"Nu är det jul igen" (Danish: "Nu er det jul igen") (English: Now it is Christmas again) is an old

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 ...

originating in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, and often sung when dancing around the

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

. Lyrically, the song first states that

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

lasts all the way until

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

, before mentioning that this is not the case, since the

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

season comes between them. Danish poet from Vester Skerninge wrote a longer lyrics version, "Nu har vi jul igen". The song was recorded by the Gregg Smith Singers as "Now it is Yule again" in a four-part, a capella, mixed-voice chorus arrangement by Gregg Smith on their 1960 album ''Christmas Carols from Around the World'' (Crown Records CLP 5194).

In popular culture

* The song was featured in the ''

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

'' Christmas special "Arthur's Perfect Christmas". * The fluffy Swedish Meatball characters are seen dancing to it in the short film '' Rejected''. * During the Christmas festivities in the film ''

Fanny and Alexander ''Fanny and Alexander'' () is a 1982 Historical drama, period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. Follow ...

'' by

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

, the family dances to this song.

Publication

* ''Julens önskesångbok'', 1997, under the lines "Tjugondag Knut dansar julen ut", credited as "folktune"

References

External links

1850s notification
Swedish Christmas songs Year of song unknown {{song-stub