Cruz De Mayo As Celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago.


Uploaded by alexcaracas69


CRUZ DE MAYO
By Lilia Vera
[For the chords for this song, see El Cuatro Venezolano.]

Vengo a cantarle a la Cruz de Mayo, desde los campos del otro lao'
Donde mi negro me da cerezas, y donde crece lindo el cacao.
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola
Yo vengo a cantarte ahora, yo vengo a cantarte ahora,
Con la voz que Dios me puso.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Con permiso a los presentes, con permiso a los presentes,
Y en especial las señoras.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Yo te pido Cruz bendita, yo te pido Cruz bendita,
Oye mi canto, mi ruego.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Yo te pido Cruz bendita, yo te pido Cruz bendita,
Que nos libres de la guerra.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Y que le digas a Dios, y que le digas a Dios,
Que le de paz a la Tierra.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Oye mi canto, mi ruego.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Que la lluvia bañe el campo, que la lluvia bañe el campo,
Y de sus frutos la Tierra.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Oye mi canto, mi ruego.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Llena de flores mis campos, llena de flores mis campos,
Para adornar tus floreros.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Yo vengo a cantarte ahora, yo vengo a cantarte ahora,
Con la voz que Dios me puso.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo, Olero lei leilola]
Con permiso a los presentes, con permiso a los presentes,
Y en especial las señoras.
[Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola, Santísima Cruz de Mayo,
Olero lei leilola.]


CRUZ DE MAYO
The Fiesta de las Cruces ("Festival of the Crosses") or Cruz de Mayo ("May Cross") is a holiday celebrated 3 May in many parts of Spain and Hispanic America. [See Wikipedia entry]


May Cross 2009 / el Velorio de la Cruz de Mayo 2009
/ la Vigile de la Croix 2009 / vye kwa 2009



Uploaded by ricardusfilipus

According to Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh, in her 1983 article "Survival of Hispanic Religious Songs in Trinidad and Tobago." in Caribbean Quarterly 29 (1) : 1-31, in Trinidad, Spanish-speaking Trinidadians celebrated velorios or vigils several times a year on the eve of the most important religious feast days of their calendar and one of the most prominent velorios was that held on the third of May [Velorio de Cruz].

Quoting from Moodie-Kublalsingh's article:
--p. 19
"The altar, set up in a private house, was adorned with fruits, candles, flowers and sacred objects. Juanita Rodriguez, one of our informants, described the preparations for the velorio in this way:

"Yo, como ama de la crúz, tenía que preparado todo. Tenía gente pa coltal bambú, pa rajá ese bambu, pa raja ese bambú y limpiallo bien. Este es el principio del altal. Usté tiene que tenel papel de colol, tiene que tenel flore y cuadro de santos y siete escalone, cada uno máh chiquito. Esa cruz ehtá ayí vestidita de oro como una reina. En el altal tiene usté velas, rosas, flores silvestres, fruta y un platiyito con el agua bendita y una escobiya dentro. Pa empezal el velorio usté se pone a rezal el rosario, despué se toma café y se canta décima. A media noche se reza el rosario otra vuelta, se bebe café y se toma guarapo. Si se quiere comel, se come pastel arroz con frijol y otra comida buena. Se canta pol toa la noche hasta las seis de la mañana, la ama de la Cruz tiene que dil bajando la Cruz de escalón pol escalón. Ahora ya no se canta décima, se canta la malagueña, que es una música alegre. Se sale de la casa y todo el mundo va en derredol de la casa canatando y bailando. Despúes se escoge la madrina y el padrino pa el otro año, Si la ama de la Cruz está enfelma y no puede asistil, se pasa a la madrina."

(The text is not a phonetic transcription of the informant's words, but an attempt to convey the general impression of the sounds of the dialect.)

[Translation: I, as ama de la crúz, had to prepare everything. There were people to cut bamboo, to split this bamboo and clean it well. This is the start of the altar. You have to have coloured paper, have to have flowers and pictures of saints and seven steps, each one smaller. This cross is dressed in gold like a queen. On the altar you have candles, roses, wildflowers, fruit and a little saucer with holy water and a broom inside. To begin the velorio you start to recite the rosary, then coffee is drunk and the decima is sung. At midnight they pray the rosary another time, coffee and guarapo are taken. If you want to eat, you can eat pastel, rice and beans and other good food. Singing goes on throughout the night until seven o' clock in the morning, the ama de la crúz takes down the cross from the altar step by step. The décima is no longer sung, the malaguena, a cheerful music, is sung. The house is exited and everyone goes around the house singing and dancing. After the godmother and godfather are chosen for the other year. If the ama de la crúz is ill and cannot assist, it passes to the godmother.]
"Some families celebrated the velorio for generations as a manifestation of their devotion to a special saint who protected them from harm. Other individuals made a promise to host a velorio for a certain number of years in return for favours granted by a

--p. 20
saint. An element of superstition was present in the religious exercise for most 'payols' considered that unfulfilment of the promise brought ill luck to the individual and his family.

