If there’s one music that will be playing in all Spanish households this Christmas it’s ‘villancicos’. Discover all about some of Spain’s most-loved Christmas carols and how they came to be.
When you think of Christmas – what comes to mind? Most likely twinkly lights, trees adorned with ornaments, lots of good food, family gatherings, and probably Christmas carols.
Whether you go to church at Christmas or not, Christmas songs are an essential part of the festive period, emanating from shops, bars and cafes all over, and in Spain it’s no different.
READ ALSO: The essential A to Z of Spanish Christmas vocabulary
In Spain, carols are known as villancicos. They are similar in their religious messages, but tend to have more upbeat melodies and are faster paced then the typical carols that might be sung at church in countries like the UK, for example.
They usually have a child-like quality to them and often sung by children too.
The word villancico actually comes from the word ‘villa’ and the Latin ‘villanus’ – meaning inhabitant of a village.
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According to National Geographic Spain, originally, they were not Christmas songs, they were essentially folk songs, sung by rural communities, about all aspects of life.
They began to gain popularity in Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.
In The Great Book of Villancicos, a book which follows the five-hundred-year history of the villancico, philologist Silvia Iriso explains that “practically anything could fill a refrain: the news of the capture of Granada, longing for one’s homeland…”. Love was one of the most popular themes throughout the 16th century.
READ ALSO – ‘It’s about family and not shopping’: Why you love Christmas in Spain
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Later, Spain’s Catholic Church saw the villancico as a great way to spread its message and decided to compose some about Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary and the story of Christmas. Instead of just making up new songs though, they often took the tunes from well-known villancicos and replaced the lyrics with religious ones.
They became an important part of religious festivities and were of course typically popular at Christmas. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, these carols evolved to include choirs and even theatrical performances, changing the way people thought of them.
By the end of the 18th century, they became fused with other musical genres, such as tonadillas – like short jingles, and zarzuela – Spanish comedic operetta.
Today, they are almost exclusively sung at Christmas.
Spain has many of its own villancicos, which you won’t hear in other countries. Some of the most popular today are ‘Campana sobre campana’ (Bells upon bells), ‘Ande, ande, ande’ (Go, go, go or carry on), ‘Los peces en el rio’ (The fish in the river) and ‘Arre borriquito’ (Giddy-up, little donkey).
As you can see they’re typical themes to popular English carols like Little Donkey. Many villancicos, however, are taken from the English or other foreign versions of the songs and use the same tune, but translate the words or make up new ones.
For example, ‘El pequeño tamborilero’ is The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Adestes Fideles’ is Oh Come All Ye Faithful and ‘Cascabel’ is Jingle bells.
There are of course Spanish Christmas songs that have become famous internationally too like Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) by Puerto Rican musician José Feliciano, but these aren’t necessarily from Spain nor technically villancicos.
Many carols have even crossed over into multiple languages. For example in 1818, because of a broken church organ, an Austrian priest had to compose a song that could be performed without one. So, for Midnight Mass he composed Silent Night, which has now been translated into 330 languages.
In Spanish it’s known as Noche de Paz.
There are of course many regional villancicos in Spain too, sung in Spain’s different official languages.
The Catalans sing Santa Nit (Santa Night) and Rabadá, in Galicia they have Bo Nadal (Happy Christmas) and Alá Polá Noite (Good Night) and the Basque Country they sing Gabonak Gabon (Christmas, Christmas) and Autxo Porito (Hello Porito).
Which are your favourite Christmas carols from your country? Let us know in the comments.
