14 replies to this topic

[cubanmiamiboy]

Much love, peace, health and "bonaventura" in this Christmas. May God bless you all, your family and your loved ones.
Here's a baroque Cuban Christmas Carol-(Christmas of 1791)-by composer Esteban Salas-(1725-1803)...just for you all.

Enjoy!

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Cristian!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! and a happy holiday to everyone who reads this board, double good wishes for those who post, and a huge thank you to the Moderators and Administrators who keep this board going.

[sandik]

As we say in my family, celebrate extensively!

[ascballerina]

Oui, Joyeux Noel!

I hope that your day is full of laughter, and many "perfect" moments.

[cubanmiamiboy]

As usual, I went to my mother's best friend's house for "Nochebuena"-(in Cuba we celebrate the night before with roast pork, rice an beans and everything in between, for which the old tradition dictated to go hear midnight mass after the late supper, with full belly.  ).  The mass is now usually skipped-(although believers usually go on Christmas day, like my mother and me)-but the get together on Christmas Eve is "de rigueur".  I'm still bloating! Merry Christmas!

[bart]

Wishing all of us much peace and joy this season and afterwards.

Esteban Salas is a new name, and a new listening experience, for me.  The brief Wikipedia article leaves me with more questions than answers as to the sources of his musical influences and the culture of the colonial society in which he composed.

Strangely beautiful music -- and very interesting to listen to.

http://en.wikipedia...._Salas_y_Castro

My sense of holiday tradition is a little free-floating nowadays.  Our Christmas Eve dinner was hosted by two friends, one of whom comes from a southern Italian family whose tradition it was to serve a variety of fish dishes.  So fish it was.   How people living in the mountains of southern Italy obtained fresh fish for this celebration a hundred years ago is something I don't quite comprehend.  Sometimes I think that old family traditions may not be all that old.  But the fish dishes were excellent.

[cubanmiamiboy]

bart, on 25 December 2012 - 09:53 AM, said:

Wishing all of us much peace and joy this season and afterwards.

Esteban Salas is a new name, and a new listening experience, for me.  The brief Wikipedia article leaves me with more questions than answers as to the sources of his musical influences and the culture of the colonial society in which he composed.

Strangely beautiful music -- and very interesting to listen to.

http://en.wikipedia...._Salas_y_Castro

My sense of holiday tradition is a little free-floating nowadays.  Our Christmas Eve dinner was hosted by two friends, one of whom comes from a southern Italian family whose tradition it was to serve a variety of fish dishes.  So fish it was.   How people living in the mountains of southern Italy obtained fresh fish for this celebration a hundred years ago is something I don't quite comprehend.  Sometimes I think that old family traditions may not be all that old.  But the fish dishes were excellent.

bart...aparently Salas composed more than what it is known today, but manuscripts were lost, but many of them have been rediscovered buried in old churches in Santiago de Cuba, and the music is being reissued.  Isn't it beautiful..?

Glad you got all that fish...it sounds yummy though..!  

[Birdsall]

I think fish is a very Italian (Catholic) Christmas meal. There is something I heard about 7 fishes. Sounds terrific! Fish is the only "meat" I really crave, but I am half Japanese. I could eat fish everyday and die 40 years from now without ever consuming another bite of beef, chicken, or pork if I didn't have to.....so I consider you VERY, VERY lucky to have fish for Christmas!

[Helene]

I grew up in a town that was primarily Italian Catholic -- Sicilian, specifically -- and fish for New Year's Eve was common among the families I knew.  My friend from Peru told me that they'd go to midnight mass, have a big meal, and then walk on the beach.  To be in a warm part of the Southern hemisphere...

[macnellie]

"Salas"-- what a lovely Christmas gift!  Thank you Cristian!

[cubanmiamiboy]

Oh bart and Macnellie...I'm very glad you guys liked my link on Salas' music.  He was mainly a religious music composer, particularly cantatas, aside from being a  philosophy and theological studies professor, eventually becoming a priest in his later years.  His works were always preceded by the words "Soli Deo Gloria".

[sandik]

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we ate fish all the time, so it wasn't a holiday meal per se.  Our family used to visit cousins on Christmas Eve, but for some reason we never ate dinner with them.  By the time we got home, my mother didn't want to cook, but there were very few restaurants open.  For several years we ate fast food hamburgers, but then started going to the neighborhood Chinese restaurant -- when I first saw the film made from Jean Shepherd's "Christmas Story," the final scene of the family eating Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant (where they described Peking Duck as Chinese Turkey) I laughed until I started to hiccup.

[Birdsall]

sandik, on 26 December 2012 - 10:17 AM, said:

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we ate fish all the time, so it wasn't a holiday meal per se.  Our family used to visit cousins on Christmas Eve, but for some reason we never ate dinner with them.  By the time we got home, my mother didn't want to cook, but there were very few restaurants open.  For several years we ate fast food hamburgers, but then started going to the neighborhood Chinese restaurant -- when I first saw the film made from Jean Shepherd's "Christmas Story," the final scene of the family eating Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant (where they described Peking Duck as Chinese Turkey) I laughed until I started to hiccup.

I love that *Christmas Story* movie. Favorite holiday movie of all time!

[sandik]

Birdsall, on 26 December 2012 - 11:26 AM, said:

I love that *Christmas Story* movie. Favorite holiday movie of all time!

We watch it every year, and quote from it often.  "Fra-'gi-le!"

[Birdsall]

sandik, on 26 December 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

Birdsall, on 26 December 2012 - 11:26 AM, said:

I love that *Christmas Story* movie. Favorite holiday movie of all time!

We watch it every year, and quote from it often.  "Fra-'gi-le!"

I have always thought it had to be the inspiration for that Wonder Years tv show. Do you know if it is? Both have a narrator who is supposed to be the main character, and they both deal with worst case scenario incidents.