Villancicos

Instead of having classes on Monday, our teachers planned a cultural day about the celebration of Christmas in Costa Rica. They began with an explanation of las posadas, a procession to different houses within a community over a period of multiple days--or weeks, as I understand it. The procession is intended to commemorate Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay in Bethlehem immediately before the birth of Jesus. A traditional song is song during this procession and at the last house, where Mary and Joseph are welcomed, there is a fiesta.

My favorite part of the cultural day was learning Christmas carols or villancicos. Although many of the songs were familiar to me (adapted from our English versions), some of them were completely new, and among these were some mighty strange lyrics. I guess that we have some strange carols in English too, for example: "I Saw Three Ships." How can ships arrive in the landlocked town of Bethlehem? Well, actually, the three ships apparently refers to the belief that three kings visited Jesus, and over time, the Holy Family was substituted for these three kings. In addition, the remains of what was believed to be the wise men were brought to Koln, Germany in the 12th Century...but I digress. The point is that some of the villancicos have lyrics too interesting and too humorous not to share with you. So, here are some of the lyrics and brief explanations.

Hacia Belén va una Burra

Hacia Belén va una burra,
rin, rin, yo me remendaba, -yo me remendé,
yo me eché un remiendo, -yo me lo quité.
María, María -ven acá corriendo que el chocolatillo -se lo están comiendo.

En el portal de Belén gitanillos han entrado
y al niño que está en la cuna los pañales le han robado;
rin, rin, yo me remendaba –yo me remendé,
yo me eché un remiendo, -yo me lo quité.
María, María – ven acá volandoque los pañalitos –los están llevando.


I really can't make much sense of this carol--and I don't think that it's just because it's in Spanish. The donkey is going to Bethlehem and the singer is mending something (I think that those are just filler words to move the song along). He or she urges Mary to come quickly because the chocolates are being eaten. Then some individuals come along and rob her child's diaper--or shall we say swaddling cloths? There is probably some significance to the fact that chocolates are being eaten and the child's diaper is being stolen, but I don't feel up to the task of deriving meaning from this one, right now. (All my literature profs would be extremely disappointed.) In addition to being confusing, this song is quite difficult to sing--all those syllables and uniones. Nevertheless, native speakers probably find it extremely humorous to listen to those of us learning Spanish attempt to sing the "rin rins." I'm glad they'll get a good laugh.


Los Peces en el Río

Pero mira cómo beben los peces en el río
Pero mira cómo beben por ver al Dios nacido
Beben y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el río por ver a Dios nacer.

La Virgen está lavando
y tendiendo en el romero
los pajaritos cantando
y el romero floreciendo.

La Virgen se está peinando
entre cortina y cortina
los cabellos son de oro
y el peine de plata fina.

This song is about (at least literally speaking) fish in the river that are drinking and watching God be born. The birds are singing, and Mary is tending her rosemary and combing her hair of gold with a silver comb. Hmm...first of all, where exactly is this river, and how are the fish watching Jesus be born? And why does Mary, an Isrealite have hair of gold, and where did she get the money to buy a comb of silver? Oh, yes, from the gifts of the Wise Men. Ok, obviously this song is not meant to be taken on a simple, literal level, or maybe it's just supposed to create nice word pictures and sound cool. I'm just saying that it's not exactly Biblical and is certainly a little odd.


Fum, Fum, Fum

Veinticinco de Diciembre,fum, fum, fum.
Veinticinco de Diciembre,fum, fum, fum.
Como un sol nació Jesús,radiando luz, radiando luz.
De María era hijo; un establo fue su cuna, fum, fum, fum.


This song is actually pretty fun to sing, and it's very simple: Twenty-fifth of December, Jesus was born like the sun, Jesus, radiant light, the son of Mary, a stable was his cradle. The theology isn't all bad: Jesus is the light of the world, but he didn't come into existence exactly like the sun. The sun was created and Jesus is eternally existant as God despite being fully human. I think that it's pretty safe to say that Jesus wasn't actually born on the twenty-fifth of December, even though that is the day that we celebrate his birth. Also, it's far more significant, in my opinion, that he is the Son of God than that he is the son of Mary. All this aside, it's still a fun song to sing.