The velorio can be divided into four major activities:
(i) prayers
(ii) singing
(iii) eating and drinking
(iv) dancing

Devotees usually recited the rosary, litanies and various other prayers in Spanish. The music of the velorio was the octosyllablic décima but other aguinaldos and religious songs were also sung. The melody was the galerón which is known by very few people today. Characteristic of the galerón is the 2 x 4 independent melody which accompanies the soloist. It uses a combination binary and ternary beats and successive tonic-subdominant-dominant keys. The soloist chants the décima, the text of which is always religious and mystical. Few décimas are available at present and these are very fragmented. In some cases these décimas are a combination of octosyllabic quartets in which two lines are repeated.

At least two pauses were made for drinking coffee and eating foods such as rice and peas and pastel. At six o' clock in the morning the Cross was lowered from the altar, the malagueña, a lively tune, was now played instead of the mournful décima. Everyone danced around the house and the madrina and padrina of the velorio were chosen for the following year. This was usually done to ensure that there was someone responsible each year for arranging the velorio. The Cross was kept by the 'ama de la Cruz', ususally a woman who made sure that the Cross or other important images were safe from harm and who was also the chief organizer of the velorio.

Licencia pido, señores,
para principiar a cantal
y para así yo saludal
y para así yo saludal
a la Santa Cruz de Mayo
¡Qué bonito está el altal¡
Más bonito está el que lo hizo,
más bonita está la santa
sentida en su paraíso,
sentada en su paraíso.

(Give me leave, ladies and gentlemen,
to begin my song
and to bow
to the holy Cross of May.
What a beautiful altar!
More beautiful though is the person who made it.
The saint is even more beautiful,
seated in his paradise.)

Al pie de su helmoso altal
el nuestro Dios en persona
encontró a una paloma
y no le hizo ningún mal.
A los hombres castigó
pol vendel el camposanto
Como el lugal era sacro.

--p. 21
el ave mandó a quital
Pintó por la humildad
y el Espíritu Santo.

(Our God found a dove
at the foot of your beautiful altar
[and did him no harm].
He punished the men for selling
the burial ground.
since it was a sacred place
he had the bird removed,
He painted with humility
and by the Holy Spirit.)

De la arca de Noé
la paloma se escapó
Saltó y volando se fué
A los siete dias volvió
La otra, como eran dos
se quejaba el velse sola
entre las humildes aves
de las tierras y las mares:
no hay como la paloma.

(The dove escaped from Noah's ark.
it jumped out and went flying away.
After seven days it returned.
The other one, there were two of them,
became plaintive on seeing that
it was alone.
Of all the birds over land and sea,
the dove, the humblest of all.)

La humildad ha amado tanto
el Rey de la eterna gloria;
formó el Espiritu Santo
en forma de una paloma;
entre florecitas y hojas,
siempre buscando consuelo.
va volando por el campo
por el sustento de la vida
tan humilde y alecida,
aunque tan triste su canto.

(The King of eternal glory has
loved humility so much,
he gave the Holy Spirit
the form of a dove;
seeking solace among flowers and leaved,
it flies through the countryside
and sings a sad song.)

En la mesa hay cuatro rosas
y con la gracia divina
el padrino y la madrina
el esposo y la esposa.
Qué cosa tan misteriosa
y punto tan asentao;
cuatro son, pongan cuidao
y dos que vengan ahora:
Maria nuestra Señora
y Jesus Sacramentao.

(On the table there are four roses
and with divine grace,
the Godfather and the godmother,
the husband and the wife.
What a mystery!
There are four of them
and two more are coming:
Our Mother Mary
and the Sacrament of Jesus.)

Y al Viernes Santo a mediodía
todo se quedó en silencio
adorando al Sacramento
Cuando le vieron boquiar
las campanas s han parado

--p. 22
y el pueblo en gran tristeza
dice la madre Pureza:
se ha muerto mi Hijo querido.

[And on Good Friday at midday
everybody silently
adored the Holy Sacrament.
When they saw him breathe his last,
the bells stopped ringing
and the people were full of sorrow.
Mother Purity said:
My beloved Son is dead.)

(Décimas sung by Regino Noriega)

The following is a complete décima with its gloss. The theme, taken from the afore-mentioned story of Christ by Perez Escrich, is about Samuel, the owner of one of the inns where the Holy Family were denied entry. This décima was composed by Ciprián Ruiz of Lopinot.

¿A quién le contaré yo
lo que a mí me está pasando?
Se lo contaré a la tierra
cuando me la esté echando.

(To whom will I tell this story
about what happened to me?
I will tell this story to the earth
When it ejects me.)

