“卖火柴的小女孩”是在平安夜还是新年前夕冻死的？ 第1页

我不懂丹麦语，也不了解西方文化，一点考据，仅供参考。

查了几个不同的英文译本，《卖火柴的小女孩》正文中提到的Christmas说的都是“圣诞树”、“上次圣诞节时”、“圣诞节的烛光”，如前面

所说，圣诞节一般会庆祝12天，就算是新年前夜，圣诞树一般也是点亮的，所以不足以说明具体时间。真正说到时间的是开头一段和最后一段：

译本1：

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. Evening came on, the last evening of the year—New Year's Eve.
...
But in the corner, leaning against the wall, sat the little girl with red cheeks and smiling mouth, frozen to death on the last evening of the old year.
...

译本2：

Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening-- the last evening of the year.
...
But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozen to death on the last evening of the old year.
...

译本3：

It was dreadfully cold, it was snowing fast, and almost dark; the evening----the last evening of the old year was drawing in.
...
But in the cold morning hour, crouching in the corner of the wall, the poor little girl was found：her cheeks glowing, her lips smiling， frozen to death on the last night of the old Year.
...

the last evening of the old year不用翻译了，New Year's Eve的意思也毫无疑问是新年前夜。

再机翻丹麦语原文也是如此：

det var også den sidste aften i året，这也是今年的最后一夜。sidste aften i det gamle år，旧年的最后一个晚上。

正文中没提到是平安夜。那平安夜的说法是从哪来的呢？

是从插图上来的。比如这张插图：

说明文字为On Christmas eve, the little poor girl, who lost her mother and tried to raise her sick father, went to sell the matches in the cold, heavy snow weather.

但是在同一个版本的插图里，倒数第二张插图则是：

说明文字为：The little girl has been frozen to death on the last evening of the old year, of which one bundle was almost burned.

其实后面一张插图有一个错误，原文中写小女孩是光着头的，所以头上不应该有头饰。在第一张插图中Christmas eve的字样，可能也是一个错误。就算不是错误，正文和配图冲突，当然要以正文为准，也就是小女孩冻死在了新年前夜。

当然还有一种例外情况，就是在19世纪的丹麦，圣诞节是否可以视作新年的开端？如果答案是肯定的话，那么New Year's Eve同时也是Christmas eve，配图写作Christmas eve就没错，小女孩死在了平安夜同时也是新年前夜。这方面我没查到太多资料。在丹麦，圣诞光临日同时又是教会新年，但是日期是在11月27日至12月3日之间，即圣诞节倒数第4个礼拜日，跟平安夜和新年前夜并无什么关系。

顺便说一下，题主是2014年圣诞节提的问题，上面说“卖火柴的小女孩死于168年前”。类似的段子今年（2015年）也不少，说今天是卖火柴的小女孩被冻死169周年。暂且不论小女孩到底是平安夜、圣诞节、新年前夜还是元旦冻死的，只说小女孩的忌日，今年也应该是170周年才对，因为这则故事是安徒生1845年写的。有些版本的故事在前言就注明了：

In the winter of 1845, a poor little girl tried to sell matches in the streets for her family. It was a cold, cold evening. It was snowing and people in horse carriages and in the streets did not notice the little girl... - Not until the next morning, when she was lying quiet in the snow...

安徒生是一位伟大的作家。无论如何，在消费圣诞和新年的欢愉时，请提醒自己，尽管这个世界已经如此发达，仍有无数人衣不蔽体、食不果腹、无钱治病只能等死，为糊口而奔波、为生存而挣扎，一生一世都活在苦难当中。朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。终有一日，所有人都必须得到解放。趁此佳节不妨再品味品味《卖火柴的小女孩》原文如何：