Archive for December, 2011
Very Popular Spanish Christmas Carol!
Here’s a montage that someone on youtube put together of a very typical Spansih Christmas carol… Lyrics and notes below…
About the Carol: For a long time I thought this Christmas carol, or villancico as they are called in Spanish, was, well, a little hortera – tacky. But then I started to like it, and now it’s just a great part of Spanish Christmas! Here below are the lyrics (with key vocab translations in brackets) if you are interested. One key word is of course ‘Belén’ – which as well as being a common girls name, also means Bethlehem (as in this carol), or Nativity Scene.
The Lyrics: Campanas Sobre Campanas
Campana sobre campana, [campana = Bell]
y sobre campana una,
asómate a la ventana, [asomarse = look out/lean out... of the window]
verás al Niño en la cuna. [cuna = babies cot/crib]
Belén, campanas de Belén,
que los ángeles tocan
¿qué nueva me traéis?
Recogido tu rebaño [rebaño = flock]
¿a dónde vas pastorcillo? [pastorcillo = little shephard]
Voy a llevar al portal
requesón, manteca y vino. [requesón = cottage cheese/curd, manteca = lard/butter]
Belén, campanas de Belén,
que los ángeles tocan
¿qué nueva me traéis?
Campana sobre campana,
y sobre campana dos,
asómate a esa ventana,
porque está naciendo Dios.
Belén, campanas de Belén,
que los ángeles tocan
¿qué nueva me traéis?
Campana sobre campana,
y sobre campana tres,
en una Cruz a esta hora,
el Niño va a padecer. [padecer = suffer]
Belén, campanas de Belén,
que los ángeles tocan
¿qué nueva me traéis?
¡Feliz Navidad!
Ben y Marina
Posted in: Spanish | Comments: 24.
¡Feliz Navidad! Spanish Christmas Vocabulary and Phrases
As Marina and I are preparing for Christmas here in Madrid, we want to take a moment to wish all the Notes in Spanish listeners a very very ¡Feliz Navidad!
If you would like to know more about Christmas in Spain, and learn some Spanish Christmas vocab and phrases, then we have special Christmas audio for every level:
Inspired Beginners 16 – ¡Feliz Navidad!
Do take 10 minutes to listen to the audio for your level with the appropriate worksheet, and make this a very Spanish Christmas as well!
Best wishes from Spain,
Ben y Marina
Posted in: Spanish | Comments: 7.