December 12: "Fum, Fum, Fum"

If you watched the video above, you probably couldn't understand the language. I'm operating under the assumption that the majority of people reading this can't speak Spanish, but even those who can might have been confounded. That language is Catalan, the language of Catalonia and the native tongue of today's carol, "Fum, Fum, Fum" (pronounced "foom"). Where exactly is Catalonia? I'm glad you asked! 

Right there.

Catalonia, as you can see, is a region of northeastern Spain (and historically southwestern France) that retains its own language along with that of Spain. However, Catalan shares more in common with French than it does with Spanish, resulting from a long string of historical happenings that I have no intention of using to drag this post out. All we need to know is that Catalonia is considered the largest, non-state, bilingual community in Europe (before you cry "big deal," consider the divvying up of the Balkans and think that Catalonia has all of them beat). More importantly, Catalina Island, which is where I was hoping the language originated, does not have its own language. Other than, you know, foul language.

NSFW (duh)

Alright, enough linguistics and dumb jokes. Back to business. "Fum, Fum, Fum" is a bit of a doozy of a carol to find much historical data on, since there seems to be no consensus as to exactly who wrote it or when it was written. Most of the other carols I've looked at here at least have theories as to the "who?"; this one only has a theory as to the "when?" The best guess that anyone has regarding the originating date places it sometime in the 16th or 17th century. As it happens, the early 16th century was the beginning of the end of Catalan's height as a common language in Europe. Beginning in 1137 with the merger of the County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragon, what's known as the Crown of Aragon was a powerful early medieval empire of the western Mediterranean, the main language of which was an early Catalan. In 1479 The Crown of Aragon began a slow process of merging with other Spanish nation-states and its language, diluted by Spanish and French dialects, began to fade away. It's probable that the historical guesstimate of the 16th-17th century derives from that being the time when the largest number of people would have spoken Catalan, but it may just as likely have come from even earlier. My surface-skimming research isn't about to go down that rabbit hole, though.

As to the lyrics, the obviously original ones rhyme and work in their native tongue, but they seem to translate poorly to English. Several English versions are out there floating around, the most popular ones being these:

Version 1                                                                                Version 2

On December five and twenty,                                               On this joyful Christmas day

Fum, fum, fum (refrain)                                                         Sing fum, fum, fum (refrain)

Oh, a child was born this night,                                            For a blessed babe was born 

So rosy white, so rosy white                                                  Upon this day at the break of morn

Son of Mary, virgin holy                                                        In a manger, poor and lowly

In a stable meek and lowly                                                    Lay the son of God, most holy

Fum, fum, fum                                                                       Fum, fum, fum

Here, have a listen to one of our best choirs giving it a go:

Personally, I wish I could understand Catalan if only to get a clearer picture on the original lyrics, because even the best English translations we have just seem... basic, at best. The flare that the Catalan language probably brings to the song is lost and we get what I think is a fairly bland set of words to go with such a lively tune. Except, of course, for that elephant in the room: what's a fum?

There are two prevailing theories that attempt to answer that question. One is the literal linguistic route, which states that "fum," translated literally, means "smoke" and that the lyrics refer to the Catalonians gathering around their fires in the wintertime to sing Christmas songs. The other is that "fum" is an onomatopoeia for the sound of either a guitar (Iberian in origin), a drum, (ahem) or a rocking cradle, presumably for the baby Jesus. All good theories, each as likely as the others. As such, I'm taken with not just the relative obscurity of this carol, but it's far more obscure background. Maybe there was an answer in an old dialect of Catalan that was lost when the Crown of Aragon fell apart. I like to think that the Catalonians have some idea, and that they're just the best secret-keepers in the world. Let them keep their secrets; we have their awesome Christmas song.