Explanation:

The holiday Corpus Christ (body of Christ) is officially known as "Fronleichnam" in Germany.

But the meaning of 'Leichnam' changed from body to corpse over the years. And "Fron" (Lord) isn't used at all in modern german, but it sounds much like "froh" (happy).

I originally thought the pun came from stationed Americans to us, but it seems to be a homegrown pun.


10 comments

  1. The Feast of Ascension is called Kristi Himmelsfärd in Swedish. Literal translation is something like Christs Journey to Heaven but it’s commonly called Kristi Flygare, which translates to Christ Flier (or maybe Aviator).

  2. In Polish, it’s officially called “Uroczystość Najświętszego Ciała i Krwi Chrystusa” = ‘The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ’ from the LAT “Sollemnitas Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Christi”.
    In common language it’s called “Boże Ciało” = ‘Godly Body’.

  3. Also Germany ut maybe new to some. On Allerheiligen (All saints day) it’s stimmt costumary for some to visit the graves of loved ones. Andits also called Gräberralley (grave ralley). Mostly because some peope have to visit multiple graves that no one thinks that they dont care about the dead relatives.

  4. *Vårfrudagen* (lit. “the Day of Our Lady”; Feast of the Annunciation) morphed into the phonetically similar *våffeldagen* (“waffle day”) in Swedish.

    Though it’s maybe less of a quirky name for it anymore as it is [a fully established tradition in its own right](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_Day). Doubt many even know its origin, people don’t care much about religion. But it’s very much a day to eat waffles.

  5. Here in Brazil it’s also a Corpus Christi holiday, but I didn’t know that in Germany they call it Happy Corpse Day 😅😂

  6. The only one I can think of in Finland is Midsummer. It’s a big deal here and its name ”Juhannus” comes from it also being dedicated to John the Baptist. John in Finnish is usually either Johannes or Juhani but the short version of the name is Jussi. Midsummer is often called ”Jussi” so kind of like calling it ”Johnny” in English.

  7. In the U.K., the 26th of December is universally known as Boxing Day rather than St Stephen’s Day. There are multiple theories about the origin of the name but none, as far as I know, that stand up to serious scrutiny.

    Given the way the British abuse the English language with gleeful abandon, I reckon there’s a good chance that it was a joke that got out of control and went mainstream.

  8. I don’t know whitespread it is (because the day is not really observed), but Mary’s Ascension is officially Mariä Himmelfahrt, but i’ve heard it called *Maria Flüg-uf* “Mary fly-up”.

    Interestingly, some of the more catholic holidays are not much known by a name in Swiss German, but only by a Standard German name or just their calendar date, such as 15th of August and 8th of December.

  10. Palm Sunday is called *Domingo de ramos* in portuguese. While ramo in this case refers to palm fronds, it’s also (and much more commonly understood as) the word for bouquet.

    Somehow this decanted into turning Palm Sunday into “Bouquet Sunday” – the day when you visit your godparents and bring them a bouquet of flowers, and they, in return, give you a gift (traditionally a [folar](https://momentosdocesesalgados.com/folar-da-pascoa-tradicional/), but most commonly just money and maybe a pack of [Easter almonds](https://historiaschistoria.blogspot.com/2017/04/amendoas-da-pascoa.html)).

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