123. Farolito Farolito
Songs to Educate happily presents a present! It’s a little gift in video form for your holiday delight! Enjoy Farolito Farolito as kindling of your own holiday hearth.
Enjoy the Farolito Holiday Video
The end of the year is a time of new light and new life!
December Solstice and New Year is marked by various celebrations and ceremonies all over the world. In fact, the word “holiday” comes from “holy day”! Clearly, there is something very special about this time of year!
There are celebrations of wonder and peace, of gratitude and generosity, of forgiveness and the warmth of mutuality…new fires exchanged for old!
In Santa Fe, New Mexico there is a unique celebration on Christmas Eve. It is called the Farolitos Walk on Canyon Road. Thousands of locals and tourists come together beginning at dusk to enjoy a festive atmosphere meandering in and out and around about the charming historical art gallery avenue glowing with Farolitos and bonfires.
Farolitos are traditionally a small paper sack with a votive candle placed inside and anchored in sand. The effect is a soft glowing light. Many Farolitos are strung in a line to illuminate a pathway or the roofline of an adobe building. The effect is stunning!
The tradition originates with “La Posada” (meaning “lodging” in Spanish), which is a formal reenactment of the Christian Nativity. Farolitos are used to light the pathway for Mary and Joseph seeking a place to stay on the auspicious night. La Posada has been reenacted throughout the Southwest and Latin America since colonial times.
The Canyon Road Farolitos Walk brings thousands together every Christmas Eve in a cheerful and reflective celebration of Peace.
The Earth comes closest to the Sun at this time of year! It is called the Perihelion. For millennia, humans have observed and marked this cyclical passing. In western culture it is expressed in everything from fairy lights on Christmas trees to the idea of gifts from the North Pole; from celebrations of rebirth and festivals of light to traditions of family reunion.
Independent of custom and belief, it is a time of year humans feel moved to celebrate in quiet reflection or festive revelry…and it happens all over the world!
In Northern New Mexico, the “Land of Enchantment” the imaginations of children shimmer in the glow of Farolitos where hopes and dreams are lifted into the wintry night sky. The song Farolito Farolito captures the wonder of this special time of year.
~PAZ
