"Nu tändas tusen juleljus" is a Christian traditional

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

, written in 1898 by the Swedish song text writer

Emmy Köhler Emmy Köhler (22 May 1858 – 2 February 1925) was a Swedish hymnwriter and writer. She was born in Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, a ...

(both text and melody). Translated into English, the title literally means "Now are lit a thousand Christmas candles". The theme of the song is the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

of the newborn Christ and specifically its aspects of domestic harmony and inner peace, brought by the lights of candles as well as of the stars above, most importantly the

star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity of Jesus, nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 2, chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (biblical Magi, Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, ...

. It was one of the most popular Christmas songs in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

during the 20th century, in churches, homes and schools. Swedish pop singer

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse "Agnetha" Fältskog (; born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and a former member of the pop group ABBA. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 Agnetha Fältskog (album), self-titled debut alb ...

recorded the song on her album " Nu tändas tusen juleljus", named after the song, with her daughter Linda Ulvaeus. The song was also covered by artists and groups like Evie (both 1974 and 1976, also in English),

Carola Häggkvist Carola Maria Häggkvist (; born 8 September 1966), commonly known simply as Carola, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco ...

(1983), Wizex (1993), and Lill Lindfors (1991). Swedish

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

Ebba Grön Ebba Grön was a Swedish punk band formed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1977. Ebba Grön consisted of Joakim Thåström (lead vocals, guitar), Gunnar Ljungstedt (drums) and Lennart Eriksson (bass guitar, backing vocals). Thåström, Ljungstedt an ...

, who recorded the song in 1980,Information
at

Svensk mediedatabas Svensk mediedatabas (''Swedish Media Database'') is a search engine for the audiovisual works of the National Library of Sweden. The database contains data about TV, radio, video, movies that have been shown in cinemas, gramophone records, CDs ...

altered the lyrics and called the song "Nu släckas tusen människoliv" ("Now a thousand of human lives are put out"). This version is about

homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

. The

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

version is Nå tennes tusen julelys and has been recorded by artists such as

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known simply as Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician an ...

and

Sissel Kyrkjebø Sissel Kyrkjebø (; born 24 June 1969), also known abroad as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano. She is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs to classical vocals and operati ...

. There is also a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

version called "Mil Luces" that appeared on an album entitled "Felicidad en Navidad" by an unknown artist, which was distributed by Fuente de Vida.

Titles in other languages

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

: Nyt syttyy valot tuhannet (also Nyt sytytämme kynttilän) *

Danish language Danish (, ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are a ...

: Nu tændes tusind julelys *

Faroese language Faroese ( ; ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 69,000 Faroe Islanders, of whom 21,000 reside mainly in Denmark and elsewhere. It is one of five languages descended from Old Norse#Old West ...

: Nú tendrast túsund jólaljós *

Icelandic language Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national languag ...

: Við kveikjum einu kerti á *

: Nå tennes tusen julelys *

: Nu tändas tusen juleljus *

Indonesian language Indonesian (; ) is the official language, official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standard language, standardized variety (linguistics), variety of Malay language, Malay, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that has ...

: Seribu Lilin * Different melody:

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

version, V lesu rodilas elochka The

version, В лесу родилась ёлочка ( A Spruce Was Born in the Forest), is commonly claimed to have been written based on this song in 1903 and set to music in 1905 by the amateur composer Leonid Karlovich Beckmann. The tune of the song is only slightly different than the Nordic language ones.

References

External links

Lyrics on Swedish Wikisource
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nu Tandas Tusen Juleljus 1898 songs Agnetha Fältskog songs Carola Häggkvist songs Swedish Christmas songs Elisabeth Andreassen songs Wizex songs Songs about Jesus Hep Stars songs

Titles in other languages

See also

References

External links