Saturday, December 10, 7:30 pm Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill

 

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This December, Voices presents "A New World Christmas" providing melodies from the region of the world spanning the Caribbean to the Andes Mountains. When we began rehearsals in September, something was different in comparison to the initial stages of music preparation that I had experienced during other semesters.  There was an additional challenging facet to mastering this music this time. This distinction did not just include learning to sing in another language-though endeavoring to master singing in Spanish is no small task. It was something else that I found it hard to define. After spending some time mulling it over, I realized that it was not just the music, but what the music represents that I was finding affected my understanding and rehearsing of it.

 

As singers of these particular pieces, our performances are not only shaped by our parts and those of the accompanying instrumentation (although this concert will provide quite a south-of-the-equator atmosphere with the inclusion of steel drums, harpsichord, guitar, and a myriad of other percussion instruments), but by the culture of the areas of the world that this music either originated from or was inspired by. With this in mind, I thought that it was important to know about how people who live in the Latin American region celebrate Christmas.

 

One overarching tradition which is shared by several regions of Latin America is called Las Posadas or Novena de Navidad. This custom takes place between December 16th and 24th, nine days which are meant to represent Mary's pregnancy and the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

 

The purpose of these days of celebration is to prepare for Buena Noche or Christmas Eve. This practice has been taking place since 1586, where it was instated by Friar Diego de Soria in order to teach the indigenous people of Mexico and Guatemala about Christianity (1). The theme of this Latin American tradition is not unlike that of the Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which is popular in the United States. This song originated in 16th century England and was written by British Catholics to teach their children in secret using symbolism about the importance of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection in a time when people of the Catholic faith were heavily persecuted (2). Therefore, two traditions, one carried out in the Latin American region and one in the United States, share their roots in religious education.

 

While the celebration of Las Posadas is widespread in the Latin American region, different places celebrate it differently. In Guatemala, for nine days before Christmas, people process through the streets, knocking at neighbors houses in order to represent Mary and Joseph's search for lodging. Similar to the processionals in Guatemala, Puerto Ricans also take part in neighborhood processions; but an additional tradition in Puerto Rico includes singing the Mass of Carols, taking place at 5:30am every morning for the nine days before Christmas. People in Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru all take part in a variation of the processional tradition described above, with slight variations in each country, but maintaining the same themes-communal singing and the visitation of houses to symbolize Mary and Joseph's travels to Bethlehem (1). These traditions are much like caroling in the United States; although the act of caroling does not frequently have religious connotation for Americans.

 

It is clear from my research inspired by my experiences during rehearsal this semester that the common theme joining our Christmas traditions in the United States and those of the Latin American region is the power of the voice in celebration. So please join the singers of Voices this December to celebrate our uniting of two cultures in Christmas tradition and lend your voice to Voices.

 

1. Montan᷉o, N. Patricia."Latin America: Christmas, tradition, and culture." The Interpreter. November-December 2006.
2. Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Best-loved Songs of Christmas. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2010.