Search for carols
appropriate to Saint Lucy (whose martyrdom is commemorated today), and
basically all the Interwebz can hawk up is “Santa Lucia”. Which I gave you last
year, along with a treatise on pre-Christian
Scandinavian mythology. And look, there’s nothing wrong with reprising it,
but I wanted to see what else is out there.
After all, what those Nordic
folk are clinging to is that hope of light returning—very important when you’re
spending 24 hours a day in frozen darkness for a few months. In the case of
Saint Lucy, whose name means light, the
focus is on candles—which, as you know, I am all in favor of. Especially in
winter.
So I started playing
with “light”, and came across the old (well, -ish) gospel song, “This Little
Light of Mine”. It’s not specifically a Christmas or Advent piece, but takes
its theme from Jesus telling his followers (in Matthew 5:14-16, if you’re
asking) “Ye are the light of the world. …Let your light shine before men, that
they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Basically: shut the hell
up and live a life of love and decency that others will want to follow—not envy, follow. So it’s appropriate that “This
Little Light” became one of the anthems of the Civil Rights movement, which we
still need after all these decades.
There are plenty of
versions of the song, and I was going to go with one by Etta James, but
then I found this one from Odetta, which she prefaces with Marianne Williamson’s
“Our Deepest Fear”. This unexpected discovery like to knocked me out; I know
the poem, but I’d forgot all about it. Hearing Odetta say, “We are all meant to
shine” just cut through me with surgical precision. And then she started
singing.
Not Christmas, not
Advent, but absolutely right for today, and absolutely the right version for me
to listen to.
Possibly the right one
for you, too?
No comments:
Post a Comment