Sunday, December 12, 2010

Happy Gaudete Sunday!

Father Hollywood posted about the Gaudete carol here. I was thinking about posting this carol on my blog on the correct Sunday, but he beat me to it. I was going through my files from teaching and I came across the lyrics to this song which made me think to post it here. I listened to a lot of versions on You Tube. I really wanted one that either had the lyrics printed or a nice photo of Mary, but I also wanted one that had a decent pronunciation of the Latin. I finally chose this one. Unfortunately there are not lyrics or a photo of Mary.

Before I came to Zion Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, I had never heard (or more likely paid attention) of the Latin names of the Sundays. Towards the end of the time I was there teaching, they revived the tradition to have the children sing in church on Christmas Eve. It was difficult after many years of not doing that to get very many children to attend as many went to see grandparents and other family. It was also difficult because the teachers wanted to go home to their families for Christmas so not all the staff attended either. My family was in Fort Wayne so I attended, but one year we went to see Ram's parents and I couldn't attend. This Gaudete carol was one that the school children sang with the adult choir. I can still hear the drum and the singing in my memories. The organist/choir director played a CD with a recording for the school children so they would know how to pronounce the words. We listened to that recording every day at school during the month of December. So there you have my memories. I wonder if the school children still sing the Gaudete carol on Christmas Eve at Zion?

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