Cuando Samiel tomó el báculo
y marchó sin dilación
para su eterna mansión
sin ponel ningun obstáculo
y sin detenelse un rato,
siempre su marcha siguió
Y porque detrás oyó
una voz que le llamaba
solo entre sí murmuraba
¿A quién le contaré yo?
La voz que se oyó
que le decía: "Andá, andá",
era que la trastornaba
Después de allí salió
Cuando a su casa llegó
un niño le estuvo hablando
y esté le dijo llorando
"Andá, andá, Belibel"
Dijo él "¿Quien podia sabel
lo que a mí me está pasando?"

(When Samiel took the rod and went to his eternal mansion,
with no obstacle in his way
and without making a stop,
he continued on his way.
And when he heard a voice calling him,
he muttered; whom will I tell my story to?
The voice he heard saying, "Go away, go away"
disturbed him.
When he got home a child spoke and said in tears
Go away, go away, Belibel.
He said: Who knows what is happening to me?)

Este niño no contaba
doce meses de nacido
y era su querido hijo
que de ese modo la hablaba.
Samiel no contestó nada
Siguió luego a una pradera
diciendo de esa manera:
¿Quién te pudiera contar?
Cuando yo deje de andar
se lo contaré a la tierra

(The child was not even twelve months old
the child was his beloved son
Samiel did not answer, he went out to a meadow and said
Who could tell you?
When I stop walking I will tell it to the earth.)

--p. 23
Después de allí salió Samiel
y pasó para un cemiterio,
y los mueltos le dijeron
"Andá, andá, Belibel"
El se quiso detenel
Siguieron los mueltos hablando
De allí se fue triste y pensando:
Con esta destinación
del cielo la bendición
cuando me la estén echando.

(Afterwards Samiel
went to a cemetery, and
the dead told him; Go away, go away, Belibel
He wanted to stop,
the dead bodies kept on talking to him
He left there in sadness and thought
with this destiny and the blessing of heaven,
when the earth ejects me.)

(Décima recited by Ciprian Ruiz)

SOURCE: Moodie, Sylvia (1983) "Survival of Hispanic Religious Songs in Trinidad and Tobago" in Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 29 (1), pp. 1-31

Clarita Rivas and others at Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2011,
Lopinot, Trinidad
.


Uploaded by nunesie2

Paul Hernandez and others at Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2011,
Lopinot, Trinidad
.


Uploaded by nunesie2
This video features Paul Hernandez singing Rio Manzanares in Lopinot, Trinidad during the festivities for Cruz de Mayo. Next to him playing the cuatro is Clarita Rivas, Trinidad's first ever Parang Queen.

Levante, levante!! Raise up, raise up, raise up!!!!!

I love Paul Hernandez's rendition of the song Río Manzanares. It is said that this song originated in Cumana in the state of Sucre in Venezeula, and was brought to Trinidad by our Spanish ancestors. It remains one of the most appreciated and most frequently performed Hispanic songs in Trinidad and Tobago. El Cuatro Venezolano provides an account of how the song got its name:
"El Río Manzanares, en Venezuela, tiene origen en la Serranía del Turimiquire, a 2.200 metros sobre el nivel del mar, y después de recorrer 80 km y de irrigar una cuenca de casi 1.000 km², desemboca en el Golfo de Cariaco.
El origen del nombre lo tiene en que los conquistadores españoles decidieron darle el nombre del río que atraviesa Madrid, la capital de España.
Pasa por las ciudades de Cumaná y Cumanacoa , que impactan negativamente en la calidad y cantidad del agua, debido a la presencia de industrias, núcleos urbanos legales e ilegales, zonas agrícolas y zonas de extracción de arena, haciendo peligrar tanto la flora como la fauna."
Source: El Cuatro Venezolano
Manzanares River in Venezuela has its source in the Serrania of Turimiquire, at 2,200 meters above sea level. It flows after 80 km into the Gulf of Cariaco. The river irrigates a basin of almost 1,000 sq km.

The name was given to this river by Spanish conquerors who name the river in Cumana after the Rio Manzanares that runs through Madrid, in their homeland of Spain.

The Manzanares river runs through the cities of Cumana and Cumanacoa and this has impacted negatively on the quality and quantity of water due to the presence of industries, urban centres, both legal and illegal, agricultural areas and areas of sand mining, jeopardizing both the flora and fauna.

Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2011, Lopinot, Trinidad.


Uploaded by nunesie2

Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2011, Lopinot, Trinidad


Uploaded by nunesie2


Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2009, Lopinot, Trinidad - Part 1


Uploaded by ricardusfilipus

Cruz de Mayo/May Cross, 2009, Lopinot, Trinidad - Part 2


Uploaded by ricardusfilipus



Excellent, excellent work by Maria Nunes and ricardusfilipus! Muchas gracias por amar la cultura! Thanks to Max Forte for directing me to these videos.
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

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