#desembre

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advent advent!!

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Couples from Agost, situated in the South of the Valencian Country, wearing the local traditional clothes and going to dance during the town’s festivities for les Danses del Rei Moro (“the Dances of the Moorish King”). The festivities last from December 26th to January 1st and fill the town with dances and firecrackers.

Photos from Agost

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Barcelona in December. Fira de Santa Llúcia (“Saint Lucy’s Fair” in Catalan) is the oldest Christmas market in the city, having filled the Cathedral square with artisanal stands since 1786.

(Photos by me)

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UNESCO intangible heritage in the Catalan Countries 5/9: Chant of the Sybil, Mallorca (Balearic Islands)

The chant of the Sybil (in Catalan: Cant de la Sibil·la) is performed at matins on the night of 24 December in churches throughout Majorca. The chant marks the annual Christmas Vigil, and is sung by a boy or girl accompanied by two or more altar boys or girls. During the chant they walk through the church towards the chancel, the singer carrying a sword in his or her hands, held upright in front of the face, while the altar boys or girls carry candles. At the end of the song a cross is drawn in the air with the sword.

The versions of the chant performed on the island vary little from their Gregorian roots: each is sung a cappella with music between the verses provided by an organ. The costume worn by the singers usually consists of a white or coloured tunic, sometimes embroidered around the neck and hem, and often worn with a cape. The head is covered with a cap of the same colour as the tunic. The rite involves all the church parishes on Majorca with old and young generations working side-by-side as singers, costume-makers, celebrants and other helpers, thus ensuring its transmission.                    

UNESCO

The Chant of the Sybil has been performed in Mallorca continuously in the Catalan language since at least the 13th century, and before it was done in Latin. In the Middle Ages, it was also done in Valencia, Catalonia, and L’Alguer. In her song, the Sybil, who is a Roman prophetess, explains that she sees the arrival of a Messiah. The Chant was prohibited by the Catholic Church in the 16th century, because it was considered a pagan ritual, but it persisted in Mallorca. Since the 19th century, other places of Valencia, Catalonia, and L’Alguer have started celebrating it again.

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Catalan festivities

Sant Esteve (Saint Stephen’s Day, December 26th), in the Catalan Countries is celebrated with a big meal with the side of the family that you didn’t meet with for Christmas. It is traditional to eat canneloni and/or stuffed chicken with prunes and pine nuts, and for dessert neules and torrons.

It’s traditional that the youngest child of the family stands on top of a chair and recites a short poem, and in some families if they’ve liked it they will give the child some coins.

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Catalan festivities

Nadal (Christmas) is one of the most important celebrations in the Catalan Countries, with a big family lunch where we eat galets soup, and for dessert neules (a special type of Catalan buscuits) and turrons (a type of nougats and chocolates eaten as well in other Southern European countries and parts of Latin America).

In Catalonia, Andorra and La Franja, the most characteristic moment of the Christmas festivities is when the children get their presents from the Tió, the Christmas Log. The Tió is a magic log with a face on it and who wears a barretina (traditional Catalan hat), who is covered with a blanket and fed by children during the month of December. On Christmas day, children hit him with wooden sticks while singing a song that asks him to bring them presents, and then they remove the blanket and find out that the log “pooped” presents for them.

On the previous days, many things have to be done. Like in other traditionally-Catholic countries like Italy, it’s typical to make a pessebre (a nativity scene made with little figurines), which for Catalans include a unique figurine: a man pooping, who represents the cicle of the earth. There are also theatre representations of the birth of Jesus, known as pessebres vivents (“living nativity scene”). In Catalonia, it’s very popular for groups of people in each town to represent a theatre play called Els Pastorets (“The Little Shepherds”), about two shepherds who travel to see the birth of Jesus and how they avoid to be tricked by the Devil.

Another important aspect of Christmas is the music. It’s not like the USA, since we don’t really have modern Christmas music, but we have many traditional Christmas carols that we sing around this days, and schools and asssociations go around towns singing them.

On Christmas Eve’s night, in churches around the Catalan Countries (most importantly in Mallorca) takes place one of the oldest uninterrupted Christian rites: the Song of the Sibyl. It’s a drama explained through Gregorian chant in the Catalan language where a Roman sibyl explains that she sees a Messiah is coming to the world.

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Catalan festivities

New Year’s Eve is celebrated in the Catalan Countries with a big dinner with friends, and a party that usually lasts all night long. Each person in the dinner is given a bag with a paper mask, a paper serpent, confetti, and other elements like funny cardboar hats.

In many areas of the Catalan Countries, it is typical that on New Year’s Eve day adults tell children that, only on this day, the Home dels Nassos (“Man of the Noses”) can be seen around town (in many small towns, the legend says that he devours the Holy Water). The Man of the Noses is a man who has as many noses as the year has days. Children go around looking for a man with 365 noses, but the joke is that there is only 1 day left of the year, so the Man could be anyone. In lots of towns and cities, a capgròs (a traditional figure of a very big head , hollow inside so that a person can wear it) with a very big nose walks around town greeting the children.

But the most important moment is the 12 bell rings that mark the countdown to 12 o’clock, the beginning of the New Year. Like in other countries, including Spain, the Philippines, and most of Latin America, with each bell ring we eat one grape.