# Why is Christmas merry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854 "2007-11-26T23:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/1 "2007-11-26T23:57:32Z")
We wish almost every holiday to be happy, with the notable exception of Christmas, which is merry. How did that come about? In British English, Christmas is happy, and even C.C. Moore’s poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas”, the origin of many things Christmas, ends with “a happy Christmas to all”. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/2 "2007-11-27T00:13:56Z")
Perhaps to avoid the repetition of the adjective “happy” in the double phrase: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year? When it’s just Christmas on its own, I quite frequently hear “Happy Christmas”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/3 "2007-11-27T00:21:35Z")
It’s in commemoration of Santa’s wife. Mary Christmas ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/4 "2007-11-27T00:53:20Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] Perhaps to avoid the repetition of the adjective “happy” in the double phrase: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year? When it’s just Christmas on its own, I quite frequently hear “Happy Christmas”. [/QUOTE] That’s a pretty good theory. I see that you’re in Australia though, which follows British English in many ways. Here in San Diego, I never hear happy Christmas even when it stands alone. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/5 "2007-11-27T02:23:34Z")
From the Wikipedia article on [Holiday greetings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Christmas): > [@](#): > > “Merry”, derived from the Old English myrige, originally meant merely “pleasant” rather than joyous or jolly (as in the phrase “merry month of May”). > > Though Christmas has been celebrated since the 4th century AD, the first known usage of any Christmastime greeting, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase appeared in the first Christmas card, produced in England in 1843, and in the popular secular carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” > > The then relatively new term “Merry Christmas” figured prominently in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 1843. The cynical Ebenezer Scrooge rudely deflects the friendly greeting and broods on the foolishness of those who utter it. “If I could work my will”, says Scrooge, “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding.” After the Spirits of Christmas effect his transformation, he is able to heartily exchange the wish with all he meets. The continued popularity of A Christmas Carol and the Victorian era Christmas traditions it typifies have led some to credit Dickens with popularizing, or even originating, the phrase “Merry Christmas”. > > The alternative “Happy Christmas” gained wide usage in the late 19th century, and is still common in the United Kingdom and Ireland. One reason may be the alternative meaning, still current there, of “merry” as “tipsy” or “drunk”. Queen Elizabeth II is said to prefer “Happy Christmas” for this reason. In American poet Clement Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823), the final line, originally written as “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night”, has been changed in many editions to “Merry Christmas to all”, perhaps indicating the relative popularity of the phrases in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/6 "2007-11-27T03:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It’s in commemoration of Santa’s wife. Mary Christmas [/QUOTE] Question is are Merry, Mary, and Marry Christmas the same to your ears? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/7 "2007-11-27T04:21:45Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It’s in commemoration of Santa’s wife. Mary Christmas [/QUOTE] I thought it was his drag name. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/8 "2007-11-27T05:51:51Z")
It should be noted that Moore’s authorship of _A Visit From St. Nick_ has been disputed by Don Foster, the text analyst who outed Anonymous of Primary Colors. Foster’s [analysis](http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/sources/authorunknown.htm) discusses, among other things, the Happy v. Merry usage. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/9 "2007-11-27T09:47:30Z")
My first thought was that perhaps “merriment” connoted a good skinful of food and drink - Northern European Christmas being a time-honoured occasion for eating up all the perishable parts of the livestock that had been slaughtered ahead of the cold season when (a) the meat would keep better and (b) there would not be enough fodder for the whole herd, flock, whatever. There would be lean times ahead until the Spring and the best way to tide yourself over would be to put on a few pounds of fat at the Christmas feast-table. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/10 "2007-11-27T15:32:02Z")
The temptation to check out [Merryam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/merry) proves irresistible. > [@](#): > > Etymology: Middle English _mery_, from Old English _myrge_, _merge_; akin to Old High German _murg_ short. _Merry_ does seem to carry short term connotations _i.e._ the pursuit of an activity which doesn’t last very long. Therefore _Merry Christmas_ makes sense, this being an injunction to have a great time for a short time, while _Happy New Year_ wishes upon the recipient a less frenetic but still pleasant time to follow. Doubtless these expressions were originally articulated at a time when Christmas lasted for a couple of days, tops. Now that the period has expanded to include the whole of December, and possibly November as well, _merry_ is less appropriate than formerly. It is no simple matter to remain stoically merry for two months and an adjectival revision is long overdue. Something like _Have a Survivable Christmas and a Happy New Year_ gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/11 "2007-11-27T17:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Greg Charles] In British English, Christmas is happy, … [/QUOTE] Just to be completely accurate: in British English, Christmas _may_ be happy, though it’s probably more often merry, especially (as already mentioned) when paired with a happy New Year. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-christmas-merry/427854/12 "2007-11-27T18:16:47Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] From the Wikipedia article on [Holiday greetings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Christmas): Though Christmas has been celebrated since the 4th century AD, the first known usage of any Christmastime greeting, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase appeared in the first Christmas card, produced in England in 1843, and in the popular secular carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” [/QUOTE] That wiki needs amending. OED’s first cite for Merry Christmas is far earlier. (From the entry for merry, adj, 5, b) 1565 Hereford Munic. MSS (transcript) 209 _And thus I comytt you to god, who send you a mery Christmas & many._