What does heat treating have to do with Christmas? Beyond providing heat in a time of winter chill for the northern hemisphere and playing a role in the manufacturing of many gifts under the Christmas tree this week, it’s not an easy correlation to make. Similar to the dilemma of some of the lesser-known Christmas carols.
For example, what is a Wenceslas, and why do we sing about it at Christmas time? What is it about this jaunty little tune by John Mason Neale that has earned it a place in the Christmas carol repertoire as well as in the hearts of many for the past 160 years—even though not a word about Christmas is mentioned anywhere in the lyrics?
Good King Wenceslas
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shown the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.
Let’s start with when the event of this ballad-narrative took place to answer that dilemma about Christmas not even being referenced in the lyrics. “The feast of Stephen” refers to St. Stephen’s Day, the day after Christmas in the liturgical calendar, also known as Boxing Day in Great Britain—traditionally a day on which good deeds are done and gifts are given by the noble classes to tradespeople and servants in the name of the Christ child. Furthermore, the story about Good King Wenceslas is over 1,000 years old and yet still contains much to intrigue the mind and the heart even to this day.
Wenceslas was thirteen when his father, the Duke of Bohemia, died in 921 A.D., although he had already been under the care of his grandmother, Ludmila, who taught him the faith and instilled in him a desire to be as much like his Savior as possible. As the song indicates, he was a good, honest, and strongly principled man, taking seriously the charge to live out his faith in practical ways for the good of those around him. Thus, here on this bitter night of St. Stephen’s feast, when Wenceslas sees a poor man out gathering wood for his fire, his heart goes out to him and he questions his page as to the identity of the man.
Hither, page, and stand by me.
If thou know it telling:
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?
Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes fountain.
Appalled that the man was so far from home collecting fuel to keep his hovel warm, and would have “a good league” to go to get home, Wenceslas springs into action.
Bring me flesh, and bring me wine.
Bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather.
As Duke and page trudge through the drifts, each step made more laborious than the one before by “the rude wind’s wild lament,” what Wenceslas hears rising on the gusts is his servant’s own lament.
Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how.
I can go no longer.
“Fails my heart, I know not how. I can go no longer.” A common cry in hearts around the world. Perhaps in yours, or in the hearts of family, or friends, or employees, colleagues, or customers.
Mark my footsteps, my good page,
Tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.
Look, says Wenceslas, at the path I have marked out for you. Keep to the footsteps I have made, falling neither to the right nor to the left. You can boldly press on, he tells his servant, and the very chill of the dark night will be lessened.
In his master’s step he trod,
Where the snow lay dented.
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
The page’s very salvation that night depended upon the life-giving warmth from his master’s passage ahead of him. This is how it is with us, for “in Christ, we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) Neale’s closing words give the charge to all those who would be like Wenceslas:
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.
Wenceslas’s reign was short, but one that is recalled every year at Christmas time when we sing of his deeds. His example of selfless leadership and compassionate, dignifying regard for those not as fortunate as he provides a worthy model for all as we look toward a new year. The babe who came that Christmas night many years ago has also marked out a way for us. It is our Christmas wish at Heat Treat Today that you follow the Man that babe became.
