Well, it’s two days after Christmas but it’s still the holiday season. Here’s a vintage Whitney Made postcard in Swedish showing (after the phrase God Jul! – Merry Christmas!) the verse from a song, along with a Christmas tree and an evergreen in the moonlight scene.

“God Jul!

Var hälsad sköna morgonstund,

Som af profeters helga mun

Är oss bebådad vorden!

Du stora dag, du sälla dag,

På hvilken himlens välbehag

Ännu besöker jorden!”

The song is attributed to German Lutheran pastor, poet and composer Philipp Nicolai (1556 – 1608.)  This information was found thanks to the website Projekt Runeberg, which has a page showing the sheet music and additional verses. A simple online translation will not do the verse justice. We’d be happy to get a real translation from someone!

Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Publisher:  Whitney Made, Worcester, Mass. Circa 1910s – 1920s.

Price:  $6.00

Sources:  “Svenska Missionförbundets sängbok.”  Projekt Runeberg. Web accessed December 27, 2014. [http://runeberg.org/smfsang/0038.html]

Philipp Nicolai. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Nicolai. (accessed December 27, 2014).