Christmas – time for lullabies, laurels and dangerous ladies

It is that time of the year again, where we can sit back and relax after a busy year, listen to or sing-along with a few well-known lullabies. If the year behind us was successful enough we could maybe afford to rest a bit on our laurels. But we should also be mindful of how we behave, or else a tradition close to the roots of lullabies might just come back to haunt us.

Today we know lullabies as soothing songs, mostly sung for young children to help them settle down and fall asleep after the day’s hectic business of discovering the world around them. We find these soft rhyming songs in most cultures across the globe, dating back to ancient times.

In the Christian tradition many Christmas carols were written as lullabies for the infant Jesus. There has been a proliferation of this type of lullaby from especially the 17^th century. Probably the most famous among these being Silent Night.

But the tradition of using lullabies to help babies into dreamland precedes Christian times and there is a very strong possibility that the term itself originated from Jewish mythology and a tradition that grew from it.

In  Jewish mythology there was a female demon named Lilith who came around at night to steal the souls of children. To guard against her, four amulets were hung on the walls of the rooms where children slept, with the inscription Lilith – abi! This traqnslates to Lilith – begone!

But we will get back to Lilith a little  further on.

In Turkey, Mahmud al-Kashgari in his book Compendium of the language of the Turks refers to a similar tradition of bedtime songs for infants called balubalu.

In the Tamil language of Asia we find the word thaalattu – where thal means tongue -- to describe their version of a lullaby and in the Philippines it is called a huluna.

Laurels and laureates

But it is also the time of year that we might be able to sit back, relax and rest on our laurels for a while.

The ancient Greeks awarded wreaths of laurel leaves to the winners of the Pythian Games, held every four years in honour of the Greek god Apollo, dating back the 6^th century BC.

The Romans later took the tradition over with similar awards to distinguished citizens.

While gold and other medals took over the symbolic role of the wreaths from the Laurus Nobilis or Sweet Bay tree, the symbolism lingered and it took on figurative meaning – sometimes in a negative connotation, as in the expression: He passed matric and now thinks he can just rest  on his laurels.

But there was also  the time when people  retired at the end of a productive working life, and  it was said they  deserved to  rest on their laurels. It, in fact can still be said today that someone has done so well that he or she can afford to  rest on their laurels.

One can also often  find the image of the laurel wreath forming part of the design on medals – especially those associated with sport.

To understand why the aromatic Sweet Bay or laurel tree had to be the one to become so important and  achieve the status of “holiness”, you have to go back in Greek mythology.

Apollo is said to have fallen madly in love with the nymph Daphne. But while she was trying to escape his advances, her father intervened and turned her into a laurel tree. So infatuated was Apollo with his beloved Daphne that he embraced the tree, then cut off a branch to make a head wreath for himself and declared the tree sacred.

Of course in modern times a person who is awarded something like a Nobel prize, afterwards is referred to as  a laureate. Often universities would bestow on ex-students who did well professionally the title of laureate ­– especially if they made lots of money.

Remember Lilith

One must however be careful not to let one’s guard down on all fronts while  relaxing and enjoying the fruits from laurels accumulated during the year. One would do well to remember that the story of Lilith and the souls of children is not the only one told about her.

According to Jewish folklore dating back to at least the 8^th century she was also Adam’s first wife, created from the same soil. Unlike Eve, who was created from Adam’s own rib, she was unwilling to be subservient to him.

At some point she left the Garden of Eden and after mating with the archangel Samael refused to return.

Her demonic spirit is said to be lurking in the bodies of many a beautiful women attending end-of-year functions. When the good  wine flows and your guard is down, no amulets on the walls will save you.

Piet Coetzer