Cultural Fossil?

 

When I was young, there was a sort of Babel family joke between Pop and his siblings (and older cousins, nephews, and nieces). It was not much of a joke. In fact, it was just a sort of a silly name; simply to say the name was to assume that the joke was made. Was it supposed to be pretentious? Was it just odd? What I do know was that all someone had to do was screw their face up and pronounce ‘BUX-ta-HOO-da’ in a certain sonorous tone and they would evoke a gale of giggles.

          It was only many years later that I learned that Dieterich Buxtahude (1637 -1707) “was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal and instrumental idioms, Buxtehude's style greatly influenced other composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Buxtehude is considered one of the most important composers of the 17th century.” - Wikipedia.

Our ancestor, Amandus Babel, a Silesian-German immigrant (regarded as Prussian because of the regime in charge at the time) who first came to Texas in 1852, was a professor of music and well-versed in most of the classical composers. I like to think that this little jest was a sort of petrified joke passed down through the family long after its meaning and origin had faded from memory, perhaps even preserving the tones and grimaces of old Amandus or the affectionate mockery of his children.