2 Holiday Traditions

When something irresistibly infectious captures the zeitgeist of society, it may seem impossible to imagine a time when it didn't exist. I've long been fascinated by viral ideas, traditions, and why some things take off and others fizzle out. This essay explores two classics, one old, the other relatively new.

Humans are drawn to patterns and naturally crave tradition. But what makes something catch on like, for example, the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon? Wikipedia says that the practice of hiding a skinny elf doll around the house only began when, in 2005 a book entitled The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition was written by Carol Aebersold for her young daughter, Chanda Bell. And the tradition really didn't take off until the book was made into an animated special in 2011. Of course, now it is firmly established as a Christmas practice nearly as iconic as the concept of Santa Claus. Was it infectious because it was so simple, or perhaps because it was a natural extension of the Christmas fantasy? Maybe successful marketing and endless commercial possibilities were the real reason it caught on. I have no idea... I just know how rare it is for a book to morph into a transformative tradition like this.

From what I've read about the origins of "Silent Night" it seems Joseph Mohr, a priest, had written the words first. On Christmas Eve back in 1818, he walked to a neighboring village to visit an organist friend named Franz Gruber. He needed a song for that Christmas Eve mass and asked Gruber to compose a tune for his poem "Silent Night". In just a couple of hours, Gruber had basically composed the melody and harmony for what has become possibly the most recognizable tune in history. Yet apparently his first draft was slightly different than what we know today. This is a case of art that wasn't "perfected" until years after its inception. It had sit around and "stew" in order to fully develop into the unforgetable song we love today. (The image below shows the original melody- note the differences in m. 3 and m. 9 from what we sing now).

Simple creations seem to have the longest-lasting impact. And, ideas like Elf on the Shelf or songs like, Silent Night don't just pop up from thin air. Everything is built on the shoulders of something else. When something novel takes off, it is usually comprised of familiar fragments that have been recombined in slightly altered ways- a little twist on an old idea. We crave familiarity, but we also are bored by it. When something comes along that feels fresh, it isn't necessarily "revolutionary". Truly groundbreaking ideas rarely go viral until well after their conception. The larger society just isn't primed or prepared for it. But ideas or creations that tap into our deep craving for nostalgia without feeling passe or worn out have the ever so slight potential to become traditions.