Alepun & Wheat Seed
I like Advent songs. There’s one Mrs. Scheetz first told me about called “Alepun”. It is a Spanish Advent song, specifically Catalan in origin. “Alepun”, I think, is sort of like “Fa la la la la”. I tried to teach this song to one of my English classes to sing when we lit the Advent wreathe, and all I can remember is that Paul Haggerty just laughed and laughed at “alepun”. (It is repeated a lot in the song.) I gave up on the song after that. I could only find the words to one rendition of it in Spanish, the Guatemalan version, which doesn’t translate close at all to the English version except for the first verse. Here are the words in English, minus the “alepuns” so that if Paul Haggerty reads this he can get through it with a straight face.
Mary rides the mountain pathways +++ Through the dark mist of Judah’s night. +++++ Birds sing out in expectation +++ While the sparkling water rings with laughter. +++++ Good St. Joseph guides donkey +++ While the infant sleeps ‘neath Mary’s heart. +++++ We are waiting with Our Lady +++ For the dawning of Our Savior’s birth +++++
Three +’s = one alepun; 5+’s = many alepuns and even some ale ale puns. If you google “Alepun” you can probably find other words and music to it – even the original Catalan version.
One of my favorite Advent traditions is the planting of wheat on the Feast of St. Lucy, December 13th. This is a Hungarian tradition. What people in Hungary do, according to a book I read, is plant a few seeds of wheat on Dec 13th, which by Christmas Eve have grown into fairly tall grass. They then cut the grass and put it in the manger so that Baby Jesus will have a soft place to lay His head. I gave a few grains of wheat to each student in Religion 9 one year so that they could each grow some wheat for their Nativity scene, but the only ones I remember planting them were Amanda and Laura Shaw. I planted some in a plastic cup in the classroom, but by the time Christmas vacation came, it had not even sprouted. It sprouted soon after and grew quickly to a good height by Christmas Eve. So if you want to do as the Hungarians do, and I think it is a beautiful custom, you might want to get some wheat seed soon and plant it on the Feast of St. Lucy. The wheat in the manger with the Baby Jesus is symbolic of the Eucharist.
Alepun.
Jezu, ufam Tobie.