ourselves. Meanwhile, watch out as other countries pick up some of the best of our Christmas traditions and crafts. I hear that China is now producing lanterns similar to our  parol, making up for fake  capiz  with glittery, kitsch running lights.  In the end, I can predict our  parol-makers imitating the Chinese imports.

I do see a growing appreciation of local crafts for Christmas. The other weekend I was at the  tiangge  at the University of the Philippines Diliman, which had a lot of stalls with cheap made-in-China ornaments and lights. But I also found a few with good-quality Christmas stuff made of local materials such as  capiz  and  abaca.

If you’re interested in looking at the potentials for Filipino-based Christmas decor, visit the UST Museum (it’s open on Saturdays), where there is an ongoing exhibit of the work of students around the theme of Filipino values and Christmas. Their work does give me hope for warmer, more cordial Filipino Christmases in the future.

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E-mail: mtan@inquirer.com.ph