A Medieval Spanish Christmas: Nativity through Epiphany

The Nativity

On Christmas Eve in medieval Spanish churches a priest would dress up as a crazy old woman, a Greek sybil, who would prophesy the coming of Christ, sometimes singing a version of the Iudcii Signum translated into Latin in the 5th century AD by Augustine:

Iudicii Signum (330K; italics indicate text found in sound file)

Iudicii Signum
tellus sudore madescit

E celo rex adveniet
Per secla futurus,
scilicet in carne presens
ut iudicet orbem.

Iudicii Signum . . .

Et coram hic domino
reges sistentur ad unum;
decidet e celo
ignis et sulfuris amnis.

Iudicii Signum
tellus sudore madescit

 The sign of the Judgment:
The earth shall grow wet with dew.

From heaven a King will come
who will reign through the ages,
as if present in the flesh
he will judge the whole world.

The sign of Judgment . . .

And before this Lord
All the kings will stand
and a river of fire and sulphur
will fall from heaven.

The sign of the Judgment:
The earth shall grow wet with dew.

The Magi visit King Herod

After hearing the Sybil's prophecy, no wonder the earthly king Herod was concerned about the coming of this new heavenly king. In the Old Spanish "Auto de los Reyes Magos," Herod's Jewish advisors try to find the proof of the coming of the heavenly king in their texts. No doubt the Christian writer of the "Auto" had an Old Testament passage such as Isaiah 9:6 in mind. You can read and hear this text (250K), set to a traditional Jewish cantillation.

Kee yeled yoolad lanoo
bayn nitan lanoo
vat'hi hamisrah alshichmo
va y'kra sh'mo peleh
yoetz el gibor avi ad
sarshalom		 For unto us a child is born
Unto us a son is given:
And the government shall be upon his shoulder;
And his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, the Might God, the Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.

The Adoration of the Magi

January 6, Epiphany is traditionally the day on which the Magi arrived bearing gifts for the Christ child. Still today in Hispanic countries throughout the world, January 6, not December 25, is the day on which children receive their Christmas gifts, in commemoration of the Magi's visit.